Mike treated me to a belated birthday lunch yesterday at Euro Pane near City Hall. Mike and I know each other because we're local bloggers.
So I walked in the door to say hi to Mike and, much to my surprise and delight, my long-time friend Bill Matthies was there, too:
Neither one of them wanted to pose for photos, but I snapped them anyway. So there.
Mike and Bill know each other casually because they both happen to frequent Euro Pane. I had never been there for lunch (only early morning meetings), so I had no idea that I would ever run into Bill there. We haven't seen each other in more than a year.
Mike had to leave early, and Bill and I settled in for a catch-up chat, but too soon it was time for me to get back to work.
Bill and I have known each other for the better part of 20 years. In addition to having a few great friends in common, we've hung out at the Troubadour, sung duets in Latin by the light of the moon, swapped stories in teepees, and on and on.
Bill is an artist in the most magnificent sense of the word. One of my prized possessions is a very limited print of his "Sunset on the Arroyo" (I have #16 of only 25) featuring a sycamore tree on the edge of the Arroyo Seco with the Colorado Street Bridge in the background:
It's on the wall of my office at Pasadena City Hall.
Thank you, Mike! Yesterday was serendipitous to say the least. And the egg salad sandwich was phenomenal.
