Saint Patty's day with Friends

A magical Time Had By All!

One of the unexpected surprises of moving to the South, was the friendliness and openness of the people who live here.

Being from the the South myself ('Southern' California) I was used to some degree of people saying hello, smiling, etc. But here in Fairhope, Alabama it is an epidemic of which their seems to be no cure. Nor would I encourage research into finding one.

Everywhere I go, people wave, smile, say hello, and ask me how I am doing. It is infuriatingly wonderful.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

Friends of Fairhope.

A group of us have gotten together for the past couple of years and met weekly for dinner - mostly on Tuesday evenings. At first we always went to Pelican Porch, but they changed their menu and we decided to try new restaurants, which was fun... for about six months.

Then we thought about once or twice a month going to each of our houses and bringing dishes... pot luck on steroids.

On St. Patrick's day we all went to Paul and Debbie's home, which is an astoundingly beautiful house they had built that is adjacent to a little forest on one side, where they are starting a vegetable garden.

Debbie and Paul were not feeling 'top of the mornin'', (I think they both had colds) but played the part well. Debbie even wore a hat!

Paul had made a game - I kid you not - called cornhole... You throw little bags of beans (or maybe corn) into little holes on the boards. All built to regulation size, whatever that means.

Bob became the champion of it after a few games.

But the star was the food - all traditional fare like potatoe soup and shepherds pie.

Me, I stayed near the desert area which was aplomb with all kinds of delectable delights.

 
It was a fun evening and seemed to end too soon.

And that's what I mean about Fairhope and friends. Firstly blessed to have moved here, and doubly blessed to make so many interesting and wonderful friends. I look forward to and treasure meeting these friends every week, and couldn't imagine living here without them.

Now we are back to our restaurant schedule - but looking forward to having everyone over to the beach house soon.

John O'Melveny Woods can be reached at his web site.