Welcome back, self

The online Tango has come to a pleasant conclusion. I am celebrating having things be the way they were before my server quit. How rude! At any rate, new and better server stepped in and now it’s full swing.

Once back online, I deleted emails that had piled up. How quickly that happens! No, I do not wish to be a tattoo artist. And no, I’m not qualified to be a Hebrew musician. Hava Nagila (sp)! I once asked Mel what the difference was between Hebrew and Yiddish? Hebrew is more formal. Yiddish is what’s spoken around a family table every day. One year we decided to host a Seder at my place. I put the large table top on my regular table, which functioned as a base. Ten guests and course after course of authentic Jewish food. Mel was a very accomplished cook. We were all enjoying our dinner when a couple, Nancy Shelby and her husband Luke, knocked at my crazy outside door. (It’s crazy because from street level the bottom of the door meets your eye. It is for ventilation and unloading deliveries). Nancy had never just stopped by before. Mel was delighted. It seems in Jewish tradition, the feast is complete when ‘strangers’ are fed too.

All that was well and good. It was a feast in every sense. I hadn’t done much except setting the table, getting the dishes to the table and pouring wine. Mel’s style of cooking did not include ‘clean as you go’. When all the guests left, we went to bed, leaving the dishes for the next day. Yeah, I’ll never forget it. Cleaning a mountain isn’t so bad when you think about all the fun, warm feelings, cross-referencing and collective charmed buzz that happened within five hours together.

I miss Mel every day. I am sure that where his soul is he knows it.