wine bistro

It's early morning here, and slowly the world outside is getting lighter.  The river is high from the rain and snow of the past few days, but the ducks, who look like they are almost swimming on our lawn, seem to be enjoying it.  For some reason at 7am each morning the church bells from across the river go crazy.  They ring and ring and ring.  I'm not sure what that's all about.  Is 7am on weekdays a special time for the Catholic faith?

Yesterday evening, great guy, his best friend, and I went out (after my gym experience which, like most things I dread, turned out to be good).  We went to an intimate wine bistro located just steps away from the Rhein.  Like being in a toasty-warm, glass box, the bistro has floor to ceiling windows with a crackling fireplace in the centre of the room.  The small space was full of Christmas partiers enjoying fine wines and plates of soft cheese and bread, but luckily one table was still free for us.

As we tasted various Riesling and Burgunder wines from this area, which great guy wanted me to try, I was constantly distracted by the lights of the massive, slow-moving freighters seemlessly gliding right past us on the high water; like giant black squares with tiny white lights floating by in the darkness.

This week, speaking has been a bit of a problem for me, which was made loud and clear to us when our server thought I was mute...and possibly deaf.  Granted, I am feeling a bit insecure about my social situation, chit-chating skills auf Deutsch.  With great guy I continuously speak a horrible mixture of English and German, what I affectionately call Deutschlish.  So, as the evening progressed, with the server routinely coming by to check on us, I would just sort of smile but not say anything to her.  All of a sudden, she says to me in German, "Really, can't you just say YES or NO one time!"  Amusingly to me, she used, of course, the very formal and polite way of addressing me, a stranger, except that what she said wasn't really that polite at all.

So, before I could finally say something, best friend jumped in and said that I had just come from Canada;  thereby unleashing an even greater reaction from the server, who, it turns out, is originally from the U.S.  I thought I sensed something familiar about her! (No dig intended to my American friends, who I love).

Overall, the evening was wonderful.  It was the perfect opportunity for best friend and me to get to know each other.  She is a warm, sweet woman who is quick to laugh and who great guy has known since they were teenagers.  So, with these words in my head (courtesy of one of my sage Saskatchewan friends), "girlfriends and boyfriends come and go, but best friends stay around forever", I spent the evening thoroughly enjoying getting to know this very important person in great guy's life.  And, now I know why she is.

P.S.  Happy birthday partying to my two, small, Saskatchewan friends.  I miss you.  Eat some cake for me please!  Just tell your parents that now you're eating Nina's piece...they'll go with it I'm sure!