Birthday party, Political Events and Lincoln

My life is very full right now. Saturday night I hosted a birthday dinner for my favorite neighbor Charie Rivers who will turn eighty on October 27th. I had twenty five people for dinner. We had steak, green beans and orzo; for dessert we had birthday cake and ice cream. I ordered the food from Foods of all Nations. Stan prepared it for me. Fran Bonitti another good friend of Charlie's ordered the cake from Sam's and I picked it up. All of Charlie's kids came to the party, two from Texas, Caroline who spent the week here with her daughter, Rachael in Cville and Clay who is the oldest and came as a complete surprise with his wife Guiliana. Kim Tom's wife picked them up at the Richmond airport. They arrived and hour before the party and Clay and Guilianna changed downstairs. Tom and Kim and their kids were also here. Having Clay come made for some excitement. Rick called Charlie on the phone about 5:30 and ask him to come down and move some furniture. He came and when he did we were all waiting and yelled surprise.

Rick and I concluded that there is some tension in the family and that is why we never see Clay. Right now he does not have a job. He told us he was fifty years old. His wife has a job selling pension funds. She is very Spanish looking and was never really accepted my Charlie's mother. After the party the kids, the Burns and Rick and I sat around the table and talked but no one was in any hurry to go up to their father' house.

Charlie just brought the dishes back from the party. I sent a lot of food with Caroline so they had food to eat the next morning.

Monday night I hosted a dessert for Duane Snow who is running for Board of Supervisors from the Samuel Miller District. I thought I would have a full house but only about twenty people showed up. We sat in the family room and everyone asked questions. Well, Phil Williams ask a lot of questions. The people who came were mostly from around the lake. The discussion seemed to focus mainly growth and housing. I made two pumpkin pies and a cake for the event. I purchased cookies and tiny eclairs form Sam's club.

Last night I went to my class at the University and listened to a professor talk about Lincoln and emancipation. The teacher was very old. He had one arm that would not move and he seemed blind to me, since his eyes never completely opened. All these old professors seem to get winded. His conclusion was that Lincoln was a racist. He wrote a 1300 page book about Lincoln, concentrating on his political career. Lincoln never really wanted to free the slaves unless that is what the country wanted. He did want to preserve the union and that was his number one goal. He also wanted to die as a great person.