Scottish Independence, Barcelona, Phyllis Lynch, Sonoma County Jazz, Niagara Surprise, Graton Ranchera, 23 and me, Memorial Hospital, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

It is as if I have dropped off the face of the earth, yet again.  This post is likely to be scattered and maybe even excuse ridden, but will give some insight into the scattershot approach that I have to my life.  My blog about the Borne neighborhood of Barcelona is still in my mind, and I have not forgotten. In fact just yesterday the Scottish Independence movement lost the referendum to become independent.  I have heard that Catalonia will do the same thing in October.  Let's hope that it will not begin another civil war in Spain.

One project inevitable leaks into another.  I have been stuck on doing my enormous web page for my aunt and uncle. At this point I am almost finished, but since I am honoring my Aunt Phyllis at the moment, I am looking for representative pieces of her pottery. We own a few and I may just photograph them. Yet I know that she took several hundred slides of her pieces and I fear that I may have tossed them. In light of my hoarding tendencies, it would indeed be unusual.

I am bumping elbows in the jazz world again, and my friend Peter is talking about starting a combo. We have gotten together with mixed results. We met today and half the band did not show up- but for good reasons- a funeral. Still I met a woman singer, who calls herself a professional. I will take one step at a time.

I had a major regression into my college years. Giselle published a number of photos from my college years.  Among the photos was one with me and a gorgeous young lady, who at the time was in love with me. Also at the time I was not ready.  She is now my Facebook friend- well, they both are my Facebook friends.

In October a big Indian Casino opened up in our area, ten minutes away. I love to gamble. Now you know one more personal thing about me. Not only do the rest of my family share this vice, but my ancestors worked with horses for hundreds of years.  I am by nature conservative in my gambling.  Since October 2013 I have been on winning and losing streaks.  Now I have been on a winning streak for about 2 months.  Although I try not to wager too much ($100 to $300 any time I go), I am about $2000 in the positive. It scares me a little.

Speaking of ancestors 23 and me has interested me in my genealogy again.  I started when I lived in Washington, D.C. and had my mornings free. Now there are enormous resources available on line. I found out that my great great great grandfather Charles Lafferty was born in County Tyrone, now Northern Ireland, just on the boarder with Donegal.

A dear friend of mine is in the hospital. He is ten years younger that I am, a vibrant, happy, involved firefighter, who just retired. He is very seriously ill. When I went to see him, it really shook me up. I saw how a person could go from being vivacious to one step away from death- very sobering.

And painting- I have started the largest pieces of my life. One is about 4 feet square, the other about 5 feel by 6. I am please with the beginning but I still have a long way to do.

Last weekend was the Denevan family reunion- at our house. I really loved it. I married into a great family...

I look forward to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on the first weekend of October.

I must have a photo that will illustrate one of these topics!