STILL LIFE
Sometimes the most sentimental recollections of life manifest themselves in the things we collect…. Since childhood I have had an affection for the Peanuts gang, in particular Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy. Perhaps I chose them because we had three beagles as pets when I was growing up. All were named “Jonah.” My grandfather counseled my Dad not to make the mistake of getting a dog because it would be a jonah, meaning it would bring bad luck just like the story of Jonah in the Old Testament when the sailors on a merchant ship were engulfed by a bad storm and they blamed their newest crew member, Jonah, for bringing bad luck. So our beagles were named Jonah. The second beagle was mostly my pet, and bad luck followed him. He was run over by a car my Mom was driving, but he survived. He had some type of accident that blinded him in one eye. But a child could never ask for a more loyal friend. He followed me everywhere. When I went to play at a friend’s house Jonah would follow and sleep at the front door waiting for me to come out. I guess you could say Jonah was my Snoopy. I have a large collection of Peanuts figures, of all the different characters, but Charlie and Snoopy are the most special.
I had a four week stint in Quebec City, Canada. One of those weeks I stayed at the Chateau Frontenac, a grand old hotel on the cliffs of the Old City looking down on the Saint Lawrence River. All of Quebec Provence is culturally very much influenced by France, but in old Quebec City you feel like you are in France in the days of Louis XIV. Narrow and winding cobblestone streets barely able to accommodate small automobiles. My end of day routine, after returning from work via a ferry across the St. Lawrence River, was a stop at the bar at the Chateau Frontenac (photo above). Then it was out for a French dinner with work colleagues. There is nothing like a chilled martini with olives to warm up and unwind. A toast to all the brides in the photos above!