A Night Out

In case you didn't know: The best way to tell who loves you more, your dog or your wife, is to lock them both in the trunk of your car for a couple of hours. Then when you let them out, you find out which one is happiest to see you.

We went to an "event" at the Oasis Restaurant last night as part of our Wedding Anniversary celebration. (The other parts, for me, were eating popcorn and watching the Ladies U.S. Open Golf Tournament on TV and, for Woowoo Charly, the same only with the addition of reading about Johnny Depp in Vanity Fair during the commercials. I mean, Come On! We know how to Get Down!) The event was a dinner that included an appetizer, a main course and a dessert for fifteen bucks a head. Friends of ours, Gordon and Richelle, would be playing and singing during the meal. Alrighty then. We were a party of seven booked at seven. We arrived a little after six and found the place packed and over-booked. A large tent had been erected and tables set up under it to handle the overflow. Did I mention it was raining? Hard. I don't know how many people were there, but there were at least double the restaurant's usual capacity. Because of the rain, Gordon and Richelle, who were originally set up to play under a smaller tent amidst the tables, were driven inside for fear of electrocution; microphones and electric guitar being the danger there. No one outside the bar could hear them. We were eventually seated at a round table for nine that had three people already seated, meal underway. We were one seat short so we all scooched in. Four of us, after quite a long wait, were served our main courses. There were two menu plans and those of us who had selected the pork croquettes got lucky. The salmon choosers had to wait. Although we had not received our appetizers and bread rolls, we were hungry and dove right in, appetizers to come later. One salmon plate did show up followed by the appetizers. The two remaining salmon plates were brought to the table at about the time the six of us who had eaten were getting anxious about dessert. The fact that we were seven with six place settings also was problematical, but we had all gone to kindergarten and knew how to share. Friend B, who sat to my right, was notable for the neat bob and weave she was able to perform around a drip from the leaky tent. Gordon and Richelle came out and played acoustically at each table under the tent. For we anniversarians they sang a bit of Sade that was quite good. The night was not really a disaster - the food and conversation were good - just somewhat comical. RTGFKAR, Woowoo Chuck, friend R and I returned to our place immediately following the festivities for wine, cigars, more talk and rain watching. It was a happy 33rd.