July 11, 2020 Edition: Sunnyside Arms Over Easy Blog (Part II)
- The Sunnyside Arms Gazette
- Jul 11, 2020
- 5 min read
The Sunnyside Arms Gazette's Over Easy column is taken over today by our head-in-the-clouds, mystery loving, BETSYTalks-giving, quirky and sluethy, on-the-fly event planning, resident specialist of knowing about all things creative, the one and only Betsy Ross!
Hello Everyone!
I have EVEN MORE to tell you what happened here at Sunnyside Arms over the July 4th Holiday weekend! Like I said before, the event was a smash hit and a homerun! I think you’ll enjoy reading all about it, both the before and after. Here for your reading pleasure, is the after!
PART II: POST-EVENT
July 4th Was A Super Success At Sunnyside Arms
What an amazing event we had here on July 4th! None of it could be done without all the hard work from some very patriotic volunteers! Genevieve crushed it on the decoration and game setup while Harold kindly set up all the chairs and tables with Herscel. Ms. Daphne cooked up a storm and Mr. Hawker handled all things music. With notes from Tiffani, who is still on her honeymoon, I put my style skills to the next level with getting all the costumes, wigs, and other accessories ready for the fashion show, amazing! Harold’s grandson, Dylan who is helping us out while Joe is on his honeymoon with Tiffani, did a wonderful job at being my right hand man getting the grounds all spiffy for the celebration. Naturally, Agnes oversaw everything we did and John oversaw Agnes. A quick rundown on the epic celebration: there was great food, surprise events, heated competition, fashion faux pas, explosions…and just a small fire. Oops.
Great Food And A New (Food) Queen For Sunnyside Arms
The food was a hit, as usual! Ms. Daphne should change her name to Queen Daphne, but because this was the 4th of July, and the colonies were trying to leave Great Britain and the idea of royalty being in charge, I told her it might be best to wait to change her name until July 5th. Could you imagine that PR nightmare at the residence if she did it on Independence Day?!
Surprise Event #1: M. Hawker VS. Tapioca Pudding
Mr. Hawker went a little off script and started an impromptu one-man tapioca pudding-eating contest about 3 p.m. in the afternoon. He won…by default. When I asked him where he got the pudding and why he was doing this NOW, he told me that 1. He found cans of it in the pantry while looking for more BBQ sauce for Ms. Daphne’s chicken. 2. He thought it might help with his constipation. Needless to say it was a rather lackluster competition to watch. However he bragged about his winning for the rest of the night every time he made a trip to the bathroom.
Star-shaped Jell-O and Fruit For The Win
Both Toss the Stars On The Flag and the Watermelon Eating Contest went off without a hitch! Everyone loved throwing Jell-O at the wall (Nailed it!) and my lovely star-shaped watermelon was so well-received, that we are planning to try flag-shaped apples next year. And, I DID win the Michael’s gift card, by the way. I can pack away more fruit that it looks like I can.
Heated Competition: Smarts or Time Travel?
The trivia challenge was where things really heated up, if you weren’t standing by the grill of course. (Haha!) As the quizmaster I couldn’t participate but also because I knew all the answers—I am the master of all things 4th of July, afterall! Not just the trivia challenge! Anyway, the mystery man himself, Dentley, dominated on the trivia front! Harold tried sniffing him out as he was certain Dentley was cheating somehow. I think something else is behind it. I honestly think Dentley knew the Declaration of Indepence and Hamilton trivia because he lived through BOTH times in our history. Before you discount my reasoning, you have to know that Herscel was telling me about time travel (seems real crazy but also makes total sense) and how he thinks Dentley stepped right out of 1776 and into our celebration today! How else could someone possibly know so much?! I mean, I know things, but he acts like he signed the documents himself, a real fly on the wall situation! I certainly need to follow up on the matter. STAY TUNED!
Fashion Faux Pas And So Hot! Hot! Hot!
Next up was the Founding Mothers & Fathers Fashion Show. It. Was. STIFLING! Wool in the Florida summer sun, no thank you! No wonder no one from Florida participated in the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Nah, just kidding! It's because Florida didn't become a state until 1845. I had 15 wardrobe changes myself and must have lost 10 pounds! It was so hot in those darn period appropriate outfits. But let me tell you, we all looked fabulous! The form-fitting designer cuts, fluffy collars and cuffs, oh, and the wigs. The wigs! So much style! Agnes was the only live spectator and everyone else that came strutted their stuff! She said someone had to be responsible and on the ready when some faux pas would inevitably happen. She was right! John was runway manager of the production and he mixed up Samuel Huntington (representing Connecticut) with Samuel Chase (representing Maryland). I was SO embarrassed. I don’t think Agnes noticed…she didn’t say anything. She’ll know after reading this though. Oops!
Fireworks...And Agnes
Naturally when doing my top-secret fireworks shopping, I got the best of the best…because I know a guy. I’ve been working with Dylan for the last few weeks building the perfect display board and firing platform. When we were finally done we had over 300 sections of PVC mounted on sheets of plywood. With each fuse linked up from one to another, my 35-minute display was ready to WOW! The flag-shaped display was going to be my love letter to our country! Agnes suggested we do the fireworks at sundown this year because 9:30 p.m. is past lights out. I wonder if she requested the ball be dropped before midnight on New Year Eve. Oh, that woman’s got one interesting sense of humor.
Surprise Event #2: Explosions And A Small Fire
Finally, it was sundown and the epic colorful finale of fireworks lit up the sky! I lit the fuse, hoped for the best and RAN! Obviously I didn’t want to miss the show, that just wouldn't make sense now would it? Everything was going according to plan, everyone was “ooo-ing” and “ahh-ing” and clapping, I was pleased as American pie! That is until…roughly 20 or so fireworks went off at once and might or might not have caught a portion of Joe and Tiffani’s shed on fire. But let's focus on the bright, colorful, and loud boom that came out of it. It was really just such a sight to see! While everyone else freaked out and scrambled about, Dentley sprung into full hero mode battling the flames while I sprung into full s’mores mode! I simply had to make the best of a less than desirable situation. Sunnyside Arms is always on the sunny side of something! Amiright?!
Eventually the fire department showed up and put out our very large campfire. Agnes was in full on “spiral out of control panic mode”…at least that's what I would call it. She abandoned her clipboard. Agnes NEVER puts that thing down. EVER. In all the chaos, I army-crawled across the lawn to see what sort of information was on that coveted clipboard. Her last name was not amongst the information. Ugh. It is still a mystery that confounds me to this day!
Here We Are After The Holiday
Here we are a few days after the Sunnyside Arms Super-Sized, Red, White, and Blue, Flag-Flying, Patriotic Explosion of July 4th Greatness AND Independence Day Extravaganza and you can find me outback in the garden, heading up the rebuilding efforts of the shed. The blueprints I drew up are sure to impress. Certainly Tiffani should approve. I don’t think anyone realizes I was behind the fireworks incidents…except maybe Dylan, but doesn’t talk much, so I am not worried. Accidents happen and that's why you ALWAYS do your homework, especially math, in pencil.
Betsy Ross out!
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