I looked in my diary today and find I should have been entertaining dear friends from California. Just as my travel to Bologna and Cyprus has been cancelled for this year, so was their trip to Europe. I met this family in the late Seventies and we have remained friends over the years. I had not been living very long in Sausalito, having just set up in a rented house on arrival from Hong Kong and knowing only a handful of people. Our dog had just arrived from the Far East after being in kennels there for some time, I had returned earlier in the day from settling my daughters in a London flat and I was walking our beloved pet when a car drew up. The blonde passenger asked for local directions. Odd when I think about it now. She was/is a real estate agent, I was the foreigner! She heard my British accent which reminded her of a neighbour they had when they madly decided to have a year out in Henley. Before they went on their way, she had given me her telephone number and an invitation to dinner. Her husband at the wheel said very little!
My own husband’s words later that night were.....we can’t go to dinner. We’re British. We don’t know them. We did go and a lifelong friendship was sealed. Parties galore, holidays together, here, there and in France, children’s weddings, funerals, divorces, dogs giving birth, wine tastings, my first great grandson born whilst I spent Thanksgiving with them in Mill Valley......I could go on. Our husbands became the closest personal and business friends.
My scarf is silk chiffon with a hazy animal print, mustard, brown, soft olive green on a cream background. I have shown it with a stunning necklace which has three silver pendants with agate and sculpted resin, hung on a silk rope. It belonged to my friend. She had bought it in Portland, Oregon to match an outfit. I admired it on her. Imagine my utter surprise when I opened my suitcase back in London and found it nestling amongst my clothes. Truly, a most generous friend.
My photo shows my California number plate. I had a modest little Renault convertible, white with a black top, but it looked jazzy with LE CAR printed along the body in large red letters, not what you would expect with a personal number plate. Some friends were rude and likened it to a glorified skateboard!
Ps.....I photographed my scarf and necklace alongside an opened pod from my Melianthus Major which I described in yesterday’s blog. I was pleased to find a seed today and thought I would now be able to propagate more plants. Just five minutes ago I had a phone call from a friend telling me the entire plant is highly poisonous. There was me admiring the pods and thinking how well they matched my scarf and necklace. Am I imagining my throat is swelling and my lips tingling? More hand washing! My American friend will appreciate all this, as she is a keen gardener.
Busy Bee, Scarf Face!
Blog 93.
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