Sorry for the long delay in writing as it’s been a couple of very busy months. Last I wrote we were just about to leave the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas where we got to reconnect with our musical family for 10 glorious days. As usual it was hotter than hell one weekend (with the nearby power turbine running for most a day) and the other it was cool and a little wet. Regardless, we had much fun playing music and sharing time with friends.
From there we hightailed it to Lexington, Kentucky to spend time with Carol’s brother and sister-in-law. Lots of meals and conversations after too long of a break due to covid. We stayed at the Kentucky Horse Park which was fine other than not having sewer at each site. We did spend one night at another commercial campground (with full hookups) for one night.
Then on Appomattox, VA and stayed near some dear friends that moved there from KC a year earlier. It’s funny to think about reconnecting with someone after several years and it’s like you never parted ways. We visited the Civil War Museum which, if I’m being honest, felt more like the Museum of Southern Heritage because it spent very little time talking about the whole point of the war. We then drove up to Monticello to visit the home of Thomas Jefferson. Despite the weather being very wet we had a good time.
The Jefferson impersonator was excellent and I felt they did a good job of telling the story of Sally Hemings, his slave who bore several of his children. History is complicated and he was a product of his time. Still it was an enjoyable visit with our friends from KC.
From there we went to Rocky Mount, North Carolina to spend the holiday with our son and grandson. At 6 years old our grandson is a lot of fun. We’ll be here through the first of the year so we get to do every day mundane things with him like play Mindcraft Uno and read Ninja books before bedtime.
We went to an Halloween party thrown by friends of Carol’s that just moved to Raleigh from KC about a year ago. They’ve got a 3 month old so we got some baby time in. Our son and grandson were invited as well and it was fun seeing Luke run with the other kids that were there. It was nice socializing.
We also went to our nieces wedding in Nashville, TN. The wedding was awesome as our new nephew is a Grammy-nominated music produce (lost to Beck a few year back) and there were several musicians of note in attendance (Hastings being the one that I can remember, and the gal he was nominated with was supposed to sing at the wedding but got caught in Texas due to major storms). We rented an Airbnb that was adjacent to where our Kalamazoo relatives were staying. Much silliness (games and alcohol) ensued. Our Kansas City relatives were there too and we partook in the Nashville nightlife one night with them. I’m definitely not a crowds person but it was nice to hear some live music. And Nashville was a nice change of pace where we had excellent restaurant meals (and sought them out!).
Enjoy your time with friends and family because some day they won’t be around any more. If there’s one thing that the pandemic taught me was that life is short and enjoy people. Even as an introvert I miss people (at times).