Phew!

[rejectomorph]

The chaos is over, and it only took about an hour to coax the cat back into the house once she returned from wherever she was hiding all afternoon (she always makes herself scarce when there is company, for which skill I greatly envy her.) There were thirty or sixty nephews (including the one who lives some distance away and who for some reason looks and sounds more and more like Bruce Dern as he gets older) and nieces and such, and goatloads of digital cameras flashing, with the result that my soul was stolen at least a dozen times, despite my best efforts to stay out of range. It will take me weeks to recover, I'm sure. Anyway, the cleanup is finished and eventually the cat will settle down, eat something and go to sleep instead of bouncing off the walls with nervous excitement (why does the house smell like strange people!?) as she's been doing for the last hour. I'm glad there aren't parties here more often.

Want to enjoy the calm now.