Monday, September 29, 2014

....and time marches on....

Somehow, as soon as I made the plane reservation, my life has turned from Vancouver to Palm Springs, although I'm not leaving for two and a half weeks.  Not as much enthusiasm as in previous years, but I think that has less to do with Palm Springs than it does with my mood

Meanwhile, another week managed to zip by....

And another birthday, this time, Deb, the third of the unholy threesome from law school.   As always, we stopped at her place for a drink before dinner, and found her granddaughter, who immediately found me, the only person in the room who was not gaga over her, and climbed on my lap.  I thought it had to be immortalized.....


She was pretty cute, though, huh?  But then, I only had to deal with her for three minutes!!!  Then we were off, a new (for us) restaurant this time, Il Buca (and yes, I know the tense is wrong.  I actually forgot to ask what it means, but since the food, the wine, and the service were all fab, I didn't much care by the end of the evening....


...and the continuation of another tradition, dim sum with Richard for our respective birthdays ((it is a little early for his birthday, but he is off to Africa and I am off to Palm Springs, so...) , this time joined by his wife (and my friend) Linda, again at Kirin, downtown (when I say we are creatures of habit......although I understand our very favourite, The Victoria, is opening again next year....)




....followed on Thursday by (yet another) goodbye.  Zoltan and Robert, our IT guys, are leaving us, one of those government things - has to go out on tender, yatta, yatta, yatta, so, after 10 years, we had to lose two really great guys, who knew their stuff and were happy to put up with our complete disinterest in technology in spite of having to use it.  They were treated pretty shabbily, I think, but anyway, they are being pretty philosophical about it, and it was a great lunch (at Fog & Suds, a local pub, for those keeping track)
This is Robert.....




...and Zoltan (Zoli, but just to me)....








Friend Deb (a different one, although also previously seen on these pages) had an extra ticket for a concert series she goes to in White Rock,  I dropped by her place for a bit of dinner (that is the second time she has cooked for me - she may shame me into cooking yet!), and then off to the concert.  It was at a Baptist church, which held, I don't know, maybe three hundred people, and there wasn't an empty seat.  I knew a surprising number of the audience, some through bridge at Robin's house, some through Thursday bridge at the club, even a few colleagues from work.  Vancouver really is a small town that way, you trip over a lot of the same people.  It was nice,though, especially as the concert itself, while lovely, made me melancholy.



The pianist was John O'Conor, technically very good, although a bit cold for my taste.  Why melancholy?  He played some Beethoven Bagatelles, as well as the Pathetique, and Schubert's Sonata in C Minor. all of which my mother used to play....and yes, I remember that I didn't like my mother, but still, she was the one who taught me the piano (such as it was) and to listen to music, and to go to the opera from the time I was six, and a lot of time (30 years, in fact) has passed since she died.)  Anyway, the acoustics were lovely, it was a sweet concert, and a little melancholy never hurt anyone.

So, that was Friday.  Saturday morning, I was on the ferry to Victoria, for yet more melancholy, this time thinking about David.  I, of course, commuted on the ferry for years from Salt Spring Island, and the fog is melancholy-inducing anyway....

....took the bus into town, where friend Deirdre picked me up, and we were off for dim sum....

 


For someone who has been through the breast cancer, chemotherapy, radiation, losing her hair and her energy and her mind thing for the past six months, she looks pretty good, doesn't she?  Still tired, though, so after a bit of a walk in down town Victoria...



...we were back to her house for a nap (I, of course, was thrilled, since I love my naps).  Then off to see Lois and Alf in their new house.  And no, that is not their house.  But if you  have to stay somewhere while you are renovating, it is always nice to have a view....



And after a drink and a nibble at the local pub in Sidney, I was on the nine o'clock ferry home.  I bitched  lot about ferries and buses and the class of people on public transportation, but it was actually a lovely day.  (I am getting altogether too grumpy.  I am going to have to put a lid on it, or I won't have any friends to play with!)

I still have a few, though. and John, Dennis (yes, the bridge boys) and I went for a hike on Sunday at the UBC Endowment Lands.  It was a glorious, Indian Summer day, John did not get over - exuberant in planning the hike, and so a good time was had by all....









,,,,followed, of course, by lunch at the golf club....




...and yes, it was time to go to our respective homes for our respective naps.

Leaving me just enough time to do my Dotty Domestic stuff before the start of another work week (only three more before Palm Springs!).

I was going to tell you about my latest read, but will save that for next time....

Sunday, September 21, 2014

The last weekend of summer....

.....and a beautiful weekend it was, too, although I was a bit blue.

But first, the week.  As advertised, it was quiet.  Brunch with friends and now neighbors Geoff and Tom at Cimona (a local joint here in Steveston) on Sunday...

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...followed by my usual walk.....


