Em had a few days off work this week, so I picked her up in Nanaimo on Tuesday. We decided to see Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis before returning to Denman Island. The movie itself was bad–an odd and inconsistent hagiography wherein the sainted Elvis is a kind of civil rights hero–but that was not the strangest part of the afternoon:

The matinee was supposed to start at 12:10. The theatre was surprisingly full for Tuesday at noon–Em was the youngest person in the theatre…and, at 64, I was second youngest: the average age of the audience was about 80. The movie didn’t start and didn’t start and didn’t start.

At 12:30, an irritated senior citizen went to inform an usher that the movie hadn’t started. Another ten minutes passed, and then the trailers started….with no sound. Another annoyed patron went to inform an usher, returned, and announced, “When the movie actually starts, apparently, there will be sound.” After three long trailers, the screen went blank again. Then the SAME trailers started up again–this time WITH sound. And the movie actually started–at about 12:55.

About two-and-a-quarter hours into the very long movie, another group of very loud seniors suddenly wandered into the theatre, trying to figure out why people were sitting in THEIR assigned seats and wondering why “IT’S SO DARK IN HERE!” Half of them left; the other half stayed and talked in normal voices to each other for the next ten minutes. As the movie was nearing the end–Priscilla was trying to convince the still-very-much-alive Elvis to go to rehab–the movie stopped and the theatre lights came on.

At that point, Em suggested we just leave.

As we were leaving the theatre, an usher who could not have been more than fifteen was entering and said, “Hope you enjoyed the show!” Em said, “Uhh….before you go in there, you should know that the movie just stopped mid-scene and the crowd in there is NOT happy.” He turned on his heels and ran the other way.

And who could blame him.

In case you didn’t gather it, the group of loud patrons thought they were coming in for the next showing and couldn’t figure out why the movie had not only already started, but was so far along that Elvis was already fat. Those poor teenage ushers. You don’t want to come between a group of senior citizens and their matinee.

And I do acknowledge I am exactly one month away from the senior-citizen designation.

The good news is that when we arrived home, our neighbours had brought over some freshly picked peas and currents!

I had been making hummus this morning and decided to turn the succulent little peas into a dilly pea hummus. Here is the delicious recipe!

Dilly Fresh Pea Hummus

First microwave for three minutes in a covered bowl…

• 1 cup fresh shelled peas
• 1 TBS water

Pour peas into food processor and blend with…

• 1/4 cup fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried dill)
• 2 TBS tahini
• 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable base
• 2 TBS lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt

Once the mixture is roughly mixed/chopped, add a couple of ice cubes and let run until smooth.

The result is very fresh tasting and delicious with sliced cukes and lime tortilla chips!

And the song of the day is AHI’s “Until You”–a gorgeous song that reminds me very much of Hosier: