I forgot to mention the spider.  At a certain point GP, who was sitting beside me, jumped up and tried to climb into my lap.  With eyes showing all the whites he started gesturing wildly and tried to croak out Riccardo's, (who was standing up beside the piano), name.  All that came out was a loud, "Ric"!  There was a spider on the wall behind our host the size of a salad plate.  The body wasn't much bigger than a dime but with it's long black legs it made quite an impression.  My courageous husband is as fond of spiders as I am.  We make a good pair.  Riccardo turned around, lifted his foot surprisingly high considering how much he'd had to drink, and squished it.  It left a huge smudge on the white wall.  Ugh.