A Great Weekend !

It's been 4 days since I last entered an update. Thursday I was able to go visit my mother and take her to the doctor's office. Her report was a good one with normal blood pressure and cholesterol. We had a nice lunch together at Ponderosa and then bought a nice rug for her porch and park bench for her back yard (the north shore).

I decided that I wanted to connect with an old childhood friend - Kenny Jackson. He's moved out of town but I didn't have any phone numbers so I called his mother in town and she gave me his phone number. When I called he wasn't home. His wife said he was at band practice (he's part of a country band). I tracked down where they were practicing and since it was just a couple of miles away, I paid them a visit. He was surprised to see me. He looks the same as the last time I saw him years ago, but now he wears glasses. They were playing in a garage - Kenny and Rudy. It turns out Rudy went to school with Faye. He took her to the 7th grade dance and they won the "cake walk" together. LOL ! While there I took my Qchord in to the session - they'd never seen such an instrument. Since it plays rhythms and chords, I could jam along with them. LOTS OF FUN !

The Friday we built the park bench and carried it to the back yard. I took some pictures of her there. It looks great and really perks up the area, as does the new rug on the porch. Here are two photos of our efforts...

Then I spent part of the afternoon cleaning away branches and trees so she could have a nice view from the front porch out across the intersection by her home. The tools she had for the yard came in handy. Later in the day we went to the bank, took care of business and then had lunch at Bill Hill's in New Eagle. Then we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon on the porch reading the paper and watching the sights. In the evening we watched a Barbershop Harmony DVD of championship choruses. I hadn't seen it before and we enjoyed it together.

Saturday, John Curdie stopped by first thing in the morning and we went to play golf at Riverview Golf Course across the river from Nee Eagle. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time! No one pushing us from behind and a light breeze all day. After he took me home, I relaxed on the porch with mom and then we went up to Chess Park for a "memorial jam" held in honor of Harold Weaver. It seems he taught thousands of people how to play the guitar. This was the 3rd Annual tribute to him and his music. Kenny Jackson's group was playing with other musicians. Kenny didn't get to play because he had to watch his grandchildren. Here they are... They had food at the concert and mom had a couple of hot dogs. It was a nice event and about 100 people came with lawn chairs to enjoy the afternoon of music in the shade.

After I took her home, I went to my 45th reunion at the local Elks club. It was a nice place. There was a DJ and 40 classmates and 30 guests. The food was good, and it was amazing to reconnect with so many people from my youth. It's strange hearing people say "You are still the same." I thought, gee, I've been through a lot and been lots of places and have a family and yet, "I'm still the same." - Something wrong with this picture if you ask me... Any way, here are a few pictures from the evening.

My batteries died on me while I was taking photos, and so I didn't get as many as I'd hoped. Above is one of all the girls from our class who were present at the reunion; one of Mr. Zober our Chemistry and Calculus teacher (We had class on Saturdays no less) and Maureen Gustafson who teaches in the Masters program at Pitt now. The DJ was good and we got to do some dancing. I of course tried to dance with each of the girls, but there was so many of them and so little time, that I ran out of time. And it was a long ride back to Mars.

Today I went to church in the morning and chatted with the Campbells. Then Dee and I went to the Bogmeister picnic in the afternoon. It was a a member's son's place. A lovely setting with lots of good food - burgers, hot dogs, fresh corn, beans, pineapple upside down cake and a buffet of much much more. We even played Bocce - a first for Dee and me. Then some singing after dinner before heading home. It cooled of nicely and we enjoyed the evening on the deck. Whew! A great weekend.