Friday June 12

So I haven't been keeping up with the blog this past week. I had so many fun things going on that I was just too exhausted by the time I got home. So, time to update all of you.

Friday night my Uncle's sister Michelle's family came over. Michelle, John (her husband), Naomi (their daughter) are so much fun to be around. I love that I get to see them every time I come out to Colorado. They feel like family, which is nice. We had some champagne decorated with strawberries and left the house to go to the Black Forest Community Center. The Black Rose Acoustic Society puts on concerts every other Friday. Here we sat in folding chairs, in a small one story log cabin house. It was so friendly and neighborly. At one end they were selling bake goods and coffee and then some music cd's of some of the opening performers of the night. The opening act was magnificent. He was about 19 or so years old. A shy, yet very talented guitarist by the name of Adam Gardino. Even though he was so nervous to be performing, he used his nervousness as part of his show, saying witty remarks and just his overall mannerisms. After Adam there were a couple of weak performers, but I give them a round of appaulse for trying and being on stage in front of a crowd. It is not an easy task to accomplish. Then we had the honor of listening to one of the best Harp Guitarists in the world, Stephen Bennett. He was the star of the night. He is such an amazing person and musician with long silver hair and a mustache. Glasses are perched on the edge of his nose and while he plays you are just comforted. After he played for an hour he invited Adam up on stage to play with him. Adam was honored and so nervous. But, he did a wondeful job of keeping up with Mr. Bennett and. It was a joy to be able to share Adam's excitement of playing with one of his idols. It was a very inspirational night and we all left with happy ears and souls.

When we got back to the house, Michelle had a small feast ready for all of us. We spent the rest of the night eating curry and rice, fresh fruit, drinking champagne decorated with raspberries, and laughed until 1 AM.