2009-09-07 - 11:08 a.m.

...labor day weekend..weddings and ball games...

This weekend marked the beginning of autumn in Funcouver. It began with some crazy downpours of rain, mostly overnight but also during the day, and some extensive winds. The first of the rain and winds had this wonderful warm quality that reminded me of tradewinds in tropical countries. But gradually these were replaced with a normal, autumn rain. In Funcouver we have 100 different classifications for rain :-).

Rain makes me feel cuddly, which is probably why I am working from bed today, laptop across my legs and on top of the silk wedding quilt that my mother-in-law made for us. It's a fabulous quilt, and I feel cozy typing under it and taking occasional sips of black tea.

Susi is downstairs with Mary Poppins today, which means she's exceedingly happy. Actually, pretty much anything means that Susi is exceedingly happy, but right now I'm hearing ecstatic squeals as they are playing a game of chase. Anything involving wild abandonment and running in circles is a pretty big hit.

We took Susi to a wedding yesterday, and she had a blast. The wedding was for my old friend Micha (the one who took prenatal yoga with me), held in the Sun Yat Sen Chinese Gardens downtown. Absolutely gorgeous. Susi slept through the ceremony (thankfully), and then she was tromping off all over the garden grounds, in her little tights, party dress, and pink hat. My god, cute enough to make even cartoon Disney animals go off puking in the forest.

A wedding with a toddler is quite a different experience - we spent the entire day chasing after her, which was a little bit tiring, but darned amusing. She ran laps around a tour group in the middle of the garden and then ran up and stood attentively right underneath the tour guide, who gradually realized that no one was hearing a word she was saying - they were all watching this little clown of a child standing in front of her, demanding attention. Nope, this child is not at all like her mother.

Anyway, it was a lovely Funcouver wedding day, complete with three different types of rain, and just the right amount of sun breaking through clouds at exactly the right moments (during the vows, during the toasts).

***

Working my way backwards through the weekend - we went to one of the last ball games of the season on Saturday, in order to give Budda the super experience of watching the Funcouver Canadians play baseball. Unfortunately, they sucked. Lost 11-4 to the Everett Aquasox (apparently they save good names for the major league teams). But the game was exciting anyway. At least there was a lot of action, and there was a fireworks display at the end of the game. I love minor league ball games. The staff brought Budda a souvenir Funcouver Canadians baseball for being a German visitor at her first professional ball game. We watched gigantic stuffed sushi races during the middle of the fifth inning, and the grounds crew did mildly risque dance routines to the tune of "Shake your Booty" while raking up the ball field. Nat Bailey Stadium just makes me feel like I've walked onto the set of Bull Durham.

To complete the feeling, there were two women sitting behind us who had walked off their own personal set of the Trailer Park Girls. They both had the lovely melodious sounds of someone who talks through her nose after smoking 100,000 cigarettes - kind of a young version of Selma and Patti Bouvier from the Simpsons - and they generously sprinkled their conversation with "like," "you know," and "f'in' b*tch," as they gradually got toasted. I can barely remember their topics of conversation - pretty much nonstop discussion of how beautiful and thin they were in comparison with their friends.

K and Budda are both native German speakers. They just tuned it out. But not me, boy. I was hooked. I just remember that it was so bizarre that it had the allure of a train wreck. I couldn't stop listening. I wanted to know where people like this come from...I wanted to know more about the f'in' homeless boyfriend Jeff who thinks that she was fat. So did the other people around us, you could visibly see the neck tension of all the people in our section as they all tried desperately from rubber-necking around to see what these two chicks looked like! I did finally give way to the urge and looked back - two thin blondes with lotsa makeup, holding beers. I was way way way entertained. Next time, though, perhaps I should heed K's warning:

"Be careful. Some conversations actually destroy your brain cells."