Dragons

Today I am grateful for dragons.  Before my husband became obsessed, I hadn’t given them much thought, but now I love them almost as much as he does.  There is just something so mystical about them.

Exhausted after yesterday’s Easter to-do, after water class, I decided to take to the chair before putting everything away.  I don’t sit casually very well, so I started cleaning up old photo files in the computer and labeling stuff.  I’ve been meaning to do this since I retired, but hey, better late than never.  I found an obscure file of a medieval dinner I held for John’s birthday a few years ago.  In the midst were the pictures of some of John’s dragon collection, which I had all over the house to set the mood.

That night I lit the house only with candlelight.  Guests were to dress in medieval costume.  My friends are as nuts. . .er, creative as me/us so that was no problem.  We drank mead from stoneware crocks.  No one got a plate, just a board, a bowl, a dagger and a spoon.  To serve the rosemary encrusted Cornish hens, surrounded by roasted potatoes and vegetables, I used a very long plank, decorated with a large dragon.  One person carried the front and I carried the back.  We plopped the plank in the middle of the dining room table, where guests could grab their meat and veggies and put them on their own rashers.  No forks.  It was a blast!  Someone out there has pictures of the serving board, but not me.  I was too busy to grab a camera that night.

Today the dragons I’m grateful for are all from Indonesia.  Each one is hand-carved. . .the large one, with the gold tips was the one on the board with the Cornish hens.  The rust colored one is from a street vendor who carved it in minutes while I watched in Jakarta.  The smoothest one is a komodo dragon, from Bali.