The GG and me!

Canada's Governor General, Michaelle Jean, is in Ghana.

The Canadian High Commission held a reception in her honour Monday night, which Jason and I were able to attend. Free wine! Free food! And a really, really big cake iced like a Canadian flag!

Here Jason and I pose in front of the cake. I'm brandishing a fork as though I'm about to dig in.



On Tuesday, the JHR volunteers met with Jean for a private luncheon -- which was quite an honour, considering her busy schedule. The lunch, for about 14 of us, was held in the very swanky High Commissioner's residence. And I got to sit right across from the GG!

I was terrified I'd use the wrong fork, forget to address her as "Your Excellency," or commit some other crime against protocol that would result in my exile from the Commonwealth.

Fortunately, there were only two forks, so I knew what to do. (All the cutlery was heavy silver, engraved with the High Commission seal -- very fancy, but I resisted the urge to slip a butter knife into my purse as a souvenir).

And Jean is very friendly and welcoming and not overly formal at all, so no worries about protocol. She went around the table and shook everyone's hand; as I smiled and introduced myself, I think I did some kind of weird half-curtsey, but noone seemed to notice. I suppose she's used to that sort of thing from the rabble, ha ha.

It was a lovely (and delicious) lunch, although a bit odd as dinner-party atmospheres go, as we were all exceedingly polite and speaking only one at a time, usually directly to the GG. Jean used to be a journalist for CBC, and she seemed genuinely interested in our work.

After lunch, we arranged ourselves on the front steps of the building and hoped Jean would stop for a picture or two on her way out. Graciously, she agreed. I got two group pictures, one with all the JHR folks:



And another into which I managed to sneak in someone special:



That crazy Flat Stanely! He really gets around!