Ella Likes to Party

It's time for the first Ella post...

My little daughter has become a talking machine. Whatever it is we are doing, there is a running commentary, the practice of descriptive verbal prose. "Dis bunny ike sides" (This bunny likes sides), or "Mama, I...I...I...wan sumpin ta eat" (Mama, I want something to eat). My two favorite little expressions right now are "oomick" which translates to "music", and "la" which means "yeah".

Mama: "Ella, do you want to listen to some music?"
Ella: "Laaa, do".

Last night, we went to the 70th birthday party of one of our revered community elders. His wife and their friends put on a stunning, full service party for 50. Now, usually, parties of this size in Petrolia are potlucks, and you must factor in time to prepare a side dish before departing with all family members in tow. But when we were invited to this party, we were told not to bring anything. There was a huge table of appetizers: deviled eggs, celery and carrot sticks, bread, crackers and cheese, and some delectable olives. There was some soft cheese that melted like air on your tongue. You can see that Ella liked the eggs. Dinner was ribs or chicken, potato salad, and a green salad with an amazing berry vinaigrette. This dressing had strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, and marjoram in it, not sure what else, but it was sweet and tasty over spinach and was topped with sliced almonds. Yummy! And did I mention the cakes?! There was a beautiful handmade lemon cake, two small dense fudgey chocolate cakes, and a rum cake. How could one choose between them? Ella wanted chocolate, and I chose lemon, and we shared some of both, while getting it all over our hands! The birthday boy was treated to a vaudeville skit by his long-time friends, a song performed by our local musical family (with guitar, piano, trumpet, fiddle, and three part harmony), and several poems and readings of prose. It was a lovely summer evening.


You can also see in the attached photo, that Ms. Ella likes to wear silly outfits. Here she is in grandma Barbara's swim cap, her sunglasses and bathing suit. Were we going to the river anytime soon? Not this day, but that didn't stop her from donning the gear and posing for some shots. She really knows how to have a good time.