Monday, at least for another 57 minutes and thought I should update since it's been since Thursday.

Had a great weekend, one of the top all-time weekends, really. My friend Alex visited from Canada and we had a great time. Part of it was our connection. A band called The Beautiful South sings this lyric:

Well it can take many years to forge a friendship
It can take a lifetime to get close
But we took all the shortcuts, used our hearts as a map
And we still got closer than most

and that sounds about right.

But the other thing I find about hosting a visitor is that it brings out that best part of me...the part of me that lives vigorously, that fixes potatoes at breakfast, that sees exciting live theater and checks out an exhibit of sculpture inside a conservatory. It's not always enough to be all that I can be just for me. So it's nice to have a visitor who makes me want to try harder than I otherwise would.

My other reason to blog today is to pass along this from my friend, Katie who is a very reluctant passer-alonger of websites so her recommendation gave it quite a seal of approval. What it's like to learn Japanese. Nicely done.