Birthdays and Bands

It’s been a heartwarming kind of weekend. My friend Kristie turned 70 this past week and we had a party last night to celebrate. As a fun little bit of friend trivia, Kristie and her husband Charles share the same birthday, but last night it was all about Kristie.

I wish I had a recording of Kristie’s eloquent remarks about turning 70. You’d want to, too. I believe I remember one quote “Do everything you can to get here.”

There were no balloons going up due to wind, but lots of friends, food, drink, and great music by our friends Third Creek Bluegrass. I missed their awesome Happy Birthday rendition to Kristie, but did capture them singing to Charles. And here’s another of their tunes for you to enjoy.

Friday night we spent at Fourth Creek Brewery listening to the Broad Pickups. The video from my vantage point wasn’t great, but here’s a taste of their music. It was almost comical trying to avoid people walking in front of me recording. I swear one guy got in 20,000 steps in a couple of hours, all crossing in front of me.

Hope your weekend was amazing and you make this week incredible. This is your one wild and precious life. Enjoy.

The Summer Day

“Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver