So much to do

It’s a late August afternoon, and the one-eyed cat is stretched out underneath a picnic table in our backyard, dreaming, perhaps, of the mouse that escaped his claws earlier in the day.

I’d like to be as relaxed as our old red tabby, but I can’t shake the fear that we won’t get our garden looking good in time for the gathering we’re hosting in late September.

When Gil and I were newlyweds who had just moved into our first home, a much wiser woman said to me, “Be sure to hold a lot of parties. That way, you’re forced to make sure your house looks decent.”

Not ones to ignore sound advice when we hear it, at least once a year we try to host a good-sized group of people so our property won’t go to complete ruin. Not wanting to be embarrassed by the condition of our home and yard, we put forth some effort to clean things up, trim plants, maybe paint some of the outdoor furniture.

It was with this annual ritual in mind that last winter I offered our backyard for the September Happy Hour fundraiser for the La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn. I made it very clear to Pat Hutchins, who was charged with the task of finding Happy Hour hosts this year, that it had to be an outdoor event, because not only is our house too small to hold the fine turnout, it’s also pathetically outdated. If you don’t believe me, come to the Sept. 25 Happy Hour and peer in our kitchen window. That will take you down memory lane, and I don’t necessarily mean in a good way — the cabinets, sink and tiling are all original to the 1951 house. And the wallpaper, put up by a previous owner in the 1970s, should have been replaced at the time we bought the house in 1986. I just kept thinking we would remodel the kitchen one day “soon” so there was no need to rip down the old paper and give the walls a fresh coat of paint.