An international buffet

The Bookish Frogs met at my house tonight for a buffet (they're a community support group for TCU Press). Food was to be supplied by contributors to Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook, but as more than half of them were unavailable, I panicked--in my usual manner--about having enough substantial food. I could see a buffet of desserts with only my spaghetti chicken. Turned out the other way, and we had an international buffet--chopped chicken liver (do you know how much I love that? Even really made with schmaltz--oh, my gallbladder!) and chicken soup from the Jewish community, enchiladas from the Hispanic community, brisket from the African American community, and a Middle Eastern platter of snacks from Dan, the new director of TCU Press, and his wife, plus chicken spaghetti that I made (enough for Cox's army), pork spareribs, wonderful biscuits, a great bok choy salad. It was a happy evening, and everyone enjoyed it immensely. Some sat on the porch--it was warm but not too hot. Others perched at varioius places. Susan Petty, my former and still colleague, did a great job of organizing and also of moderating a discussion from the contributors who were there. Fun for all.
I had spent much of the morning "straightening" the house, looking at details I normally overlook and trying to fix them. Wore me out. I even vacuumed when I realized how much dog hair there was on the rug in my study. Made a queso-type dip, still have about 2/3 of it left, plus a lot of chicken spaghetti, even after Susan took some home. But it was a fairly quiet day--I got to read, had a good nap. Still tired tonight, after everyone left.
But much credit to Susan  for helping get everything together and to the contributors who were here plus to Dan's wife, Cynthia, for helping clean up. Susan expected to be here until nine but was out the door at eight, and other than dishes in the drain basket and dirty flatware in the dishwasher, you'd never know I had a crowd in my house. I'll tackle those tomorrow, when I plan to have a slow and lazy day.
The evening was one of those that makes me feel blessed, for being involved with such wonderful people, for having them in my home, sharing good food with good people. Between yesterday and today I have had a full but wonderful weekend. And I am, as the saying goes, bone-weary.
But I think Susan sold quite a few books, which is quite a good thing.