We had Kerry and Dave over to watch the fireworks from our deck. I tried for a little ambience:

And it was so ambient, it couldn’t be caught on film.

Sigh.

But the candles WERE pretty…

And I made dessert for everyone, which began with chocolate art…

And ended up like this:

Chocolate angel food cake layered with a filling of raspberry gelato, and topped with Ben and Jerry’s vanilla, some raspberries, and a raspberry-chocolate truffle…

I love my friends.

Hope you had a good night, too.

A friend of ours came to visit this weekend. We had such a good time, we forgot to take pictures, mostly.

But.

He looks like this (and will hate me for both of these shots, I guarantee, but it’s not MY fault someone won’t pose):

Look how edgy and tough he looks. We were SO intimidated.

Not.

We showed him all the sights of Vancouver — at least all the ones you can pack into almost two days (allowing for coffee stops and copious goofing off.)

Among the thrills?

A gorgeous drive along the Sea-to-Sky Highway, all the way to Squamish.

And then the view from the top of the British Properties…

That’s where I caught this Lohan-esque paparazzi shot of Catherine:

And at the Sea Wall, I caught the only living picture of Eric and I:

You can totally tell we’re friends.

We miss Eric already, what with his being SO EASY TO WHIP AT SCRABBLE, his willingness to stop for coffee every five minutes, his eagerness to take the pizza out of my hands when the crazy man delivered it, his statement five minutes after waking on Saturday that he needed an iron to help his wrinkly clothing, and his love of Canadian television.

(It’s pretty good!)

And so is our friend Eric.

He had a hard time getting home after his plane connected with a silly bird, but he made it there. And fortunately (along with Peet’s coffee and Catherine’s beloved Cracklin’ Oat Bran) he left someone to keep us company until he returns:

We now have our very own Alpaca. And he’s HYPOALLERGENIC!

We miss you, Eric, of course, but we’re making do.