The Gaither Homecoming

An acquaintance of mine asked if I wanted to join her and her parents at the Gaither Homecoming event in Broomfield last Friday. She knew I might have some interest because I admire Ben Isaac's bass playing very much, and his family band, The Isaacs, play in the Gaither shows now.

I had no idea what the Gaither shows were all about. I found out. I categorize the Gaither show as a huge gospel extravaganza--very Christian-focused. There were probably ten acts that were part of the show. Bill Gaither is the founder of these shows and serves as the master of ceremonies. In the first half of the shows, he introduced the other acts and they would come out and perform. In the second half of the show, all of the performers sat in chairs on stage throughout.

The auditorium was probably 80 percent full-- and that means there were over 5,000 people there. There were two large screens on either side of the stage that showed what was happening on stage throughout the show.



The singing was extraordinary. I guess that is what the Gaither shows are known for.



I heard the Isaacs last June when I went to the ROMP bluegrass festival in Owensboro, KY. I knew that they were really good. They are pretty Hollywood, too. The two daughters were channeling the Dixie Chicks with their costumes.



Ben Isaac's bass playing was just as excellent as I knew it would be. Gives me something to strive toward.

Garden 2010

My garden had its ups and downs this year. I was very successful with carrots, corn, cabbage, and onions.



The rabbits and a squirrel ruined my hopes for spaghetti squash and cantelope. They even ate the squash blossoms. Dave took care of the rabbit problem once they caused so much damage and shot them all.

The beets I grew were a mixed bunch. I left them in the ground too long, and some of them looked like they came from outer space.



One of our peach trees was laden down with fruit. I even made a peach crisp.

Well, it wasn't my best garden ever, but I am definitely looking forward to next year!

First Grade Me

My mom gave me this picture when I was home in June. It made me smile to see it. I think that the expression on my face clearly showed my feelings about going to school. I didn't go to kindergarten, so this was my first year in any type of school. The other thing I remember about this picture is that my mom was not pleased about the expression on my face. She couldn't believe that I didn't smile for the camera. She was a stickler about getting our pictures made when we were little. She says it was because there are not many pictures of her as a child, and it made her want to ensure that there were plenty of pictures of her children.

No, I wasn't a big fan of first grade.

The Horrors of Airline Travel

I can still remember when flying somewhere was fun and exotic. Boy, those days are long gone. My latest trip to Kentucky is a classic example.

First of all, there is the situation with the carry-on bags. What with the airlines charging for checked bags, it is just kind of disgusting to watch. Dave says that when the airlines treat people like cattle, they in turn act like cattle. Everybody rushes on the plane and tries to jam their overstuffed bags into the bins or under the seats. I watched this go on as I left Denver to fly to Chicago and then on to my destination of Evansville, where my parents would pick me up and bring me on to Owensboro.

I made it to Chicago with time to spare and felt pretty good as I got off the plane and started toward my connecting gate. Things fell out of place when I paused to look at one of the directories of departing flights. My flight to Evansville was listed as CANCELLED. I couldn't believe it.

I made my way to the gate that I would have departed from and stood in line to talk to the agent there. He said the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Further, there were two more flights later in the day to Evansville; both were already overbooked. The best he could do for me, short of sending me to a different airport, was to book me on a flight the next day. He offered me vouchers to stay in a hotel and for food. I was incredulous.

I had him go ahead and book me for that flight while I tried to figure out my next move. The good news was that I had more options than a lot of people. My sister, Leslie, lives in Chicago. I called her and we talked about my situation. Of course, I could stay at her house if I was stuck in Chicago for a night.

I flagged down my parents (figuratively) to keep them from going to the Evansville airport and then spoke with my Kentucky sister, Karen, about my status. I called David and asked his advice, and also how far he thought the Louisville, Kentucky airport was from my sister's house in Calhoun. I called Karen back and asked if she wanted to come and get me in Louisville if I flew on the next flight. "Of course!" she said.

So, I rebooked my flight to Louisville, and let Karen know when I would be in late afternoon. I worked with the American Airlines agent to try to get my bag rerouted to Louisville. The agent worked hard at it, but I could tell that she was pretty doubtful that my bag would go to Louisville. I suspected it was going to end up in Evansville.

Then, when all that was taken care of, Leslie came and picked me up and we went and had lunch with Kevin. What a treat! We went to a little sandwich shop close to Kevin's work that he likes. It was really fun.

After Leslie dropped me back off at O'Hare, I went straight to my flight, and didn't really have any time to waste. I landed in Louisville much sooner than I expected because I had forgotten about the time change. I found Karen right away and she and her husband, Steve, and I waited for my bag that didn't ever come. When I went into the baggage office, they called and found it was in Evansville (what a surprise!) and arranged to have it delivered to Karen's house.

Karen and Steve and I went and had dinner and started to make our way to Calhoun. When I called about my bag and there was no movement to get it delivered, we decided to detour to Evansville to get it. When I went in, the agent handed it to me and didn't ask me to sign for it or check my I.D. Finally I made it home to Calhoun. What a relief.

The next day, and for three more days afterwards, I got automated messages from American Airlines saying that they were very sorry but they had not yet located my bag--which of course, I had possession of. Thank goodness.

The picture above is of my sister Leslie, and her husband, Kevin, in the sandwich shop in Chicago.

Royal Bonica Roses

These are my Royal Bonica shrub roses that I planted along a fence that I can see from our sunroom. This year, they are very happy about the wet winter and spring just past and are blooming like crazy.

A few years ago, when we went to a concert at the Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder, we walking along the plants and garden areas around the auditorium and I was enchanted with the pink flowering rose bushes planted in one of the areas. Here is a picture of those rose bushes that I took this past week when we went to another show at Chautauqua (those shows are a staple of our summers).



I loved those roses. I had a vision then, of planting similar ones along my fence and I headed out to the Garden Country to look at pink shrub roses. I decided upon the Royal Bonica type, and all but one of the nine that are along my fence are those (I can't remember what the odd bush is). I planted them and hoped they might do well.
Looking at them this year, about five years later, I feel they have more than exceeded my expectations. The second picture is from Chautauqua. The first and third are from my backyard.

Garlic Harvest

I harvested my garlic yesterday and am pretty pleased with the yield and the size of the plants. I plant the bulbs in the fall and then follow the recommendation that I have heard to harvest them after the solstice.

For this years plants, I bought my bulbs from Johnny's Selected Seeds and am very pleased with the results. The previous year, I bought from a different source and the bulbs were tiny and spindly. My bulbs are drying out now, so that I can use them through the fall.

Dave Lecturing

Dave gave a lecture on bluegrass before a show at Denver University the first week of May. Here's a couple of shots of him in action. He came across well as a professor of bluegrass!