Saturday was a busy, good day. I didn’t get to bed until 3 a.m. because I went to Atlanta Friday afternoon to see a Midlake concert at the Variety Playhouse with two of my sons, a friend and the friend’s daughter. The show was fantastic and so was the dinner we had before the show at The Porter, a great gastropub whose kitchen is run by Nick Rutherford (formerly of Seeger’s, Quinones at Bacchanalia and the Chocolate Bar). The beer list is at least 10 pages long and the short menu is simply superb! The Porter is in Little Five Points in Atlanta and just a block and a half from the Variety Playhouse. I highly recommend The Porter.
With just a few hours of sleep, Saturday morning came early and we had to get up to attend the funeral of a friend. Dick Grube, wife of Deanna, father of Betsy, Pegi and Jennifer and friend to thousands passed away after a two-year illness that left him bedridden for much too long. Dick’s funeral at St. Thomas Episcopal church in Columbus was one of the sweetest I have attended in a long time. Uncharacteristic of Episcopal funeral services, the family asked that any who wished could come up to the microphone and eulogize Dick. They were all moving and wonderful comments. One in particular really touched me.
An African American man stepped up to the microphone, composed himself and looked out over that sea of white faces that packed the large church. “My name is Kenny Lewis,” he started. Kenny went on to say that he owed a great debt of gratitude to the Grube extended family for helping his family feel welcome at St. Thomas. Choking back tears, he went on to say that the Grube family, led by their patriarch, Dick, had made his family welcome in the late ’60s at a time when “things were very different than they are now.” His heartfelt tribute to Dick Grube was a perfect punctuation to what turned out to be a stellar sendoff to a man who was loved by so many.
Kenny closed his short, emotional talk by saying that it was Saturday night in heaven and that he knew Dick and his dad would be going out that night together to see Duke Ellington. That sweet speech really put me in the mood for the absolutely heavenly music provided by the fantastic St. Thomas choir and their music director and Julliard trained organist, Rick McKnight. “For All the Saints” is one of my favorite hymns and the arrangement, the organ music, the trumpet and the heavenly voices rendered me unable to sing, but to just listen and be given a real Easter blessing. I won’t forget that funeral for a very, very long time. Godspeed, Dick. Tell Duke I said hello.
After a wonderful lunch in St. Thomas’ All Saints Parish Hall after Dick’s funeral, I went garden shopping at B. W. Capps to pick up all my plants and seeds to get my garden in the ground. When I got home, I tilled the ground, turned in some fertilizer, prepared my rows and got everything planted. I finished about 7:30 last night, put away all my tools and literally crawled back to the house. I was so tired! But I still had work to do.
I helped Jill with dinner, took a long, hot bath and then went back to the kitchen to prepare ten pounds of potato salad to take to Marquette and Rick McKnight’s home for Easter lunch. They graciously included us in their family Easter feast. We’ll have a blast today, I’m sure with friends and family at the McKnight’s beautiful home in Bibb City. I have never cooked 10 pounds of potato salad. My sweet wife, Jill, peeled all those potatoes for me while I was slaving in the garden. What a sweet Easter gift! Having to peel all those potatoes would have sent me over the edge!
Having my garden in the ground on Good Friday weekend, anticipating a great day at church and then after at the McKnight’s, being healthy and in love with a beautiful woman, having four great sons, a sweet mother-in-law and both my parents and more friends that the law should allow has put me in a good place on this lovely Easter morning. Happy Easter, friends! I hope you enjoy this special day with people you love and that you’ll do like I have done and reflect on all the things you’ve been blessed with on this earth. Hold them close and make sure they all know how you feel.
Visit https://suppleplant.com/collections/suppleplant/products/succulent, in order to get more on plant care.
Here’s a video of my garden.
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