Monday we relaxed a bit in the morning - nearly into the afternoon, as I recall; sinfully late, for me, as I rarely am in bed past 8:00 on the East Coast! But we had stayed up late, as we did most nights while I was there. It's not hard for me to go nocturnal for a while, as Gail usually does; I am a morning person of necessity and habit, more than inclination. The weather was rainy anyway, so Gail and I drove around and ran some errands, and she showed me her environs, which I had long looked forward to. I only ever had a tourist's quick look at Vancouver, but Gail is a longtime resident, and one who loves her city. One of her main goals was to take me to plenty of restaurants, to show me the varied cuisines of the city; most of which are not to be found in provincial Scranton. (I can only escape to Manhattan for such fare, but NYC is generally expensive!) Later in the day we left the city and took a long drive north of Vancouver towards Whistler, and the weather finally broke a little so that I got some nice photographs of a beautiful Pacific sunset.That evening, I finally got to meet some of Gail's friends - first Socar, who just took up residence in a modern apartment not far from Gail. I have been getting to know Socar through Orkut, where I met Gail, and I won't attempt to summarize her here - other than to say that she is an original and creative artist, and a wickedly entertaining writer. Her journal is one of my favorite reads. Gail and I had brought Greek take-out for us all (Socar's younger sister was visiting) and afterwards Gail and Socar tried to coax Stella, Socar's Giant Gambian Pouched Rat into a photo session. Stella, for her part, tried to coax Gail and Socar into finding other amusement; but dogged perseverance yielded a few photos.
Next we all went to the elevator to visit Gail's close friend Eliza, who will be Maid of Honor at our wedding. Eliza is Taiwanese, and lives in an ultra-modern (certainly to me!) apartment in the same building. (They helped Socar get into the building when her last flat was pulled out from under her.) Eliza dotes on her two elegant cats, Ebi and Tako, and is also apparently Gail's connection to the world of things Girly. Eliza will be instrumental in helping us plan the wedding; and she has a great disposition and is quite funny. Poor Eliza got her car smashed while trying to help Gail get to the airport to retrieve me on Friday; I don't think she's blogged it yet, but Gail can tell the story best. Luckily, it's more funny than tragic - no one was hurt.
Next: The 3 Ms (and half of Vancouver) visit Stanley Park!
