Nilgiris Tea House 2009 Christmas Event / No More Mr Nice Guy

The Tea House staff went to Calgary on Thursday, December 3, for two reasons: to have our Christmas event and to celebrate Brent's 18th birthday, which was the next day.

First we went to dinner at Babylon Qithara, a wonderful Mediterranean eatery that Debs introduced me to. The pictures in this entry are from dinner. Eleven of us feasted on lamb, fragrant rice with nuts and raisins, moussaka, eggplant and potatoes, tabouli salad, hummus and pita, and baklava with Moroccan tea. BRENT DRANK TEA -- and LIKED IT! This from a person who will only drink coffee although employed at the tea house. I believe my sense of pique is entirely justified, don't you?!

Then we rushed down to SAIT's Jubilee auditorium where we met the three people in our party who could not join us for dinner but were able to make it to ... Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe Christmas concert! There was an old Dave and Morley favourite, as well as two new stories. John Sheard, the pianist and Vinyl Cafe music director, was brilliant and Stuart McLean was as endearing as always.

Two notable things happened: the first is that Brent and Curt got to meet Mr. McLean after the concert, when he autographed a copy of his latest book for Brent's birthday. And Oliver's extremely loose tooth wiggled free in the second half of the program!

After the concert the out-of-Calgary people stopped at Timmy's for one for the road. We caravanned home, with Brent driving the lead car. At midnight we in the second car called him and sang "Happy Birthday" to him, then I advised him that he could now be tried as an adult. He immediately responded, "That's why I'm keeping it at 110 ..."

On Sunday I wrote on the menu board, "Brent's now 18: No More Mr. Nice Guy!" No one believed me, of course ...

Happy birthday, dear man. We used to joke that if 17 was perfection, would it be all downhill for you when you turned 18? I think you're safe. You are one of the greatest forces for good to have ever been involved with the TH. Your life -- a beacon shining on a hill -- is a gift to all of us who are privileged to be illuminated by its rays.