Crossing our fingers, and our legs

mainly sunny - perfect day! temps 28

Woke up to the most exquisite day. Not a cloud. Warm but not sizzling. Sat by the pool for breakfast. Spent morning editing. It's going much faster now...and even I get caught up in the story...very, very fun when that happens. (though part of me is always, and constantly praying, that I haven't screwed it up!) So far, so good. Well over halfway through.

I've hit a patch I think might be problematic - but decided to break for the day and go at it fresh tomorrow.

Lise and donna came and did the gardens yesterday...and we had our very first harvest. A single cherry tomato. There's Michael, with the tomato (like a clown's nose, which Lise assures me, it is not). We cut it into quarters and shared with Lise and Donna. Nothing like a fresh picked tomato, still warm from the sun.

Susan, Shelagh and Shelagh's friend Jenny came for a swim yesterday - then w all went over to the cottage for dinner. Susan was barbequing and halfway through...pooopht. Out of propane. So susan and I trooped through the woods to our place, with the platter of chicken, and used our bbq. GREAT dinner. very fun conversations...especially riveting to hear Shelagh's experiences as part of the Truth and Reconciliation process with the native population. Especially the travesty of the residential schools, where young native kids were taken forcibly from their families and sent away to school where they had their language and customs beaten out of them. And it was made clear to them, they were barely better than animals. And certainly, far inferior to whites.

the shame is almost too much to bear. Shelagh described being there on Canada Day and each of the survivors of the residential schools were given a cupcake and a candle - to celebrate their own birthdays, since none were celebrated when they were children. The candles were lit and the lights turned off...and it was like, in Shelagh's words, the most beautiful church service. Like votives. And then they sang happy birthday, in their native languages.

Susan, Shelagh and Jenny are coming over here for dinner. Wild rice salad, fresh fruit for dessert and confit de canard on the bbq.

But there is one small problem. Our downstairs toilet broke, and in trying to fix it I made it worse. Apparently, and I know this will come as much as a shock to you as it came to me, I'm not a trained plumber. The water, then, wouldn't stop filling and options were a) spend eternity flushing the toilet b) sell the house c) turn off all the water in the house.

We took c. Now, normally there'd be a small valve close to the toilet, for just this sort of idiocy...erm...emergency. But there isn't one there.

We called - who else - Gary - who was about 100 kms away but said he'd come tonight - God bless him!! But finally we got through to Dwayne, our friendly local plumber. He's apparently on his way. And I cannot begin to tell you how much I'm regretting that bowl of cafe au lait this morning. But deeply grateful it was only one.

Off to the Knowlton WordFest tomorrow. I'm interviewing Kevin Tierney at the Old Masonic Hall in Knowlton, at 4:30. kevin's the producer of Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

Hope to see you there! Or anywhere. Most of all, I hope you're having a terrific summer.