Summer Barbecue!

Mood: Happy - most probably due to high adrenalin caused by Filipino lady friends! Today - all day - it was Tuesday (ha!)...and sunny, warm, bright and beautiful! It was indeed a good time to get together out in the sun and take advantage of the warm weather. Otherwise we wouldn't have this for the next week or so because on Thursday, and for the next few days after that (I don't really know how long it's going to last) it is going to be raining again! So, tonight, really, was a good break! Tonight, I had a last-minute-but very welcome-short-notice-kind of invitation from a Filipina friend. Barbecue with other Filipina friends! I was on the bus when hubby phoned me to tell me that our friend Irene phoned to invite us to her barbecue and it was tonight! Hubby had a phone call from work asking him to report tonight so I was having second thoughts. I wanted to go - I wanted to see Filipinos! So my mind started to think (yes, sometimes I make my mind work by thinking a little bit) - better half's work starts at 9:30 p.m. so if we go at 7:00 p.m. and stay there for at least an hour, it will be alright. That gives hubby the time to get to work. So I phoned him to tell him we were going. He didn't disagree. As soon as I was home, off we went. Tell you what, it was bliss having Filipina friends around! I have never chatted so much in my life that I didn't know if it was wind in my stomach or the sausages that I ate that made me feel so stuffed! Husband showed off his Tagalog words and sentences and everybody just loved it. I laughed so hard until my tummy ached. I have never had so much potatoes in my entire life! I let a little bit of my hair down (ya-ha!) and had so much fun! I enjoyed the food immensely. There were roasted lamb and steak, salad, roasted potatoes, chicken kebab, lots of fruit juice and the dessert - fresh strawberries from Irene's garden!!! (Sorry I wasn't able to take photographs, I completely forgot all about taking photos!) Here I am at 10:00 p.m., still awake and thinking how much fun it was to be with some Filipino friends, most of them nurses, who are just so jolly and enthusiastic and spontaneous and...what else do I have to say, they are just so lovely! So, tonight, I thank the Universe for finally bringing me some Filipino friends who I can be myself with, who I can laugh with...Filipinos who don't measure me up and don't interrogate me, don't ask me intrusive questions (like 'Where did you get your husband from?' as if I took him from a stockroom or from a shop!) and most of all, who are genuine. It's just like being in the Philippines again. This piece is for the wonderful ladies I met tonight (thanks dear friend Irene for introducing me to them!) Pat, Merlin, Analyn and Nelia. To Irene's daughter Jo, thanks for driving me home! To Irene and her family, thanks so much for your friendship and hospitality. You are such lovely people!