i was in the 'vale(my girls nickname for her 'hood) last weekend. and i'll be back on thursday to start up the last long weekend of summer. it'll be the first time in years that i haven't gone up to algonquin, to lay the summer to rest...i shall return...so last saturday was court's family reunion and it was a subdued and casual affair. i thought it would be a chance to meet some of her relatives and all that , but it turns out that they're not too outgoing. (of course it doesn't help when some shy boy from canadaland turns up and forgets how to speak). i don't know, i would have thought that what a family reunion was all about - meeting your family. like, who are you? and who is this person? etc. i did meet a few of courts family, but it was lickity-split, you know? and we were in and out too. partly because it was boring and i think we were restless. so we went to play mini-golf and screw around like kids in the arcade for two hours. i think that where they should have had the reunion. make a foursome of people who don't know each other and force them to play mini-golf together. fun , and you get to know someone from ohio that you didn't a half hour ago. maybe the next one. so after the reunion, we went to visit courts "gram" (which she insisted i call her from now on) in the hospital. a few of the fam came up from the reunion and the ladies had a very lively conversation. i like courts grandmother, she's always pleasant and strightforward. a while back she prepared an impromptu gift box of kitchen gadgits when she learned of my impending move. it was very nice of her. and she cooks a mean dinner. but then don't all grandmothers? the rest of the weekend was spent lazing around on courts porch and watching a very lame(repeat)s.n.l.

a couple of funny things, although the subject matter isn't funny at all. for the second week in a row, the local pittsburgh news has had a canadian item to pull on our heartstrings. last week it was about some sudbury miners trapped in the blackout. which was slightly reminiscent of the pennsylvania miners story about a year ago. on sat. night they were telling everyone about the disasterous b.c. forest fire near kelowna. the province has since declared a state of emergency and even our own p.m. in hiding(surprise, surprise) cam e out and toured the area by helicopter yesterday. no further comment about our absentee leader. so the amusing part of it was, how bad the newscaster screwed up the pronouciation of kelowna. i don't know what the hell she said. or how she even came up with that. i t kind of sounded like she had a cat in her mouth. it's KEL- OH - NA. or simpler yet KEL- OWNA. like owning something. i would forgive her if it was just her accent but she didn't even try.(and yes i know i have a funny accent) i can hardly say MA-zda without cracking a smile.

oh, and even though i was soundly defeated by my own girlfriend in a game of air hockey.(court 7 me 5) i did manage a mini-putt victory and another punch-buggy win. but i'm not bragging about it. honest. maybe when i win next week.

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