I know some of you think our artist friend Bob is actually a fictional character.
As if I could make someone like Bob up!
The latest news from Bob is that he arrived back in France safely and is now driving to the farthest eastern dominions of Italy, ostensibly to paint portraits and throw himself into the local cuisine.
Somehow we had always thought of Bob as a poor, starving artist. But apparently he is not that type at all. In fact, he is a traveling artist and also quite the gourmand, but of a very earthy kind. Bob is a forager, as evidenced by his recent capture of a large, wild goose.
According to Bob, this goose had been plaguing him at his cabin in the Shenandoah area of Virginia and keeping him up at night with its honking. So he set about tracking the bird and finally was able to sprinkle sufficient salt on its tail to bring it down.
A friend helped Bob dress the bird. Then Bob started a small fire and, being without his usual spit apparatus, grabbed the next best thing, which turned out to be this metal garden rake. (Don't try this with a plastic rake, folks!)
Bob is nothing if not resourceful. But I do wonder how long he was able to maintain this position without injuring his back.
Bob wrote us about his latest adventures very shortly after arriving home in Southern France. I have to say I was a bit disappointed to learn that he'd been detained at French customs when a bulge in his carry-on luggage turned out to be a large quantity of morel mushrooms.
Bob is entitled to his morels. He gathered them all himself around his cabin in Virginia. What plucks my nerves a little is that when Bob came here for dinner shortly before leaving the country, he brought a big bag of morels and assured us these were
all the morels he had left in the world.
Bob didn't say anything about having a second stash of morels that he was keeping for himself.
Oh, well. You have to love Bob. We wish him well on his trip to Italy and look forward to more stories of his food adventures.
Ciao, Bob!
Our friend Bob, the artist, is in town visiting. I shot a few photos and was impressed with how our little Canon Elph performed with just the available light at night in our kitchen.
I thought the pictures had a certain Old Masters quality--not unlike some of Bob's paintings. Maybe it was just the wine. Bob is a handsome devil and makes a fine photo subject. I suggested he reproduce these in oils on canvass, but he just laughed.
Bob also is a great guest. He eats our pickles with gusto. (Or is that with relish?)
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