I’ll be on the Olympic Peninsula–far from email–until late Wednesday. I might get around to writing a time-activated blog post or two before I leave, or I might not. I’m feeling sorta sleepy and Sunday-ish and think I might just putter about the house getting ready for the dinner we’re throwing for my sister, her sweetie, and one of our good friends.
On the menu: butternut squash soup, lamb stew, profiteroles. With lots of delicious wine.
I think my sister has met our friend, briefly, at a party we gave eight years ago, but I love knowing that friends, family, and neighbours have been properly introduced. It makes the world seem more knit together, the safety net more sturdy. I like having a place in a multi-stranded community.
I even introduced our masseuse, Susan, to our artist neighbour, Vicki. I think Susan might end up buying some art from Vicki for her massage rooms–one day, when she gets around to it. But the connection is there. It pleases me.
Do any of you do anything like that? Do you set people up on blind dates? Suggest that friends get their houses painted by your contractor? Share secrets of where to get your favourite shoes resoled instead of buying new ones? Does it make you feel good?
Nicola Griffith 
Hey!–it’s not as if we don’t *have* email capability on the Peninsula. We even have our our provider, OlympusNet.Hmph.
Yes, and we’re staying in a lovely hotel with high speed wireless blah blah blah, but I’m not taking a laptop or smart phone or any other goddamn thing except my Kindle.Read. Eat. Sleep. Hang out with my near and dear. Walk in the woods and by the water. Aaaaah.
Yes, I recommend the woman who cuts my hair, my mechanic(my mother used to call them wizards), my sister’s classes at UW Whitewater, etc. I like them to meet each other. What they do about it is their business. Have a nice stay on the peninsula.
Enjoy your break, sometimes it is wonderful to disconnect from all of the electronic gadgetry and decompress!
I live my life trying to do this. When we lived in Portland and knew we’d be leaving, we started introducing all our good friends to each other–and now they’re at each other’s houses, baby-sitting for each other, and becoming a tight-knit group. We’re doing the same here–now that we’re introducing people to each other here, our friend the baker is catering for our friends having a commitment ceremony; going to each other’s houses…it’s so fantastic.Creating a tight-knit community is vital, IMHO.
Yay! For all of it – ya’ll getting away, puttering about the house kind-of-Sunday, a great dinner, family, community, connection, feeling good, and love.
Enjoy the get away! And yes, the exclamation point does mean I’m shouting.Anyway yes, I do recommend people to other people. I’ve even recommended you! And no, not shouting this time.I love to recommend books/authors.
A few !!’s don’t make for shouting. Shouting is ALL CAPS. Exclamation points are just enthusiasm.
Yes, right you are. I stand corrected. ;)