I love this town

Ian and I arrived home last night around 6:15 pm, almost nine hours after leaving Sun Peaks, and 30 minutes after dropping D&E off, five miles from our house. Yeah, the traffic crawling toward downtown on a Saturday evening after a day of driving through snow, sleet and sun is not what I love.

What I love is this: S finished her master’s thesis yesterday and sent it off, so she and Intrepid Aunt L (S’s mother, if you’ll remember) and S’s husband, C, invited us to join them at the Fiddler’s Inn, a pub near their house, for a celebratory pint and dinner. A notice on the door informed customers of a $3 cover charge from 9:00 pm to midnight, as there would be live music. As 9:00 pm approached, people with violin—or, excuse me, fiddle—cases started arriving and a space was cleared near the bar. Someone else pulled out an accordion, much to Ian’s delight, and the band broke into song. Now, fiddle and accordion music makes for a rockin’ good time no matter what, but this was even better because—and I kid you not—this band, Skandia Kapell, has been around since 1957, and two of the fiddlers were original members. Yes, that’s right—the entertainment at the local pub on Saturday night from 9:00 pm to midnight was a band of 80-somethings. And I tell you—when a little old man asks you to stand up and do the chicken dance in a bar, to live music played by his contemporaries, you do it.