Life of Wry

As the world mourned the passing of Tony Bennett a couple days ago (as well they should, what a lovely piece of our musical culture), we were up at Sarah and Gabe’s place — The Ruin — for yet another magical night of music, summertime, community, and fudgsicles. Jim, Janet and I drove up to meet Sally and her new beau Ron at the Tin Lantern in Meadow Vista, then carpooled together to Old Orchard Road.

The band, Late For the Train, based in Sonoma County, was tres fun! When you’re a bluegrassy, fiddly, mandolin-y folk group, even the sad stuff is pretty perky. Enjoyed them a lot.

Here are some pics of an incredibly pleasant, if sweaty, evening in the foothills:

The Ruin: I’m up on a path that leads to S&G’s house (and bathroom), looking down on the 3-sided stone structure Gabe built (I hope with lots of help), carved right out of the steep hill on which their property sits.

This is intermission, folks milling about. At this moment, a homemade ice cream wagon, with ice cream truck music, rolled in, pulled by Sarah with assistance from Chester (2-ish looking grandson). There were a couple varieties of homemade ice cream sandwiches, the aforementioned fudgsicles, and maybe some 50-50-like ice cream bars. Didn’t even have to fork over a quarter! I easily could have sampled each.. but getting ready for hiking in a week or so and trying to get down to hiking weight (not even close). Very nice touch on a hot night. Well done S&G.

Here are a few shots of the band: Late for the Train (googlable and youtubeable).. bass, fiddle, guitar and mandolin. And a sweet crescent moon rising.

So.. a great band, a great night.

So appreciate these people — looking at you Sarah and Gabe! Not only do they create beauty in just about every aspect of their lives, they share — so graciously — that beauty and creativity with their friends. We notice, we love your gifts.