Happily, it has not been too hard to fill up my dance card (I've been catching myself recently using allusions which no one under 60 would recognize - like "dance card". But you guys knew what I meant, didn't you?)
On Wednesday last, John booked me for a trip to the library, a walk in Central Park (no, not the one in New York, the one in Burnaby, right near the library), a short detour to see Dennis's new apartment, and, of course, a meal.
You can tell it is a city walk when one of the "peek-a-boo" views is of the Sky Treain....
...lots of old growth stuff too, though....
Dennis was happy to show off his new place. These guys have known each other since before high school, and I am grateful that they have now included me in their circle.
We had a nice lunch at Minoa's, Dennis's "go-to" neighborhood restaurant in Burnaby, the suburb immediately to the East of Vancouver). Vancouver used to be awash in Greek restaurants. Not so much anymore (now it's Asian restaurants of all stripes, of couse), and I'm glad to add this one to my repertoire; it is family run, atmospheric, has good food, and on top of that, it is cheap. We will no doubt go again.
Back to the routine of bridge twice a week with Alex. We are not doing too well in the winning department, but are still having a good time.
Thursday last brought dinner with my law school friends Robin and Debbie....
We only manage to do this three or four times a year, so have lots to talk about when we do. (Not too bad for three old broads, huh?)
I had committed to Alex to playing in the bridge Sectional in New Westminster....
.....and there he is, organized, as usual.....
....and old fiend Tom, seen on many previous occasions in these pages...
The daily (or almost daily) walks continue, and there seems to be a new family in the neighborhood....
Head to include a picture of the director...
Well, I'm off to get on with my day (as you can see by the time of this post, I had one of my all-too-frequent bad nights, and have been up since four, doing pictures and bringing you guys up do date). So, a few last odds and ends.
The quote of the week:
Tyrannies seem to be on the march; this may reflect a yearning for something outside ourselves, something to relieve us of the burden of fashioning our own plotline out of the thin air of our lives, or of sorting out the competing stories that increasingly are falling on us like a poisoned rain. Our narrative engines may not be up to the task of making sense of our yearnings...
...and the book round-up of the week:
Alexander McColl Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters, the latest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I love this man's books, all of them. They are charming and gentle and have lots of little lessons for living a better life.
John MacLachan Gray, The White Angel. I wanted to like this. I really did. After all, he also wrote Billy Bishop Goes to War, which was both a good read and a good play. This one didn't work for me, though. It took place in Vancouver, and was based on a true (unsolved) crime, i.e., the murder of a maid in the Shaunessy mansion of a rich tycoon. It never grabbed me, and I gave up after 50 pages, something I rarely do.
Our library outing earlier in the week (see above) brought in a new crop of possibilities, so now I have on the go (among other books previously mentioned) The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin. The premise is that in 1969, four children (13, 11, 9 and 7 respectively) illicitly seek out a fortune teller and find out the dates of their deaths, and what ensues as a result. The writing is not terrific, but I am intrigues by the premise. Final review to follow.
Ttttthat's all, Folks.
On Wednesday last, John booked me for a trip to the library, a walk in Central Park (no, not the one in New York, the one in Burnaby, right near the library), a short detour to see Dennis's new apartment, and, of course, a meal.
You can tell it is a city walk when one of the "peek-a-boo" views is of the Sky Treain....
...lots of old growth stuff too, though....
Dennis was happy to show off his new place. These guys have known each other since before high school, and I am grateful that they have now included me in their circle.
We had a nice lunch at Minoa's, Dennis's "go-to" neighborhood restaurant in Burnaby, the suburb immediately to the East of Vancouver). Vancouver used to be awash in Greek restaurants. Not so much anymore (now it's Asian restaurants of all stripes, of couse), and I'm glad to add this one to my repertoire; it is family run, atmospheric, has good food, and on top of that, it is cheap. We will no doubt go again.
Back to the routine of bridge twice a week with Alex. We are not doing too well in the winning department, but are still having a good time.
Thursday last brought dinner with my law school friends Robin and Debbie....
We only manage to do this three or four times a year, so have lots to talk about when we do. (Not too bad for three old broads, huh?)
I had committed to Alex to playing in the bridge Sectional in New Westminster....
.....and there he is, organized, as usual.....
One of the nice things about these "do's" (aside from the bridge playing, of course), is seeing old acquaintances again.....
