Five For Friday

 1. ANGUS IS HOME. For a little bit, before he moves SUPER FAR AWAY, let's be in denial about that part. He's going to come camping to Sandbanks with us, which is good because Eve is not, for I think the first time since we started, and I think I would be sad to be there completely offspring-less. Angus loves camping in a way that Eve doesn't, which is totally fair because she has skin issues and gut issues that are invariably triggered by something at some point, and she's a trooper about it, but she loves the beach and the water. Often a group of us will go down to the beach at night and look at the stars and sit in the sand and maybe swim. One time a few years ago we did this and I walked up to Angus and he was being quiet and contemplative and saying this felt very therapeutic, and then Eve ran between us with her head down and her hands in her pockets, making a NEER NEER NEER NEER siren noise, which is kind of a perfect representation of their respective personalities.

Today we went to see Twisters, maintaining my tradition of going to see whatever dumb movie my kids want to see when both my kids are home. It was only moderately stupid. A couple of weeks ago I saw a very disappointing horror movie with Collette (HI COLLETTE) and Janet (HI JANET) - I am quite annoyed with the reviewers who made it sound like it should be as good as Hereditary when friends, it was NO Hereditary. Sounded cool. Started cool. Went well until about two-thirds through, when it because extremely clunky and over-explainy and who-cares-ish. Kiernan Shipka had a small but incredibly effective part in it. Not unlike her part in Twisters, which, I don't know, does that mean something?

2. The time for camping is nigh upon us, and I am feeling my usual mix of excitement and apprehension. Matt is demonstrating his usual 'calm down, it will all be fine' vibe, and I'm trying not to yell WHAT ABOUT THAT ONE YEAR WE WENT WITHOUT THE AIR MATTRESS PUMP, while making extra sure that 'air mattress pump' is on the list. This weekend I will do the big grocery shop and Monday to Wednesday I will organize food and cook ribs and chicken and corn for twenty-two people and freeze it all and assemble towels for various purposes and make more pineapple simple syrup - oops, gotta add pineapple to the list, thanks for that - so I can make a giant jug of Caught In the Rains. 

Speaking of, I had my yearly Ottawa Market date with my friend Janis. We live two blocks apart, and we used to see each other constantly because Angus went to school with her son and then Eve became good friends with her daughter even though Eve is younger, and then Matt became good friends with her husband and they were the perfect friend family. Then the kids got older and, modern life being being what it is, we rarely see each other during the year now, but we never miss our yearly date to go and wander around the Byward Market and do a little shopping (our favourite stores are Zone and Paper/Papier) and have lunch and fill each other in on the previous year. Then we buy corn and berries and peaches at the farm stall before heading home. Covid summer we just did it in her back yard six feet apart, with takeout.

I had just told her about finding out that coconut tequila was a thing at my birthday dinner (not bitter at all that Nicole knew and didn't tell me, I'm sure she had her reasons, it's fine, hmph). Then we GOT caught in the rain, so our course of action seemed clear.

3. This past weekend there were plans that fell through, so Margot and Michael invited anyone who was at loose ends to come to their cottage again because MARGOT AND MICHAEL ARE AWESOME. It was a much smaller group. Eve came this time after not having been there for many years, and was the only not-old person. She is very good at doing her own thing, read most of a book, did some kayaking ("do they still have those open kayaks? Because I fuck with those open kayaks"). 

We went smaller with the food and while the big group stuff is always super fun, it's nice to have a chiller vibe sometimes.

For the most part.

4. Sunday we went down to the water, which, you may recall (probably not) entails a lengthy, precipitous, 13-storey switchback trail, for which we generally pack everything we need so as not to make multiple trips, for obvious reasons (aside from the athletic people, hmph). Except Margot went back up to say goodbye to Janet and Dave and then brought lunch and drinks down for everyone, including a little cutting board for the bagels, which, come on, Margot IS AWESOME.

5. I know technically that last thing should have been part of number three, but I wasn't sure I had enough things to get to five. Hmmmmmmmmm. Oh! I just finished a really good book. Do you remember a few years ago there was a black man in Central Park who asked a white woman to leash her dog, and she said she was going to call the police and tell them a black man was threatening her life? The man was Christian Cooper, and he was in Central Park because he is an avid bird-watcher. He's also gay, and worked at Marvel at one point, and was instrumental in one of the first gay superhero storylines. He's written a book called Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World, and my friend Carolyn put it on our book club list for next year. I got it from the library, and fifty pages in I was so smitten I returned the library copy and bought my own. Sometimes people have something happen to them that makes them somewhat of a Phenomenon, and sometimes those people get book deals, and sometimes I read those books and think "you would not have written a book and had it published had that one thing not happened to you, and that would not have been a loss to the literary world", but in my opinion this time it was a fortuitous and fortunate thing that Christian Cooper was led to write a book - he is fascinating, articulate, insightful, analytical, self-aware and compassionate, and I loved this book.