Really, if people knew nothing of me except what I did this weekend... What a life of leisure they might assume I lead! Because of my fatigue, I'll try to keep this brief, lest this become tedious for the both of us...

On Saturday afternoon, I attended a graduation party for my friend Aimee (some of you may remember her from such adventure's as "Aimee Directs Natalie's Play for the One Act Festival" and "Aimee Has a Film in the Film Festival.") I went to this party only to find out it was a Graduation cum Engagement Party! Yay! Congratulations, Aimee and Adam!

I spent all-day Sunday in Windsor. Sandwiched between a visit with my grandparents and a visit with my aunts, uncles and cousins was my cousin Kim's bridal shower. Ordinarily, I loathe everything about bridal showers. Especially the games! But not this one. And that wasn't just because of the absence of shower games. The company was great--my aunts and my Mamie (my grandmother) rock the casbah.

Kim was a lovely and most gracious hostess. I'm excited to see how she and Shawn decorate their house with all the new swag.

I didn't think this weekend could have improved any. And then my mom and I returned home. My dad called the whole family into the rec room to show us something on the T.V. ("Uh-oh," I remember thinking. "What now?") Any grumbling was quickly stifled: we had been called in to watch the Queen's Plate, the first race in Canadian thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown which had been run (and had been taped by my father in our absence) this afternoon. You see, my godfather is the farm manager for a thoroughbred race horse owner who regularly has horses compete in the Queen's Plate, so watching the race is somewhat of a tradition in my house.

The farm, owned by Gus Schickedanz, had two horses in the Plate this year. They finished first and second. Yay! Congratulations, Gus, Uncle Laurie, Team Keogh, et al! You must be so proud! : )

This was the sixth win in nine career starts for Wando (ridden by Patrick Husbands this time out), who was sired (just in case you're interested) by the great Langfuhr and delivered (I believe) by my godfather (as farm manager, he delivers the foals; I just assume he delivered Wando, too.) Wando finished a full nine lengths ahead of his nearest competitor, stablemate Mobil (ridden by Todd Kabel).

This was the second Queen's Plate win in four years for Gus and his crew, who won with Woodcarver in 1999 (poor Woodcarver had to be euthanized about a month later after shattering his leg during a training run. : ( ).

I wish I had been there to see that race today because, while the fervour has diminished, I still love horses. And, while I've attended races at Woodbine, I've never seen a Queen's Plate in person (I'm still kicking myself for not taking up that Queen's Plate invite when I was ten [I opted to go to Woodbine Mall with my godmother, mom, aiblings and godsister; though I loved horses, I had had my fill for the weekend. I wanted to ride a ferris wheel!]) Ah, well. Maybe next year!