FRIENDS AND SURPRISES!

Saturday night's alright!
I had a little dinner party tonight with my pals George, Viki and the Babylonian. George and Viki originate in the Caribbean (Guyana and Grenada) and the Babylonian is from Iraq. First surprise was when G & V got talking about their connections/backgrounds and discover many mutual friends and of course interests from their cultures. We were having a Latin American dinner, with corn-meal cakes topped with sour cream, shrimps, red pepper, and ciltrano. And I made Spanish rice, sauted shrimps in sour cream and rum sauce and red, green, yellow peppers sauted. Also salad with grapefruit, avocado, mandarin oranges and walnuts on lettuce variety with squeeze lime juice. All yummy. And of course lots of mojitos as well.

After dinner lots more talk and Viki (who's never been to my place before) was looking around at all the pictures I have. One is a collage of various aspects of my life. In one corner is a pix of me at one of the daycare I used to work at way back about '78. I'm posed with a group of children, one being a little favorite tyke, Nigel, one of the four little coloured boys who used to provide us with hours of entertainment. She asked the boys name. I told her (how could I forget Nigel?) and she gasped. It was her eldest Son! He is now 30. My god how the years fly by and what a huge co-incidence! (He was being cared for by his grandparents at the time and her sister used to drop him off at the Centre as V. was still back East. So of course I'd not met her before. ) She's the second former daycare mom who I have come in touch with, both whose sons attended that daycare at that time. The other is my friend Patricia who is now in my writing critique group after I discovered her in one of my novel writing classes. And the other day I held up the bus for a woman who was running to catch it and it turned out to be a notorious mother we had at the daycare. (I always hope she'll never recognize me as it was a long tale of drama and weirdness). Isn't it funny how the past catches up and you become connected with people from certain eras? George is also a friend I first met around that same time in '78. Talk about retro!

Anyway, that made the evening all the more special, making such a lovely connection with Viki. I'm feeling a bit exhausted, because last night we partied long at the Babylonian's house and all day today I felt like I needed a long nap but didn't get time for one. So...off to bed now after a very satisfying weekend (so far).