I didn’t light any candles, as I have done in the past. I did make sure to eat broccoli and crackers and strong cheese, and drink white wine. When my brother and I exchanged emails about what we each were eating for Oma’s yahrzeit he said, “rye bread and Riesling” and I said, “aged Gouda and Chardonnay”. My mother liked to say it the Dutch way, Oud Gouda, which is, phonetically, “Owd How-da” with a bit of a guttural on where the G would be.
This eating and drinking happened at my photography discussion group meeting. It was a little different this time – no readings, instead everyone brought a print that either they’d made, or had inspired them, or both. I brought a panorama of spring trees in Arboretum, that my friend Andy made – by digitally stitching together something like 6 shots. It inspired me to take many many pictures of spring trees in bloom.
For food I brought zucchini butter and a little log of honey goat cheese with the idea that people could spread a layer of the goat and then top it with the zucchini butter, on one of the big buttery crackers I brought. Cubes of aged Gouda, and a little piece of blue cheese, and some Potter’s cracker crisps that had raisons and hazelnuts and a little orange in them – good with stinky cheese. I also brought some gluten free nut crackers, and of course steamed broccoli with a balsamic vinaigrette to dip it in. And a few apricots that I scattered around on the board. And a bottle of Chardonnay.
Like I said it was a little different of a meeting – and one of the things that was really different was that the wife of the photographer who was hosting the meeting set up a table for all the food and kind of waited on us. She made Ovens of Brittany chicken salad with almonds and extra grapes, and brought out some Scotch when the wine got low. And put my bottle of Chardonnay on ice when we went downstairs to the studio to look at the prints, and she did not come along. A very old fashioned division of labor, I thought.
Al and Emma are in Cozumel. Tomorrow I start going over to feed their cat.
