Rick Miller poses with us after the show
Wow, what a busy weekend! After a relatively-quiet Friday evening, we had an action-packed Saturday. In the morning I got to work on our garden area, staking it out and deciding how much work I wanted to put into it this year. Putting that for a bit, we ate lunch and prepared for Hallie’s soccer game at Brier Creek.
Before we left for the game, I discovered that Southern Culture on the Skids was to play in downtown Raleigh right in the middle of Hallie’s game. We went to Hallie’s game (her team got seriously outplayed, sadly) and then boogied downtown, where we were soon boogieing to SCOTS. There were only a handful of songs left in their set by the time we got there, but we found our friends and got grooving like we’d been there all day.
The band was (as always) awesome, and I really appreciated being able to introduce the kids to their first SCOTS show. They were a little hurt that they’d missed their favorite song (and practically the only one they’ve heard): Banana Pudding. Fortunately, they rallied when SCOTS drummer Dave Hartman presented both kids with a drumstick. That prompted them to go with me backstage so they could get Rick Miller’s autograph. It was a short show for us but an unforgettable one!
From the show we got cleaned up before heading over to a party at the home of my coworker Dave Conrad and his wife, Kathy. We enjoyed seeing old friends, coworkers, and new friends as we nibbled on great food while watching the kids tear around the backyard. The kids’ beckoning bedtimes drove us home too soon but we hope we can find other excuses to get together!
Today we had another sunny, beautiful morning. Kelly went for a run while the kids played with Lilly and Noah from next door. We had fun drawing sunset scenes and athletes with sidewalk chalk. Soon Kelly returned and we had lunch before Kelly took the kids along with her to the store and I fetched some supplies from the hardware store. When we reconvened we had time to get cleaned up before meeting friends for a picnic at Horseshoe Farm Park.
I didn’t know a lot of the folks at the picnic, which was organized by neighborhood friends, but soon I had met many of them. Kids played in the hay barn and tore around the grassy open field. Some flew kites and others played ball. Everyone was excited about the rocket launch until the strong breeze blew the spent rocket across the field and into a tree! We left having had fun and having made some new friends. Not a bad way to spend a day!
As we were leaving the picnic, Travis and I went to talk to a new arrival: a man toting a large fabric bag and a windsock on a pole. His name was Gene and he and a friend were there to fly their paragliders: basically an ultralight plane that can be folded up and put in the back of a pickup truck. We didn’t get to see them fly today but we’ll definitely have to catch them the next time!
I didn’t get nearly as much done aruond the house as I’d hoped but I don’t know if I would trade any of the things I did.