Lit Chat and Dinner Party at Andrew and Rahel's place

rew and Rahel

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Rahel showing off her matching set which I made for her. 

My goodness, life has been a little busy lately but that is okay, as it makes it much more interesting!

Still in the process of downsizing which is taking a lot of my time but it is coming along, slow but sure.  My son called and he could not believe that I had already given away three big black garbage bags full of things to the Salvation Army!  I have another one in progress which is almost full.

I guess it is a bit of a shock for anybody that knows me, I keep things "just in case" they may come in handy some day and quite often they do!

Now onto more interesting subjects.  It was the first Lit Live on Sunday night and I was very surprised how full it was, especially since it was a long weekend!  I invited Andrew and Rahel just to come along to see what it was like.  Rahel seemed to enjoy it, but Andrew did not I don't think.

The first reader I could not hear at all, nor could Rahel. It was easier to hear the other readers as they had more powerful reading voices.  I enjoyed three of the readers work very much.

Jeff and James were not there which is highly unusual.  Jeff was mentioned as being on the short list for our Arts Hamilton Literary Awards so I was pleased to hear that.   This year, I was not one of the judges.  Normally I am.

The evening ended well after 9:30 and we all walked home.  Mohammed did not have to walk me home this time as Andrew and Rahel were with us so he grabbed a taxi and went home.

On Labour Day I watched for the parade and only saw the police blocking off the street. It must have been a very short parade as the next time I looked, the barricades and police were gone.

I had hoped to be able to take the last shuttlebus down to Pier 8 but the time seemed to get away from me and we were due at our friend's place at 5 p.m.  Mohammed buzzed me at about 4:10 and needless to say, I was not ready as I was still downsizing!  However, I put some music on for him and got ready and then wrapped up a little hostess gift for Rahel and we went together downstairs.

They are such good hosts and made us feel welcome.  Their place is all decorated now ready to be sold and it looks very nice indeed.  It is a little larger than mine with a different layout. 

They both made the dinner which was a delicious lasagna, with salad and Andrew made a lovely zuchinni, baked I think, in the oven.  I liked the taste and the spices he put on it.

For desert, we had apple pie and ice cream and Rahel made Ethopian coffee for a special treat.  I did not have any as I don't drink coffee after 2 p.m. It was quite an undertaking to make this type of coffee.  First you put the whole beans in a frying pan on top of the stove, then you roast them.  There is smoke everywhere during this process.  I have never seen this done before so it was interesting to watch.  It takes a fair bit of time to roast the beans and then they are ground down by the processor and then made in what looked like an Italian style coffee maker.  It was a very dark colour by the time it was done.

The Ethopian tradition is once the beans are roasted, all the guests smell them with the hostess taking them around.  Apparently the little Ethopian restaurant near here does the same. 

It was most interesting to see how it was done.

Mohammed and Andrew told some nice jokes and got into the taboo subjects of religion and politics! 

We left about 11:45, Mohammed to his home and I to mine.  Fortunately, I only lived upstairs but I think he took a taxi home.

All in all, a nice way to spend an evening from time to time.