Haven't got all day

In which Pooh talks about the neighbors.

One of the funnier lines delivered by my (then) 3 year old nephew...
When his mother, completely exasperated by the slow poke speed he used when finishing his lunch told him "to hurry it up we haven't got all day" his immediate response was " I only two hands Mommy"

And speaking of good humor..... Now it is time to talk about last weeks party. (Nice segue huh?)

Last weekend, I was invited to a little get together with some of my favorite bloggers. As I have written here, (ad nauseam) I have assiduously whittled down my circle of regularly read blogs to only those places that I really, really enjoy and admire. You can only imagine then how excited I was to finally put faces to the people I have been reading and enjoying so much.

I'll start with our hosts. Natalie and Andy. I have been reading Nat for quite a few weeks and Andy only a few times.....Live and in person? These guys are great!!!

After reading Nat I didn't really know what to expect on arrival but what I got was a house full of a what felt to me like Zen Commotion. (For those of you keeping score, Zen is a form of Buddhism often thought of as emphasizing thought and intuition....Commotion is a tempest a scramble or a rush.)
So we have a thoughtful scramble and an intuitive rush..... Yup, that sounds right, Zen Commotion it is...

Met at the door by Andy with, "If your name is not Jack you can't come in" I soon fell in with all the happy madness. Now I have a many theories about many things, but one of the things I truly believe is that you can tell a lot about people by looking at their kids and their pets. They can really reflect a ton about you. Without knowing these two very well ( I do hope to change that over time) I can say this. They have big dogs that are calm and not hand shy. They accepted strangers happily, and were simply gentled with a few pats and soft words. They have kids. They come in medium, small and extra small sizes. They were sweet natured and polite, the older two looked me in the eyes and although a little shy, they all were bright eyed and bushy tailed. Their oldest, a dark haired girl of about 10 or so with beautiful eyes, had thoughtfully hand made cards of welcome for each guest.

So what do I NOW know about Nat, who's blog I now read daily, and Andy, who's blog I am going to start reading a lot more, as people?

1) They are distinctive and interesting and contrast each other well.... (And yes Nat, I still pay you the compliment of saying you ARE NOT "normal")

2) They have casual parties where geeky almost complete strangers are made to feel right at home....

3) Arguing politics and religion and other "hot button" subjects is NOT a major moral meltdown and cause for immediate house expulsion.....(Not that I .....ahem....ever got tossed or asked to leave someplace because of political or religious ..ahem...disagreements.)

4) If I am ever starving and in need of a lot of good food, I now know where to go hang out.

5) In my book, if you raising kind, happy, considerate, mannered and sociable kids and gentle dogs that are not freaked out by a house full of strangers..... that tells me all I need to know. Because that doesn't happen by accident. Kids and dogs mirror what they see and how they are treated...they have to get all that good stuff from somewhere.....

Thanks for the kind invite guys. I hope we will have a chance to get together again soon !!!

(Now I just gotta get them turned away from the dark side and into using Macintoshes..... ;-).

Ok, it's REALLY late.... going to bed...more on the rest of the partygoers tomorrow....

Posted by Jack at June 15, 2003 04:57 AM