s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Okay, been a little busy.

Saturday was the Halloween party — “Just when you thought you were safe, the Holiday That Would Not Die !!!” We ended up having it at Sybille’s place, since it’s more accessible by public transport. Lots and lots of people, many in quite good costumes. Stephen and I rented dark suits and wore blue neoprene gloves. The half-dozen people at the party that had seen Firefly reacted appropriately, but several people who hadn’t decided that we were creepy enough even without knowing the context. I think Sybille and Melanie probably tie for most elaborate costume (though more of Sybille’s had to be made up prior) — Sybille was a funky Brian Froud-style fairy, with horns and ivy and everything; Melanie came as “The Spanish Lady”, AKA The Spanish Influenza. Stephen actually had two costumes. Sybille’s front entrance is a little enclosed walkway — you have to put your hand through an opening in the door to work the latch to let yourself inside. Stephen posted himself as “door-demon” and got some good shrieks by grabbing people’s hands as they stuck them blindly through the door. Discovery: Absinthe is legal here ! Dayna brought a bottle, though we couldn’t do the little ritual with the spoon and the sugar and stuff. Next time. Wow, that stuff is strong, though. It’s like if you took the anise-flavored Nyquil and distilled it into a vodka — one sip and your whole head feels warm for, like, the next five minutes.

Sunday, we… what did we do Sunday ? I *knew* I should have written this up sooner ! Well, I know one of the things we did was move the critters into the gallop paddock. *That* was a hoot, watching the boys — especially Jim — race all over. They obviously enjoy being able to really stretch their legs after being kept in relatively small paddocks. Okay, you know the little “Ba-doink! Ba-Doink! Ba-doink!” hopping run that Pepe le Pew does in the Warner Brothers cartoons ? Seeing a full-grown llama do that is the cutest thing ever.

It was Miyazaki Monday with Sharon again. We watched Ponpoko. NOT a pick-me-up film. The cute, happy-go-lucky protagonists just make it that much more agonizingly depressing. I thought it was neat the way they manipulated the depiction of the Tanuki so that sometimes they were drawn realistically, and sometimes they were cartoon characters depending on how each scene was meant to hit the viewer.

Wednesday night, we’d been invited to the big annual US ex-pat Thanksgiving do. They’ve got a nice arrangement with a restaurant in one of the bays — the restaurant provides the turkey and gravy, (and a cash bar) and everyone who comes brings their favorite side dish/dessert. Sort of a semi-pot luck. Got to hang out with Hillary and David a bit, met some nice people, and, of course, stuffed ourselves.

Okay, I’ve put in some code that’s supposed stop spambots from making comments. There were no new ones last night, so maybe we’re set. Fingers crossed !