Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008--Copenhagen
I visited Old Grethe today. (So many people have the same names in Denmark that it is necessary to use qualifiers. Later in the evening when talking, the list of Grethes included Nurse Grethe, Old Grethe, and Dead Grethe!) Old Grethe will soon be 87 and was a long-time friend of Arne's. She came to Texas for a visit around 1986. She suffers from macular degeneration which creates frustrations, since she is in good health otherwise. It was nice to see her. We recalled wonderful memories of times during the years. Unlike most of my friends who probably assume that it is too sad a topic, she likes to bring up the subject of Arne and talk about our memories of him. I enjoy that, because usually I only get to talk to myself about him.
I took open-faced sandwiches for us to have for our lunch, since Grethe cannot see to cook. Well, she does cook some, but it is difficult for her and she limits what she prepares to a small list of simple things. Therefore, she appreciated the chance to have something different. I do not understand that others still visit her without bringing food. What a burden to put on her with her handicap. Anyway, we ate the sandwiches which was followed by tea which she can easily make and some cookies her granddaughter had made and sent to her (baked from a recipe that Grethe brought back from Texas).
It was a beautiful day. I walked both ways to visit Old Grethe. Although it is October, the weather is better than it often was when I visited here in the summers.
When I returned to the apartment, I helped prepare for a dinner Nurse Grethe had planned for the evening. I set the dinner table, set the coffee table, helped prepare the salad, etc. The guests (Jens, Robert, Kurt, and Finn) arrived at 18:00, and we had a great evening of eating and visiting. We had a chicken casserole with Greek salad as a starter with white wine. Then we had pork tenderloin stuffed with parsley as a main course with boiled new potatoes, brown sauce, pickled pumpkin, and red wine. At the coffee table, we had more wine, cookies, chocolates, and coffee. We talked about anything and everything that came to mind.
Because it was a work night for Grethe and Finn, the evening ended about 21:45. It was so nice to see everyone one last time, though. And the food was so delicious. What a nice ending to my visit to Copenhagen. Tomorrow, I am off for a weekend visit with friends in Zurich before returning to Texas on Monday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment