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