This is my friend Ellen and her mom, Lynne. I've written about Ellen before. She throws great parties and serves fancy fizzy drinks in vintage glassware passed down by Lynne. Once, at a patio party, I was minding my own business when apropos of nothing, she hollered in my ear, "Mint green soup bowls!" 

Ellen tosses out non-sequiturs faster than Yogi Berra behind home plate, but the woman is brilliant and I've learned that her odd thoughts always merit a follow-up.