Easter Azelea Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic on linen 10.5x 16 inches
Yellow Ranunculas Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic on linen 10.5x 16 inches
Violets Blair Pessemier 6.5 x 8.5 inches Oil on linen
Artnotes: they call it Easter Monday....
Today is Easter Monday, a strange holiday in my book: it’s based on a religious event, in a “lay”
country, and it isn’t ever on the holiday-day.
Oh well, it gives a lot of people a three day weekend. In some countries, like Australia, they get
Good Friday and Easter Monday off. In
Paris, many people take advantage of the three day weekend and leave town.
We celebrate Easter on Easter. It was one of my mother’s favorite holidays,
and I try to keep up the tradition with an Easter brunch. This year, I had seven guests, one just
arriving that day from New York, and we made a late brunch of it. We had: two crown roasts of lamb, marinated
trout, fois gras with figs, duck and pistachio pate, cumin potato salad, Moroccan
carrots, beet and mango salad, white
asparagus with blood oranges, olive tapenade, breads, cheeses, fruit and
chocolates; washed down with champagne, red
wine, apple juice, water, tea and coffee. It was too cold to go for a walk afterward,
but we sat around and visited for ages, Harika cadging food wherever possible.
At least half dozen people (besides Blair and I) makes for
varied conversation. I like to lurk in
the kitchen listening to people discuss Nabakov; the quality of work done in France; toll
booths on the Golden Gate bridge; FEDEX; and concierges. It is wonderful to be a noodle in humanity
soup.
There’s been very little business at our gallery, because it
is still so cold outside, I think. Here
it is, April, and the chestnut trees have nary a leaf, let alone a
blossom. My painting student of last
week cancelled, with early morning temperatures below freezing
(-2C/28-30F). Harika and her dog
friends are spending less time in the Luxembourg Gardens, because their owners
have freezing fingers and toes. Without
leaves on the tree the sun can peak through, at least and I position my chair
accordingly.
The Easter Bunny brought us a hen and chick we used as a
centerpiece. Guests brought me an Easter
basket and a big chocolate bunny, which we’ve been consuming madly. One of the best things about having a party
is leftovers: food and memories.
