Page 148 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

and when dinner was done, embraced family style. memberfeastingonfreshabaloneandlocalwineand
The pitchers she gave each of us trigger memories of talking through the night by the blazing hearth at her
a sublime two weeks of celebrating Italy with best beach house on a windswept bluff. I wonder if my
friends. doll's twin still has a holiday home in that beach
Treasured places in my heart house.

Bright red, green, gold and hot pink strands of A pendant made from shells collected from Is-
Mardi Gras beads hang from several branches. I col- rael's Sea of Galilee gets pinned to a branch of my
lected them in 2006, during that moving and very im- tree every year. I bought it 35 winters ago in Israel
portantMardiGrascelebrationjustmonthsafterNew when I visited with a delegation of San Diego politi-
Orleans was devastated by Katrina. When I see those cos. Thoughts of the trip prompt myriad images –
beads, I recall the aromas of gumbo, spicy andouille from the joy of conquering Masada to the struggle of
sausages and jambalaya wafting from grills set up on holding back tears at Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem
traffic islands along parade routes; I can feel the em- memorial to Holocaust victims.
braces of grateful Orleanians and hear their heartfelt Newcomers this year
refrain, “Thank you for being here.” Each year, I manage to add a few new treasures
On a low branch, I’ve hung a small doll in tradi- to our tree. This year's collection includes three
tional dress with long, dark braided hair, all made of miniature wooden stacking dolls I collected in Man-
yarn. I bought her and her twin from a wrinkled drogy, a small village in northern Russia where local
woman knitting fishermen sweaters at an outdoor crafters keep ancient traditions alive. The dolls ferry
market on Chiloe Island, off the southern coast of me to Mandrogy’s neat wooden banya, hidden
Chile. The doll brings to mind the dark-haired among pines on the bank of the Svir River. It’s where
Chilean friend who introduced me to the island. I re- I experienced my first Russian spa treatment. With

148 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020