Saturday night concert

They were dancing before the music started. Lots of kids. Some just crawled and rolled around in the open space. I wonder if they don't get out much.


When Peter started warming up, they really got into the dance. Ballet!


Then they started in full force to perform, the band, that is. And when they kick in outside like this, they really, really rock.

Peter even did one solo behind his head. Do you believe this is the same boy who would hide behind me when he was 4?

There were a few hundred people there in our university town square.

Don here, talking with the lead singer Brian's dad. That's Al in the back to the left, Peter's girlfriend's dad. We sat at Lou & Harry's restaurant outside, eating gyros and sipping $2 Long Island Iced Tea.

The whole band: Mike, Mark, Brian and our Peter.

By the end of the two hour concert, I don't know who were more tired, the band or the kids who danced. Actually, I think it was the band. And they had to go straight to another gig from here, to play and sing for another 3 hours!

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home grown treat

It's July 14, and we have already eaten some of the fruits of the earth that Don grew from seed and planted in May, such as zucchini.

We've used some of the herbs we planted in the herb bed. The basil is there, just in front of Phoebe, the little stone girl.


Today, we combined some of the best home grown ingredients for a special meal of veggie wraps.





It began with pesto. I knew I wanted to make some with the fresh basil in the herb bed. When Don saw a recipe in a magazine he bought yesterday for pesto dressed sandwiches, we put a twist on it and decided on lettuce wraps with veggies, shrimp and pesto.

The Silver Spoon cookbook is the equivalent of the Joy of Cooking for Italians. I found a pesto recipe there, and one in that magazine Don bought, and combined them.

25 basil leaves, 1 c. of grated parmesan cheese, two garlic cloves, 1/3 cup of pine nuts slightly toasted, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup olive oil.

Put everything but the olive oil in a food processor, pulse until blended, then pour in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream while the food processor is on.

Yum.

We've been without rain for too long. We've heard predictions of thunder storms, without them ever arriving. Sometimes they land all around us. Today, just as Don went to get the ladder to hang the oriole feeder, it began to pour.

I cut some leaves from the cilantro plant. Then picked one of Don's zucchinis from his squash/pumpkin patch.

Lettuce wraps bought from the store, all pre-washed, are ready to smear with the pesto, then load with the sauteed eggplant, red pepper, zucchini and shrimp. Top with cilantro, and they're ready to eat!

We drank sangria and served the veggies from the $1 dish Don bought at a yard sale.

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l'atelier, continued

I promised I would keep you updated on the progress in the studio. Don and Peter laid the framing joists yesterday for the wood floor. This was the hard part, getting it level. Don's level (which was my dad's first, and he had repaired it once before) broke in the process. Now it will be a relatively quick step to lay the 8" pine boards on the frame.

Don snapped this photo of Peter using the power screw gun on all the joist hangers. I think that was Pete's first time using a power tool, and he liked it, and did a good job.

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Family Reunion II

For our annual 4th of July reunion, over the course of 5 days 40 people descended upon "Hukilau" - our family cottage.


It rained Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, when Don and I were there alone before anyone else came. The rest of the week it was sunny and beautiful.

I'm not going to concern myself with sequence or what day was what. This is just a little photo album.

This pair of swans toured the lake throughout the week.

All 7 siblings were there (Bennett alone was not there; he died in 1996). This is Nelson, the eldest. See his t-shirt? We all have "HUKILAU" t-shirts.

We celebrated Peggy's 65th birthday, she's Nelson's wife, here with their daughter Tammy.

Susan is #2, here with her husband Rodger.

Here is #3, my blogging sister and close friend, Ginnie (aka "Boots") and # 6 Jim (aka "Jimbo")

Forgive me, Nancy (#4) for this terribly blurry photo - the only one I have of you! with grandson Asher. It's not easy to catch this baby in a still moment.


John, #7 (in that other, obscure Michigan university's t-shirt, poor man)

And here's me, #8, at Ginnie's request, so I've added it. These birthday glasses of Nicholas' made the rounds, as you see.

And there were lots of kids and grandkids.

