Food, Music, Books, and Memories

(I cannot figure out how to do links here, so please go to Phil's blip -- Blipfoto.com/Pilipo -- to see them, as well as another photo from our wonderful day.)

Today we had the first of three blipmeets while in the Languedoc region of France. The title sums up our rich and varied day with LoJardinier (LoJ), husband of the late Chaiselongue, beloved by many Blipfoto folks.

Food: He served us a gourmet lunch, including olives from their own trees; fresh sage leaves and artichoke leaves from their garden, lightly battered and fried; and local sausage -- and those were just the "nibbles" before the meal, served with a refreshing white wine produced near their village. The main course was guinea fowl and basmati rice cooked in a casserole with cinnamon and other Middle Eastern spices, and fresh salad from the garden, as well as an excellent Faugeres red wine, followed by a light citron (lemon) tart, coffee, and chocolate.

Music: We had the coffee and chocolate in the music room, surrounded by art, books, and LoJ's vast collection of CDs and records. He and Phil share an interest in several jazz artists, and today's blip shows them holding the same artist's music in two different forms -- quite a connection!

Books: His home is filled with books, shelves of them in every room, a wealth of beauty and information. I could spend a year there just reading books!

Memories: LoJ shared an album of photos he's putting together from Chaiselongue's babyhood to just a few days before her untimely death, as well as photos of his new granddaughter, baby C, born last month to his daughter E and her husband S. He's a wonderfully besotted grandfather and promised to post a recent photo of C here soon.

I can't find the right words to describe our wide-ranging conversations -- the best I can do is put a jumble of words together, like sadness/joy, past/present/future, beginning/ending, life/death, music/silence, here/gone, treasure/let go. Sacred space and time are not always found in houses of worship; they are also present in homes filled with love.