I've let a month go by without writing. How did that happen?
Busy, I guess. I am working every day that's available, seeing as none of you slackers have found me someone to support me in the style to which I would like to become accustomed....
And then, there's play time.
Back to dim sum at my fav, Fisherman's Terrace, with the usual cast of characters.....
....we ate so much that we had to walk it off....
.....and more eating during the week, with a big turnout for pho....
The theme at bridge was yellow (could you tell?), and we had a luncheon and other festivities to honour our volunteers.....
.....there's our fearless leader Jane, on the left (God, she can make anything look good, can't she), and friend Deb on the right - you'll see more of her later - hopefully, a better picture, or she may kill me....
Turns out it was Deb's birthday in early June. A great excuse for Malbec and steak at the Keg!
I can see you scoffing from here. I rather like the Keg. The food is reliably good, as is the service, and there are precious few children.What more could one want from a restaurant?
The boys came to my place for bridge, Instead of having our now customary sushi, we opted for trying out Romer's,.my local pub. (I had tried it before, of course...)
Lot's of laughs, as always.
Hopped up to San Francisco for a few days, for some opera, and to see the newly reopened Modern. It is absolutely fabulous. I went for three hours a day two days running, and need to go back again - I hardly made a dent! (As you can see from the number of pictures, I did try....)
Below is the living wall.....
I was with friend Peter, of course, for both the museum and the opera. And lord knows, I couldn't spend two days with Peter in San Francisco without trying at least one new restaurant. This time it was Mr. Benjamin's, a trendy place just a few blocks from the opera.
(Who knew you could spend that much money on deviled eggs? But they were pretty.....)
The operas were Don Carlo, a five hour blockbuster which was truly fabulous, and Jenufa, which has what passes in the opera for a happy ending. (only the baby, who nobody cares about, dies. They leave hope for redemption for the grandmother who killed him. And the tenor and soprano find true love instead of dying. All that happiness, and from an Eastern European, no less!)
Back to work, and a "catch up" lunch with friend Eric. I think I have finally convinced him that the phone works both ways, so hopefully the lunch will be the first of several this summer!
And on a sadder note, a goodbye "do" for three colleagues retiring. (I've now warned everyone else that they are not allowed to retire. Pretty soon I will be the only one of the Old Guard left standing.)
Here they are, the three retirees..... Jane in particular looks happy.......
Things change. I know, and certainly it will be good for them, but I will miss them just the same.
Friend Karen had dinner and bridge at her place in Langley (aren't you guys lucky that some of these events don't get memorialized in pictures, or else you'd be here all day....)
Geoff and Tom (and yes, you do remember their names from Palm Springs, but they live here for the summer) had not seen my "new" place. After an appropriate amount of "oohing" and "Ahhing", we hiked off to Romer's for brunch.....
.....hung around Granville Island on a glorious, sunny afternoon, had my birthday dinner (or should I say the first of my birthday dinners - I think I am going to emulate the Queen, and celebrate all year) at the Sand Bar...
....and went to see Rock of Ages (a rock musical I first saw on Broadway about a million years ago) on the Granville Island Stage. Really great fun!!!!
Just a brief reading list: Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch; The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Coelho's short stories and novella; and Robert Musil's A Man Without Qualities. All good reads, but the last a bit bitter sweet. Musil is meant to be the third greatest writer in the 20th century, after Proust and Joyce. The book was recommended to me by friend Reedie, about 30 years ago. I never could get into it then, and now Reedie is missing and presumed dead, and I am thinking about him with every turn of the page....
So, back to my birthday. Yes, I am celebrating. I am turning 70 in two weeks, and, given my health issues, certainly didn't expect to make it this far. (Okay, one more time: If I would have thought I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself....)
Lot's of out of town visitors and festivities over the next few weeks, but I will be back to you after that....
Busy, I guess. I am working every day that's available, seeing as none of you slackers have found me someone to support me in the style to which I would like to become accustomed....
