July 27, 2009
Dinner with a view
![[IMAGE] Haro Strait](/blog/blogpix/dinnerview1.jpg)
![[IMAGE] Haro Strait](/blog/blogpix/dinnerview2.jpg)
…about the musicBelow, from slightly above.
One couldn’t find a more spectacular dinner location. Last night I stared across the fringe of the rocky shoreline to the Haro Strait that separates the island on which I type this, from the much larger one named Vancouver. Orca whales glided quietly behind the shoulders of my five dining companions, one of whom has the lucky title of being the property owner of this particular piece of paradise. A pair of bald eagles stood at the tide pools for hours and just like the rest of us, watched the sun disappear behind the mountains. Maybe the birds were as entranced as we were. Maybe they didn’t care as long as their favorite fish swished by. The moon and conversation rose as the sun and levels in the wine bottles lowered, and all evening long, I thought how fortunate I was to be surrounded by brilliant people in a brilliantly perfect setting. Ahhhhh.
Glenn Buttkus said,
July 27, 2009 @ 5:18 am
“Below–from slightly above”, I love that subtitle. BELOW @ 2:16 was smooth as silk, mysterious as Jules Verne, pitch black with shards of light flickering over the sleek black shoulders of an entire Orca pod passing back and forth, invisible and yet still on parade, as some of them surfaced to check out you and your friends, giving their reports to the others, back and forth, looking for sea lions, frolicking in the under surf, their dorsals just tickling the top of the waves, a wet squad of organic submariners, dancing in the dark to your marvelous composition.
And yes, there was a poem, you better believe it, in the heart of your prose:
Dinner With a View
One couldn’t find a more spectacular
dinner location. I stared across the fringe
of the rocky shoreline to the Haro Strait
that separates the island
on which I type this,
from the much larger one named Vancouver.
Orca whales glided quietly behind
the shoulders of my five dining companions,
one of whom has the lucky title
of being the property owner
of this particular piece of paradise.
A pair of bald eagles stood
at the tide pools for hours
and just like the rest of us,
watched the sun disappear behind the mountains.
Maybe the birds were as entranced as we were.
Maybe they didn’t care
as long as their favorite fish swished by.
The moon and conversation rose as the sun
and levels in the wine bottles lowered,
and all evening long, I thought how fortunate
I was to be surrounded by brilliant people
in a brilliantly perfect setting.
Ahhhhh.
Alex Shapiro July 2009
Joy said,
July 27, 2009 @ 7:51 am
The sky during and after the thunderstorm on Saturday night was spectacular. The whole sky to the west was orange, red, and lavender. The sun setting looked like a giant ball of fire. Gorgeous.
Steve Griffin said,
July 27, 2009 @ 12:55 pm
Alex, Thank you for the breathtaking views and for your column. I recently discovered it.
I am probably 3 years away from retiring and moving to the Hannah Heights house that is now the center of my dream for the future.
Your pictures and thoughts make me hopeful. I can’t play the music from where I am but will try again at home.
Steve Griffin
Orlando, Florida
Mike Wills said,
July 29, 2009 @ 9:34 am
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“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.â€
— Tennessee Williams
Mike Wills said,
July 29, 2009 @ 9:35 am
“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.â€
— Tennessee Williams
Alex Shapiro said,
July 29, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
Thanks all! The thunderstorm to which Joy referred WAS amazing. On my part of the island, it was quite violent– loud, bright, LONG (well over an hour) and strikes that came VERY close to my house (bright flash and KA-BOOM! almost simultaneously). We rarely get these kinds of storms here in the islands so it’s a real treat when they come (as long as they do not set us on fire). We had friends from London over for dinner that night, and we sat outside and ate on our open-but-covered- deck and enjoyed the sensuousness of it all.