Remind Me to Get This Out of the Way Earlier Next Year

Friday was my team's turn to host the monthly Shonan event. We put on a lovely garden party on the roof of the Fleet Industrial Supply Center overlooking Truman Bay. (I'm going to have to find out who decided to rename that body of water after Harry Truman so I can point my finger in the right direction the next time someone calls ME mean-spirited.)

One of the crafty team members, ie, not me or Mimi, decorated aprons for the Japanese Shonan members to wear while they potted herbs and flowers. The American members just had to deal with the dirt.

Everyone tossed bean bags into flower pots, sipped peach nectar tea and raspberry lemonade, and nibbled finger sandwiches and fruit tarts.

Prizes were awarded to the ladies who showed up in the prettiest and most outrageous hats.

A good time was had by all, including the team member who lobbied to treat the group to lunch at the American military hotel in Tokyo in lieu of a theme party. Outvoted, she threw herself into party preparations with a vengeance which at times got within kiss-blowing distance of cheerful.

She researched garden party menus and games on the internet. When someone else came up with the idea of potting plants, her feigned enthusiasm looked sufficiently sincere to land her the task of collecting supplies - a trip to Tokyo for sturdy carrier bags, two trips to Kurihama for pots, plants, garden soil, and drainage stones since her car could not hold everything at once, and one trip to the 100 Yen store for trowels and watering cans - and then lugging those supplies to the aforementioned roof.

When the team decided to serve the food and beverages in fancy dishes, she wrapped all her heavy glass bowls, pitchers, pedestals, and her china cups in dish towels and bubble wrap for the journey to that roof.

Then she peeled, seeded, and chopped enough tomatoes for six batches of gazpacho and rolled and sliced asparagus-beef pinwheels.

Apparently she is more of a team player than we thought. Shame on us.

Decorating the hat was the hardest part and not just because she is missing the gene for creativity. Lack of motivation was an issue since the hostesses would not be eligible to win one of the prizes. So she just dangled a half dozen cell phone charms from holes she punched around the brim of her straw hat and then tacked a felt Anpanman to the crown.

It turns out her fellow team members spent a lot less time on their hats (none pictured here) than she did on hers. Will she ever learn?

That was a rhetorical question. There will not be a prize for the best answer. Unless, of course, someone is screamingly witty.