1) Really, nothing of importance happened until noon, when Hochmina and Martin and I went off to a luncheon party at Andy and Robert’s down the street. We were eight for a hearty meal of magnificent baby back ribs, baked potatoes, some sort or vegetable business, and watermelon and cookies.
1a) Afterward we swam in the pool and generally lazed about until shortly after 3 PM, when I realized that I’d have very limited time to tour the galleries. On the whole, a deliciously successful party.
2) It’s been a long, long time since I got excited about a living painter, but I got excited about Kurt Walters while viewing his work in an East End gallery. I’ll be coming home for the first time since 2003 with a work of art from Provincetown.
3) A whisper after 5 PM saw me arrive at the Accommodation for cocktails. I arrived with “open arms and many apologies,” as Dashiell Hammett wrote in “The Thin Man.” “We are shockingly late, Mrs. Dalloway. We hardly dared ring the bell!” I said (not quoting Dashiell Hammett) to my dear friend Dahling - who, knowing I write a column about manners, is sometimes eager to twit me on my frequent lapses in Perfect Propriety. :-) He and I and H enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour á trois chatting about many things over some lethal aviation cocktails.
4) A storm was a’brewin’, and I departed (after helping to store the lawn furniture) to beat the raindrops, arriving at Hochmina-sur-Mer just as they started to fall. l actually carried a glass of red (!) sparkling wine out to the terrace to experience the early rainfall.
5) Now, hours later, after a hazy period of house chat and dinner, I write at the kitchen table under a lamp listening to a documentary about Penn Station that Hochmina is watching. I feel wonderful, and wish I didn’t have to return to town tomorrow. But this weekend has been simply wonderful - and it’s not over yet!