fiberhart

California- Day Three

Saturday was when the larger group got together for a slumber party- a common occurrence when we were in high school. Fortunately, there were enough soft spaces to sleep on for those of us who didn't have camping gear!

Judy made it to Fullerton from Palm Springs mid-morning, after getting her alternator and battery replaced. We ate a late breakfast around Elaine's kitchen table, and talked non-stop.

Elaine asked me what I like for breakfast before I came, and I told her I enjoyed fruit. She bought enough to feed an army, all kinds! So I made a big fruit salad to take to the party. I had pears, apples, oranges, kiwi, red grapes, green grapes, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, and watermelon. (And still had plenty of fruit leftover for breakfast!) It made a lovely, tasty salad with only a little lemon juice.

We left for Cindy's mid-afternoon. Cindy lives in the old part of Orange, in a restored home with lots of character. The party begins!!



The hostess Cindy is on the left, talking with Judy and Jan.



We ate (Elaine was worried we'd run out, I told her no way- and I was right!), drank, and talked up a storm. What else would twelve women who haven't seen each other in years do?

Cindy and Dennis have a big wooden Indian in their living room. It's very apropos, our high school mascot is the Indians. So Elaine and I were among those who posed with the Indian-



And, we had to pose for a group photo! Dennis took lots of pictures, with lots of cameras. As you can tell, we were having way to much fun.




Later in the evening, we started discussing our nocturnal escapade. To understand this, you need some history. Mr. Daniels was our hands-down favorite teacher in high school. When we had him, he was young, single, good looking, and a teacher who managed to make learning both fun and interesting. We loved him so much, toilet papering his home became a regular event. We became pros at it-once we even tp'ed the inside of his car. And, as I recall, the next morning we came over, cleaned up the tp, and left the mound of it on his front porch, blocking the door. The mound was at least four feet high.

We didn't stop when we graduated. We had another reunion when we were all about forty, and did it again. We even left a big banner hung on his garage: Class of 68 Stikes Again, Forty Isn't Fatal! He loved it.

So here we are, eighteen years later. We had quite the discussion. Mr. Daniels, like us, is older, and cleaning it up might be a problem. Also, he is a well-known gardener in the county. This year, he planted 3500 tulip bulbs in his front yard, and the display was magnificent. He got news and TV coverage. So we didn't want to tromp on his garden, even though the tulip display is mostly over. Here's the solution we came up with.

We all signed a sticky label, and put one label per square of tp on a roll we unwrapped. Cindy made a sign for a 6 pack roll of tp-



Cindy made a certificate of appreciation for his enduring all the years of having his house tp'ed. She'd also bought a four-pack of gourmet cupcakes to leave for him. All that in tow, we headed back to Fullerton and his house.

We found it with no problem, and collected everyone from the three cars. Here's his house, and then us outside the house, trying to figure out if he's home.





We all ended up on his porch to leave our 'gifts'. It was pretty clear he wasn't home, we made enough noise to alert anyone. Janice and Elaine placed the goodies-first the open roll with our signatures on the mailbox,



unrolled to take him right to the 'Do It Yourself' kit.



Then we all posed for a picture in the midst of the crime!



Earlier, we'd noticed that the next door neighbors were outside. So Jan and I went over to talk to them, let them know what we were up to. The whole group ended up over there. We found out how Mr. Daniels is doing, and told her our history with him.

I laughed all the way back to Cindy's house, where we sat up talking until 3 am. I caught four hours sleep, then up for breakfast- Cindy had muffins, strawberries, and coffee ready for us. After eating and collecting all our contact information, we bid each other good-bye.

Who says you get too old to party and have fun???