Audrey is Todd and Lisle's 4-year-old (Nancy's granddaughter)

Amy is Ginnie's daughter, from Atlanta, with her fiance Dennis, in from California

Wilma (Jim's wife) with daughter Stacy and granddaughter Greta

John's wife Sandy with granddaughter Ever Eden
Nicholas (Ginnie's grandson), Eli and Lydia (Jim's grandkids) and Audrey (Nancy's granddaughter) watching Wilma, Stacy and Greta in the kayak. Owl is watching over them.


Some of us swam across the lake and back. Here is Simon (Stacy's husband) in the water, with Sydney, Eric and Todd. Eric and Todd are Nancy's sons, and Sydney is Eric's daughter.


Greta, Jim's granddaughter


Lisle, Todd's wife, with Asher, their son

Ginnie and her domestic partner Donica (in the Wahiawa shirt), with Ginnie's daughter Amy and fiance Dennis playing Spades. That's Nicholas in the background.


When I needed to be quiet, I got away and read. I think I read one entire page over several days.

Nicholas, our son Peter, and his girlfriend Caitlin weren't resting with this book that Nicholas got for his birthday. (Our Lesley in NYC couldn't make it this year. Boohoo.)

Don with Audrey and Nicholas in one of many boat rides.


Amy and Dennis celebrating the holiday (and Nicholas' birthday). Please notice Dennis' MSU hat (he's a USC fan, being from southern California). How nice of him.

Nicholas (hiding), Caitlin and Peter in the paddle boat, that needs fixing - mostly goes backwards!

On Friday night we did our fireworks. Here are Lydia, Audrey, Sydney and Nicholas with sparklers.

Eli (Jim's grandson) with Uncle Don, shooting bottle rockets

There were fireworks all around the lake for several nights.

Here's most of the gang in one spot. Nelson, Peggy and Tammy had already left. Even though I didn't get a closeup of everyone, they're all in this photo (I think). That's me in the middle in the white pants right after hitting the auto timer on the camera and running to sit.

There are many family members in New York, Georgia, Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Michigan and Australia who couldn't make it. We missed you!

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Family Reunion I

Cheryl and Pete (Cheryl's dad Jay was son of Looman, one of Frankie and Johnny's 9 sons) in the center welcoming the mob to their farm, with the hay wagon loaded with food. My favorite dish was fruit pizza. Yum.

Every year at the end of June, Don's father's family relations get together for an afternoon at Cheryl and Pete's farm in eastern Michigan. We were there yesterday with 100 people, including distant cousins. These are all descendants of Frankie and Johnny, Don's father's grandparents. Frankie and Johnny had nine sons, including Don's grandpa "Guy." One interesting thing is that Grandpa Guy (who died the first year Don and I were married: 1978), born in 1898, was 6' 5" tall. His sons were tall, but shorter than he. Don's dad is 6'2". Don is 6'. I find it strange and interesting that these men have gotten shorter by generation, which is the opposite of the norm. Our son Peter is 6'1", I believe.

Rob and company letting off balloons for his father (one of Guy's sons), who died last year. This was the first reunion without Uncle Bob, whose favorite color was red.

Peter, son of Cheryl and Pete (not our son Peter, who wasn't there yesterday, nor was our Lesley, who's in NYC) with daughter Lily, asleep to the mob. Peter teaches outdoor subjects at a local grade school, promoting youth ecology, schoolyard lunch gardens, and Native American growing projects for kids. I could have listened to him all day. He lives in a house made of hay. I'm serious. Here is a sample of what he does to promote ecology.

I don't know this little one's name. A distant cousin.


I know their names: Katie and Barb. This is Don's sister Barb who came from Tennessee for a week, and her granddaughter Katie. Katie was swimming in the pond.

Don't know their names

I know his name: Don posed for me on Pete's stone chair. Pete has a landscaping business, and he builds these stone chairs, which are surprisingly comfortable. And they bounce. You can see some of Cheryl's lilies, which grow all over the farm. Oh, I just realized, Cheryl loves lilies, and her baby granddaughter is named Lily!

Next week for the 4th of July we'll do the same with my family - Family Reunion II - but in that case I'm in the "older" generation and the cousins are not distant. I'm guessing there might be 30 people off and on over the course of 5 days at our family cottage.

Don and I come from big families. He's one of six children, I'm one of eight. Sometimes we complain that we are too busy with family activities, especially in the summer. But as Cheryl said yesterday, we're so fortunate to have lots of family members, because some people have no one.

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