The weekend write-up

 I met friends at the Twin Cities Antiquarian Book Fair on Friday night and spent some time roaming around and giving Jana a break at her table. Then we were all off to Shish for a pleasant dinner and chat. Then I went back the next day to spell Jana again, say hi to other folks and buy more books. In the meantime, Jana had bonded with the dealer across the aisle, who just happened to have a first edition of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (that's from 1813 for those who don't want to look it up). For perspective, that's a $55,000 three volume set when it's a home. He took it out of the case and out of the box and let me touch it.*Swoon* Definitely the high point of this year's fair.  My actual purchases, since the P&P was a tad out of my price range included: the Easton Press Edition of Joanna Russ' The Female Man, Holding Wonder by Zenna Henderson, The Tavern Knight by Rafael Sabatini and The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen with illustrations by Gustave Dore (a fixer-upper for Jana).Apart from this, the Fair was frustratingly slow for the vendors and Jana was disappointed that early interest in her bindings didn't pan out. So definitely a mixed bag.

On Saturday evening, i whisked Elise Matthesen and her hubby Juan off to see Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. This would be the version he filmed in his back yard and house with many familiar faces from previous Whedon's projects. It is pretty and well done, but it lacked much emotional oomph for me. I think the Thompson/Branagh version remains my gold standard.  We had a good time and enjoyed dinner with Mr. Matt, which was hopefully relaxing for all. Except for the part where I made everyone sit around outside while I watched my phone to see that I did not win a Goldie this year.

Sunday, it was off to Loring Park for Pride. There I got to work a booth for my day job, peddling rainbow leis and a marketing freebie. It was okay - nice day, happy people, general goodwill. My friends picked me up at the end of my shift and we wandered the gigantic crowds, running into sundry friends and acquaintances.  Pride was its usual self, only more so. For those living elsewhere, our Pride draws about 300K + people over 2 days and every politician to the left of Limbaugh is expected to show up (the Mayor of Minneapolis rode  with Dykes on Bikes last year, carrying a "Vote No" sign). Most of our big local corporations have tables and/or floats and nearly all the churches and synagogues have some sort of presence (this includes a local liberal Baptist church, an order of nuns, and this year, for I believe the first time, an LDS queer-ally contingent in the parade). It's kind of a shock to the system if you're accustomed to Pride elsewhere. It's also not particularly political in the sense of being all about actually being L, G,B, T or Q, but it's hard to top it for sheer spectacle.

Then home again to wrestle a bit with refinance fun.  And tomorrow, the house gets appraised again.