Friends and Friends of Friends

It was really nice to see Paul again (has it been more than a year already?) and meet his partner Mark who are visiting overnight. They're staying at Quarrystone House B&B which they say is really nice, each suite having a private entrance and they have a deck and view of the ocean.

They treated me to Auntie Pestos and now that I've eaten there three times, I have to rate it as the best restaurant in Salt Spring. I think something has changed (the chef?) in the past 6 months and it's really good food. I was very relieved because these two travel a lot and Mark is the culinary afficionado so if the food had been Salt Spring standard it wouldn't have been good enough. (I can't get the visual of the lemon sorbet presented in frozen half lemons out of my head. It was so visually appealing (with such a refreshing taste) I should have photographed it.

In fact, Paul is off to San Francisco for a conference shortly and of course it makes sense to mix some leisure into the work so they have a table waiting for them at the iconic Chez Panisse (Alice Waters) in Berkeley. Apparently, another place, French Laundry, is the current it place.

I was thinking afterwards how in my almost 50 years I've rarely met a heterosexual couple who I thought - ya, I want their relationship because it seems so fantastic (although recently I have met Linda and Tom transplanted to Salt Spring from Kamloops and they come close) but generally I almost never think to myself, Oh my god, I wish I had that with that being the kind of connection/lifestyle between people.

I have to say however that I do feel envious of the lifestyle that these two have - excellent (although very demanding) careers, international travel more than a couple times a year and the financial ability to stay in first rate accommodations and eat at the best restaurants. And, to top it off, Paul is one of the nicest and most decent people I've ever met.

Sign me up!