Memorable Day weekend

Up and down weather, becoming the standard around here; on Saturday, pleasant 50th birthday celebration for one of our bandmates, a woman who has a demanding day job but dreams of being a fine finish carpenter. They had it on a beach in West Seattle, and by late afternoon we had donned our winter jackets to defend ourselves against the cold north wind belying the sunshine. Her partner made the lemon meringue birthday pies, and grilled all the meats. All ate well.
The rest of the days sped by, culminating in a family effort to stem the overgrowth of our yard by the weeds, the only plants succeeding in this bizarre climactic shuffle that's been persisting. The veggies are languishing, except for the potatoes, which, if we were subsistence folks, would have to carry us through the next winter. Mother Earth preserve us...

Whirled along

Caught up a bit on climbing fitness this week, then off to our band retreat; Friday was a lovely day, until it came time for us to do some marching instruction. The wind must have been small craft warning strength, and blowing across the large areas of water it chilled us to the finger bones. We worked pretty hard all weekend, and feted ourselves with a costume optional dancing and singing party. One bandmate in particular riffed repeatedly on his hopes to be Raptured, but owing to his sinful history, he remained with us. We had a great time getting better acquainted with people we hardly get to talk to during concert band season, since rehearsals are so intense and people are maxed out in their lives. Life's a parade.

Schizo

Family member visiting for a whirlwind weekend of seeing our mom and doing a few grown up things; we walked down to Honkfest in an unexpected patch of sun. As we stood or sat listening to the quirky groups perform, we had to take off our fleece layers because we were too warm. This has been a rare experience over the past six months or so, so we relished it. By the time we got back up the hill and made dinner plans, however, the signs were clear; it resumed deluging in mid evening and still has not ceased well into the next day. Family member has headed back over the pass, and we're hoping it isn't raining so hard that visibility will be bad.

Resumption

Our community band had a very good fundraising auction. Generally I don't like auctions, but this one was fun and low key. No over the top oneupmanship bidding of $15,000 for a tea party for ten girls, say, like we witnessed years ago at a private school function, costly items spewing out of the mouth of an auctioneer almost to the point of incomprehension; the band's affair was pretty understated. I read of community-based auctions held recently which raised kind of amazing amounts of money. One of them was held in a big outdoor tent, without an expensive dinner attached to it, so they probably saved on that part. Something to think about for next year.
We're marching into parade season, which I hope means summer will try to make an appearance.

Nastiness

A bit of sunshine and walks on the briny beach demanded a terrific price. Some family members came with viruses, including conjunctivitis, all of which I got a few days after being home. This caused a complete gutting of life and plans for about a week and a half. Not worth the price of admission.