Have you ever heard of a push present? Apparently it’s a gift your husband gets you for having a baby. I had never heard of this until a couple of years ago. I always thought the baby was the present. But hey, if everybody else is getting a push present, I’ll take one too. For example:
This is a wine we tasted in Florence called Vernaccia. It’s light, crisp, and citrusy but not sweet. I had a couple of sips on our Taste Florence tour, and quickly declared that I would like to sit down and drink a whole bottle of that, please.
But since that was clearly not allowed, Hubba Bubs announced he would buy me some and have it shipped home, and that it would wait undisturbed in a very safe spot until I make my glorious return to wine drinking. Mike makes a living off of his good ideas, and I can see why. He also got me this:
This is a limestone lithograph by the French artist Raoul Dufy. We met some friends for a drink the other night at the Ritz Carlton, and the Linearis Institute was hosting a silent auction featuring lithographs by Dufy and Chagall, and etchings by Rembrandt. Yes, that Rembrandt. While it seemed mildly impractical to scrape together $12,000 for a Rembrandt etching, I couldn’t pass up Mike’s offer to purchase our first piece of real art with actual value, and together we chose this humbler piece and called it Push Gift Part Deux.
What’s amusing about the piece — aside from the fact that the artist is Dufy and we, the Duffys, are “only one F-off!” as Mike pointed out — is that it’s called Wine as a Remedy for Convalescents. It’s from a satirical “medical book” illustrating the many benefits of wine, which you can see more about here. It aligns quite well with my mindset of having some Vernaccia to help recover from having a baby. Ha!
Anyway, we plan to hang our lithograph by our dining table, along with several other items, many of which are currently at the framer. You don’t think this wall looks lonely at all right now, do you?
I’ll take another photo once we get everything back from the framer and get it all hung so you can let me know what you think.
Many thanks to Mike for such wonderful gifts!
OK, I’m off to think of something “healthy” to make for dinner tonight, per the Push Present Giver’s request.
xoxo,
