A Wonderful Party
Saturday, November 22nd, 2003Well, we had a party and it was just wonderful. It was almost really three parties, as people came and went during the 4pm – 1:30am timeframe. Great music, great food, great friends. At times it was hard to move from room to room, but that just makes for a better “scene” so to speak. I loved every minute.
Of particular note in the first picture, is my friend Altu. She is at the bottom right of the picture wearing a Michigan State shirt. I don’t think I’ve ever had a picture of her on my blog yet. She worked a very long day and I was really pleased she came by after closing the restaurant.
The cake was made for me by Barbara Abbott. She is the fiddle player in the first picture at the far left. She and Brian have played music together in the Abbott Brothers band for a good long while now.
The cake was wonderful, a moist chocolate with vanilla frosting. What a treat to have something from someone’s kitchen for a change! I appreciated the time it took to make me something by hand, that is one way to show love, indeed.
The third picture is more jamming, with Brian’s dearest friend, Dorsey, in the red hat at far left. Dorsey plays four-string tenor banjo in a style that is rarely played these days.
Dorsey is 94 years old, I think, and he was the most enthusiastic musician there last night, I think. He loves playing music so much that he exclaims “Yeah!” out loud at least once every tune. His enthusiasm is so contagious, he definitely made the party more joyful with his presence. He doesn’t get out much these days so it was a wonderful thing to have him here, for us as well as for him.
The portrait here is a closeup picture of Dorsey in a quieter moment. This photo was taken by Drew Howard. Thanks, Drew.
Next picture, more jamming. In the center of the photo in red, is Phaedra, one of the Habibi dancers who is an incredible costumer. She made me two
costumes last year (plus a hot pink feather wrap) when she drew my name in the Habibi Christmas gift exchange. It was an extravagant gift, as we are supposed to keep things low key. She knows I really value her talent, and she found this wonderful purple and silver fabric she knew I would love, so she went overboard. I really lucked out, the costumes are gorgeous.
The next photo is of our kitchen, with young Sofia spinning yarn on my spinning wheel in the background. Sofia spins on a drop spindle a lot (I taught her around Christmas 2001), but doesn’t get a chance to use a wheel very often. She enjoyed it, and did a very good job.
Sofia’s mother, my friend Ulyana who I mention often here, is there on the right peeking around the corner. My friend Sue is the one with her back to us. I met Sue years ago when she took classes from me at Foster Center. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, so I was delighted that she and her hubby, Bob, came by.
You can see our “kitchen collection,” particularly my teapots, on the far left wall. The toasters and other chrome gadgets I talked about yesterday, live on the top shelf.
The last shot is of the jam session in the living room later in the party. There was also a smaller group jamming on the front porch part of the time, as it was very warm for November… around 60 degrees F.
In this last photo, with a moon on his shirt, is Art Cameron, the designer of that wonderful grass garden at MSU that I took pictures of this summer. He and his wife/my friend Marlene, are just masterful at creating gatherings of their own. (In fact, Marlene is a particularly artful cook.) We have attended several music parties at their home, and it was great to have them at ours this time.