...including Bruce, below, one of erstwhile tournament directors....
....and old fiend Tom, seen on many previous occasions in these pages...
The daily (or almost daily) walks continue, and there seems to be a new family in the neighborhood....
Monday went on another "Met in the Movies" outing with friend Jack, to see Luisa Miller. He had actually seen it before, but was kind enough to agree to see it again. Truth of the matter is that it was not one of Verdi's better efforts - it was an early opera, and is rarely performed - and the plot was a bit convoluted even for an opera. But the voices were lovely (as previously noted, New York - and San Francisco, and, for that matter, Vancouver - are awash with Russian artists - Putin's loss is our gain), and there were at least a few glorious arias, not to mention the infamous Placido Domingo singing the baritone role. We left about half way through the second act, and called it a day.
I seem to be seeing a lot of Dennis and John recently. On Tuesday (cheap movie day, of course), we went to see Deadpool 2, a send-up of the Marvel comic superheroes. Most of you, being more up on popular culture than I am, no doubt saw the first one, and are more up on the superheroes. Even without thosebenefits (I did get a running commentary - a bit like the Coles Notes version of the comics - from John), I actually quite liked it, much to my shock and horror. It was quite funny, the dialogue was snappy, there was a moral underpinning, and yes, I even liked the special effects. Thumbs up!
I don't have too many evening outings, really, but this week I had two. A neighbor in my complex, Karen, had invited me to play "kitchen bridge" with her group before, and we had a reprise on Tuesday evening. It was fun, all right, but I have to admit that I miss the "kick" of playing for masterpoints.
We had a bit of kerfluffle on the way home, though. Having picked up Karen's dog from her son's place, we discovered that he (the dog, not the son) had been fed some grapes. Panic ensued, as grapes are apparently deadly to a dog's liver (who knew?). So instead of coming home, we went to the pet emergency room, to induce vomiting and put the dog on inter-venous to flush out its liver. One hesitates to think how much this must cost,but Karen dotes on that dog and would be heartbroken it it died, so.....
And finally, bridge at Duplicate Lite (hate the name, love the club) in Surrey, B.C. with Dennis. I was really honoured when he suggested it some time ago, as, although he is without question the best bridge player I know, he has not played in the clubs for years - decades, actually. Anyway, off we went. A bit of bother getting there - the club's premises are being renovated and I had never been to the temporary location before - but it was worth it. Everyone was excited about seeing me again, which is always heartening. More to the point, though, it was good bridge - and we came in first in our section and 4th overall in the room (around 28 tables, I think).
Yeah for us!!
Head to include a picture of the director...
He has an unpronounceable last name, but everyone calls him "Happy Ed" because he is so good-natured. (Actually, the saying is that all the directors have the last name of Please, as in "Director, Please" when you call them over to the table for a ruling.)
We called John to join us for a celebratory drink at the Deutches Haus, a neighborhood German restaurant previously mentioned in these pages.
Well, I'm off to get on with my day (as you can see by the time of this post, I had one of my all-too-frequent bad nights, and have been up since four, doing pictures and bringing you guys up do date). So, a few last odds and ends.
The quote of the week:
Tyrannies seem to be on the march; this may reflect a yearning for something outside ourselves, something to relieve us of the burden of fashioning our own plotline out of the thin air of our lives, or of sorting out the competing stories that increasingly are falling on us like a poisoned rain. Our narrative engines may not be up to the task of making sense of our yearnings...
...and the book round-up of the week:
Alexander McColl Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters, the latest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I love this man's books, all of them. They are charming and gentle and have lots of little lessons for living a better life.
John MacLachan Gray, The White Angel. I wanted to like this. I really did. After all, he also wrote Billy Bishop Goes to War, which was both a good read and a good play. This one didn't work for me, though. It took place in Vancouver, and was based on a true (unsolved) crime, i.e., the murder of a maid in the Shaunessy mansion of a rich tycoon. It never grabbed me, and I gave up after 50 pages, something I rarely do.
Our library outing earlier in the week (see above) brought in a new crop of possibilities, so now I have on the go (among other books previously mentioned) The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin. The premise is that in 1969, four children (13, 11, 9 and 7 respectively) illicitly seek out a fortune teller and find out the dates of their deaths, and what ensues as a result. The writing is not terrific, but I am intrigues by the premise. Final review to follow.
Ttttthat's all, Folks.
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