Director's dinner

5/19/08
Last night was the “Director’s Dinner,” a feast cooked by Jay for whatever workshop is coming to a close. This week it was Enrique Pardo’s Pantheater workshop, in which several American and an Austrailian women, a Frenchman, and a Mexican woman participated. Since Marie Paule is away, I helped Jay with the easy stuff—washing lettuce, setting the table, lighting candles, etc. Jay cooked a feast of Sicilian Chicken, seasoned mashed potatoes, and seared sea bass for the vegetarians. Of course there was load of bread, and later a cheese course of local chevre, and rum-raisen ice cream for dessert.
It was fascinating to listen around the table and hear French, English, Italian, and Spanish being spoken by the various attendees, may of whom are tri-lingual. I sat next to a French composer Arnold [“arno”] who graciously helped me practice my French by communicating very slowly and with easy words. Here is Jay, "Herr director" in his chef's suit:

This morning I DID wake up at 10, had coffee, put a load of wash in (it’s sunny today) and read for a while. I took a chair out to the sunshine by the Orangerie. There are wild herbs underfoot, and when I scraped the chair on the ground, the essence of mint filled the air. I could hear the water rushing in the Salamander river in the valley (swollen with this week’s rain) below and there was a breeze twinkling the leaves in the horse-chestnut trees.

Life is very nice here.

Time to put my laundry out on the line to dry.