Murder, Mystery and Intrigue at Tina and Phil's cottage

The first cottage weekend of the summer (wait, isn't summer technically over?) was wonderful. Relaxing, easy and friendly, full of laughter and silly games - what a great time!

We took turns cooking in teams (in theory), ate like royalty, and maybe drank a wee bit as well. Friday night was punctuated by a barbecue, a campfire, and a poker game that everyone won (yay!), much to the disgust of the serious poker players. A 2 am bedtime was too early for Phil and Luther, who sat by the fire till 4 am.

Chris and I somehow dragged ourselves out of bed at 8:30 on Saturday morning to drive back to Ottawa for the day. (I had two classes to teach and a fishing vest (above right -- nice, eh?) to sew) (he had a football game and a day of Navy work.) With our costumes in tow, we drove the 45 minutes back again at the end of the day, just in time for Scrabble-for-money, more poker, and a murder...

The murder mystery kicked off before dinner (and karaoke). The photo slideshow (below; follow the link, then choose "view as slideshow" and click on the "i" for the play-by-play) really tells it the best.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/11228573@N07/56R81B

After the perp was unmasked, we went on to MORE poker (boys), Cranium (girls: Jess and I kicked Tina and Carilynn -- aka "the cheaters" -- butts), Outburst, then finally bed.

Sunday morning (11 still counts as morning) dawned bright, and Chef Christophe Encraque and his Sous-Chefs made some delicious french toast, maple bacon, and beans. We slowly, slowly got ourselves sorted out and ready to leave, but then a brilliant sun came out and we had to stay for another hour.

We took Tina home with us (how could we not? Look at that face!), stopping for poutine on the way home (thanks, Phil!), which was necessary and delicious, but definitely not a good food choice. Now that we know where their idyllic getaway is, we'll be sure to go again, as long as we're still allowed!

I'm hoping to be able to upload a video soon, but that blogger feature isn't working very well. For a teaser, however, the title of the video will be: "A little bit of karaoke makes the time fly by... especially when your militant ecologist friends aren't answering their cells."

Intrigued??? (Jer, this is where you make me an offer...)