Altona Grange Show

Last Saturday we went to hear some good bluegrass at the Altona Grange. Dave planned and produced the show, working with the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society. Here are some shots that I took that night.


Doris from the CBMS and Donlyn from the Grange took care of things at the back of the house.


Dave kicked things off, thanking the sponsors and introducing the bands.


The Mountain Jumpers kicked things off, with our friends Dave, Steve, and Paul. They took this so seriously that they sat in chairs to perform (Paul was on a stool).


No sitting down for the Horsetooth Mountain Rangers; they were high energy with a lot of action on the stage.


Here's Dave Goldhammer getting psyched up before the show.

Giant Sunflower From My Garden

This great sunflower decorated our food table during the Labor Day party and has been parked on our dining table ever since. I grew it in my garden--proud!

Molly Wearing Her Dinner

Molly got a little sloppy with some leftover beans that David gave her the other night.

Party at Brian and Judy's House

Here's our hostess for a fun evening. Our friends, Judy and Brian Warren, live primarily in Kentucky but have a gorgeous house in Coal Creek Canyon. They were here the past week and threw a soiree at their place which included great food and good pickin'. Here are a few shots.


Here are Karen, Peggy, and Roger, who we all know from playing music.


Dave was in his element, with good food and bluegrass music.


Rod and Roger enjoyed the ambiance from the deck during dinner.


Here's Irene on the deck.


Hal smiles for the camera!


Judy and Pat catch up on all the news.


And the pickin' starts!


Roger did some great guitar work!


Three quarters of Coal Creek were on hand--here's two of the Dave's.


Rod and Brian take a break from the music.


Brian and Dave toast to a great party!

Labor Day Party at the Patton Household

We had a shindig on Labor Day. We prayed for good weather and our prayers were answered. Dave set up lights and a big plywood table on the patio that we covered with a sheet and a red checked cloth; our guests then covered it with food that they brought. We set the easy-up out by the shed for the pickers. Then we put smaller tables around for folks to eat off of. I put tablecloths and vases with sunflowers from the garden on each one. It was fun--I pretended to be Martha Stewart!

We had a great turnout. Dave declared that it was our best party ever!


Here are our friends, Judy, Brian, Catherine, and Ian. It was Ian's birthday and we had a cake for him.



Some of our pickin' friends: Uncle Spook (in the beard), Woody, and Dan and Gail.


Another view of the fab foursome!


Here we have Dr. Barry, who is trying to cure Dave's elbow problem when he isn't playing the mandolin.


Gerhard and Gail--both Dave and I have worked with Gerhard at past jobs.


There's Eric. He came to the party twice that night--snuck in and out when we weren't looking.


Jim and Pat wowed everyone when the pickin' got going.


There was a big mob on the patio, due to all the great food that everyone brought.







A good time was had by all!

The Oren Beach Hammer

I blogged previously about my friend, Oren Beach, who was my sponsor in Germany and died years ago in a car accident. Well, I have something of Oren's--his hammer. We know it is his, because he had scratched his name on both sides of the rubber encased handle.



We often refer to this tool not just as "the hammer", as in "get the hammer", but as the "Oren Beach hammer" ("get the Oren Beach hammer"). I had that hammer for a while and didn't realize that it was Oren's until one day Dave and I examined it and found his name scratched there. Oren probably came over to my house in Germany to hang a picture or fix something for me, and left his hammer behind. He and Donna returned to the U.S., Dave and I consolidated our household goods, and at some point each of us thought that hammer belonged to the other. Then the hammer made the trip back to the U.S. in our household goods.

I would estimate that it was five or six years later when we realized that the hammer was Oren's. It makes me smile that he put his name on it and still forgot it and the scratching was faint enough that I didn't notice it.

I like having Oren's hammer. It's a good hammer and reminds me of Oren when I use it.

A Walk

David and I went on a walk the other day. There's a new area to walk around, a little lake behind a new subdivision. That subdivision was a home for the first ten years that we lived here. The people who lived there built a nice house and had lots of trees blocking their property off. The other part of the new subdivision was a big field full of cows.

All those things are gone now. The folks all sold out. There is this little lake behind the houses and it is pretty nice. I wonder how long it will last.



David loves the wild sunflowers along the way. When we went around there the other night, we found probably hundreds of ducks, and a heron down there. It was really nice.