Miser Family (purple) update

Life continues to be rich and purple in the Miser Family Household.   

Way back in 2016, I saw a purple dress at a yard sale (only $1!!).   Our host daughter at the time saw me eyeing it fondly, and was surprised when I passed it over because I'd never have an occasion to wear it.  She suggested I get the dress and invent the occasion; and in that way, the annual tradition of the Purple Dress dinner was born!

This year, the Purple Dress dinner took a slightly (okay, very) different form.  We started with a half-hour Zoom party.  People came from all over: from a Neurology rotation in Maryland (see the scrubs?), from Minnesota and the dog days of Virginia, from the Poconos (at least, a photo from there), and of course from my home city. 

Then we took a 15-minute break, and those of us who were local commuted from our computers to the nearby public rose garden, where we congregated at some distance and in masks.  Well, masks and tiaras, because I'm fairly sure tiaras help protect against infections, too.

We happened to schedule this party on the night of our city's "Music Fridays", so we had occasional bands rolling by on the back of flat-bed trucks, serenading us and treating us to live music.  Sometimes there were two trucks, one on each side of the park, and so we were treated to cacophony.  It was kind of exhilarating.

I'm rich in friends with awesome creative skills.  Here's my grasshopper friend with her purple dress earrings.  Cool, eh?

Part of the fun challenge of this party was cooking for it.  For the local people, one of my friends and I made a variety of foods:  she made watermelon gazpacho and double-chocolate zucchini bread, and I just want to say that friends like these totally make life worth living.  I myself scavenged through my vegetables and my stash of home-canned foods, and I made quiche and coleslaw and dried summer squash and soft pretzels and unsweetened cherry juice.  And I made extra good use of my canning jar stash to divvy up the food and deliver it to local friends earlier in the day, so at least some of us could share the same meal together.  

This is the first party I've been to or hosted since the pandemic descended on us, and it feels like a turning point . . . not a turning point in the pandemic, but a social turning point, like I've found a new-to-me way to see my friends without risking anyone's health.  (And also to have a multi-location party with no trash, whoop).

And that's the news from purple posse, who continues to be prosperous in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly wealthy (and stay safe).