Thanksgiving Valley Weekend... Part IThis Thanksgiving was certainly the most relaxing, enjoyable and bizarre holiday weekend I've ever experienced.
I had decided not to spend the weekend sitting quietly on the sofa at my cottage, strategically avoiding all conversation with my family and nursing my anxiety with rum. Instead, I escaped to the valley with Stephen to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with the Terauds family. It was absolutely fantastic. lol
Friday evening Stephen and I made our way to Torbrook after work with a brief stop in Wolfville to meet Jody for coffee. We had a quick catch up and discussed our excitement for what was surely to be the highlight of our weekend - the Valley Gay Men's Coffee House Group
Gay Dance at the Nictaux Lions Club Saturday night! lol
We arrived at the Terauds' place and promptly shovelled our bellies full of pasta and wine while chatting with his parents and sister Katherine in the kitchen. A little later, Michael (49%), Sara, Matt(51%) and his friend Darren arrived. The house was buzzing -but we weren't bringing buzz back yet. We kept things relatively low-key. Stephen and I hung out in the hottub for a bit, had some gin and went to bed to prepare ourselves for the next day. Michael, Sara and Matt were just as excited for the Nictaux dance and wanted all of the details. - Darren, being from less-than-gay-friendly Bermuda seemed a bit hesitant about what he may get himself into... foreshadowing?
Saturday morning I woke up early... and by early I mean earlier than I would if I were going to work. lol I was up, showered and had my first cup of coffee with the parents before any of the others showed their faces. I read the paper with Peter and enjoyed the peaceful fall landscapes from their livingroom windows - this was what Thanksgiving was all about.
Mike, Sara, Stephen and I headed to the beach in search of driftwood. We made a brief pitspot at Bev's soon-to-be new restaurant (fab) and the liquor store to pick up our pre-Nictaux bottle of fun. Poo-Jesus was no longer in stock, but the sales were fabulous. Middleton Liquor Store: A Hidden Gem In the Heart Of The Valley. The savings were phenominal.
As we walked down to the beach Mike told stories of their high school days having campfires and tailgate parties by the water. Sara denied having ever been drunk enough to flash her lady bits or do the chimpanzee. We knew she was likely just too drunk at the time to remember it. lol
*Back to the house for more food, coffee and lounging.*
Later, Stephen, Sara and I decided to take a mini roadtrip to do some shopping and gather our supplies for the pre-dance events. We stopped at Frenchy's where Stephen and I rummaged through the Men's T-shirt bin to find slutty FCUK sleeveless T's and provocative pork. Sara ran to the liquor store to get grandpa's beefeater gin while Stephen and I sat in the van to do some people watching (aka checking out the hot farm boys). We were off to the Greenwood mall where we witnessed a lesbian coffee date, found cocks at Accessories & Stuff and spotted several croc families wandering the parking lot. It was delightful. Greenwood Mall - For your Valley Needs.
Charles arrived that afternoon and we were later joined by Stephen's grandparents who came from Wolfville for dinner. We sat down for a lovely meal. Bev's bitchin' kitchen was a neverending supply of deliciousness. She's ready to bake nice. There was never a dull moment as Charles gave us all an animated lesson on a variety of topics including a history of the Middle East, horseback riding and
beaver fever. I could have died. lol
After dinner Stephen and I promptly mixed our second vodka tonic. Shut up, we had a drink with dinner. It was 7:30 after all! Bev silently judged us as we tossed back our bottle of raspberry vodka. After a few hours the others joined in and the house got a bit louder. Then it got a lot louder. Then Benjie, Scott and Paul arrived to join in our pre-dance festivities and it quickly became a drunken kitchen shitshow. Poor Scott and Sara were voted DD for the evening and had to put up with the entourage. The grandparents vacated, at which point we smuggled all of our booze, ice and mix to the basement in an attempt to minimize Bev's concern for our apparent alcoholism. We later realized that we needed to smuggle it all back upstairs and out the door for our car bar roadtrip to the Lions Club. lol Poor planning, but where there's a will there's a way. We certainly didn't want mom to think we were boozers!
After piling into the van, Matt promptly mixed the drink... Yes, the drink.
In our mass confusion we had forgotten to bring glasses. So, being the friendly, classy people that we are, we all drank from the leftover McDonalds cup he found on the floor -"don't worry, the booze will kill it". We polished off the last of our bottles while sitting outside the dance, had a quick bathroom stop in the bushes and then made our way in. It was a giant high school flashback.
We walked inside and after headed up the stairs we found ourselves in the middle of something terribly wrong - poor lighting. My first thought was that we had stumbled our way into a flourescent bulb festival. It was horrifying!
Luckily, we had arrived just in time for the 50/50 draw ($53 Grand Prize!) and the lights promptly went off again. We payed our $5 cover to the doorMAN(?) and split off. One half bolted for the bar and the others went on to find us a table. Planting ourselves close to the dj booth, we had prime seating.
The music and crowd were equally diverse. Some people would have assumed we crashed a wedding dance. That is, had they not taken a moment to check out the crowd - a melting pot of fashion disasters and gay country bumpkins. It was a GLBTTIT-SQQ Friendly event. I assumed that some of those letters stood for people who choose to wear red leather pants in public. It's still under debate.
This was NOT your typical night at Reflections. We were THRILLED! lol We danced. We drank. We danced some more. We played swing your partner to the random gay nextdoor and even hauled out the conga line. It was priceless. Thankfully, we forgot to bring a camera. lol
It was the most fun you could have at a Lions Club. Ever.
Jody was a no-show and missed out on all of the fabulous pride decorations, plaid shirts and pretty faces. lol He was terribly disappointed to hear the news that we had found our way without him. No worries though, the Nictaux dance is held the first Saturday night of every month (with the exception of November... there's a Halloween dance instead!) We'll be bringing gay valley dance back again soon enough!
TR Knight and hot bf Luke MacFarlane (aka "Scotty Wendell" on Brothers & Sisters)
More concerned with missing my opportunity, I scrambled for my cell and continued on. Perseverance is key. I WILL get on. It's no longer an option.
Dinner was fantastic. I ate so much food I nearly exploded at the table. In my defence, it's not fair to keep that much cheesecake in one room. I had no choice. It hurt. I was exhausted, bloated and felt like a beached whale. So, I did more dishes and chatted with grandma. lol She loves me longtime. I think deep down I'm really just a 70 yr old woman.
After dinner came Sunday evening tv fest in the livingroom. We beached
ourselves on whatever furniture could find to hold our monsterous bodies and watched Desperate Housewives while Charles attempted to bring Matt up to speed on the plot (shhh! during commercials!). Next came Brothers & Sister's, which I hadn't seen before. Fun times. Calista hasn't seen a Thanksgiving dinner in years. After Studio 60 and a nightcap.. err, 3 nightcaps we gave up and went to bed.
We had no evening agenda to rush home to, so we took our time going through each of the small farming towns and communities along the way. We listened to tunes by Nina Simone while we spotted and commented on beautiful farms, endless apple orchards and random gays on the street. We were so thrilled with the scenery that we drove through Wolfville 3 times. Don't ask.
Everyone in the valley had a smile on their face. It likely had something to do with their full bellies, but maybe it was because they got a smiley coffee cup in Windsor like I did. Who knows? Tim Hortons Tina, you're doing a great job! :)
