Yesterday I had a little lunch party.  I invited Megumi-san and Yasu-san, who are on sabbatical from their teaching duties in Japan.  Fumiko happened to be here this week, too, so she came with her friend, Henry, who lives in Sacramento.  

The last time we had all gotten together, Yasu and Gunther found they had a love of micro-breweries, so we focused our party on beer tasting.  Gunther made spare ribs.  I cooked some white beans with greens, made some bruschetta, and put out some bread and cheese. 

It was a glorious day, which allowed us to move the table into the garden and eat outside.  We felt like we were in Italy!  I gave everyone a hat to wear from my collection. 

When the sun was well down in late afternoon, Eliza suggested that we go across the street to their house and look for Cosmo, the tortoise that Fumiko gave to Eliza and Gunther to tortoise-sit.  That was over a year ago!  When possible, Eliza keeps him in the yard so he doesn't have to be confined to the terrarium.  She knows his hiding places.  We all searched the garden, but couldn't find him.