Friday was absolutely gorgeous here, weatherwise.
It was sunny and warm, "severe clear" Larry would say. (I forgot to mention that Thursday was mostly sunny but very breezy, a continuation of the strong winds that nearly blew us away upon our arrival). I hung out in the room for a couple of hours, reading and writing email. There is a harbor front shopping area across the street, so several of us walked over and browsed. 
I didn't buy anything but lunch . . . some of the shops have closed already and most will be closing for the season this weekend or next.
We drove several miles out into the countryside for lunch, a place called Shipwright. It is located in what must have been a farmhouse, surrounded by lovely lawn and flower gardens, and then meadows and pine tree woodlands. The chef is a young man, or seemed young to me, his wife an Anglican minister. There were four of us, one of my American friends and two Canadians, one from Calgary, the other from right here on PEI. She is the one who knows of all these charming places to visit and to eat.
Since the associations have been having joint sessions for several years, we've all met before. This was the first time I'd spent extended time with them in a small group. Lunch was great, although we missed the Thai mussels by one order. However, the Canadians asked the server if there were any leftovers or if one accidently fell off a plate, could they have it? And the chef actually prepared about half an order from what was left over, so the mussel lovers were delighted! The chef bakes the most mouthwatering breads, yesterday it was oat bread. I had half a turkey sandwich on oat, with a cup of corn chowder. The soup de yesterday was a tomato pesto of some sort which two of the women had, and the other had their seafood chowder. We sat around the table until 3:00, a most meaningful time talking about our different but similar experiences as spouses of professionals, what it has meant in terms of careers and family, ways we have learned to take care of ourselves. Some of the most memorable times for me are these, purely spontaneous, you can't plan for them, they just happen.
We then drove through the countryside for awhile, stopping at a couple small pottery shops and a tea and preserves boutique. I forgot to mention in yesterday's account that we had stopped at a local ice cream parlor (actually there are about six of them across the island), called Cows. They have delicious flavors of hand dipped ice cream . . . but also gift shops with clothing and novelties. Some of the "cows" designs are quite creative . . . but I left them there.
We got back to the inn at about 5:15, just in time to freshen up and walk a short distance up the harbor to the Silver Fox Yacht and Curling Club, where the lobster feast was prepared for us. What a great time we had. The lobster was delectable. Our PEI friends were sitting across the table and gave two of us amateurs a step by step lesson in how to best crack open and eat them.
There was a bright red strip down through the tail of mine, which our local expert said was like roe. I gave it to Larry. The beer was plentiful, the food pleasurable, the company laughter filled. The Canadians know how to enjoy themselves!
After dinner, there was a band which played a wide variety of music, from the toe tapping Celtic and local ballads, to Elvis, John Denver, and the Tennessee Waltz. A couple of the tables were pushed back and the dancing started.
Our PEI friend loves to dance and she and her husband did a great job pulling some of us more reluctant ones onto the floor at various times . . . I believe they succeeded in getting everyone in our party out at least once. Haven't laughed so hard in a long time.
We walked back to the inn at about 11:00. There was a hospitality suite in the Parlor Room, so we stopped in there for another half hour before calling it a night.
An observation regarding our accommodations: Recycling seems to be well established here. The soda machines dispense soda in glass bottles. All the rooms have three baskets, one labelled recycling, one labelled compost and one labelled trash . . . and each has it's list of the contents to be included. The rooms also invite guests to reuse linens.
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