The senior living community where I work has a garden club made up of 6 or 7 residents of our community who are in their 80's and 90's but who are passionate about gardening. They design, plant and maintain all of our gardens including a huge courtyard area. Because they are proud of their work and we want to help them show off, we host a Garden Club Luncheon and invite all the garden clubs in the county. Usually about 60 people RSVP and attend. This year we had a few issues.

 

We were having the roof re-shingled and they chose to strip off all the shingles the day before we had a huge rainstorm. With no tarp. Needless to say we had extensive damage to the dining room and lounge area with parts of the ceiling falling down. So we adapted and decided to have the luncheon on the garden level and eat in the screen porch; however, the weather did not cooperate and it was cold, windy and poured all day. So we moved everything to the Activity Room. We scrambled to set up tables and gather chairs, set the tables, place the centerpieces, etc. Then we started greeting our guests. About 52 people RSVP'd that they would attend...67 showed up. Keep in mind that we are also serving our 64 residents lunch too. And staff. It was overwhelming. We were aafraid we would run out of food but just like with the parable of the fishes and loaves, there was plenty to go around. We had gazpacho, crispy chinese chicken salad, warm rolls, and plates of brownies and cheesecake slices. The speaker was a young woman who runs a 30 acre organic garden and vineyard and is passionate about her work. Everyone loved her presentation. So even with all the issues, everyone still had a great time. It's just too bad they did not get to see our gardens!