Surprise Dinner Guests

My sister Cathy and her roommate Kathy are on a vacation to see Kathy's family in WY, Cathy's family in ND, and many sights and sites along the way.  Their itinerary today involved driving from SD to Dad's home in Tioga, ND on a route that would take them through Belfield and Watford City.  We will see Cathy this upcoming weekend (watch Pensive? No, Just Thinking after this weekend for more details), but Kathy plans to take a train back to OR before then, meaning we wouldn't have seen her during this trip.  So yesterday we offered to drive to Belfield today (it's about 20 minutes west of us) to meet them whenever they got there so that we could visit with them and then let them get back on the road.

In the meantime, they decided to alter their route.  They knew from both Dad and me that the road between Belfield and Watford City is under construction, and the latest reports are that it's a stretch of highway best avoided altogether.  So they opted to drive through Dickinson and then go north from here.  When I texted Cathy this morning before church started to ask if they knew when they would be in Belfield so that we could leave in time to meet them, she replied that they'd be at our home around 12:30 P.M.!  Susan and I went into what-do-we-have-on-hand-in-the-kitchen-to-serve-dinner-to-our-guests? mode.

As it turned out, Susan made it seem like no problem at all.  When we got home, she made a richly flavored spaghetti sauce, tossed a salad with a variety of vegetables, made a salad dressing, made garlic toast, boiled whole-wheat pasta, and baked a peach cobbler.  I set the table, chilled some wine, and got the coffee ready to start brewing just before dessert would be served.  The girls noticed two extra plates on the table, but I wouldn't tell them who was coming for dinner--so they were delightfully surprised when Cathy and Kathy arrived around 1:00 P.M.  After lots of hugs, we sat down to enjoy a delicious meal and hear the highlights from their vacation so far.

We moved to the living room for more visiting, and Cathy and I took some time to look through song books and sheet music and select some options for this weekend (again, you'll have to come back and read more about it in the coming days), but then they had to get back on the road in order to get to Dad's before sunset.  It was good to see them and fun to be able to host them even for a brief visit.

Kathy and Cathy are back in the vehicle and off to Dad's house.  (Cathy is wearing a scarf-ish item that Hillary made out of yarn for her.  Fancy!)

Goodbye!  Say "hi" to Dad and Beverly!  Tell them we'll see them in just a few days!