A Labor Day Party

1 September 2014

My dear friends, I cannot wait to tell you how much fun I had today with Rosemary and Basil!

A few days ago, I learned that Americans celebrate Labor Day on the first weekend of September; this public holiday honors all the workers who have contributed to the economic development and prosperity of the country.

Rosemary’s daughter Laurel-Leaf, whom I had met over lunch at the Glory Days Grill a few days ago, invited us over for a cookout at their home. They live very near Rosemary, also in Winchester. Their daughter Salt, who is 15, and son Pepper, who is 12, were there, and Salt had invited her friend Ginger to come too. Pepper had ridden his bike over to Rosemary’s house to help Grandpa Basil do some chores before the party. He’s a good boy.

Flat Kathy poses for a picture with Salt and her friend Ginger

They were too shy to have their picture taken with me, but they were very nice to me. It is really nice to be surrounded by so many youngsters; they have lots of energy and are really fun to be around; they make me feel so young!

Pepper is holding up Flat Kathy and the girls are hiding behind her

I got to sit at the head of the table and you can see all the food we had.

Flat Kathy can’t wait to eat! Look at all this lovely food!

Hamburgers, hot dogs, and watermelon are traditional foods to eat at cookouts here. We also had potato salad, coleslaw (which I learned is made of cabbage) and pasta salad, and Rosemary prepared a platter full of crunchy raw vegetables (carrots, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers).

I also helped to cook the food on the grill. Oh, it was all so very delicious!

Flat Kathy helps to cook the food on the grill

After we had finished our lunch and tidied things away, we drove down to the Old Town Winchester walking mall, which was recently renovated. We had been near this area when Rosemary and I went to the lovely Handley Library, where I met Library Lil – remember?

The Old Town mall consists of two blocks of shops and restaurants, where no cars are allowed. It is fun to walk up and down with all the other pedestrians. And there are some beautiful flowerbeds to admire along the way too.

Flat Kathy admires a flower garden on the pedestrian mall in Old Town Winchester

One shop was a wonderful bookshop, selling new and used books. Basil held me up to the sign!

Basil and Flat Kathy at the beautiful bookshop in the pedestrian mall

We were very tired from our busy day, so we returned home in time to watch a couple of very exciting tennis matches from the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. When I finally fell asleep that night, I dreamed of eating hotdog rolls with tomato ketchup and mustard, walking through the Old Town and running after tennis balls!