Saturday, In the Park

We had an unexpected call from one of our cousins late Friday evening. He was riding his motorcycle through the city, just a few kilometres from the southern city limits when he ran over a nail* and his rear tire blew out. He was travelling at 110 km per hour at the time. Fortunately, he was able to keep the bike up and stay on the road. He could have easily been killed.

Unfortunately, because it is a long weekend, every garage the tow truck driver took him to was locked up tight. Since we have a secured parking garage, he called to ask if they could bring the bike here.

We were delighted to hear from him and more than happy to have him come and visit. The only problem is, since we have him, we don’t want to let him go again. The bike is fixed and he would like to continue on to Waterton National Park to meet up with his friends. But, we are all enjoying his company so much we wish he would stay a few more days.

We might have reached a compromise and he will stop back in overnight on his way back. He is one of the few cousins who ever comes to visit and we just adore him. He is 4 months younger than Wonderful Daughter so they have loads in common. She happily dragged him around the mall for a few hours this afternoon. I was thrilled not to have to go shopping. He was less than thrilled to be taken into a lingerie store but, given enough time and some shock therapy I think he'll be just fine.

Tonight we went to have a BBQ with our oldest friends. Not that they are old, but we have been close friends for 21 years. They are both so hospitable and would happily give you the shirt right off their back. No question asked. However, we are all getting older, greyer and wrinkly so removing a shirt is not a request any of us would make lightly.

We were bottling a Piesporter wine Gordon had made. It turned out quite nice. I really liked it and found it very smooth.
I don’t have a fancy palate for wine but it’s fun to make and try the various kinds. I know hooch and the stuff we make is pretty good. We filter it before bottling and that seems to help.

Dinner was fantastic, as always. Penelope is a fabulous cook and it’s always a treat to sit at her table. I was a very good girl again and only had a small slice of her cheesecake. Even though it was, beyond a doubt the best cheesecake I've had in years. She made two desserts. She always incorporates fruit into at least one dessert. Penelope loves to eat healthy. I wanted to take her a flat of pluots but Costco, in a unprecedented attempt to make money, sold all their pluots to others before I got there. Cheeky!

While the guys bottled the wine, we ladies did everything we could to assist them by sitting at the kitchen table and playing Trivial Charades. It’s a new game we just made up tonight. Basically, you play Trivial Pursuit and if the other player doesn’t know the answer and cannot discern your clever clues, you then act it out. We laughed our fool heads off and got so silly we could hardly read the cards.
Before you jump to conclusions, we were drinking tea, tonic water, tap water or Diet Coke. It was a blast!

The weather has been very hot and we are just so happy to spend this Heritage Day weekend with family and friends. How has your weekend been?

*editied to add: apparently Cousin ran over 2 nails at seperate locations on the Deerfoot. Scary.