In Which We Enjoy that von Austiburg Woman’s Visit

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Our old chum, Diane von Austinburg, is visiting this weekend and what a charming visit it has already turned out to be. Chief among Diane’s many, many charms is her willingness to listen to my rambling blather. Topics so far have included my rugs and the lunatic who washes them for me, the lunatic out on the street earlier this week who was attempting to turn a dumpster into a percussion instrument, the lunatics who hang out at Peet’s Cafe almost as much as I do, and whatever other lunatics happen across my wandering attention span.

Our times together always focus largely on eating. We’re both good cooks and San Francisco is stuffed with great restaurants and our culinary adventures have been rousingly successful. We also launched ourselves into the art world with an exhibit which was considerably less successful.

It was called Van Gogh Immersive, a rather grandiose title for what turned out to be nothing but a large scale slideshow. They took slides of various Van Gogh pieces and projected them onto the walls of a very large room. Some elements of each picture would then move, cherry blossoms blew off of a limb and then would land on another one, or tables would vibrate, or the sun would slowly spin. It was most underwhelming. Diane pointed out the reproductions lacked all of the texture that is such an important part of his work and the beautiful, brilliant colors he used were all faded and dulled out by the slide projectors.

But then we came home and made a fabulous goat cheese and asparagus tart. When art lets you down, there’s always puff pastry to fall back on. Diane is such a wonderful guest; we can share a kitchen, which is not easy to do, and then reminisce about long gone hijinks from when we were so very full of ourselves and not terribly smart. It’s a delight to have a friend who still remembers a time when I was young, someone I don’t have to explain the past to because we shared it, and someone not interested in judging me.

Guys I wouldn’t mind being a host to,

Creamy.

Maybe I’m ready for a nap.

Booty-ific.

I let Diane pick naked guys this week and she came up this fine fellow.

And this one.

About mrpeenee

A former bon vivant and terror of a number of New Orleans bars in the mad, gay 1980s, I'm now quietly retired and widowed in San Francisco. I have a crooked nose due to an unfortunate Frisbee accident.

11 responses »

  1. Glad you had a great time with an old friend. They are the most valuable commodity in the known universe.

    I know this. Jx

    PS That last beardy man bears a striking resemblance to Howard Donaldson from Take That!

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  2. How wonderful to have someone still around who knew you when. References made with no explanation. Shorthand of the close. Enjoy it. Eat more. Ogle more men together.

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  3. Make new friends,
    but keep the old,
    the new ones are silver,
    the old ones are gold.

    Wasn’t that vomit inducing?

    All very true of course, but never the twain shall meet, do you really want your old friends gossiping about you to your new ones? Telling them your real age and how you did community service for hot-wiring a car and driving it through an ornamental rose garden when you was 14 and the time when…

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  4. Ah yes, the joys of a long time friend who knows where the bodies are buried (because she was right beside you with her shovel helping to dig…).

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  5. Glad to hear you and Diane had a good time (without getting arrested). I like her taste in nekkid men. Are those last two models available, or does she already have them locked up?

    Like

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