Martin Sexton

 
The hand-painted backdrop was SO Martin Sexton - a circle of guitars symbolizing the unity of religions... philosophies... lifestyles.  Is there a nicer man anywhere?  I mean... really????  It's a privilege to see Martin Sexton - any time! Tonight was no exception.

The show was all electric tonight - until the encore, which was acoustic.  Pretty good for a guy who started with a Sears Roebuck acoustic guitar.

There was no set list.  He just played what we wanted to hear. "Martin fans" are "Martin fans".  It doesn't much matter what he plays, we love it all!  He even turned us into a choir from time to time tonight.  Fun!

A beautiful man with a beautiful voice.  I'm so glad we went!

And...

The opening act was Stephen Kellogg - lots of energy - great opener.

He told us that times are tough and that he had to use family as his road crew... and then out came his two beautiful daughters to dance for us while their dad played and sang.  I'm a sucker for dancing kids sooooo it was  "hit" with me.  (Irish step dancing anyone?)

Stephen will be back in the area this summer with his band, SK6ers, but I'm not sure where or when. Should be a terrific show!

What's your favorite thing to do on a Friday?

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It's a hit!

Kate is playing softball this year for the first time.  T-Ball softball.  She's #10

Monday we had a record setting day - 89 degrees and Kate had a game so I loaded up the ol' scooter and off I went.  That was one of the best decisions I've made in a while.  I couldn't stop smiling.

  Getting ready...

Kate "roped" one at this at-bat!

Thanks, of course, to the patience and direction of her coach/father.  (Who said they can't mix??)

 Yea! Coach!

T-Ball softball consists of a lonnnnnnng time at bat (and a whole lot of bench time) and a lonnnnnnng time in the field.  Everyone hits.  Everyone fields.  2 innings.  So funny!  Score?  Who knows! (Who cares?)

She's too cute - even on the bench. Do you love the "hats"?  Just right for ponytails!

T-Ball softball is pretty slow, so I was easily distracted by Brynn who never stopped moving the whole time we were there.

Brynn ran this way (with a soft pretzel)...

And then Brynn ran that way (the shirt is great!)...

She sat on the bench...

And made a new friend...

And when she caught me taking pictures, she even stopped a second to pose.

The problem with softball games is that I spent the afternoon looking at Kate's back - on the bench - on the plate.  BUT... I did manage a couple of pictures from the front.

I thought this one was too good to pass up...

Kate makes those papers tidy!

And this one of Brynn the blur...

She ran by me so fast, all I got was her blonde curls.

The game was all about Kate, but in the end.... 

Sisters!

Freedom - Jonathan Franzen

I think it's taken me about 2 months to read this book - at least.

When I saw that it was an Oprah pick and I heard her rave about it, I thought "What the heck".  (Yes, I really did think that).

 So I bought the book and dug in, but not for long.  I didn't like it.  I couldn't keep track of who anyone was (my deficiency, I'm sure, and not Mr. Franzen's).  I thought it was unnecessarily crude and I couldn't figure out why ANYone would choose this as a book club "pick".

BUT... I trudged on... searching for the nugget that I was obviously missing.

As I trudged along, I ran into one morally bankrupt character after another... except for Walter - at least for a while. I didn't  find most of the characters very interesting.  They were more like cardboard cutouts with no real dimension;  in most cases, based on some stereotype or another.  And by the way, is it necessary to portray all Christians as judgmental and hypocritical?  Really??  (Not that we ran into many of those in this saga of unlikeable wackos)

I didn't quit, though. Not me.  I kept holding on for the nugget. 

Finally... after long hours (that I will never get back....)

:::: drum roll ::::

I finished the book.

Guess what?  No nugget.  Not really.

Well.. that may be harsh.   After I plowed through about 80% of the book, I finally got more involved with the story (in spite of the characters) - loved some of the writing - started to wonder what would  become of Patty and Walter - and I liked the ending. 

Mid-way through the book I would have barely given it one "Good Read", but by the end, I was feeling a little more generous. 

I ended up with a rating of 3 "Good Reads".

Did you read it?  What did you think of it?

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A star is born...

Gregory's Junior High School did a musical production of Beauty and the Beast, and Gregory was an amazing Gaston.

This came from a phone so the quality isn't the best (Next time we'll hire a film crew!)  BUT it's wonderful to see and hear Greg "doing his thing". 

Good on ye, G!

(Oh!  Greg is the handsome chap in the maroon vest and khaki pants.)