Meeting the friends is the same thing, if you come from different circles. If they don't like you, all kinds of friction is imminent.
I met Wes' friends (Pete one day, Mike, Jon and Nick another) within a week of my arrival. I also met his dad as soon as we stepped out of the airport. Wes' sister, mother and grandmother, however, were still in the wings.
In all three instances where I met with Wes' nearest and dearest, I was pretty relaxed. Coming face to face with his sister's family, in their own house no less, was a bit more nerve wracking. First of all, it was slightly more formal than a quick yum cha lunch or a concert meet-up. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure exactly why.
I simply felt that if she and her husband didn't like me, I was in huge trouble. I guess it's because Wes is really close to his sister; their opinions matter.
Fortunately for me, things went really well!
On Saturday, Wes and I went shopping to prepare for the family barbecue that was planned for Sunday at Mandy and Nick's. I had decided to make Italian potato salad from Maumau's recipe as well as the seven layer salad from Granny's recipe. They were handling fish and steaks, as well as chicken kebabs and sausage, so things were pretty set.
On the way home from our trip to Miranda (to hit up an Italian vegetable and fruit market for said salads), we dropped by their house. They wanted us to pick up two mud crabs that Nick had caught on their holiday and also wanted to meet me a bit early, since the next day would supposedly be "very busy" with Mushy and Leann (Nick's father and stepmother) being in town. The crabs were already packed on ice into a cooler for us to take home.
Because we had meat and groceries in the car, we didn't stay too long, but did get to see the kids and talk a bit about this and that on the back porch.
When we arrived, Nick was out front doing some yard work while the family dog wandered around minding his own business. Boof (the dog, clearly) was the first one to greet us and ran straight up to Wes when we got out of the car. The poor thing had been clipped for the coming summer, down to the tip of his tail.
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| "Roar!" says the lion. "Whimper!" says Boof. |
Apparently, when they took him to the groomer, there were so many knots and mats in the fur that they just clipped off everything but the tip; I thought it was rather leonesque, but Wes just said it made the dog look like a wannabe poodle.
Poor thing.
Sort of.
The poor thing rolled around in a lovely puddle of white bird business on the yard shortly after we arrived and strutted about with it on his back for the rest of our visit. So I don't think he minded it all that much.
Matilda was slightly less happy to see us than the dog and Nick (who gave me a huge hug). She decided that she didn't want anything to do with any of us (not even her mum!) and instead latched onto her dad and stayed there. Not even the felt penguin plush I gave her could sway her to let go; she wouldn't even let me pin it on her!
Kye was more welcoming, in his very serious, straight-faced fashion, and showed off his newly learned bird impersonations the first chance he got. Mostly, he just sat in the grass and flailed his arms around while squawking, but he got the loudest when the birds in the back yard started to put up a fuss, so I can only assume that he was communing with their spirits and blending harmoniously with their souls. Or some other such nonsense.
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| Mandy and Kye (See? So serious) |
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| "Penguin!" "Cawcawcaw!" |
I talked for a while with Amanda and Nick about my impressions of Australia so far, the things that are different and what I've found so far that I like or dislike. They asked about home and culture shock and whether I miss my family and friends (which I naturally do, moreso than the city of Houston itself). They're both really quite laid back and relaxed and were very welcoming. Not at all as scary as I had anticipated. ;)
Toward the end of the visit, I scooped Kye out of the grass (he was starting to get unhappy about being left there on his lonesome). In the process, he got his little hands on my necklace and started shaking the beads at the end like a rattle. It was all fun and games until he abandoned the jade to latch onto a mole on my chest.
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| "I can play with this, right?" |
... uhm.
Ow. Yeah. Not so cool.
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| Still so serious ... |
Eventually we relinquished the little squirt to the care of his parents for dinner time and Wes and I headed home to make our dinner and pack the mud crabs on ice until we could cook them at a later date.
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| And these are considered small ones! |
For dinner, we made up a quick Mexican taco feast, with some of the best store-bought guacamole I've had (in or out of the US). We substituted shallots/green onion for the recipe's desired white onion, which seems to have been a really good choice. It made for a very tasty meal, I have to say.
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| Of course a shiraz goes nicely with tacos! |
Not as tasty as what we had the next day, but that's something else entirely.
Saturday, after Wes and I ate, I put together the seven layer salad. I changed a few things in the original recipe, like adding black olives and doing the bacon the next morning so it wouldn't get soggy, but it came out really well. I had planned to do the potato salad immediately as well, but ended up being too tired to pull it off.
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| Messy counter, tasty salad. |
