2020 Life Logs, Day 302: Lunch in the Taj Garage
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2020
Weather: Rain All Day; High 50, Low 44 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
This was Day 5 of overcast and rainy weather, but the rain got serious today. By mid-afternoon when I went to pick Ollie up from school, I was convinced that we had gotten enough rain just today to declare the summer drought over. Wrong. As Heather explained to me when I took Ollie home, we are slated to get as much as 2.5 inches of rain this week by the end of tomorrow. That’s a lot, but we need eight times that much to make up for the lack of rain this spring and summer. So, I must embrace these rainy days and be thankful we are getting them.
Despite the rain, my Newcomers Dining-in group, now a Lunch-in group, met in Karen and Peter Baranowski’s garage. Because it is such a neat and clean garage, we named it the Taj Garage. Since our first meeting there, Peter has added a propane heater, new lighting, a framed photo of sailboats in Quissett Harbor, and a mermaid. Next, I expect him to add a chandelier!
I have been meeting with this group since July of 2017. I already knew two of the couples, Bruce and Jane Wooden and Terry and Olivia White—but the Baranowski’s and the Frieswyk’s were new to me. We have all become close friends and value our monthly time together. We are all so thankful that Peter and Karen have provided a cozy and Covid-safe environment for our continued meetings. During Covid, we have moved from inside to outside, from dinner to lunch to try and capture heat of the day, and now from outside to inside a double car garage where we keep the garage door open. And now we all bring our own food with someone providing dessert for all. Today the dessert was brought by Bruce and Jane Woodin. It was a flourless chocolate cake, one of my favorites, and it was delicious. The heat of the propane heater was much appreciated and we all got a kick out of Peter, who is 6’8” tall, standing on the garage steps to capture the temperature at the ceiling level of the garage. We are going to try another lunch-in just before Thanksgiving. We will then figure out how we might do this when the weather gets even colder. I am suggesting we dig out our snow pants and jackets and continue meeting. But whatever, thank you, thank you, to Peter and Karen for providing the space.
