Monday, July 20, 2009

Fun weekend

On Friday I drove to my hometown in east-central Illinois for a reunion of sorts with my best friend from high school, Mary. Since I won't be attending my 30th class reunion later this summer, I told Mary that I'd come over and we'd do something fun. Mary got on the internet and discovered that the Woodstock Folk Music Festival was this weekend. I know this is the 40th anniversary year of THE Woodstock festival, but this was a much smaller festival in the town of Woodstock, Illinois. Then she discovered that one of my favorite artists, Natalia Zukerman, was going to be performing at this festival, so it was a definite Must-Go! Mary had seen Natalia in concert earlier this year on my recommendation and agreed that Natalia's not to be missed.

It was about a 4 hour drive to Woodstock and we got a little mixed up with a detour but finally found the town square. The venue was great, the weather was great and the music was great. Mary packed us a lovely picnic lunch--quiche, salad, fruit, linen napkins and tablecloth, fruity tea, biscuits--Mary calls herself the Martha Stewart of Birdland. Natalia took a photo of us with Mary's iPhone. If Mary can figure out how to send it I will post it.

After we got back to the prairie I got a tour of Birdland. I enjoyed seeing the aviary and meeting Ellis and the chickens. I liked the screened in vegetable garden and the Adirondack chairs that Mary made. The house at Birdland is very old, and Mary and her family have been working very hard to fix it up and enlarge it for the family. Every time I go, I see big changes!

I'm enjoying this cool summer...it's actually pleasant to be outside.