Motivated Motion

Only The Tuckers Could Have A Party At The Last Minute And Get A Full House On The Long Weekend To Surprise A Friend


I have to say that we are the luckiest people in the world.
It seems that even though our life can be tough at times with my health being wonky, we really do have some great things happen to us all the other times.

The first weekend in September is called The Labour Day long weekend. As so many other socialist countries have some sort of labour acknowledgment based on historic changes in working in their land, ours is just a day that the average worker can count on getting as a paid holiday, and a well deserved rest. This also officially ends school break in Canada. After the holiday Monday all kids are back to school!

Our BBQ for PSICAN was a great success. So on August 27th I called up my friends Ann and Cliff and invited them for a BBQ the next weekend, which was the long weekend, on the Saturday to celebrate Ann's birthday.

I no sooner talked to Ann than Cliff phoned me that Monday evening from work to tell me he was worried about the Birthday. Ann had thrown him a lovely party and he felt he was just not doing enough for her. He wanted to surprise her, but she is too smart to surprise. So I said, "You are coming for a BBQ on Saturday, why not invite everyone in the family. Either they can come, or they can't. But they will certainly know if they can, if we call them tomorrow...."

So Cliff gave me the numbers and I called. On Tuesday afternoon I left messages for Ann's two Sisters and their families from Toronto and close to Toronto. Then I called Cliff's Sister in The Ottawa Valley and asked if she could talk to her Sister and their kids to see if anyone could come.
Tues, and Wed went by, and I had no word if anyone could make it. On Thursday night I called Cliff at work around 8:00PM to tell him that no one had replied with an answer of any sort, so it didn't look good for the surprise.
Cliff was disappointed in himself. He wished he had of planned better and I knew he was not happy.
Carl and I were neither-here-nor-there in our opinion about the party failing, because we were already prepared for company cuz the prep we did for the BBQ the weekend before.
And we were just happy to be able to have Ann and Cliff for dinner that next Saturday reguardless if others came.

I no sooner hung up the phone with Cliff than the phone started to ring. One Sister coming, then the Other Sister and her hubby and Ann's Mom were yes too. Then I opened my email and a note from Iroquois saying we're coming and we will stay over!

YES! Instant Party! And guests to stay over too! Oh this was gonna be a blast!
Carl and I went grocery shopping on Friday to get the food, and order the cake.
And Saturday was the best BBQ we ever had!
Gormet Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, baked potatoes, salad, fruit, cheese tray, sweets.....great friends and a whole lot of fun!
I also stir fried beef and vegetable tariaki from my high protein, low fat, low carb diet.

Left to Right: Marlene (Cliff's Sister), Ann (Cliff's wife and the birthday girl), Cliff, Jill (Ann's Sister), Betty(Ann's Sister), Laurie (Marlene's Daughter), Ann's Mom
Left to Right: Ruben(Betty's Husband), Chris (Laurie's Husband), Gerald(Marlene's Husband), and Marlene
Me being Iron Chef on the camping stove.
Ummm home-made beer and gormet hot dogs!

Below
Super Silly Fun: This is a Blogger Beta video of the crazy antics we experienced all night!
Click on the arrow and wait for the video to start.

We laughed till midnight and had a blast. We were all tired.
In the end... Marlene and Gerald and Laurie and Chris decided to travel to Laurie and Chris's in Trenton, which is about halfway home. This meant they all had a rest day before working.
So we ended up with no one sleeping over.

These friends are like our family. We have known Cliff and Ann since 1991, when I started back into the music scene. Cliff was the drummer for a Band I got to play with at Jams in our area. Remember all these folks were at that big Country Music party at the beginning of August too!
I have never known a family to travel so much to gather for events. It is just awesome to the lengths they go to for each other. I miss them all when they leave, and I always look forward to our next time together.
The family are vast in their fields of work, and each are so very knowledgable folks that know so many different things, that a person can sit for hours and hear about their life.
Ann The Birthday Girl. Everyone says we look like sisters. I am an only child so it is really great to feel like I have a sister too!

Below is a video on the new Blogger video beta. Click the arrow and wait till it starts: "Happy Birthday!"



See all the smiles! Litterally there was constant laughter. Only when we were eating did the laughter calm a bit.

Ann opens her presents.


Ole Frick and Frack here. These two guys (Carl and Cliff) are like perpetual 12 yr olds. Teasing and picking on each other in fun all day.
Upp. I didn't quite finish the knitted scarf I designed for Ann, so it was still attached to needles.

These are solar lights that look like lilies. They have fibre optic threads that change colour through the night.

Jewelry!
We are so blessed to have really great friends to spend time with. Our time with our family and long time friends and our friends who are colleagues are the best anyone could have. Our friends over in Europe are great to have fun with too. This summer was filled with everyone except our friends from Europe, and all this fun makes us miss them even more than we do most of the time.

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