Saturday, July 13, 2013

Celebration Followed By a Night in Town

Saturday  we went to Seattle for late brunch with friends Beth, Phil, Agnes and Mary.  Agnes and Mary got married in the Spring, and unfortunately their wedding reception is August 3rd, the same day as our daughter’s, so we’ll miss it.  We’ve known Agnes and Mary for 20 and 30 years respectively, and didn’t want to let their marriage go uncelebrated. The six of us get together several times each year.

After brunch we drove downtown and had wine, appetizers, and Manhattans at son Ryan’s and almost-DIL Jaime’s condo.  We brought the “smelly” cheeses from our stop at the Monteillet Fromagerie on our recent trip to Walla Walla. Ryan supplied home-made Bitters and Makers Mark for the Manhattans. Yum!

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Later the 4 of us walked a few blocks to Jazz Alley to see Blues legend John Mayall.  When we walked in, John was at a counter selling CDs, so we got to talk to him briefly.

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John Mayall is 79, will be 80 in November, and while Bob has been listening to his music since the 1960s when Mayall and Eric Clapton played together in the “Blues Breakers”, we wondered if it was going to be one of those “famous-but-no- longer-great” performances that seem so common these days with touring has-beens. We needn't have worried; Mayall’s voice was astonishingly strong, and his music was vibrant.  The old favorites rang out, and we were sorry for the set to end.

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