Something new, something fun

   We did something totally new to PH and I.  The Grand River and Lake Michigan are such a backdrop to our lives in West Michigan we tend to take them for granted, especially as we get older. They have just always been there, and for 90% of my life I lived across the street from one or the other.  But still there are activities I only knew about peripherally, (especially because we aren't  particularly sportsy.)  They were there but never explored. Last night we explored.

A group of friends went to the Grand Lady Riverboat (not our Lowell Showboat) and took a ride while listening to  sing along (because you just couldn't help it) music from a Lowell family group.  This group are family members, father, brother, sister and husband.  They have a following and always play to sell out crowds. Always.  Well, PH and I have been here eight years and  the stars just never aligned for us to take in one of their concerts even though we know one of the group and are becoming acquainted with his wife.  Funny how that happens, right?  Something is right there in front of you.

We boarded the Grand Lady  - it's not this big boxy white thing in front of us, but behind it.  It's a riverboat that glides by paddle wheel down the river toward Lake Michigan and at the halfway point of the evening,  turns and comes back. 

Last night was picture perfect.  The weather, the view, the river, the friends, it was  so wonderful we could only keep repeating that all evening....when we weren't singing along.

Here's us.  The woman in white  next to PH is the family wife in the group.  I refer to four of these people as "lifers."  They've lived their entire lives in Lowell, they know everyone, know the history of everyone and everyplace.  Of course they all left for college, some live in a neighboring small city nearby, one in California, but they are lifers, their life still revolves around Lowell, and personally, I think that says something about a  community.

The  group.  You can't see the patriarch at the end but the guy closest to the camera in orange shirt is the  guy we know best. His wife is there, her brother next to him.  If you weren't singing along you were in a coma. Like Friend Don said, if they were supposed to sound like the original artist, they did.  The test for me was when they sang one of the songs by Jay and the Americans and one single high note had to be held for a very long time...and  he did it! Whoa.

It was a perfect evening, one we grabbed with friends, enjoying the perfect September evening. We know there might not be too many of these days left, we're sliding closer to  what we call real weather but till then, what could be better than this?

It's been busy, too busy sometimes and I've not been quilting much but did start the quilting on this baby quilt, it's kind of a mini I Spy for a boy and yes, the photo is upside down.  I'll save the bigger one, the churn dash, for retreat coming up. The churn dash has a deadline so it jumped to the head of the line.  That and my liberty circles.  If I just pause on those and take them to retreat I can clean up some of the little piles in the meantime.