The potluck party with the grade school buddies at Odessa’s place was a huge success. There was food – pasta and lots of meat-, dessert, and lots of drinks, too. For the ladies, some strawberry cocktail punch and lemony margaritas, while the guys had their usual beer. It rained heavily several hours before the dinnertime party, but the precipitation failed to “rain” on our parade. We all had a whale of a time sharing stories, trading jokes, drinking booze, playing with Odessa’s wacko dog, Jacko, and of course, posing for pictures.
Our bartender for the night, Angela, who I hope will be our official bartender from this party forward, devised a wicked strawberry punch highlighted with spiked gelatin bits. And by spiked I mean the gelatin cubes had alcohol in it. So there I was munching on the gelatin, not realizing that I was actually taking in more alcohol than I initially thought. As for the lemon margarita, it was divinely delish, and if not for the strawberry punch which I gulped down unthinkingly, I would have had more.
the wicked, wicked punch
the gradeschool gang! 
the party planners
Odessa, our lovely hostess, in black.
jacko!
