Well, the past 2 or 3 weeks have been ver busy. So I'll only mention the truly interesting stuff.
March has been a month of birthdays and birthday celebrations. Starting with Sue on the 4th, my brother Dave on the 8th, then Sara the 9th, Marijke's husband Peter was the 18th, Hazel was the 20th, Cathy the 24th (we'll have to celebrate it later though), Tom (Tracey's guy) is today, and on the 5th there was another event for my birthday. In the middle of all this I broke a tooth and had to get a temporary filling until I can afford the repair job (cap). We did the 2nd meeting of the Clutch, our Stitch&Bitch, on the 5th which I wrote all about on the 7th. And Belly Dance Superstars at the Casino too.
The 11th was Sara's Ensemble's debut concert in Montreal. I wish I could have been there. They had about 50 paid seats full and Sara says it went perfectly. Congratulations to Sara and her Ensemble on a successful premiere. Sara said that it was an excellent turnout for an early barocque music concert.
I attended the National Women's show on the 11th and 12th and did a couple or 4 hours volunteer work at Tracey's Belly Dancing for Fun booth. It was mucho fun. I bought a hair fall for Belly Dance performance. It will get its first public trial on 8 April when we perform a free show at a Cancer Fund Raiser. Afterwards, on the 12th, I attended Brigitte's 17th birthday celebration at Bern & Monique's house. Bern and I attended Algonquin College together many years ago (no I'm not telling!) and have remained friends on and off over the years.
Then came the weekend of the 18th. Sue and I met at the VIA Rail station in Ottawa at about 9:30 in the morning where we boarded the train to Montreal. What a great, fun weekend. When we arrived in Montreal we checked our luggage (so we would not have to haul it everywhere) and hopped the Metro to meet Sara at Place d'Armes. From there we walked into Vieux Montreal. As we strolled through the blistering cold winds towards the street where I once lived we passed the Mexican Restaurant, Casa de Mateo, that I loved so much. It is still there and still busy. We had lunch and a brew in there. Sue enjoyed the homemade salsa so much that she bought a huge tub of it ... for only $5!! She gave a bit to me because there was twice as much as she expected for $5.
Then we walked to my former dwelling so I could show the girls where I lived in Montreal, on rue-du-St-Sacrement. Then we shopped several stores before stopping at Chez Queux for dessert and tea. Sara and I shared a Chocolate Fondue made with pure Belgian chocolate and Sue had a butterscotch sundae that was HUGE! I don't know how she ate it all. So we had to go shopping some more to walk it off. Both Sara and Sue found tops to buy :-) When the stores closed we found another restaurant for supper, Le Bourlingueur on St-Paul O., and made a reservation to return in a couple of hours. After getting our luggage from the train station we Metro'd out to Sara's to drop the luggage, freshen up, pretty up and return for supper. Supper was superb! By the way, we found 4 perfect spots to eat and drink which made it a perfect day (except the bloody biting cold winds). Sara and I shared 1/2 litre of wine, Sue had a beer.
During supper we decided, by reviewing a Montreal Guide book, to go to the Pub St-Paul for beers and dancing/partying. What a great choice. We parked ourselves at a table beside the only pool table in the room, ordered beer and watched a group of guys playing pool. We each took a shot at the pool table. All lost to the guys ;-) The first guy to approach our table made a beeline for Sara and that set the tone of the evening. Sara was constantly surrounded by men all evening. Sue was not exactly starved for attention either. I spent all evening dancing... with every guy I found to take to the dance floor, with myself on and away from the dance floor, just constantly dancing. Occassionally I stopped long enough to guzzle another beer, of which I had a few. We all had a marvellous time. The band, KUZ, was fabulous and the DJ played excellent tunes during the breaks that kept people dancing. The band finished, the DJ finished for the night, the bar was closing so we decided we best be going home. We did leave a few people there so we did not close the pub.
The next morning we were moving less briskly but none the worse for wear. Sue and I packed our bags slowly, tidied up after ourselves and when we were all ready Sara took us across the street to a local diner serving cheap but good breakfast. I was ravenous and inhaled an omelet with all the trimmings. We said our goodbyes on the sidewalk, thanking Sara for allowing us to invade her life for a couple of days (but I think she enjoyed it as much as Sue & I did) and Sue and I hopped the Metro to the train station. After a short wait we were heading back to Ottawa.
Sunday the 26th was Tom's birthday brunch and there was a party at their place in the evening. Tom, Tracey and a few others spent the afternoon playing Lazer Quest. I did not partake... too much for this old body ;-} The Mexican potluck was fun. Always good food and good company.
I have spent the last few days preparing for this evening. I taught my first Belly Dance class. A Beginners' class out at the Orleans Complex. We had a good turnout of 8 including the organizer, Michelle. I was a bit nervous and forgot a couple of warm-up stretches but otherwise all went well. I will be teaching this class every Tuesday 6-7pm until May 16. I'm hoping we can do a short, simple choreography at Tracey's June class party. All the ladies seemed up for it so I'll start work on a choreography right away.
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to get some food into me now.