a supposed-to-be quick update

here's a beautiful pic of the sun rising on the river...

near takes your breathe away eh? i know it near takes mine and jambaloney's away!

anyway, a quick update. it's been a busy but thoroughly enjoyable weekend. as i mentioned previously, friday night was the annual roast beef dinner. we got to see our regular crew of friends plus some people that we only see a few times a year - it is always nice to see people that we don't see regularly and re-establish connections.

saturday night was our friend H's family reunion. oh what a screech! he must have had 50 family members show up from all over the place!!! and all of the family members got "screeched in" halfway through the party. for anyone interested in what being "screeched in" means (yes, Linda, i mean you!), here is a link.

basically, being "screeched in" is a newfoundland tradition (another island province in canada not far from cape breton. the people in newfoundland and cape breton are very similar except for the fact that most newfoundlanders can't swim - bahahahah! but cape bretoners and newfies have an affinity for each other that isn't found between any other 2 provinces in canada. we love our newfs and they love us capers!). anyway, the ceremony involves putting on fishing hats, pants, boots and gear, drinking a shot of screech (moonshine...and it is god-awful!), reciting where you are from and saying that you want to become a newf and then kissing a cod! it's a wonderful tradition, fun, funny as heck and many cape bretoners have been screeched in...including myself.

at the party, we had a lot of fun. we sat at our usual table with our framboise family - including our Matriarch v, our brothers D, D, and R, our sisters S and E. it was soooo great that our brother G and sister C were there...our sister C takes the p*ss out of jambaloney and it is sooo funny to watch. we also got to meet 2 more of our brothers that we had never met before - B and T - oh my - were they a freakin' hoot. they were up to do some work on V's house and brought their 2 crew members with them - those boys were so nice and fun! we were laughing our fool heads off on all of our smoke breaks together! lastly, our nephew M came down and he is precious and has my heart! he's such a good young man, finding his way in the world. he is so interested in so many things and i love to talk to him because he has these huge brown eyes, but you have to be very careful. he sucks in everything that you say and do, and then reflects very intensely. he was very proud to tell me that he was at chapter 25 in the book of Genesis.

continuing on, we got to meet a few more people that we had never met before. 2 of these people, DM and J - well, we just hit it right off with them! they have a cottage up here and love coming up but they don't do much mingling. anyway, we spent quite a bit of time talking with them and we all really got along so they invited us to their cottage on sunday for a bbq.

then there was lots more dancing and lots more laughing and then finally it was time to shut down the hall. S and jambaloney did the inventory while i cleaned all of the tables, gathered garbage and put the chairs back. the men carried all of the licquor upstairs to the locked cabinet and then we were good to go. it was a fantastic night!

the next day, we went to DM and J's at the right moment and then we all started laughing about they didn't know if we would really show up and we weren't sure if they really meant to invite us. we were worried that they might have forgotten and then we show up and they have to scramble. DM admitted that they had talked about would we really show? or not? but just in case they got the steaks out of the freezer and got ready for us.

DM and i sat and yakked at the table while jambaloney and J cooked the steaks. we brought 4 shish-kebab skewars of onions, mushrooms and 4 different coloured peppers. jambaloney was in charge of bbq'ing the shish-kebabs and J was doing the steaks. while i was talking non-stop with DM - we had so much to say and tell each other and talk about - i could hear jambaloney and J doing the same thing - non-stop talking. it's rare to feel so comfortable with people that you can just non-stop talk with - but that's how it felt with them and that's how it feels with most people here??? it is the same feeling we have with our brother G and sister C!!! i'd say that it's strange except it just feels so dang nice!

anyway - supper was delicious! the steaks were cooked to perfection, DM made a delicious caesar salad and both of them had never had shish-kebabs before but they both ate their whole skewars and said that they loved them! i was so happy. i am always nervous feeding people!

continuing on - we played music and talked for another 4 hours!!! we had been there for 7 hours and there was never a lull in the conversation!!! it was an awesome time and we look forward to meeting up with them again!

but after all of those events, dancing, partying and having so much fun - we were bush-whacked on monday. so we kind of took it easy. today we did a bunch of stuff in the garden and tomorrow we have to go to the city for an appointment - bleck! i hate the city! although our city is only 36,000 people pretty spread out - it's still the city to me!

here's dinner today - spinach salad with peas, apples and mint. with my delicious chili/lime dressing! yummeh!

it's time to go make supper - liver and a quinoa and pepper salad on wilted spinach...i am so looking forward to it! after supper we'll go for a walk, read, take a few dips in the hottub and then i'll be back here and reply to all of your comments on my previous posts. then it's a movie on netflix and bed. it's been a really good couple of days. i hope that you have all enjoyed your last couple of days too!