Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thankful






We had five at the table for Thanksgiving dinner and two more joined us for dessert. The dessert table was quite photogenic, I thought!




Two of our guests were from India and one was British. The most special part of the evening was the presence of our friend, Ian. When I last saw him, it was July and he was in the hospital, in a coma, receiving dialysis and breathing via a machine. He is walking three miles a day, now and is ALIVE! Thanks, indeed!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Mountain Jam at the Gold Hill Inn



This past summer, we went up to the Gold Hill Inn, up in the mountains, for the Mountain Jam. It's an annual fundraiser event, and we were keen to attend and hear the band, Open Road. Ten years ago, Open Road was THE band around here, with rumours of national aspirations and predicted to be the bluegrass band that would put Colorado on the map. They traveled around and packed shows for five or six years, and then hung up their cowboy hats: too much travel and not nearly enough money to be made.

The four guys went on to different projects; one of them lives in Nashville now. This summer, though, the big RockyGrass Festival scheduled a reunion of Open Road as one of their performers, and the Mountain Jam folks jumped to put them on the lineup for their event.

Dave and I went up with our friends, Dick and Janice. It was a fabulous show, with the uber-talented Tim O'Brien sitting in for some tunes with Open Road and doing his own thing with some of his family members--Party of Seven.

Here are some shots from the sold out show, that was held in the side yard of the Gold Hill Inn.


Here are Dick and Janice; it was a boiling hot day, with no shade. We all covered up pretty good with clothing and sunscreen!



Here's Fergus Stone, local DJ and musician, warming up the crowd.



And Open Road--after all these years!


Caleb Roberts and Bradford Folk, founders of Open Road.




I take lessons from this extraordinary bassist, Eric Thorin.


Tim O'Brien joins the band for some tunes.


Tim also did a fabulous set of songs all by himself.


Then he performed with members of his family.




It was a great day!