In the middle of the month, JP, Margy, Jeff and Andy came to town for Hubbellpalooza '23.
Due to life, responsibilities, jobs and all that other mundane stuff, Hubbellpalooza has morphed over the years from a summer long bacchanal of parties and late nights to a week long gathering of lovely dinners and exhausted sleep. We started doing this 40 years ago when those of us who lived out of state (which included me and Jay at the time) came home to hang at the big house on the edge of Lake Harriet to make sure that all our kids grew up knowing their cousins. It worked like gangbusters and to this day, the second generation of Hubbells is as close as can be, even though some of them were unable to wrench their schedules to fit the reunion this year. We missed the handful who could not join us. Some of the cousins couldn't get off work, some couldn't swing the airfare and at least one had to go receive a professional award the same weekend as the tournament. Hopefully next year, the commissioner will get his act together early enough so they can all plan ahead and be here. Grandma Punkin isn't getting any younger!
Wednesday, a handful of us gals went to Excelsior (a gorgeous little town on Lake Minnetonka) for lunch and antiquing. I didn't buy anything but saw several things that would make excellent needlepoint designs. A bunch of people ended up at Joe's for dinner. It was not a late night. The next morning, Margy asked if they could all come to my house for dinner if they brought the food. I said "yes." Two hours later, I got a text from Josie asking if I was having a party and why wasn't she invited??
That's what it's like.
I told her I was not having a party but she could certainly join us if she wished and she replied that she couldn't come but always liked to be invited. Dinner was fabulous: grilled chicken thighs with salad, cucumbers in blue cheese dressing and a Sugar Kiss canteloup. I think we may have had root beer floats for dessert but I don't really remember. The weather was hot and beautiful. We walked the lake in the afternoon. Friday we walked again and Katie dropped BoopityBoop at my house in the late afternoon. The girls and I had a sleep over and it was fun. At Boop's suggestion, we made ginger snaps. They're her favorite and her mom doesn't like them so Boop depends on me to supply her with them. Saturday morning, we went to the Minnehaha falls, which the girls didn't remember having visited before. I'm sure they have but they're six: they don't remember everything. That was great fun! We walked below the falls and they climbed the rocks that line the ravine.
I asked if they wanted to walk all the way to the Mighty Mississippi and watch bald eagles fish but I warned them that as far as we walked, we'd have to walk back. They opted to climb the long stairs back up to the playground. It was a good call.
We went home for lunch, which definitely included root beer floats. Then we made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for the party that evening. The John G. Hubbell Memorial Golf Invitational had begun that day and Hootie and Juliana had offered to host at their place. There's a party room and a pool so Juliana told us we could come any time during the afternoon and swim. We took her up on that! BoopityBoop and I were the first to arrive. Heidi let us into the pool and Juliana and Hogg came down to say hi but didn't swim at the moment. The twins and I were very hot and tired and we didn't mind having the pool to ourselves at all. It's a gorgeous private pool with a breathtaking view of the river!
Heidi picked up a tall stack of pizzas (rumor has it the Great One paid the bill for the pizza) and folks had brought all kinds of side dishes and desserts. Several coolers were full of beer, pop and water.
In addition to the pool and park like setting, there is also a golf course right across the road from Hootiana's apt and Joe has gotten into the habit of taking his grandson Hogg (15months old [no, that's not his real name]) golfing with him. So Joe and several of his other sons all met at Hootie's place in the morning to head to the tournament together. Hogg saw that Grandpa Joe was wearing golf clothes and had his clubs...so Hogg quite naturally grabbed his own clubs and prepared to hit the links. You can only imagine his disappointment and rage as the men took off without him. Juliana told us he ran to the window and watched them go, crying and pounding on the pane. Sort of like William Wallace when his Dad and brother went off to the 'peace talks' with Longshanks.
Get used to it kid: golf will always break your heart.
There was some controversy this year: The Commissioner (Andy) decreed that any participants in the tourney who were not Hubbells by either blood or marriage were to be considered 'amateurs' and while they could win the event, were ineligible to take possession of the traveling trophy. He claimed that Grandma Punkin was behind this move. That couldn't possibly be true, as we would soon find out.
I thought it made perfect sense! The trophy is a huge, ugly, heavy piece of furniture which Joe crafted, using the hardware and bling from several of the golf trophies the Great John G. and Punkin herself had won over the years. We can't have that going off with some fly by night boyfriend who may get dumped before next year's tournament! You want that trophy? Put a ring on it.
Someone, (who apparently has more clout than Grandma Punkin), objected to the new policy. In the face of this 5'1" hurricane, Andy caved like the California coastline. (In his defense, everyone does. I guess she can be really scary.) He had to send out another email early Sunday morning that basically said "never mind."
The party at Hootiana's was really fun. First, we swam, then we went into the party room and had dinner, then we moved back out to the pool and the little kids jumped back in. Swimming and stories and laughter continued until after dark. Finally, the party broke up and we all went home to get a good night's sleep before day 2 of the tournament.
Sunday was cool and rainy. Jay won't play in the rain but while it rained all around the course, it never actually rained on whichever hole he was playing so he was fine. The non-players drove out to the course and had dinner, drinks and more fun as the players finished their rounds.
Boyfriend won the tournament and took home the trophy.
If he gets dumped before next year and we never see the trophy again, it's all Andy's fault.
Monday, two car loads of us went out to the Arboretum for a lovely afternoon. It was still cool and overcast so the place was deserted but the flowers looked amazing after the rain they'd enjoyed on Sunday. It's always a good idea to spend a few hours there. In the early evening, the out of towners flew home and another Hubbellpalooza was history.
Jay and I had three days to rest before packing up and hitting the road.
Next up: RODEO!