Old Friends

About a month ago I was wondering what the folks at Babes Restaurant I used to work for were up to.Since they have leased it out the past few summers and Pierre had gone his seperate way from Claudia some years ago I had lost touch.They were never married but had a daughter who had her mom's last name and it's a last name that isn't common.I thought Verushka might be back home in Montreal and sure enough I found her.Now Verushka was I think 7 the first summer at Babes in 1977 and for the next 5 summers she would come into the kitchen each morning when she awoke telling us what she wanted for breakfast then most mornings asking all kinds of things while the three of us would tease her and bet how long it would be before her mother came into the kitchen and gave her the heave ho in French or German.I used to call her Cup Cake or French Fry and lord she was a wise little girl in that she knew when we were telling her bunk.Verushka gave me her Mom's and Dad's email and Claudia is living in the bigger cottage at Babes for the summer though she isn't running the restaurant.She sent me a pic this morning of it from outside and it's prettier than ever.The little strip of grass that is in front is now a beautiful bed of wildflowers.I see a lot of big red poppies,daisies and some long stem blue flower I'm not sure of.It's only a dinner place now but it is such a nice location and inside it was always really tasteful.I don't think there is a place on the Cape quite like it.I told Claudia in an email tonight one of my favorite moments was at the end of summer 78 when the French Chef her mother brought over from Paris that summer to do dinner something they had not done since Claudia's father had passed away a few years before.Us morning guys called him Pepe Le Peu as he was a real pain and whiny.I washed pots a few nights in the kitchen that summer and man did he use those pots.So at his going away dinner we told him we would take a picture of us in the kitchen cleaning up afterwards.He gave Pierre his camera and the three of us mooned while Pierre snapped our pic.Off Pepe went to France with what turned out was slide film and not pics.Claudia tells us the next summer that she was in Paris late fall that year at her Mother's and Pepe invites them over to his family's place for dinner to see the slides from the Cape he finally got back.No one had seen them yet including Pepe and Claudia says they are watching the slides commenting on them having a good time when all of a sudden three moons come on the screen and she cough's up some wine while others let out a little gasp and Pepe is turning red.Priceless