Sacramento Jazz Fest and sailing on the Strait

As usual, the annual Sacramento Jazz Festival was a blast! It was great to see everyone again. I'm not sure how we'll handle next year if Carl isn't involved with the Army band. It was a lot of fun watching and hearing their performances. The band played 11 performances, which is a lot in 3 days. Some groups only do 3 or 4. The festival is somewhat smaller than in previous years and, in my opinion, more manageable from the perspective of the audience. They have eliminated the venues out at the state fair grounds and now just have venues downtown and in Old Sacramento. This eliminates a lot of running around. Thanks to Evie for being the catalyst in getting everyone involved.
After scurrying back to Benicia on Monday, we got the boat ready on Tuesday morning and enjoyed a great day of sailing on the Carquinez Strait. It was a really nice day with warm temperatures and enough wind to keep the boat moving without too much to make it hard work. The memorable moment of the day came when, after several attempts to come about with an untrained crew, Roger exclaimed "Captain, your crew sucks!". This was all happening while the current was attempting to push us into one of the permanent channel markers. Luckily we avoided a collision, but only by a few feet! Happily, as the day progressed, the crew's skills improved markedly with a little practice. I didn't take any pictures, but Roger and Evie did, so perhaps they will post some.

Take care,
Bob

Heidi's Graduation!

Oh, what a week it was. Saturday was a beautiful day. Heidi's graduation ceremony started at 10 AM, held in the new Concordia Fitness Facility which had just been opened the day before. It was a very Lutheran (?) ceremony, but very nice.

Heidi graduated with High Distinction, and received the Outstanding Graduate in Studio Art award. All the parents, Roger and Cindy, and stepmothers, Sue and Evie, were very proud. Check out the pictures. Unfortunately, many of them are blurry, but we captured a few good ones here.

Next we came back here for the boring Old Peoples' afternoon party. Then the fun college kids' evening barbecue. About 80 people in all, and it was a very nice time. Heidi's 83 year old grandfather came from Iowa with Cindy's sister. Aunt Mildred represented the Schlaphoff side. The Maag's and the Waverly neighborhood gang showed up to add fun to the party. Heidi and her roommate, Nora, were very gracious graduates.

The afternoon's menu consisted of black olive tapenade, Tony & Luigi's veggie dip & veggies, my signature Green Guacamole (all of the ingredients are green), and my soon-to-be-signature baby skewers. They are stupidly funny, make a beautiful presentation, and people somehow love them. You merely take cocktail toothpicks and put two pieces of assorted stuff on them. This time I used a combination of cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, dried apricots, baby dill pickles, green and black olives, purple grapes and summersausage. I mixed and matched them and literally tossed them onto a big clear plastic platter. Go figure.

At the evening party, Roger manned the barbecue and grilled up hamburgers and chicken that I had marinated overnight. I'd made pulled pork and French Potato Salad (no mayonnaise so it could sit out) and baked beans. Recycled the leftovers from the afternoon and we had a party!

And cake, of course the cake. Check out the picure, it is too funny.

The back yard was perfect, thanks to Roger for vacuuming, sucking and otherwise picking up maple seeds all week. I used the scootching method and bonded with each individual brick for several days. We planted flowers, and our first purple Pansy popped out for the occasion.

So now it's officially summer. Heidi is working at the Waverly pool and coaching the swim team again, then, she heads off to New York City! She was one of ten applicants nationwide accepted into the NYCAMS program at Bethel University, a semester-long art residency and internship program. It will be a wonderful experience for her!

And wish Heidi the best of luck!

Thought for Today!

The four stages of life: childhood, young adult, middle age, and happiness is a good bowel movement.