old and new friends

flame azalea in the rain, nc botanical garden

A more perfect Sunday would be hard to imagine.

Beloved guests arrived at our house like little elves sneaking in during the wee hours of the morning (noisy elves - they'd had champagne at dinner). Everyone slept late, and in the morning HWWLLB made a special breakfast and we drank a big pot of tea. After much lounging, it was time to go have brunch with two lovely Sew Green compatriots, bugheart and shari! This was a visit I have long been anticipating.

Do you know how it is when someone comes to visit, and you want to take them some place special, some place with incredible food and service that will please them and make them love you forever and also cause them to make a mental note of your impeccably good taste? That's not quite what happened on Sunday.

I suggested a favorite brunch spot for all the selfless and laudable reasons outlined above, only to be met with a rather surly waiter, a shortage of grits and the Official Most Schlockiest piano lounge music of all time. But despite the lapses in service and having to listen to the entire libretto of Phantom of the Opera played lounge-style, the food was delicious and the company divine. I could spend the rest of my days in terrible restaurants with those two ladies. In fact, if shari and bugheart were to invite me to have dinner tomorrow night at Olden Tymes, Chuck E. Cheese or even Hooters, I'd be there in a flash (I'd have beer though, for sure, plenty of beer).

After our brunch we met up with the menfolk for a relaxing, sunny afternoon of knitting, sipping cold beverages and munching on Locopops. mmmm... Locopops. First I had Mexican Chocolate. The pops were so good the first time that later we went back for another - this time I had Mango Chile. Have you ever had a popsicle that burned your mouth for a while afterwards? A tastier irony would be hard to find. Ah, the sweet, cold burn!

There are few experiences that rival spending time with an old friend. Except maybe making new ones. And eating Locopops. All three at the same time, well... I think I had a contentedness hangover on Monday. Every Sunday should be like that one!

Shari is a new friend for me. I have admired her blog and her photographs for some time, and have wondered if I'd ever get the chance to meet her in person, since she lives just a short skip away from me, right here in central North Carolina. She is as sweet, thoughtful and witty as she seems in writing, and she's also spontaneous and generous and really, a very talented photographer. Great photos pop out of her polaroid the way verbal gaffes pop out of my mouth - all the time, and without warning. I loved spending an afternoon with her and bugheart (another of the most spontaneous and talented people I know), and T and Grub and HWWLLB and Johnny, who are getting reduced billing today but are all wonderful and fascinating in their own rights (one day I will write odes to the menfolks). Thank you to my old friend bugheart for introducing me to a new friend! I feel very lucky today.

p.s.
You may have noticed I didn't take any pictures on Sunday. The official excuse is that my camera batteries died, but the other excuse is that bugheart and shari took oodles of great photos with their unstoppable polaroids, and no further camera-jockeying was really necessary. Get a load of them here and here. This one, taken by shari, really captures the spirit of the pola that reigned on Sunday.