Family time and movie time

Thursday, Jan. 31 and Friday, Feb. 1, 2013

Dunedin, FL – Linda is a cousin of Val’s and John’s who has an apartment in St. Petersburg, and yesterday the four of us went to have lunch with her. We bundled Algarve into the truck with us, and he clearly felt his space had been invaded when he had to plant his head and front paws on Fawn’s lap and squeeze his tail against my side in the back seat! But Linda made his presence a condition of our visit so we couldn’t leave him behind.

It’s been several years since we last saw Linda and we were both surprised by the resemblance between her and Val’s mother Laura. We lost Laura almost eight years ago, but yesterday we looked into her eyes again and saw her lovely smile in Linda’s face! She is the daughter of Laura’s brother, so it stands ro reason, but it still seemed uncanny.

The wonderful spread she served – sausages, sweet peppers from the skillet, olives, bread, salad, cheeses, homemade salsa and pickles – was generous and delicious, and family stories began to flow with the wine. Childhood escapades, holiday gatherings, funny incidents, family history – the conversation covered all these and more as the hours flew by. Before we knew it, Linda was heating up homemade ham and pea soup and cutting more chunks of crusty bread for supper! The stars were already twinkling overhead when we headed back to Dunedin, with promises of future visits here and back in Canada to strengthen family bonds even more.

A chilly morning dawned today, but clear and sunny to usher in February (already!). Two days ago we were sweltering, but this morning we were glad of the furnace for the first half hour of the day. On the agenda today was some bargain hunting at a local outlet store and a movie in the afternoon.

Les Miserables, and its tales of slavery, poverty and injustice in the early 1800s in France is not exactly a fun experience, but the film is extremely well done, with excellent performances by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway among others, and powerful redeeming elements. Fawn and I both remarked afterward that a hot cleansing bath seems very appealing after seeing so many grimy faces, blackened teeth and dirty fingernails! We were glad to finally get to see this movie, having heard good things about it. It’s been nominated for at least six Academy awards.

Algarve the dog was beside himself with delight to see us come home after our outing – but he’s the same way if we’re absent for any length of time! He certainly knows how to make a person feel welcome.