Blipmeet with Aynil

I could write about how we drove to Berkeley this morning for a carefully scripted day involving two people with different interests in different places and one car. I could write about how I got together with my friend of many lunches for a little shopping and lunch, or I could write about how the dentist wouldn't clean my teeth because I forgot to take my premedication (forcing me to hang out with my friend Kim in the Red Bird clothing boutique five doors down from the dentist while OilMan got his teeth cleaned (which is better--new clothes and good chat with a friend or going to the dentist?) but what I really want to write about is my blip meet with Aynil.

One of the extraordinary things about Blipfoto is the wonderful friendships that we build with total strangers. I always felt a special connection with Aynil from the moment I subscribed to her journal. Was it because she lived in Istanbul and I had had an all too short visit there many years ago and have always wanted to go back? Was it because of our exchanges via comments on Blipfoto? Was it because of her warm and charming comments? I don't know, but we both jumped at the chance to meet while she was in the Bay Area helping her brother and his wife with their new baby "a little princess".

We met today, where else but at Peet's? Many thanks to her brother (who insisted that we call him George) who drove Aynil and her daughter, Sude Naz, to meet us. The fact that we had forgotten that the the new five star bakery next to Peet's is closed on Monday did not deter us from having a five star meeting. OilMan and I were the recipients of a pile of delightful gifts from Istanbul (not the least of which I am wearing in the picture. How did Aynil know that the exact shade of blue she chose for the shawl she gave me is my favorite color?)

We talked about Blipfoto, about our lives and about our cameras, and we took pictures with her camera, my camera, and even some selfies with our iPhones. We took so many pictures that finally the young man sitting on the bench across from us offered to take pictures of all of us! It was truly a wonderful meeting, and confirmed my feeling that there are some people in this world who are destined to be our friends, regardless of geographic borders, time zones or the fact that we have never met before. I would love to meet again in Istanbul, but even if that doesn't happen, we will continue to be blipfriends!

In other news: Having sat across the street from the Claremont hotel every morning, we never had a need to stay there. We held a rehearsal dinner there for our son's wedding, he and his bride stayed there after their wedding and we belonged to the health club there for years. We ate often at the Paragon Bar and Grill and even had a special Christmas Eve dinner in its fine restaurant, the Meritage. Tonight, due to the fact that our friends, who usually generously open their homes to us for overnight stays, are out of town, we are staying at the Claremont. I could definitely get used to this….