And together we learn

Peace, Love. Music. My backyard

We've thrown some pretty good parties around here. There was the Steve birthday party ice cream day, the poutine party, various fabulous parties with beautiful food--all delightful gatherings of friends and family. But last night might have just trumped them all.

If you haven't noticed by now, my Steve is a bit spontaneous. He thinks of something, then does it. Doesn't really accept the words 'impossible' or 'impractical'. So I should have learned long ago that what he proposes doing actually really happens.

A few months ago, he told me that it was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and we should have a concert to commemorate it. In my mind, that means "what a slightly random and crazy, yet fun idea. I'm glad it will just be an idea." In his mind, it means, "let's get to work."

The next thing I knew, he was auditioning bands.

So he ended up with 5 bands that agreed to come play in our backyard, on the deck. We have an acre, so can easily fit tons of people. We spread the word around facebook and the neighborhood, and soon had around 200 people wanting to come.

We got a portapotty for the weekend, because 200 people are just more than we were comfortable with using the bathroom in the house.

As luck would have it, it stormed incredibly yesterday morning. Lots of rain. Wind. The works. But by the afternoon it couldn't have been prettier. Problem is, I think that 7/8 of those 200 people had been scared off, so we ended up with a much smaller group. Oh well. If we hadn't have gotten the potty, of course there would have been 300 people in my house. It was a huge hit, however, with the 7 and under crowd. There was always a line of them waiting to use it. My favorite moment was when my 3 year old niece came out with her pants around her ankles and flashed the crowd. Woo-hoo!! Nudity! This was Woodstock, afterall.
The bands were all very gracious and understanding about the sparse audience. People just had a relaxed and wonderful time. One of the bands didn't show up--they were all under 16, and one of them ran away and was picked up by the police. He was grounded, so couldn't play. Yes, I did laugh all day about that one.


It grew darker, and people lingered and listened to the amazing music. Neighbors dropped by to listen. We barbecued hamburgers and had cookies, the kids ran through the yard and fed the chickens bits of lettuce. We built a fire in the chiminea to chase off the chill of a cold evening.
An absolutely beautiful night that I hope will become a new annual tradition.

Labels: parties

posted by Becca at 11:45 AM