Large weekend looming.

Little white box on the first try. Woo hoo! This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. Firstly, Saturday is Friendship Day, an annual celebration in our town of, well, friendship. It starts off with a parade in the morning which comprises the town�s fire department�s holdings, anyone who owns a vintage car, the llama farmers from down the road, various floats made up by various businesses and organizations (the library, the girl guides, the boy scouts, The Lion [at least they used to do a kick-ass one], the youth centre, some church youth group, etc.), preceded by the L�ville pipe and drum band (have I ever mentioned that bagpipes make me cry?) and concluded by all the horses, followed, as always, by two clowns with shovels and a garbage bin. I am usually in tears from the beginning when the pipers start the show right through to the recycling truck (I feel very strongly about recycling), and start to recover by the time the clowns arrive to clean up the horse droppings.

The day continues with all sorts of entertainment in Centennial Park under the tent (old-time fiddling, clogging, children in costume performing �ethnic� dances); there are distractions for the wee ones in the form of facepainting and storytelling; the annual �jaws of life� demonstration is a big crowd drawer; and the sheep-dog trials have been known to take place on that day as well. Inside the French elementary school and in the cour are tables set up with handicrafts where you can find crocheted xmas decorations, hand-woven dish towels (those are fantastic, by the way), stained glass hangings at giveaway prices, wood carvers, jewellery makers and producers of jams, jellies and goat-milk soaps.

Lunch can be purchased inside the curling rink, strawberry shortcake is available in the schoolyard, and there has even been a cotton candy stall set up in recent years. The library always has its used-book sale that day, from which we always come away with boxes of books, and the closing act is fireworks at the football stadium, probably the most expensive extravagance of the year. My own Buddy Boy is in a play that is being performed in the United Church hall, and the mother of one of his best friends is in charge of the little girls (age 10-12) dancing in costume under the tent.

On Sunday afternoon, Janice and her conjoint are having a party at their place in Bulwer celebrating the launch of a CD. They run a coffee house called the Church Street Caf� which takes place on the first Friday of every month (excluding July and August), and have been doing so for a number of years now. They�ve been recording the performances for years, and one of their colleagues, Ken Mad�k�r�, who died last year from pancreatic cancer, kept saying they should make them accessible in some way. This CD is a tribute to Ken, who was a wonderful human being, a fine potter (he taught fine arts at the college, and I even took a pottery course with him) and a mean banjo player. It�s an all-afternoon-until-sundown affair, but I don�t know how long I�ll be there because:

JENNY�S COMING TO TOWN AND IT�S HER BIRTHDAY ON SATURDAY!

This calls for cake, ice cream, and lots of beer (beer and ice cream, I think not, Bubbalooey) or some other alcoholic beverage to be consumed on the terrace at the Lion. Joy and rapture! Do I sound excited or what?

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