THE BAND PLAYED FOR CAROLE

If you are going to have a birthday party as an adult, you expect to enjoy it. The band, dedicated their music to Carole Gordon, whose birthday was being celebrated.

I don’t know who they are, which didn’t affect my enjoyment of their music. I heard guest, Alan Test, say, “Oh, that’s Lightening Boy.”  Lightening Boy moved quickly and I never did get his picture.

Carole got up and danced-and the night was hers.

These two singers and players are personal friends of Carole’s.

They each wrote a song about their experiences in Viet Nam and sang them. The man on the left wrote and dedicated a poem to her.

The fellow doing sound and lighting reminded me of Rumbledore from Harry Potter.

Carole was a teacher at Michelson Elementary School when we moved to Murphys 37 years ago. As our kids grew up,  we were both involved in AFS (American Field Service.)  My exchange student, Linda, from Indonesia and her exchange student, Phillip, from South Africa, were good friends during their year together in Murphys.  AFS is a bonding experience, much like a family. Jim and Alisha Riggs were at the party, too. Jim had a student from Ethiopia before my family got involved in AFS.

Of course, the party wasn’t only about the band. Selections of wine, beer and water.  The hors d’oeuvres were fabulous, followed by a full dinner of ribs, chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans.

I missed taking a picture of this birthday cake before it got cut.

But, I did get a picture of one of the chocolate cakes. All came from our local bakery in Murphys. Needless to say, I went home stuffed and smiling with pleasure.

Where is that Lightening Boy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CLAN GATHERS

Our family reunions tend to be long affairs, as much as we can put into a long weekend-plus. And, families can include lifelong friends as well as relatives we’ve learned over the years.
Ken, his wife Laurie, three teens and two dogs left Las Vegas at  4 A.M. and arrived around three P.M. Thursday. Over 9 hours of driving with a couple of rest stops.

Consider totally jet lagged Romain Chemiere, who flew from his native France to Las Vegas and arrived Wednesday. He slept most of the day and evening June 30th, only to be loaded into a car with my son’s family for a long road trip yesterday. He is the son of Catherine (Carre) Chemiere. She is the AFS sister to my youngest daughter Virginia.
Romain will spend a month with  family members in the US.

Grandson Stewart was hep. He brought his uke and guitar, so we are in for a treat. He and his brother are both credible musicians.

Son Ken did most of the driving and was stifling yawns and struggling to stay awake.

Makes you wonder if  dogs suffer jet lag? Probably not. They just seem to go with the flo. They do bark, however, but this pregnant doe browsed the weedy side yard for a snack when all was a bit quiet.

Deer are pretty common visitors, but the night before, we determined we had a noisy, growling, grunting bear in the yard. Possibly two. Couldn’t see  clearly in the dark, to be certain. A neighbor dog inspected the yard with his hackles up for several minutes in the morning. And, every dog in the neighborhood was sounding an alarm. They’ve been spotted nearby. Its the time of year before the wild blackberries ripen, my orchard isn’t fruiting either. Its their hungriest time. They like the compost pile and other succulent plants. We just have to hope they don’t like dogs for snacks.