Friday, September 12, 2008

Ladies Who Lunch

The women of East Sooke (which borders on Metchosin) give new meaning to the term "ladies who lunch."

I'm not sure where else in the world a group of 10 or 12 women would gather around a table laid with fern fronds and fresh flowers, a backdrop of the East Sooke basin rolling out beyond the floor to ceiling windows, and talk septic systems and drainage. 

Seriously. 

These are renaissance women. They are equally comfortable with dirt under their nails or polish on top of them. They can "talk muck" with the best of them, or politics with the worst of them. They are informed, informing, involved, opinionated, smart. And they are welcoming, so much so that I had the great honour of sharing a lunch with them and feeling right at home. 

I could learn much from this group. Conversation topics ranged from international emigration to septic systems to building permit acquisition to public forums on land usage to local history.  All in a two hour span. Should these women become fired up about an issue and decide to bring their collective force to bear, I would fear for their opponent. I'm sure that in the most eloquent of speech, they would make a lovely mince tart of the offending party, served up with a lightly spiced whipped cream. They break all stereotypes held by city folk of people who live "in the country." And if I'm lucky, I'll receive an invitation to the next gathering of "ladies who lunch."

2 comments:

Tan said...

Hey, we had stimulating conversations in Vancouver! Okay... they were about cloth versus disposable.

BC Mallens said...

Conversation, what's that? Can I join this group in a few years time? Maybe another year? And I'll just listen for awhile because by then, I'll have forgotten how to converse. I know, me, with little to say, imagine that!