The party began at seven-thirty, the table was set, the food prepared, the fireplace warm, everyone showed up, the oldest was Annie (91) and the youngest was my friend's Melanie's baby Matis (two months old).
Between, serving the meal, filling glasses, wiping spills, removing plates and bringing out new ones, I barely had time to say, "How are you?" to our guests, let alone take a few photos.
I was the juggler, with many hats, balls in the air and a rhythm set by an inner clock that was telling what to do and when to do it.
Unfortunately, my inner clock forgot to remind me to take a photo of Chelsea, Mr. Espresso, Baby Matis, and well, most or our guests.
Nevertheless, we had a good time.
The night before Chelsea's Bon Voyage party, Sacha's childhood friend Fabrice, came over for dinner. He has been away at University so I hadn't seen him in awhile. When he came in I felt as though Sacha should be right behind him, though he was not.
Fabrice said that he reads my blog… but when he sees that it has to do with the brocante he skips over it (I think there is a conspiracy going on amongst my brothers Mathew, Mark and him!) he added, "I prefer when you talk about family and friends: show more personal photos would you!"
So Fabrice these photos are for you. Doesn't Fabrice's mother, Valerie (above photo) look like his sister instead?
One of the two thousand little finger food thingies that I made, were spinach-blue cheese, puff pastry rolls. After the party I realized that I had forgotten to take out the smoked salmon rolls… looks like we are going to be having them for breakfast, lunch, and dinners to come.
In reply to some of your questions.
The French university (Grand Ecole, Skema) that Chelsea is attending in France, has a campus in China. She will continue her studies with them abroad. Part of her studies abroad will include three hours of Chinese a day. She should be able to ask for directions, say vegetarian, and brocante by the time I get there. Chelsea is working towards a master's in business management. She has one more year to go.
Why is she going to China to study if she can do so in France? Because the opportunity to do so is intriguing, available to her, and the chance to discover a different culture offers lessons that books cannot.
The party went well… and somewhere in the middle of it I thought I should have served fortune cookies. That is one bad thing about last minute planning, and living in the country, details such as fortune cookies get lost in the rush.
Care to write Chelsea a fortune?
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