Trisha's Adventures: Famiglia e Amici

The month of August I spent with family and catching up with some old friends and mostly eating and drinking and trying to stay cool!

Amici
It has been great re-connecting with some old friends and it's funny what people remember. While I was still in Quebec, I was able to catch up with my friend Alan in Montreal who I have known since high school and haven't seen since university. He and his wife treated Louis and I to a lovely backyard bbq and her first question was - how do you make your Carbonara? Apparently she had tried to make it and Alan had said it wasn't like mine. I really gotta get some new recipes! My friend Paul in Toronto who I have also known since high school and hadn't seen in about 7 years remembered my Vongole recipe and my taste for Rum (so it seems I haven't changed much, still a foodie and a drunkard).

Paul with the sisters

I also caught up with Robert and Lisa who I know from my skating production days and hadn't seen in about 15 years. It was great to meet their kids and catch up on their life in Toronto. They had a slightly different memory associated with me - the time that I had a dinner party and we were distracted somehow and forgot to put the candles out and turned one of my dad's 300 year old antique candlesticks into a giant torch. My father still has the candlesticks (the torch was repaired) and always tells how these beautifully carved antiques managed to survive 300 years until I came along. I do remember Robert running out into the snow to put it out, it was very funny - not so much at the time.

Of course it's always great to see my dear friend Sandra! In order to protect the innocent, or not so innocent, I am not at liberty to tell the story of how we met many years ago in a remote town in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta.

Chillin' with Sandra at The Beaches in Toronto

Don't I look fancy in my hat

By coincidence a few of my US buddies were also in Toronto in August.
Megan - my former flying trapeze teacher and now a co-worked and great friend was in town for a wedding of one of her circus buds. The wedding was in Peterborough, just south of our cottage so I was able to get her up to the cottage for a few days before she had to head back to SF. We had a great day of drinks on the dock and then crashed early - I think my brother Stephen had to pry the wineglass out of her hand.

Another work friend was also in Toronto doing a show - Il Vole - sort of Backstreet Boys meets Three Tenors. Tomasz invited me to see the show and I had a great view from the FOH mix position. It was a great show and great to catch up with Tomasz and have a drink with the Italian crew. Tomasz would ask a question - they would discuss amongst themselves - 'come se dice...' and then just keep talking amongst themselves - gotta love Italians!!

La Famiglia
Best of all it has been great to spend time with my family. They make me laugh and love to eat and drink as much as me. Many days and nights of great food, great cocktails and great wine.

It was fortunate that I was in town since my mom had to have knee replacement surgery so I was able to stay with her and help her out. I was glad that I could be there to help her, even if she did tell everyone that I was a terrible nurse. She said that I was bossy (I made her eat and do her exercises) and that if she was paying me, she would have fired me - oh and she would have cut off my hair in my sleep (she didn't like my hair being so long). I attributed these rants to the drugs - or her inability to poop (also attributed to the drugs). I am happy to report that she is coming along very well (her physio therapist says she's a start), however continues to complain about my hair.

pre-op mom

I had a great day with my sister at the CNE - the Canadian National Exhibition - sort of like a State Fair and Craft Show. I hadn't been in 20 years and was happy that it hadn't changed much - the food building with the fudge place, Jamiacan jerk, bacon on a bun and of course - Tiny Tom Donuts. We even went on a couple rides, a little roller coaster (I guess the old Flyer finally fell apart) and then another stupid ride that didn't look so bad from the ground but turned out to be a crazy thing that spun around and up and down - we both ended up with ride injuries from hanging on for dear life.

scarier than it looks

Hangin' with the kids has been cool - Sangrias with the girls, poker with the boys - so great to get to know them all better - they are all such interesting, funny and fantastic people!!