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catsittingstill) wrote2022-10-21 09:28 pm
catsittingstill) wrote2022-10-21 09:28 pm
Democrats Bean Supper
So a couple of months ago we were having a Democratic Executive Council meeting and someone brought up the Bean Supper, which is a fundraising event we've done in the past in the fall, and they needed someone to be in charge of it, and my recollection is that R offered to be in charge of it and I offered to help. So a couple of weeks later I started trying to get in touch with R to find out what he wanted me to do, and he kind of ignored me for a week and then said that he hadn't offered to be in charge at all he just offered to help, and for lack of anyone else who had spoken up at all, I was left holding the bag.
And that will be the last time I offer to help R with something unless the limits of my help are stated quite clearly from the get-go, and a bunch of other people are also offering to help.
However I forcibly refrained from panicking and made a rough list of the kind of volunteer help I thought putting on the event would entail and started contacting people, and it turned out that lots of people were willing to help, and in some cases quite extensively. Laura took over finding speakers and did such a great job we had two candidates, a guy from the paper, and a union leader, and I also recruited her as chief troubleshooter while the event was taking place since I was putting up the sound system and playing music. Marge handled the on-site cooking and made enough beans (from scratch! they were good beans too!) to feed an army. I helped her with setup in the morning, before I had to race home and make pumpkin pies, because we thought until Monday that it was going to be dinner for 60 people but discovered when the reservations were counted it was actually dinner for 80 people. Other people who made desserts (or picked them up at the store) were Delenn, Lisa, Denis, Laura, Jan and Barb. Jill and Jim located the food and figured out how much it was going to cost, and Jill also bought all the paper plates and bowls and cups and plastic cutlery. R got the ribs and, with the considerable help of his partner, cooked them. Lisa took money at the door for those people who hadn't prepaid, and Betty and Barb and Bob served the food and J Chris and Dennis and Jim and John helped with setup and teardown and Barb was a trouper who stayed till we'd cleaned everything up and turned out the lights.
I made cornbread muffins the day before, but Barb and Laura also did that, and I made five gallons of tea the night before (sweet tea has a jaw-dropping amount of sugar in it; I had to buy a whole new bag of sugar to have enough.) I made a list of everything I thought we might need at the venue (which historically has not had anything much in the way of pots or pans or cooking implements or garbage bags or paper towels or cleaning spray or anything) and stuffed my car full of things, most of which came in handy. Note to self; next time bring a whisk broom and dustpan and also tinfoil and single-use tupperware.
We had a few empty seats so I guess some of the folks who made reservations didn't come, but on the whole people seemed to have fun, and the few people who commented on my playing said it sounded good. I just played old time tunes; I have a whole list of thirty or so that I printed out and taped to my mandolin so I would remember what I was playing.
I didn't get home till about 11pm.
Next up is OVFF and Chamberfilk; I've got the songs entered, and Robin Baylor wrote out arrangements for three of them, which I have also entered, and I arranged the fourth, but I need to check with Philip and see how he wants them printed out (what cleffs etc.) But I talked to my violin teacher for pointers on how to play them better, and while I'm not where I want to be on violin I do feel like I'm noticeably better than I was last year.
And that will be the last time I offer to help R with something unless the limits of my help are stated quite clearly from the get-go, and a bunch of other people are also offering to help.
However I forcibly refrained from panicking and made a rough list of the kind of volunteer help I thought putting on the event would entail and started contacting people, and it turned out that lots of people were willing to help, and in some cases quite extensively. Laura took over finding speakers and did such a great job we had two candidates, a guy from the paper, and a union leader, and I also recruited her as chief troubleshooter while the event was taking place since I was putting up the sound system and playing music. Marge handled the on-site cooking and made enough beans (from scratch! they were good beans too!) to feed an army. I helped her with setup in the morning, before I had to race home and make pumpkin pies, because we thought until Monday that it was going to be dinner for 60 people but discovered when the reservations were counted it was actually dinner for 80 people. Other people who made desserts (or picked them up at the store) were Delenn, Lisa, Denis, Laura, Jan and Barb. Jill and Jim located the food and figured out how much it was going to cost, and Jill also bought all the paper plates and bowls and cups and plastic cutlery. R got the ribs and, with the considerable help of his partner, cooked them. Lisa took money at the door for those people who hadn't prepaid, and Betty and Barb and Bob served the food and J Chris and Dennis and Jim and John helped with setup and teardown and Barb was a trouper who stayed till we'd cleaned everything up and turned out the lights.
I made cornbread muffins the day before, but Barb and Laura also did that, and I made five gallons of tea the night before (sweet tea has a jaw-dropping amount of sugar in it; I had to buy a whole new bag of sugar to have enough.) I made a list of everything I thought we might need at the venue (which historically has not had anything much in the way of pots or pans or cooking implements or garbage bags or paper towels or cleaning spray or anything) and stuffed my car full of things, most of which came in handy. Note to self; next time bring a whisk broom and dustpan and also tinfoil and single-use tupperware.
We had a few empty seats so I guess some of the folks who made reservations didn't come, but on the whole people seemed to have fun, and the few people who commented on my playing said it sounded good. I just played old time tunes; I have a whole list of thirty or so that I printed out and taped to my mandolin so I would remember what I was playing.
I didn't get home till about 11pm.
Next up is OVFF and Chamberfilk; I've got the songs entered, and Robin Baylor wrote out arrangements for three of them, which I have also entered, and I arranged the fourth, but I need to check with Philip and see how he wants them printed out (what cleffs etc.) But I talked to my violin teacher for pointers on how to play them better, and while I'm not where I want to be on violin I do feel like I'm noticeably better than I was last year.