In what feels like a pretty familiar theme around here, we’ve once again returned from a few days away. This time around, it was our annual trip to Smith Mountain Lake with Will & Mollie.
It was a relaxing few days of fun. We had boat time, dock time, fishing time.
Pat caught a big ol’ large mouth bass right there by the boat house.
Mollie and myself, exploring the cookbook shelf, found this gem, published sometime in the 1950’s, sponsored by Old Forrester. Reminiscent of the Calvert Party Encyclopedia, this helpful how-to had a chart in which to help hosts have enough drinks on hand for any size party, any time.
I urge you to click on that image for a closer look. We were amazed that for a party of four at lunch, 8 cocktails and 8 optional glasses of wine were recommended. Interestingly enough, when the head count jumped to six, suddenly, after lunch drinks were also recommended. We also couldn’t help but noticed the recommended amount of drinks for evening parties – for parties of four, it worked out to about 4 drinks each. Past that, plan on 5 drinks per guest – I guess the more people you gather together, the more everyone drinks? Admittedly, this kept Mollie & I entertained for days.
We had all our usual traditions, including a visit to what we call ‘Carp City’ – Smith Mountain Dock – where after gassing up the boat and feeding the carp, we ate corn dogs for lunch before heading back out to swim, ski & tube all afternoon.
We left after dinner last night – Pat had to be in Richmond for a meeting early this morning and Edie wanted to spend a few nights in her own bed before heading to camp this weekend.
We’ll see the Smileys on again on Sunday when we drop the girls off at camp. It’s Abigail’s first year there, something she’s looked forward to for I don’t even know how long. The girls are ecstatic about it of course – three whole weeks together at CAMP!
Meanwhile, I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that it’s the time of summer where Edie goes to camp. Camp always seems to happen right around the time where Edie is not only bored stiff with us, but bored stiff with summer. I still don’t feel we are quite there yet despite Edie heading to the basement to organize my canning shelves today, but here it is. I have a number of projects I’ve pushed to the back burner until after Sunday’s drop-off that I’m looking forward to sharing with everyone in the coming weeks. Between now & then, there’s laundry to be done, a trunk to be packed and the Calvert family bed & breakfast is doing a swift business, with visits planned from friends every night for the coming days.
It’s good to be home.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 
OMG. People must have been completely plastered at parties in the 50s. The recommended dosage for a party of six is 24 drinks an hour for the first two hours. If you look closely at the little cartoon for six, one woman has already fallen down drunk.
Looks like you had a fun summer getaway. Welcome back 🙂
Oh yeah, that one had us in complete disbelief! Were they just pounding drinks for two hours or what?
That host’s helper is rather enlightening. Sounds like a busy summer for you. Nice shot of the lake.
It’s our typical summer – always on the way to somewhere, usually with water. That’s the view from the dock of Granny’s cabin. It’s a very sweet little spot.
Were drinks different portions in the 50’s? That seems very excessive, even for a person that has been known to partake of a heavy party or two. 🙂
They didn’t look that different. I’ve been called “Party Girl” since practically birth and even I think two cocktails at lunchtime (without the ‘optional’ wine) is a bit much. More like a recipe for a nap!