I spent last weekend in Chicago at the All American grooming show. I have been many times, it is always wonderful. I had the privilege of working at the German Red Clipper booth, introducing groomers to the clipper and letting them take them for a test drive on a borrowed dog. All the dogs I had were delightful. I got to work with my friend Erich from Germany. He is one of the nicest people I know, and time spent in his company is a treat. He makes friends everywhere he goes. On Friday night I had the good fortune to have supper with Erich and 4 people from the Groomers Mall. I knew them slightly, but know them better now. As much as I hate to leave home, I was infused with joy sitting on a patio in the warm dusk with kind people, good food and wine. I felt to blessed by the opportunity to be there, then, with those folks. It came up in conversation that two of the men at the table have a shared hobby... they make home made wine. I have had home made wine before... thin, bitter stuff that I swallowed with difficulty and lied about liking. My new friend Bill brought be a bottle of his wine to the booth the next day.
At lunch time I joked to Erich that we should uncork that bottle and give it a test. His eyes lit up. He said, "I'll be right back," and took off through the crowd. About 30 minutes later he came back grinning slyly. He had a brown paper bag in hand. He carefully unpacked chunks of fresh,fragrant, crusty bread, little containers of olive oil and Parmesan cheese. I had a bowl of assorted fruit slices someone had brought me. We set all of this up, and uncorked the wine. It was extraordinary! We invited the people in the neighboring booths to join us, and we had a delightful little "picnic." There were plastic cups and double dipping and laughter. It is things like this that glow like bright embers in my memory. Sweet, serendipitous moments that taste like good wine and crusty bread. Life is SO good.
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