interesting weekends

May 25. 2014

We are having
interesting weekends. Last week our son in law organised an event on Puffing
Billy (the tourist train in the hills) for “good beer week”. He invited Edd to
go along with him, which was really nice. The chef from Bo’s restaurant used
really innovative methods to serve a three-course meal whilst the train was
running and the beer talks were going on. This was a challenge because the
train and station had no kitchen or preparation area. I think that the fact it
all went well and was booked out was a minor miracle!

This weekend we joined
the rest of the family at the other end of the valley because a friend of
theirs had organised a benefit concert to raise money to help our eldest
grandson who lost his swag and schoolbooks when his car was set alight. We all
gathered in the outdoor section of a café by the river and listened to live
music. Bo was the first act singing some of the songs she has written. It was a
big stretch for her because she has never performed them in public before and
she had no chance to practice on the gear.

She had to accompany
herself on something called a Wurlitzer that was not working at full capacity,
which added to the challenge. Some how she overcame all the difficulties in her
usual professional manner. We then had a very young kid with a double base
backed by an assortment of adults and then Bo’s boys did a song with the eldest
playing his ukulele and his brother singing. I was so happy to see the boys
working together and having the confidence to perform up front. They really
have come a long way since they started their new school.

The afternoon went on
with some locals putting together a band to play country music and a young girl
playing and singing covers. (She had all the same difficulties with the Wurlitzer
that Bo had). I am not sure much money was raised but it was a fun afternoon
and great for the younger members of the family to get a low-key place to start
public performance in. The only thing that went wrong was that my grandson’s
girl friend fell over and injured her hand badly enough to need a hospital
check up. We found out later that luckily she had not broken anything.

Back on the farm we
are trying to get the pregnant goats to dry off and get more vegetables
planted. Edd has been working on fences but we have had to confine the heifers in
one of the crofts because they managed to get out every week and it was wasting
time doing all the work needed to get them back with the older cows. We will
sell them as soon as possible.