It was to be the event of our lives -- dinner at the Philadelphia
Cricket Club. We had ascended the staircase of life and Martha
had agreed to come along.
What better way to start than to have poached eggs
chocolate croissant
and muesli with honey
and without flash
at Small World. It seemed to make Benjamin
very happy.
We knew things were ok at home when we noticed that Sarah and Lily
had decided to try to kill the television
before we left.
After negotiating I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike (thank you E-Z Pass),
we were happy when Martha agreed to call
Joe and Amy and see if their kitchen was viewable. This amused Suzanne
who then engaged in a long discussion of old times with Martha
before Bill emerged hoping to be incognito
but he got engaged in the conversation
as the topic of gin and tonic's
came up and was really engaged with efforts to make this conventional
camera
work while I recorded the beautiful setting
in their back yard and even took this self portrait
Blair Witch style.
But, of course, this was all a prelude to the trip down the road to the
Philadelphia Cricket Club,
Founded 1854 which spread out before us
much to the amusement of Suzanne and Martha
as I snapped the tennis courts
and Bill showed us where the Bar Mitzvah might occur
as dinner was served
but not to us, since we were relegated to the bar where Suzanne and
Martha continued the conversation
and Bill
seemed ready to have at my wine
before we were seated.
At the table, Martha
Suzanne
and Bill
studied the menu as I recorded the people at the next table
before Bill took my picture
and the tennis courts
emptied.
Our waitress, Tess
took this family portrait
as the bread was served
and Bill displayed his toes
that were in great need of a pedicure because we are all aging
too much to be able to handle such things.
My gazpacho
was good as was the vichyoisse
and Suzanne's salad
that served as a prelude to the salmon
steak
and pasta
sans flash
that filled us up so that only the under-50 person at the table
was willing to try this dessert
at meal's end.
After capturing the trophies
the summer camp posters
the club hoi polloi
and the brick emblem
we were ready to head back to reality, such as it is. But, we were happy
to have demystified the Cricket Club, once and for all.
To celebrate, once back in Princeton, I recorded Mike Jennings
of the German department, Jim Boon of Anthropology
and Stuart Schwartz
of electrical engineering in the days that followed.