Not Quite Mardigras

I was, once again, off gallivanting this weekend - this time to Hamilton for Magda's bridal shower.

I spent the afternoon with Aunty Belle. After she picked me up at the bus station, we went to Toys R Us where we looked around and picked up a few things (some baby-sized clothes hangers and an inflatable pool). We did some other minor running around and then popped in to Aunty Pris' for a visit. By the time we left Aunty Pris' it was quite late and we ended up going for a late lunch at the Empress of China buffet. I figured that since we'd effectively missed lunch I could make this sort of in between meal dinner instead, and just have a snack before going to Magda's shower, which was at 8 pm.

That was my first mistake. My second mistake was having a small sandwich before heading off to Magda's parents house for the shower. I don't know what came over me, but it seems that I'd temporarily forgotten that Magda's mother is like a sorceress in the kitchen, capable of concocting all manner of delicious things able to entice even someone who had just had chinese buffet and a sandwich and who has a small being crowding out any extra stomach room. I'd originally figured that since the shower was at 8 pm (generally much past my dinner time) that we would probably be served some hors d'oeuvres and maybe some cake or something. I could have handled that. I'd planned for it. But instead of simple cheese and crackers, we got cheese and crackers, strawberries, veggies and dip, olives, ceasar salad, two different kinds of perogies (cheddar and potato and - the best - wild mushroom and sauerkraut), jalapeno cornbread and not to mention all the other food not suitable for vegetarians which I probably would have eaten too because it all looked so good.

Then of course there was dessert, which was actually preceded by creampuff pastries and mini tarts. The strawberry cheesecake you see here was probably one of the best I've ever had. The strawberries were so sweet and the graham cracker crust seemed to be lightly spiced with cinnamon.

In between all the food we played some silly games (one of which I won with a little help from the organizers of the game and another during which I got to see some ladies who weren't even drunk do a toilet paper wedding dress striptease and shake their fake toilet paper boobs in an effort to win some bath beads and a louffa). For one of the best games we all had to simply sit there while Magda answered a series of questions such as, "What does Chris say he will be doing on the night before the wedding?" or "Who is Chris' favourite actress and why?" Each time Magda got a question right, she got a string of beads to put around her neck and if she got the question wrong she got a stick of gum. There were 12 questions, so you can see how perilous it was for her - imagine having 12 sticks of gum in your mouth! But, of course, our dear Magda apparently knows her fiance pretty well and only ended up with 5 sticks of gum to chew on. Hold on a second - 5 sticks of gum out of 12 questions? That's only 58% right!

Well, at least she has until July 16 to figure out the true answer to what Chris thinks the two of them will be doing in their future lives, which was apparently not "whatever Magda says." I'm sure the wedding is still on.

I got home from the shower pretty late and went to bed even later. All the same I got up early and went to visit Gran. I hung out there for a while and Gran's friend and upstairs neighbour Gladys came to visit and we essentially sat there listening to her talk for around an hour or so. After she left we had lunch and then I headed back up the mountain to meet Magda. I'm really glad that I got these few hours with Magda, driving around in her spiffy Toyota Matrix and looking at baby things, since I'm not sure when we will see each other again. It's a bit distressing to think about, that my dear friend who braved Russia with me will soon be essentially as far away as Russia as far as I'm concerned. Yes, it is only a 3 hour plane ride to Texas (as opposed to 9 hours to Moscow), but it's still a plane ride away, in a different country which is doing its best to make it harder and harder to get in and out of. After watching Magda's little grey Matrix pull out of the driveway and drive off down the street I just kept thinking that that image of her waving back at me from behind her windshield will be the last one for a long time. It's sad.

While I am sad for myself, I am happy for Magda. I have a good feeling about her impending state of wedlock and even though I've never met Chris I have a good feeling about him too. From what she has told me about him, he seems like a really good guy who will take care of her, just like I know she will take care of him.