You can have a Christmas party, but it has to be held in mid-December or you won’t get anyone to show up.

You can plan the annual Halloween Chili Fest — for any day but Oct. 31. A St. Patrick’s Day party won’t work on March 17.

And don’t even think about planning a New Year’s Eve party.

That seemed to be our conventional thinking when I served on the Maples at the Sonatas social committee a couple of years ago. People would not show up for a holiday party on the actual holiday. They would have other plans.

But now we have a new social committee with new ideas. So they planned a neighborhood cookout for today, Labor Day, not too concerned about how many people would come. And much to everyone’s delight, more than 40 neighbors turned out. So much for conventional thinking.

One thing you CAN count on with our community is a large variety of good food. We were asked to bring our own meat, a dish to pass, and our beverage. Our bar/counter was overflowing with tempting side dishes. And Diana came up with one of the tastiest beverages we’ve ever shared.

Some of our guys took on the grilling duties—and managed to have a good time doing it. Here, Bob and Steve try to hide Art’s Green Bay Packers shirt from my camera.

Once we had finished the feast, our attention turned to an important, overdue task. Our mascot bear has never been given a name, but that was going to change. Cathie had invited all of us to submit names for this guy.

It was a difficult decision with this many names to choose from. But we each voted for one.

The winning name, suggested by Roy, was Healy, the last name of the couple who donated the bear to our clubhouse when they moved in.

Many thanks to our social committee for arranging another successful, enjoyable event for our community to share.

Hmmm. I’m thinking these hard-working ladies deserve a post of their own someday.