It is salmon season, so lots of fishing boats, lots of fish being sold on the docks, and lots of salmon jumping in the Fraser.  It's a bumper crop!  Yay!  (I have been very good about taking a long walk every day this week.  It is back to the gym in Palm Springs in a month, so I might as well take advantage....)

And aside from a few coffees with colleagues, that is about it.  Did go to the farmers market (it is hardly "the" farmers market - I have at least 4 to chose from between office and home, and that is only if I don't go a block out of my way.)





.

But this is my favorite one, and this is my favorite time of year, with all the peppers and squash and corn and pumpkins...

So why an I blue?  Well, mostly a poor choice of reading material.  I did read (or I should say, re-read) Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Clue, the newest (I think) No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novel.  As most of you know, he writes a number of series, including The Isabel Dalhousie Series (about philosophy) and 44 Scotland Street, all sweet, gentle, well written books.  This one was no exception.

The problem was where I went from there.  First, there was Spillover, a new book on the spillover of diseases from the animal kingdom to the human kingdom.  Given the state of Africa right now, and the Ebola crisis, well, that book wasn't exactly happy-making.

...and it led me to The Band Played On, the Randy Shilts book from 1987 about the onset of the AIDS crisis and ensuing paralysis from everyone.  You can't close our bathhouses - it is a violation of our civil rights!  You can't get AIDS from transfusions - where's your proof?  What do you mean, we have to stop having miscellaneous sex?  We fought for years for the right to have miscellaneous sex... I suppose if you prevent people from having open, monogamous relationships, it is hardly surprising that they go out and have miscellaneous sex, but shit, man, people were dying....

...and I couldn't stop reading.  I stayed up nights and lost sleep screaming at the book.  I was there, in San Francisco, watching everyone die.  And coming only a few weeks after seeing Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, about the Aids crisis in New York, and the response of the media and the closet gay elite..... it was all too depressing.

So, there was that.  Then, there was the Tugboat Festival, first annual, held on Granville Island this weekend.  I love tugboats, but I didn't go.  I couldn't.  Do you know who else loved tugboats?  David.  I would have been walking around the docks bawling.  So I stuck closer to home, but was melancholy nonetheless.

Well, enough of that.  You will be happy to know that I have put the books (2) about Israel at the bottom of the pile - I couldn't take that right now.  Instead, I am reading a novel called The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett.  It will be a nice change, I think.

A bit more going on next week, so hopefully by the time I write next weekend, I will be out of my funk!  Thanks for being so patient  with me....


Saturday, September 13, 2014

Back to Reality

Well, back to reality.  I was back to work on Tuesday, September 2, and within minutes, I swear, it was as if I had never left.  Except.  Except.  I can still hear that glorious sound.

I can hear it, that is, between my coughing, hacking and wheezing.  Yes, one more time, I have that wondrous thing, airplane flu.  Thank god it only hits when you are coming back from a trip and not when you are heading out.  Well, it was five days of hell - not only did I think I was going to die, I wanted to - but it is more or less gone now.

I didn't let it interfere with the usual Thursday bridge at the bridge club, but it did slow me down enough so that I had to work on the weekend to make up the time.  Besides, I knew that the amount of work I would get done the following week would be minimal, as I was heading to Harrison Hot Springs for three days of bridge.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is, at advertised a hot springs resort about an hour and a half from Vancouver.  We all had such a great time last year, we decided to do it again.  Friend Robin and I drove together and roomed together, but didn't play together.  At the time planning was happening, I didn't think I would be able to do it so soon after Germany.  When I got home, though, sick or not, I thought I didn't want to miss it.  Someone else's partner had to bow out last minute, so it seemed fated that I would go.

The speaker was Barbara Seagram, one of the big names in the Canadian bridge world.  Here is Robin, selling Barbara's books...


And the lobby....





...and below new friend Deb, acting as greeter.  (There were 104 of us, and, as David always used to say, 10% never get the word...)


The food was plain fare, but fabulous, and never-ending...


..below left, Annabel, my partner for the week...





Meanwhile, outside.....






So it was walks around the lake in the morning and wine and hot pools after dinner and bridge.  Not too shabby, really.

Barbara (an old friend of my friend Tom's, by the way - Canada is really a very small place that way) was charming, and a fabulous teacher.


....and even graciously agreed to sign books and pose with a fan....


My new partner was also gracious; we laughed a lot, in spite of the usually gaffes that happen when partners aren't exactly communicating.  We managed to score some points anyway, and between that and new friends and food and learning lots, well, I loved it lots.

Believe it or not, I had committed to dinner and bridge with the boys on Wednesday night, after all that.  After all, I hadn't seen them since I got back from Germany, and I have to keep my fans happy!  It was a bit rushed, but I managed to get there in time for a quick bite, and .....some more bridge.

...followed by bridge at the club on Thursday ...

And now, it really is back to work, Friday and Saturday, and tomorrow as well, with nothing much booked for the week.  Thank god.