And then, there's play time.
Back to dim sum at my fav, Fisherman's Terrace, with the usual cast of characters.....
....we ate so much that we had to walk it off....
.....and more eating during the week, with a big turnout for pho....
The theme at bridge was yellow (could you tell?), and we had a luncheon and other festivities to honour our volunteers.....
.....there's our fearless leader Jane, on the left (God, she can make anything look good, can't she), and friend Deb on the right - you'll see more of her later - hopefully, a better picture, or she may kill me....
Turns out it was Deb's birthday in early June. A great excuse for Malbec and steak at the Keg!
I can see you scoffing from here. I rather like the Keg. The food is reliably good, as is the service, and there are precious few children.What more could one want from a restaurant?
The boys came to my place for bridge, Instead of having our now customary sushi, we opted for trying out Romer's,.my local pub. (I had tried it before, of course...)
Lot's of laughs, as always.
Hopped up to San Francisco for a few days, for some opera, and to see the newly reopened Modern. It is absolutely fabulous. I went for three hours a day two days running, and need to go back again - I hardly made a dent! (As you can see from the number of pictures, I did try....)
Below is the living wall.....
I was with friend Peter, of course, for both the museum and the opera. And lord knows, I couldn't spend two days with Peter in San Francisco without trying at least one new restaurant. This time it was Mr. Benjamin's, a trendy place just a few blocks from the opera.
(Who knew you could spend that much money on deviled eggs? But they were pretty.....)
The operas were Don Carlo, a five hour blockbuster which was truly fabulous, and Jenufa, which has what passes in the opera for a happy ending. (only the baby, who nobody cares about, dies. They leave hope for redemption for the grandmother who killed him. And the tenor and soprano find true love instead of dying. All that happiness, and from an Eastern European, no less!)
Back to work, and a "catch up" lunch with friend Eric. I think I have finally convinced him that the phone works both ways, so hopefully the lunch will be the first of several this summer!
And on a sadder note, a goodbye "do" for three colleagues retiring. (I've now warned everyone else that they are not allowed to retire. Pretty soon I will be the only one of the Old Guard left standing.)
Here they are, the three retirees..... Jane in particular looks happy.......
Things change. I know, and certainly it will be good for them, but I will miss them just the same.
Friend Karen had dinner and bridge at her place in Langley (aren't you guys lucky that some of these events don't get memorialized in pictures, or else you'd be here all day....)
Geoff and Tom (and yes, you do remember their names from Palm Springs, but they live here for the summer) had not seen my "new" place. After an appropriate amount of "oohing" and "Ahhing", we hiked off to Romer's for brunch.....
Brother Bobbie (and no, he is not my biological brother. Or Mariah's either, for that matter, although she has always called him Brother Bobbie and I have long since done the same) came up for a few days to celebrate an early birthday (more about the birthday later....)
We just dinked around (for someone who is by herself all the time, having friends to dink around with is a treat!)....had Japanese food.....
.....hung around Granville Island on a glorious, sunny afternoon, had my birthday dinner (or should I say the first of my birthday dinners - I think I am going to emulate the Queen, and celebrate all year) at the Sand Bar...
....and went to see Rock of Ages (a rock musical I first saw on Broadway about a million years ago) on the Granville Island Stage. Really great fun!!!!
Just a brief reading list: Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch; The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Coelho's short stories and novella; and Robert Musil's A Man Without Qualities. All good reads, but the last a bit bitter sweet. Musil is meant to be the third greatest writer in the 20th century, after Proust and Joyce. The book was recommended to me by friend Reedie, about 30 years ago. I never could get into it then, and now Reedie is missing and presumed dead, and I am thinking about him with every turn of the page....
So, back to my birthday. Yes, I am celebrating. I am turning 70 in two weeks, and, given my health issues, certainly didn't expect to make it this far. (Okay, one more time: If I would have thought I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself....)
Lot's of out of town visitors and festivities over the next few weeks, but I will be back to you after that....
