Another birthday

Dierk's Parkside Café, 404 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa, California; tel. 707-573-5955

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY: THEY COME thick and fast these days, it seems. We know a lot of people None of them are closer than John and Gaye; after all, it was Gaye introduced Lindsey and me, over fifty years ago. Since then she married John, and for a while we moved apart, and now the last few years we're tight again, as it should be.

I wrote a little sonnet for John:

I rise to celebrate LeBaron, John,
A gentle, quiet man, when all is said
And done; polite and calm, reserved, well-bred,
With much to offer, now he’s getting on.

He has so much to tell us! And I read
His strange discursive stories eagerly,
Though waiting for the next with a degree
Of envy and impatience he won’t heed.

He keeps his own sweet pace. I won’t say slow:
He’s calm; methodical. Some years ago
Eye surgery required he keep his head

Lowered a month. I asked how that would go.
Photographers like to look forward. Oh,
There’s lots of cans of nails to sort, he said.

He's that kind of guy, apparently imperturbable, and a marvelous photographer, did I mention?
In any case, a number of friends gathered at the Parkside, there to have sautéed prawns (shell beans for me) on green beans with armagnac dressing; Tomato and fig salad with goat cheese and Balsamic vinegar; Roast pork loin with potatoes, carrots, and gravy; and the tenderest birthday cake I've had in months.

Dry Creek Fumé blanc 2007; Trentadue Zinfandel 2005 (as I recall)