A corking good time

THE SCENE

The Restaurant d'Eveque (Bishop) in the medieval city of Carcassonne.

Through the trees we could see the stained-glass window of St. Nazaire.

We were with new friends. All of us ordered duck. One was in salad. The other three's was roasted with figs in a sweet and sour sauce.

I slipped a cork into my pocket and explained to the waitress that we were collecting them. When we had enough we would put them together for a cork board in Rick's office. (The concept came from an English couple).

It's a slow process. Rick and I tend to open a bottle of wine only when we have company. We drink it too slowly when it is just us, not that we don't appreciate how a good glass of wine marries with a meal.

She returned with all the corks she could find, saying she didn't bother with the plastic.

When we have enough, we'll not only have a cork board, we'll have one embedded in memories, something that doesn't happen when you just buy something in a store.