Chase's Christening

Chase was christened today...

 Christening

Julie and Chase

 Rich, Julie, Brynn, Kate, and Chase

...and the whole family was at the church to share the joy.

Amy. Greg, Matthew, Alex and Gregory

Scott, Crystal and Bryce

Kate and Brynn looked so cute...

(All pictures above courtesy of Tony, Julie's dad)

And then...

         ...back to Richard and Julie's to celebrate the day.



Most of us started inside, but that didn't last long...

Bryce and the dreaded cracker pose

Wiffleball was the game of the day for most...

Bryce looks like a hitter

Big ol' reach but.... 

There he is on 2nd base... ready to go!

Matthew's up to send that run home!

A lot of laughing going on in this game!

Alex is so tricky that he can pitch..

and then grab the bat and hit his own pitch!

(okay.. .okay... not buying it, eh?

Richard started off pitching but the pillar on the porch blocked the picture of him sooooo

here he is at the plate

Two pitchers??

Okay... Greg can pitch

Scott will catch.

Matthew decided to take a break with molly

(or Molly decided to take advantage of Matthew's break)

Gregory was the silent observer

And it was my job to observe Gregory

It was Brynn's job to bounce..

and bounce... and bounce

(in pearls)

... and to have lunch with Amy

Sweet Kate...

... with a furrowed brow

... and her extraordinary "Kate hair" - so beautiful!

If there's anything better than family, I don't know what it is.

God bless Chase on his christening day... 

     and God bless the family that I love so very much.

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Vince Gill

Okay... when I saw that Vince Gill was going to be at the Keswick I thought... (as I often do)... "What the heck! Why not!".   It's Vince Gill and he's going be close.  So.... sure.  I'm in.

I was sure it would be okay... or even good, but I wasn't expecting it to be as great as it was!  Color me surprised!

When we got there, the sign on the door said "No Intermission."  Hmmmm... I thought (I know you like to know what I'm thinking)... must not be an opening act".  Unless, of course, they were thinking of doing some kind of tag-team switch between acts, which I seriously doubted.  (Nothing gets by me.)

Vince (Yes.. first names.  We're close.) said at the beginning of the show that he had spent a lot of years as an opening act - got to play for 25 minutes.  Sometimes he was the 2nd act and he was able to play for 45 minutes.  He told us that playing is what he loves to do and that he decided that when he did it again, he would just play a lonnnnnnnng time!

 

And play he did!  The show started at 8:00 and it was almost 11:00 before we were on the way to the car. He played lots of old ones... some new ones... had great stories.  It was a great night!

Vince said that one morning, shortly after his 55th birthday, he went to breakfast and noticed the menu for folks "55 and older" and it made him laugh that he was now in that group.  (I hit that age quite a while ago, and it never made me laugh.)

There were 8 in the band - plus Vince.  A great group of musicians!  I teasingly told Michael that this was the "no spring chickens" tour because the musicians were old enough to have "played for a few years"  (she said, tactfully).   We were definitely in the hands of people who knew what they were doing - and who had a good time doing it.

The man can play PLUS... the older he gets, the better he looks. (It doesn't seem to work that way for women)  By the way... those Martin guitars looked (and sounded) pretty good too. 

 A great night of music!  Would I go again?  You bet your boots, I would!

Thanks, Vince!  See you next time!

Any musical surprises in your life lately?

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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!