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People start trickling in an hour or so before dinnertime, offering to help and chatting as I dash about the kitchen with finishing touches.

Everyone exclaims over Laurie's new hairstyle over at ...slowly she turned, and she tells people how they can donate their hair to Locks of Love, too.

To break the ice, Ogre's Politics and Views tells a military joke that has us all rolling. Bad Example follows it up with a list of fun facts about the quirks of living in North Carolina.

After the laughter dies down, Ken starts telling us about his fascination with magazines, and how that has led to ... just as he starts to tell us what would happen to his magazine collection, the timer goes off and dinner is ready.

After everyone sits down and starts serving out the food, Ken finishes his tale of a packrat gone wrong. Waterfall from A Sort of Notebook mentions a love of magazines, too -- in this case, Cooking Light. She mentions a few of the yummy recipes she tried recently for a recent dinner around the picnic table.

There's a lull in conversation as everyone takes their first bites of the food they've been smelling all evening. Noisy chewing is punctuated by the occasional clink of silverware on the good china.

Bora over at A Blog Around the Clock swallows his mouthful and takes the opportunity to relate a story about his son getting a lesson on the Constitution and standing up for his rights. Many guests comment on his son's bravery in the face of authority.

etbnc is reminded of a previous conversation and starts a discussion about persuasion and communication, and a lack thereof.

After clearing the dinner plates, I break out dessert, which leads Jude over at Iddybud Journal to tell us about apple time in the Catoctin mountains, and she shares a recipe for Pecan Apple Pie that sounds delicious. In return, I share my recipe for Pumpkin Apple Cake, one of my all-time fall favorites.

Speaking of things coming into season, Ron brings out pictures of his night blooming-cereus to show everyone.

As belts start to loosen and people push away from the table, the conversation drifts to what's on TV tonight. Melinama runs down some shows she's caught on DVD this summer, as well as some of the telenovelas she's been watching.

Gradually, people start to drift out the door, remarking that we all need to do this again sometime soon. I close the door on the last person with a sigh of relief as I contemplate bed. The dishes will just have to wait.