Ever Increasing Circles

Our annual barbecue is always fun and always just a little bit different. This year's was special for two reasons. One reason was that I asked guests to bring an item to donate to our local food pantry, Loaves and Fishes. Feeding the hungry is something the government took care of back in Britain, but over here we've quickly learned that people have to help each other. The irony that we were stuffing ourselves while dropping non perishable items into a box for the hungry didn't escape me, but I have to say it was very rewarding when I took all 140 lbs worth round to their warehouse this morning.
The second exciting thing was that this year our guests of honour were a British family who moved here just four days ago on the strength of the blog! Knowing what it's like to examine Naperville from across the world on the internet before stepping inside, I understand how surreal the whole day must have been for them. One minute they're reading about all my characters, the next they're characters themselves. I felt like our brief time here had suddenly come full circle as we were able to introduce them to our realtor, Jett, Hyacinth, the Duchess and the rest. Talk about history repeating itself!
Anyhow, now they are here, I suppose it's time to look for fresh meat! In my new role as self appointed ambassador to Naperville, if you're reading this from afar (and I know many of you are) please feel free to leave a comment or ask me anything you like about our fair city.