Heidi's Graduation!

Oh, what a week it was. Saturday was a beautiful day. Heidi's graduation ceremony started at 10 AM, held in the new Concordia Fitness Facility which had just been opened the day before. It was a very Lutheran (?) ceremony, but very nice.

Heidi graduated with High Distinction, and received the Outstanding Graduate in Studio Art award. All the parents, Roger and Cindy, and stepmothers, Sue and Evie, were very proud. Check out the pictures. Unfortunately, many of them are blurry, but we captured a few good ones here.

Next we came back here for the boring Old Peoples' afternoon party. Then the fun college kids' evening barbecue. About 80 people in all, and it was a very nice time. Heidi's 83 year old grandfather came from Iowa with Cindy's sister. Aunt Mildred represented the Schlaphoff side. The Maag's and the Waverly neighborhood gang showed up to add fun to the party. Heidi and her roommate, Nora, were very gracious graduates.

The afternoon's menu consisted of black olive tapenade, Tony & Luigi's veggie dip & veggies, my signature Green Guacamole (all of the ingredients are green), and my soon-to-be-signature baby skewers. They are stupidly funny, make a beautiful presentation, and people somehow love them. You merely take cocktail toothpicks and put two pieces of assorted stuff on them. This time I used a combination of cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, dried apricots, baby dill pickles, green and black olives, purple grapes and summersausage. I mixed and matched them and literally tossed them onto a big clear plastic platter. Go figure.

At the evening party, Roger manned the barbecue and grilled up hamburgers and chicken that I had marinated overnight. I'd made pulled pork and French Potato Salad (no mayonnaise so it could sit out) and baked beans. Recycled the leftovers from the afternoon and we had a party!

And cake, of course the cake. Check out the picure, it is too funny.

The back yard was perfect, thanks to Roger for vacuuming, sucking and otherwise picking up maple seeds all week. I used the scootching method and bonded with each individual brick for several days. We planted flowers, and our first purple Pansy popped out for the occasion.

So now it's officially summer. Heidi is working at the Waverly pool and coaching the swim team again, then, she heads off to New York City! She was one of ten applicants nationwide accepted into the NYCAMS program at Bethel University, a semester-long art residency and internship program. It will be a wonderful experience for her!

And wish Heidi the best of luck!