Don't we all hate whiners? I can't do that 'cause my little finger hurts. Jimmy got more cookies than I got. I just hate these hot days. I just hate these cold days. I wish this weather would make up it's mind. Sure is dry this year. That stupid rain cancelled our picnic. On and on and on it goes. It is so late and I'm so tired I really didn't want to do this blog thing tonight. It's 5 minutes after midnight as I start this and I would rather be sleeping. I should have done this earlier in the day as I knew it would be a late night. Late but fun it was. A friend invited me to a jam in honour of his father who would have been 100 this year. His dad always enjoyed "music parties". I guess he played the mandolin. I really don't remember meeting him though I may have at one time about 35 years ago. My friend and I went to one of the first Winfield festivals. A festival that Stuart Mossman got started in the early 70's. It became the home of the International Flat Picking Championship and eventually many other competitions were added. Early on it was a Bluegrass festival but has grown to include a much broader range of music. My friend, who played Bluegrass, along with several other family members, really wanted to go to the festival so we ended up coming. We both attended Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Mo. and we lived on the same floor in the dorm. We got together to play guitars sometimes and eventually became friends. So we came back to Kansas for the festival, I guess it was '75. We stayed at my folks house in Park City and went to see the competitions and listen to some of the bands play. He ended up moving to the Wichita area to teach school but we really haven't stayed in touch that much. I'd see him at the festival occasionally and would go see his group perform from time to time but that was about it. I was excited to get the invitation to this jam in his dad's honour. A brother from Missouri was there and so was a sister from Florida. The living room was full of music and talking with an occasional corny joke thrown in from time to time. I even took a shot at a couple of them myself. While the laughter at my jokes was somewhat subdued I believe it was nonetheless heart felt. So I'm home now and headed to bed but thanks for staying up late to read this, I really appreciate it. Later.
