Bliss and Robby McIntosh are important people in my small town of Cambridge, N.Y. They are generous and civic minded, they care about community and environment, they seem involved in every thing the town needs.

I did not know until today that he plays the accordion and she plays the violin, and today they played for us at the weekly Sunday brunch at the Round House Cafe.

I was enchanted by their close and easy way with one another, the camera never lies about connection, it sees it or doesn’t see it. The morning sun graced both of these two good and gifted people, it was a joy to sit there and listen. The quiche was pretty great too.

Every Sunday morning, Maria and I resolve to sleep late, around 9 a.m. she usually gets hungry. “So,” she says, “what are we going to do about breakfast?” This is now code. “We ate out last Thursday,” she says, “and we went to New York yesterday, so we probably should eat at  home.”

I know she is asking me if we should go to the Round House Cafe for brunch, and I know she wants to go, and I know we will be going , but she doesn’t want to be the one to suggest it, as she is always watching and guarding our money.

Marriage is full of codes like this. At night, at some point, I announce that I’d love a snack, some cereal or fruit. She smiles. “Do you want me to get it for you?” No, of course not, i say, I’ll get it, but it often seems that before I get up, the cereal will appear. We are like that with one another, we always want the other to have what they want, even if they can’t quite say it.

I want to be responsible, I don’t want to spend all of our money at the Round House either. So I wait a few minutes and say, “you know, we don’t have anything to eat for breakfast.” This, of course, is not true, we have all of the things we normally eat for breakfast.

This is Maria’s cue to say, “okay, you’re right, let’s go to the Round House.” And we do, today’s brunch was quiche in different forms, a salad, fruit. And lovely music from Bliss and Robby. It felt like the angels had come to serenade us.

Community is important. It shines in the Round House.