The Little Things

It seems ages since I did anything normal, but my sister's birthday gave us a good reason to try.

We usually celebrate our sister birthdays lunching and shopping for a few hours together. Mine was in the summer, and we strolled along then for hours talking amid the beauty of the flowering Botanical Gardens. But we wanted something cozier for a small winter fete this time.

We all have different Covid "bubbles," and so we still mask, keep distance, and mostly opt for outdoors when we are together. But a simple home get-together lunch seemed reasonable enough for three.

I feel like the occasion was hosted by Trader Joe's: as it pretty much was! I couldn't believe how no fuss but successful that can be, since we only decided how to get together the night before. (One of us was only just arriving back in town.)

Even though my own sisters are an easy crowd, I still wanted something festive. A little pot of mini daffodils served as a centerpiece very nicely. You have to hunt to see the little chocolate cake in this picture that I chose. But it was surprisingly delicious too! 

I strung my small length of party bunting over the table, and voila!

The menu was a tasty quiche and a prepared salad, both from the store, and which I had never before tried but had only picked up a couple hours before. I don't know if I was only lucky, but we found it all more than just okay! I laid out my best quilted Frenchy placemats for the table.

I love the look of delicious food on a pretty white plate.

Even more interesting if nothing matches!

My little birch tree is still up amd made a nice door stop right next to the table. We opened the doors a bit for air circulation like a streetside cafe. Only warmer! We even had the French Cafe music playing in the background.

I gifted my sister a quote book by Robert Brault. Until recently, I had no idea who he is.

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He is famous for tons of familiar sayings we all know like: "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." His blog is listed on the sidebar of my blog page. But the link is also here.

For me these days it is all small things. But a trip to a fancy-ish grocery store turned into a memorable, if easy, soiree that was all about connection anyway. I picked up these pussy willow branches there that gave me small delight when I saw them. The girls each took some home after reminiscing about those that grew in front of our old elementary school when we were young. 

Over a long lunch and lively talk, we toasted to survival, to simple pleasures, to friendship, and to love. We talked of days past and old dramas, as though we might be actors on a stage, or characters from a novel. As if we lived in such perilous times, or in days so strange or of such seeming unreality that they might sometime be written down in the pages of history. . . . 

To the little things, my friends...

Jacqueline