Parties of August

Today dawned grey and cold, the rain coming down strongly at 9 a.m. By eleven, the rain had lessened somewhat, but the clouds looked pretty solid. Unfortunately, 11 a.m. was the opening time for this year’s 100th Anniversary Heritage Picnic, to be held at Lighthouse Park (where there is no lighthouse). This is an annual event, but this year was to be quite special because of it being the 100th anniversary. The plan was to replicate to some extent the 1908 picnic and, I assume, somebody had some kind of record, doubtless including photographs, so they knew something about what was to be replicated. There were to be games typical of the period (a potato-spoon race, for example), and a pie contest and a quilt contest. The contests were to have prizes typical of the period, as well. And, a reenactment of the actual picnic entrance with appropriate costumes.

The rain wasn’t that heavy by 11, so I assumed that they would either move the picnic indoors to the Community Center or just endure at Lighthouse Park. Because the rain had actually stopped and blue skies were visible behind the puffy white clouds, I drove down there around 12:30, only to find the sign above at the parking lot. Alas, all those plans in vain. And I don’t think if you have a 100th Anniversary Event that you can just hold it next week instead. Muich work gone down the drain.

We tend to have lots of events in July and August in Point Roberts because those are the only months of the year that you have a pretty good chance of not getting rained out. In the past eight days, we’ve had two days of art and music festival, one day of art meandering and now almost a day of heritage picnicking. A friend commented that the schedule here was beginning to resemble the schedule at her father’s assisted living facility. Maybe too much. And especially if we are going to get rain.

A few years back, a friend’s daughter was married on the summer solstice and the party that accompanied the wedding was just spectacular. The older houses here on the point are mostly fairly small so a big party requires that it be an outside event. This one had 60 or so people wandering around among the trees, musicians playing in the garden, a pot luck dinner eaten on paper plates while sitting on the ground. It was about the most beautiful party I’d ever been too.

I’m not much of a social type, not inclined to be giving parties just for the sake of it, but so memorable was that wedding that I threw all caution to the winds. This would never have happened to me in Los Angeles, I think, because I wouldn’t for a moment think that a party was astoundingly lovely because of the weather and the setting. L.A. as a setting is mediocre in my view, and the weather is frequently terrific, so no surprise there. But here in the Northwest, the weather is rarely lovely, although the light is almost always beautiful, and the setting is drop-dead gorgeous. To get both parts together on one day, a day with the longest day of the year, well....even I couldn’t resist it.

Because no one we knew needed a wedding party, I decided we would just have a solstice party. We engaged a small string group, we arranged for drinks and food, we invited all our friends and acquaintances. And then it rained. Hard. All day long. By mid-day, I had to face up to the fact that no party was going to happen and so emails and phone calls engaged me as I cancelled everything. Such a disappointment. I should have known better: it was June, after all, not even late July or August. June is an entirely unreliable month.

And now, August has turned out to be unreliable as well. To all those who spent so much time planning and hoping for today’s event: I’m truly sorry for your troubles. And I know how you feel. I do hope that, unlike me, you are not discouraged from ever trying again, though.