june 4, 2001. I'm pleased to report that yesterday got even better after I put the laptop away. We were invited to Miri & J's house for dinner a couple of days ago. I have to admit, dinner parties are one of the nicest events in the life of this old married woman. (sidebar - I had originally typed 'sinner parties,' a designation more properly applied to the fetish nights I used to attend - which makes me recall that when I was engaged, I looked forward to being married and out of my parents' house so that I could wear sluttier clothes out & about. Huh. Damn my Freudian fingers!) So yeah, dinner party. I like hanging around M & J because they have this laid-back intelligent hippie vibe to them - interesting, accepting and aware of the world around them. At the same time, they're not slaves to an anything-goes hippie aesthetic: they like a bit of occasion and conventional excitement. When we were in Edmonton last month, we gave them the run of our fabulous apartment so that Ceilidh could get a bit of human companionship and some fresh air. That included full comic book and video privileges, you know. Terribly exciting. I don't know if they had us over last night as repayment, or to simply continue the long & happy chain of mutual obligation. Either way, we had a rockin' good time. For one thing, they really know how to cook. The Boy & I can boil or fry a few things. We can even make something more complicated than stew if we have a recipe handy. But fish cakes in phyllo pastry is far beyond our culinary skills. We huddled around the coffee table, sitting on the floor. We ate the pastry and the cucumber-tomato salad with our hands, and we drank litres of camomile tea. Then we flopped around the bedroom and watched a dubbed version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on a tiny teevee. It doesn't sound like much, does it? Trust me, it was. I'm still kinda sleepy, but overall my body is very happy today. So is my spirit. This weekend was Apple Blossom Weekend in the Annapolis Valley. Woo! Apple Blossom! Parades! The crowning of Queen Annapolisa! A free concert! Well, not free. The Barenaked Ladies played the local athletic field on Friday night - at $40 a ticket! Man, do you know how much sushi that would buy? We followed the example of a great many locals and camped out across the street, on the edge of Acadia's gigantic front lawn. And you know what? I've paid $50 for outdoor concerts that didn't allow me anywhere near the sightline I got for free on Friday. Sure, all we could see were their backs. Sure, we couldn't hear any of the stage chatter because the speakers were pointed in the other direction (which was more of a drag than you might think - as a veteran of 3 previous concerts (concerts I paid for, that is), I know that the chatter is absolutely the best part of the show.) On the scale of free entertainment, it ranked above Palaver drunk but below spontaneous troubadours. So there you go.