Monday, August 10, 2009

Summertime, and the Hangin' Out is Easy

This weekend I continued the musicianship when the contra dance band I play in had a gig at a kiddie restaurant. We were paid in food: a free meal that evening AND a coupon for another free meal! Not a bad deal for playing some singalong songs and leading tots in the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey. (I led the Chicken Dance, and one of the fiddlers led the Hokey Pokey while playing! She's much more talented than I am!) Then I went to hear a salsa band that played many of my very favorite songs, and we consumed several boxes of popcorn and then went out for ice cream. Salsa makes you hungry!

Yesterday a bunch of us, including Rich, Anna Banana II, Cecil Markovitch, the married B-Boy and his new bride, drove almost three hours west to a shrine on a bluff to hear my OTHER choir director play an organ concert. That may sound crazy, but we all love the shrine, and I really wanted to see it now that it is finished. The setting reminds me of the Pyrenees, and the summer I spent there many years ago. So beautiful! Also, the day was rainy and hot and humid, so spending it in an air-conditioned car was not really a waste. (Saturday was hot too, but the rain cleared up by the afternoon so I hung out in my pool.)

Saturday Kathbert, Rich, and I made the best dinner, with fresh green beans from my bandmate's garden, fresh kolrabi from the farmer's market, fresh blueberries of unknown origin (Rich said a friend gave them to him but he can't remember who), fresh peas from the Asian market, lotus leaf buns, and what Rich calls "Chinese Bland Dumprings." Oh, and wonderful mango juice he got at the Asian market. All that fresh produce makes me so happy. I wish it could always be summer, so I could bike to work and leave Plant World on my balcony and always have fresh produce at hand. But when winter comes, maybe I will be happy about getting to go cross-country skiing.

Famous Hat

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