A reader, an artwork, a napkin, a plant, and a dinner inspired by stones, stories and impermanence.
A Garden is an Event invited sixteen people to gather in a garden and to be inspired by rocks, stones, stories and impermanence. The evening unfolded in delightful ways. Folks were welcomed with a drink and invited to give the ‘rock with a special meaning’ they brought, a title and to add it to the stone museum.
Next we moved to the dining table, filled with a host of real and edible rocks. We had stone soup, talked about ideas as we shared the reader, and took an intermission to gather our stones. As the main stone-looking course was served, people took turns sharing the stories of their special stones. The stories were funny, touching and made us think about time and place.
One heavy and tall rock belonged to a grandmother in Bulgaria, and maybe the grandmother before her. The rock, a much-loved grinding tool made a long trek to the United States and now resides in the granddaughter’s kitchen in Portland. As Tatiana shared the story of the rock, she moved it in her palm, in a familiar circular motion of grinding that showed how deeply its use is intertwined with her memory of home. She then surprised us by offering an eggplant dip that she created for us using her grandmother’s rock.
We then moved on to stone-appearing desserts served up on slate platters—various brownies, little brown macaroons, stone candy, chocolate truffles, and chocolate pop rocks! As we ate we shared an artwork for each person, that contained a sun stone and moon dust (with certificates of authenticity inside). Folks were also gifted a stone plant.. and invited to take their stone-themed napkin and rock salt!