First off - the house concert was wonderful. Having 25 friends in the house to listen, up close and personal, to live music performed by engaging artists who obviously love their work simply can't be beat. Of course there was some stress leading up to 'concert night', the kids arrived at the airport in TC the night before (plane delays working to our favor by having them land within 15 minutes of each other) and the house needed to be kept clean. The kids (can I still call them that?) were great and manage
d to stuff all of their things into one room for two night and accommodate their mother's neurotic worry about having it all turn out OK. Actually, as that mother I must say I did pretty well. I took myself out of the house for the better part of the day and left the others to clean. They did a fabulous job!Jamie Sue Seal and John Latini arrived right on time along with our guests and all mingled and chatted while the stage was set.
The music was great and everyone had a wonderful time. Most sat and listened with some head bobbing and toe tapping, but there were a few of us up and dancing. Room was at a premium so the danci
ng occurred in the kitchen. Jamie Sue and John were very kind in giving the crowd an encore. They were on their way to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (the U.P. eh) for shows on Friday and Saturday nights, this was a stop along their way and we were happy to give them a place to land for the night and SO happy be able to share their music with so many of our friends.If you have never been to a house concert here's the scoop. You find out where a house concert is (or decide to host one - www.concertsinyourhome.com) and guests bring along whatever they would like to drink (we have coffee & soft drinks available) and a dish to pass. It is important to arrange the house so it is conducive to seating a few people and viewing the artists. Get a group of people together - and some live music - and a party starts. It is amazing.
I would be remiss not to mention that at this house concert we invited Ed Brehm from Boyne City Provisions to join us to share wines from his store. Actually, he had suggested it after attending our first house concert and we took him up on it. What a fun addition! Thanks to Ed for attending and providing us with libation - I hope some individuals have since found and frequented his shop, it is definitely worth a stop if you are in Boyne.
One thing we have noticed...we inherit dishes when we host a party. Try as I might to return them, we seem to have this interesting collection of bowls, plates etc. We'll pass them along when we come to your place.
We had a fantastic visit with our children, those from California stayed for 2.5 weeks and the one from N.C. for slightly less (we really don't know why she left so early!) LOTS of food, home rolled sushi, pies and well - let me put it this way, When I asked my daughter what she would like on her last night here, she said she'd had everything she could imagine. That explains the 10 pounds I gained (and can't seem to lose) during those two short weeks. You'll have to find my facebook page to see pictures if interested. LOTS of wonderful memories were made!
Which brings us to January. New jobs, newly quiet house (so sad) and a Janua
ry thaw that can't quite melt all of the snow we collected during December. The job brought me to Lansing for an orientation and it is cold outside. I think the thaw has ended, for now. How strange to think that I come south to see a Canadian news show on TV! So fun to hear their accent (yes, we can tell the difference) and especially interesting to hear news with a Canadian slant rather than the same old same old from our network broadcasts. Haiti still started the program, as it has here since the earthquake. So sad. They did show a 7 year old boy who rode his bike in an old fashioned fundraiser and advertised it via internet. It went viral and he raised more money than he ever dreamed. The worst is often the catalyst for bringing out our best.
