💾 Archived View for tilde.club › ~winter › gemlog › 2023 › 7-23.gmi captured on 2024-06-16 at 12:36:45. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Most of this year we've been having supper with friends on Sunday. It started off with them coming here (their house wasn't finished yet, and the apartment they were renting was small, dark, crowded). The last couple months, we've been taking turns hosting. Some weeks, it's felt like a lot (children require active Entertainment). Other weeks, something to look forward to. Regardless, people moving here from Toronto is not the usual migration destination. We're very glad they did, and thankful to be able to see them regularly and often, rather than every year or two.
So this has been a regular fixture of the summer, one less meal to plan during the week. The arrangements always that they cook, we bake. I say "we". This is a lie. My partner, it's understood by everyone, an exceptional baker. In the fridge right now: strawberry macarons, made with another friend, this particular batch delicious to me, unloved by them. "We wanted to try out a new filling recipe," my partner said ruefully. "It didn't set the way I wanted." I stress again that they taste amazing, but I'm probably a poor judge.
Anyway, she bakes.
We're trying to put together some weekend plans, the last couple of weekends getting filled with too much of the day-to-day. Grocery shopping, errands, walking the dogs for a couple hours after. Blink and it's 2. Ball game in the afternoon. BBQ something for supper, or maybe order in. TV or a movie after. We just finished Lord of the Rings on Prime; I liked it, but it lacks the magic of Peter Jackson's films.
But it was getting samey, so this weekend we made different plans. Our favourite independent bookstore, picking up books, a two player game, music. A fancy and expensive (but incredible) supper afterward. Small shared plates, cider for her, beer for me.
Today, we're planning a quick trip to the lake. A picnic lunch, then swimming. Ice cream.
After that, in the coming weeks - not sure. I've been wanting to see my family, but haven't arranged anything yet. Maybe the fall. We'll keep an eye on the calendar of the theatres and clubs around town, see if anything strikes us. Unrelated, but I'm reminded by this I need to order our symphony tickets for the year. Last year there was literally nothing we wanted to hear. This year's a little better, but falls into the usual traps (lots of piano, lots of violin, lots of Beethoven/Brahms/etc). Second year in a row without Bruckner or Mahler.
The summer passes. Two thirds of the way through July already! The weather here has been excellent. Rain and heat early. Our potato plants are thriving. I've cleaned off the cherry tomato plants twice in a week and a half. We've got three big bowls full, have been eating them as much as we can, giving them away to friends. None of the awful heat here that other places have experienced, at least not yet. And Reader, I hope your summer's been good. I hope August will find you well.