The first year we lived here, I organized a CC get together at a local outdoor venue. I think eight of us showed up to meet irl. Maybe it’s time to do that again - October perhaps? We could do CC trivia LOL. Perhaps I’ll start a thread and see if there’s interest again.
Marylin - great idea. SD in October sounds nice. It is usually yucky here, so I might come!
The date for our 'hood party is set. I guess we are not grilling burgers on someone’s lawn! It is a new kind of a setup for us. Everyone meets for appetizers at one house. Then everyone goes to the house where the main course will be served. Then the party culminates with desserts served at a third house. This way, no single host is burdened with having to entertain a crowd for several hours. The folks who are not hosting bring the wine. It is a small neighborhood, so this is how the folks here roll.
Our neighborhood has transitioned from our block being long time owners in their 80s, a decade ago, to being mostly people our age, 50-75. The majority are second homes so when they are here it’s either quiet escape time and we don’t see them or it’s festive and there’s a morning coffee or evening wine on the deck or even a neighborhood dinner. We have about 8 houses on our end and 6 are quite social, the others we never see. Beyond our group of 8, the road turns a bit and we don’t see those people so they simply don’t get included. There are also dog walking friends in the neighborhood. It goes a long way to address my basic social needs.
A progressive dinner sounds fun, though that means every one has to clean their house!
We raised our kids and were extremely involved in all sorts of volunteering and community things in that town; since we’ve moved, I definitely had some withdrawal at first, but now I am just as happy not to be the house that has all the parties and all the group things. Lazy? Old? But also realistic, I keep in touch with very few of those old friends, mainly on Facebook, so became quite aware that many friendships are merely what works at the time.
A couple of years ago I made a “resolution” that we were going to try to be more social, especially me, and I’ve actually done so. I usually have one “date”or more with a girl friend or two each week. My husband and I don’t get together that often with friends, but we are doing better than we used to. I’d say it’s at least once a month, and probably more. We also go out by ourselves once a week (or more), but I’m getting tired of that, and thinking we should eat in more often.
Thanks to this thread, I had a gf over last Friday night, am going to an optional family thing next Sunday, and am planning two events at my house. Use it or lose it.
OK, because of this thread, I have had the neighbors for dinner (long overdue), and this week we are having 2 couples from my volunteer work for dinner. I got the idea for 6 total people from this thread and this is the first time we are doing that. We have 6 comfortable seats at the dining room table. Also I know H can cook comfortably for 6.
I think that having people for dinner is a lot easier once we retired. We had the place, the means, the people, but just not the energy to put it all together when both working full time and then some.
This winter break D2 brought over some friends from college who were passing through. There was 3 mid 20’s guys and D2 and H and me. The 3 guys ate enough for 6 (at least) so we had like 9 for dinner!