There�s no place like home.
11:19 p.m.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend. At least, some of it was fun. The bus ride going was only marginally more fun than the one coming, because I was not queasy and it was less crowded. But there is still nothing enjoyable about eight hours on buses.
I arrived at my daughter’s around 9:00 p.m. on Saturday and went out to eat at an Asian restaurant with her and her friend J who was visiting from Calgary. We had a bottle of wine, delicious food, and returned to Little Princess’ apartment sated and happy. I slept on the couch in the computer room, as J is taller than I am, so he rated the longer couch in the living room. In the morning Little Princess made us pancakes and tea, I showered, then called my mom and asked if she’d like some company, which she was very happy to have.
Little Princess, J and I walked the 10 minutes or so to my mom’s residence and had an enjoyable visit with her, staying for lunch. The food there is always good, and the kitchen made me a special roasted vegetable sandwich, leaving out the eggplant. I ended up having two desserts, a nanaimo bar and vanilla ice cream. So decadent.
Afterwards we went back to my daughter’s and had a surprise visit from my brother-in-law and his wife who were in town to pick up the men’s suits for their daughter’s wedding next week. I was a little shocked, as I hadn’t seen my sister-in-law for several months, not since Thanksgiving, in fact. She’s gained a lot of weight and is looking decidedly middle aged. But still, it was delightful to see them, even if the visit was brief.
After they left, Little Princess and I got ourselves tarted up for the nuptials and took the bus up to the synagogue. We hugged J goodbye, and waited in the cold for our conveyance. The ceremony was almost an hour later than stated on the invitation, but blessedly brief for an orthodox Jewish wedding. The bar had no liqueurs, so my daughter didn’t get any of the cocktails she wanted, and had to settle for the wine served at dinner. I got to see my remaining senior cousins, and my mother was there with my brother, and one of my nieces with her boyfriend. The band was too loud, the food was delicious, and we got a lift back with my out-of-town cousins, going to bed around midnight.
On Monday, Victoria Day, I spent a leisurely morning at Little Princess’, then walked up to my mother’s to meet my cousins. My brother was also visiting, and I took the opportunity to give him a hug as we were leaving. His wife is away at the moment, which is why she wasn’t at the wedding, and he’s much nicer to me when this is the case. Then my cousins and I went to the brunch for out-of-town guests, and ate more food. This weekend was a gastronomical orgy.
I just realized that this entry is extremely boring. I don’t think I would read it either.
After brunch, we drove up to Buddy Boy’s new digs so he could meet his cousins (1st cousin twice removed and 2nd cousin once removed respectively), and then they left to return their rental car and catch their flight back to Newark. Buddy Boy and I chilled for a while, then called Little Princess and took public transportation to her office on the university campus. There she gave us a bit of a tour and took us out on the roof where we had a great view of the campus and the downtown. It was kind of neat up there, with the observatory domes and the satellite dishes. At one point she said she hoped we weren’t getting radiation poisoning.
Then we looked for a Mexican restaurant, but they were all closed for the holiday Monday. Instead we ended up at a pub where we ate pub food and drank copious quantities of beer. We also met a new internet friend of mine from a game site I spend way too much time at, and had a very enjoyable evening.
This morning it was up early and on the road by 9:30, arriving at my final destination around 6:45 p.m. It’s very good to be home again.
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