Here I would like to make a public service announcement, since neither Sara nor Matt had ever heard of them before:
This is a fluffernutter. It is a sandwich comprised of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. It is one of the most delicious substances known to humankind. If you were not exposed to this as a child, you were either deprived or allergic to peanuts. The latter is excusable. The former is not. This is my childhood in sandwich form. Try it. You will not be sorry.
Ahem. Anyway, Sara had her first fluffernutter ever, and of course she liked it enough to immediately make herself a second. Vindication, you are a wonderful feeling.
Matt came by shortly after we finished our sandwiches, and we all headed out to Carter Mountain to enjoy the beautiful, if hot, day. Peach-picking was over for the afternoon (no loss to me, really, because I don't like peaches, but Sara and Matt were a little put out), but we were allowed to walk through the orchard and enjoy the view. It is quite something to see Charlottesville from atop a mountain. I'm kicking myself for leaving my good camera at home, but I did get some decent pictures from my phone.
We got back in plenty of time to veg out before dinner, so we watched a West Wing and then decided to play poker. None of us is the gambling type, but poker doesn't really work if you don't have some kind of chip. I dug around in the kitchen and came back with the leftover graham crackers from my pie-making exploits earlier this week. What followed was the most bizarre game of poker I've ever played (in my very limited experience, of course). Sara lost all her graham cracker bits in due course, so we let her play with some of the Mennonite strawberries so she could stay in the game. I got a straight in the first hand of the game, without having to exchange any cards. I think Matt won, but after Hillary came by a bit before seven we all lost interest.
With Sara's help I got the food ready (although evidently I didn't leave the rice and beans in the oven long enough; my microwave is kaput and I don't really know how to live without one). I had made salad, rice, and beans the day before; Hillary brought fajita vegetables. David arrived right on time, and we tucked in without further preamble. Like I said before, I wasn't happy with the temperature or quality of the rice and beans, but I got a lot of compliments on them, so even if they were just polite, I was pleased with the reception. After dinner I brought out the pink lemonade pie with my first attempt at graham cracker crust, and that met with tremendous acclaim, to my surprised delight. I was worried the crust wasn't right, because the YouTube video I watched explaining how to make it told me the graham crackers should be sand consistency before I added the margarine, but I just couldn't make it that small. But everyone really seemed to enjoy the pie, and the crust was unexpectedly delicious. Success!
We chatted good-naturedly for a while, exchanging stories about summer jobs, our classes, and bad 90s music. It came to light that Hillary had not yet seen the first half of Deathly Hallows, and since I happen to have it out from Netflix, I suggested we remedy this at once. This was met with approval, so we all settled in to watch. David left around eleven, with about an hour to go in the movie (understandably so; it was late and he lives farther away than Hillary does). The rest of us at least stayed in the living room, although in various states of awareness; I think Hillary and I were the only ones that didn't sleep through at least some of the movie. I avoided that ridiculous dance scene by doing the dishes but had to be back in the room for "The Silver Doe." The movie finished just before midnight. Hillary said that she had enjoyed it far more than she expected to. After she left, it was obvious that my houseguests weren't about to stay up much longer, so I put away the leftovers, distributed pillows, and turned in for the night. It was a pretty fabulous evening. I'm glad to have had experience playing the hostess for pretty much the first time, but mostly it was just great hanging out with friends. Right now, I'm nearly perfectly happy.
