23 July 2011 Eating or Feeding?

I have read two books recently, one concerning drinking and one eating, in which the authors advocated eating in groups, making it a meal an enjoyable social activity rather than a necessity for survival (one went so far as to say the main difference between animals & humans is that humans eat while animals feed).  Nowhere was this notion more perfectly illustrated than on Ghost Dancing this morning, where Anne & Greg hosted us for breakfast.

While I always enjoy a good heart-stopper breakfast the pile of steaming potatoes, sausages, and eggs, rounded off with hot coffee and fresh bread with butter, was a meal of epic proportions, made all the more so as it was shared in good company; we were definitely eating, not feeding.  The conversation revolving around the boats and boating (what else?) and the food, we spent the morning as pleasantly as could be, awaiting the arrival of the work party from the Friends of Seguin.  I will happily get up at 0530 every day to bake fresh bread if it means I get to participate in similar scenes.

Four-legged work party coming ashore

Unfortunately the idyllic repast came to an end, as they tend to, and we had to get down to the business of the day, namely a lot of sanding and painting that I had been aggressively dodging.  Fortunately Cyndy had mustered quite a crew of able hands & paws (including a young lady who was gracious enough to walk Mr. Darcy all day) that made the work light indeed.  By the end of the work day the crew had sanded & painted the remaining porches, moved all the staging out for use later this week, and done some weed whacking to help air-dry the tram trestles.  A special thank you to all involved, particularly Greg, who got the riding mower working again.

The weather was far better than yesterday.  When I awoke this morning it was cool & damp, with a thick layer of clouds hanging low in the sky.  With one or two brief spates of sprinkles however this all burned off and we were left with a pleasingly warm day, with the usual afternoon breeze to keep things from heating up too much.  For some reason we had very few visitors today, but with the amount of activity we had regardless, the low count of guests was more of a boon than anything else.    

So another Saturday ends on Seguin, with a gentle SW’ly breeze and a falling barometer, Darcy hogging the couch and twisting into various obscene poses, and Amy happily knitting something in the corner.  Can’t wait for tomorrow.