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Ferry Porsche’s Birthday Clelbration
Article and photos by Dave Burton
September 19th is the birth date of Ferry Porsche. SEM celebrated one day
early so we could have a nice Sunday gathering and enjoy a late summer’s
cruise with dinner thrown in for good measure. Sue and Dennis Denyer,
recovered from their duties as great hosts for our picnic, stepped into the fray
again and organized a lovely afternoon jaunt from Livonia to Farmington. But
wait, you say, Livonia and Farmington are adjacent communities. it’s hardly a
jaunt. Remember, this is Dennis we’re talking about. He devised a nice, relaxed
route through Northville, South Lyons, Whitmore Lake, Ann Arbor, Plymouth
and Novi and managed to bookend the trip with the aforementioned towns.
The weather was perfect and the roads lightly traveled and fairly curvy (not an
easy task in southeast Michigan, which favors grid layouts). We enjoyed
motoring past some fairly impressive compounds somewhat west of downtown
Northville (no starter homes, these) and followed the back roads as we
meandered out and back, taking a little over an hour to reach our destination:
the Longacre House just north of downtown Farmington. Entering the grounds,
we wound our way up the drive and past the house to secluded parking
alongside and behind.
Dennis had delivered on the driving part and we now placed ourselves in the
care of Sue for refreshments and repast. Longacre House is a privately owned
residence dating back to 1869, which is undergoing restoration and serves
private functions out of it’s own kitchen. Gathering inside, we found a festively
decorated dining room all prepared for us with goodie bags at every place
setting and cheesecakes holding court on pedestals on every table. Soft drinks
were self-served and plentiful so the members wandered the home, checking
out the different rooms upstairs and the ongoing renovations.
Sitting down, we investigated the gift bags at our places. Peggy Goldberg had
prevailed upon Gojo, a company she represents, to provide Purell and other
hand cleaners in nice packable sizes, along with a party horn to celebrate
Ferry’s birthday. Peggy didn’t know it, but the Purell was very appropriate, as I
had returned from New Orleans late Friday night and had just about depleted
my personal supply. (Peggy offered to set me up with a large supply for our
forces working on the recovery from Hurricane Katrina--we have found the
waterless sanitizers invaluable in the devastated areas for keeping our people
healthy).
With close to fifty members gathered for Sunday dinner, they called us up by
table to avoid overcrowding the buffet line. A fresh salad of Young Greens with
Grape Tomatoes and choice of dressings led into the entrée portion of the meal
including Sliced Beef, Chicken Marsala, Red-Skinned Parsley Potatoes and a
Vegetable Medley. With coffee service on the tables and the cheesecakes
previously mentioned, we were surprised to find a dessert table in the buffet as
well. You know what they say, eat dessert first-life is uncertain! Sue had
certainly equaled Dennis in her department and the club enjoyed another
wonderful event with many new faces (and Porsches) among the familiar.
Sadly, I couldn’t linger over coffee and dessert as I was headed back to New
Orleans the next day and still had things to take care of. I’ll likely miss the Fall
Color Tour and will live vicariously through the articles and pictures to come.
Mark your calendars for the Holiday Party on Saturday night, December 10th. I
hope to see you all there.
Happy Birthday, Ferry!
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