| After a five year absence, our big October party made its comeback - in almost all its glory. We had burnt out on big parties after the last few, when we worked so hard that neither Annie nor I had much fun. So this time we made a few changes. For one thing, we had no setup on the beach - no volleyball, no shelter, no coolers schlepped down, no chairs brought from above. I just had the first wave of river revelers (the kids, of course) each pick up a beach chair from the locker on the way down. No muss, no fuss, no bother and nothing for me to worry about herding back up in time for dinner. The other big innovation was that Annie hired 2 women to help with prep, serving and cleanup so she could actually relax and be the hostess. So we had such a good time that we will probably do it again one of these years. Yee haw! We didn't get many pix ourselves and hope that any attendees who got some good ones will send them along to be added to this page. But here are a few that we did get. | |
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That mass of wires on the tree was necessary for all the lights (rope lights, strings of lights, paper lanterns) that we set up to illuminate the yard. Annie put flowers on each table - some that she bought and some wild flowers that grandson Zac and his friend Max picked before the party. |
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And here are the aforementioned Zac and Max (Zac on the right) along with Zac's dad, my boy Reed (founder of the Texas Green Network) and little ol' me. |
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As the sun sets, the food table activity begins. Mara (great photographer, furniture finisher and salad maker) tosses her salad while Erin & John Watson (ex corporate lawyer, now environmental and coop activist), our dear friend (who also owns land out here), Sunyong Chung (another brilliant artist and potter), other old friend Cap Brooks (yet another great potter and teacher) and Barbara Shone (wonderful artist-designer) dig in. |
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Around the food table which, by the way, was overflowing with delectable contributions from our friends, here are more of those friends. From left to right are (State Representative) Elliot Naishtat, our fabulous neighbor Sue Barnett (she's a green building consultant), Donna West (who helped us so much with our house, including forming and welding all the railings), me and our good friend Smitty Smith (director of the Texas Public Citizen office), who, along with Karen Hadden (director of the SEED Coalition), owns the lot next to ours. |
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Making music, here are our friend and straw bale guru Frank Meyer, the East Side Flash - one of my two longest-term friends in Texas (dating back to Vermont in the early '70s) and yours truly brushing the snare. Off to the right and not seen is Frank's friend Elena, who was singing. |
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| Post-serenade and pre-blow, I am thanking the crowd for a fair rendition of the birthday song. From left are part of George's head (with hat), Alex (I think) with her grandchild, Mara (who lives with Jeuri a few miles down the road - they made our front screen door and several other gorgeous additions to our house), Paul (environmental activist and Austin City Council gadfly who had a chilling station named after him - he occupied our house and took care of our gardens and cat this past May when we went to Spain and Morocco), Jim (another major contributor to our house - he did the engineering, among so much more), Andrea (who also helped a lot in building the house), Amanda (audiologist and old friend from the late 70s), moi (not praying), Claudia (amazing artist and potter), Mac (an old friend who, with wife Maureen, has a winery down the road a piece), Mary (another old friend and City of Austin green building expert who helped Annie with the plans for our house), Maureen (of Mac & Maureen - formerly a chemist for the City of Austin, now a chemist and everything else for McReynolds Winery), Suzie (another wonderful potter who lives a few miles away by river but a long way by road), neighbor Sue and another of Jim and Alex's grandchildren. | |
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The morning after, a couple of deer came to check out the party site. |
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And here's the overview of the aftermath - not really a mess, eh? A delight to not have to clean up too much. |
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