Living Like God in Asheville

There is an expression in Dutch to live like God in France, meaning to live well.  Now in my third week of retirement and having visited family and friends in Tennessee and North Carolina, I can unequivocally say that I am living like God in France.   Our sojourn with the Shillingsburgs in the mountains and now our visit with Gordon and Linda Wilson in Asheville, is allowing both Melanie and me to unwind.  Gordon, recently retired as professor emeritus of philosophy from the University of North Carolina Asheville, and I were former colleagues at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans.  It was he who arranged an invitation for me to lecture on the literature of the free people of color in Louisiana last year at the Royal Academy of Arts and Letters in Brussels where he was doing research on Henry of Ghent.   As one of the world’s preeminent scholars of Henry of Ghent, he has edited seven volumes of Henry of Ghent’s writing.

The Wilsons live in the backyard of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Each morning I took a strenuous walk in their neighborhood ascending and descending the rolling hills in a canopy of tulip poplars, maples, sourwoods, oaks and crepe myrtles.  Since our arrival, we have been wined and dined sumptuously.   Each evening began with a cocktail at five, an old-fashioned, a cosmopolitan, or a Limoncello martini.   These were accompanied by hors d’oeuvres or amuses-gueules.   A delicious cordon bleu meal followed.   Both Gordon and Linda, New Orleans natives, who have lived and traveled extensively in Europe, appreciate the tantalizing and exquisite taste of food that is well-prepared and beautifully presented.    Our first night of pan-seared trout, toppled with crabmeat in a buttery sauce delighted the palate. Thursday’s dinner of veal over quinoa spaghetti with an herb, caper and balsamic vinaigrette sauce rivaled the finest cuisine of New Orleans’ restaurant.   After dinner liqueurs enlivened the spirit as conversation lingered over current events and past memories.  Yes, we are living well in Asheville.

On Friday, the Wilsons introduced us to Greenville, South Carolina, a jewel of a town.  Its main street is reminiscent of Aix-en-Provence with its canopied trees and open-air cafés.  We lunched at Passerelle, a French restaurant in a park near the Reedy River at the base of Main Street.  Later in the evening, upon our return to Asheville, we continued our culinary journeys with an extraordinarily delicious meal at Rezaz, a Mediterranean-themed restaurant.   This is a must stop for visitors to Asheville.  Our meals of duck and lamb were divine.   If you go, be sure to have as your waiter, Mithran.  He’ll treat you with aplomb and grace.   Saturday’s dinner, our last with the Wilsons before heading to Denver was an equally delicious meal of Marrakech rubbed pork.  Exquisite.  I need to say no more.

One of the joys in visiting Gordon and Linda were our wide-ranging conversations on politics, religion, world events, travels, plans for the future, our children and our professional experiences, to name a few.  Most gratifying were our memories of growing up in New Orleans, particularly the talk about watching the Saturday night horror show of Morgus the Magnificent.   Even though fright made it impossible to sleep, we were addicted to the show.   The attraction was Morgus himself, an eccentric scientist dressed in a white lab coat with disheveled wooly hair; the dark circles around his eyes and crooked teeth made him both comical and fear-provoking.  His commentary during the frequent program breaks was a major factor of the show’s appeal.

Now that we are both retired, we have plans for the things we would like to do.  Gordon calls it his Happiness File, rather than a Bucket List.  I’ve already begun itemizing things for my Happiness File.   Writing this blog about our travels is the beginning of that Happiness File.