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Spontaneous Parties

G: This weekend was the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival, held every year, when our town's center is turned into a carnival with rides, community booths, and bands playing every night.

On Thursday we went on another Geezer ride to Franklin's, as always it was a lot of fun. Later that night we went to Renee and Alex's for game night, since the Looneys were at Dragon Con. It was a small turn out of Rich and Izolda, Kory, and Janet. We played Taboo and Reel Clues, but John went home early to get some rest.

On Friday Jenny came over and we went to have lunch with John at the New Deal. Then she consulted me on the quilt project I'm contemplating. I started working on it a little since then. We hung out all afternoon and when John came home we lazily abandoned all vague plans of seeing a movie or driving to the Vegetable Garden, since it was stormy out. Instead we went back to the New Deal for dinner. Then Jenny went home and we joined a bunch of the Greenbelt gang dancing at the Festival to Diamond Alley. I was surprised at how good they were and at the wide range of recognizable tunes they covered. We danced for a long time, Kory and I even did a swing, but it was really hot and humid out which made it exhausting.

On Saturday I went down to the Community Center, where the pottery studio is, to sell pottery all day. It was another hot and humid day, so quite a few people came through and business wasn't bad. John was planning on going to work, but never made it, because he took a long walk with Booda and went mushroom hunting. He found some beefsteak shrooms and another chicken mushroom. I had found two chickens the day before, and even after sharing it we have a lot left. So then he spent time cooking some up and hanging out with Kory.

Later we stopped by Shaun and Mi Ae's to hang out for a while with them and Luisa before going over to Izolda's for Sangria and chocolate and to see her mom and meet her sister. Like the last time we went to a party to hang out with Izolda's mom, she and Izolda treated us to some beautiful duets in Russian. There was also a beautiful spread of treats and later a discussion about religion and politics. From there we went down to the Festival in time for the last song of the night, then when the police started herding us away, headed over to Luisa's for an(other!) impromptu party.

On Sunday John was going to go to work again, but didn't make it. He showed up at the Community Center, where I was to sell pottery (it was very nice out and we had few customers), shortly after Kory wandered in. I was watching a videotape of a show in Korean about a ceramic artist with Pam, Gladys, and Dee, and John and Kory had us all laughing as they made up what the people in the video might be saying.

From there we went home and John made chicken (mushroom) salad, then he and Kory took Booda on a walk. Shaun called and said he and Mi Ae were having an impromptu barbecue, and invited us over. Stacy showed up with some grapes, and the four of us went over there. Chris and Luisa came too and we all ate a lot of food. Everyone liked the chicken (mushroom) salad and grilled marinated chicken mushroom. I had brought my video camera so we tried out an idea Mi Ae had been contemplating - making a talk show called "On the Couch with Putah." Putah is one of their dogs who likes to sit on the couch with guests. Shaun was the host and tried interviewing John and Kory who were on the couch with Putah. With the camera on, people were more self-conscious and it wasn't quite as hilarious as we'd all hoped, but it was still fun. Maybe with a bit more practice, or a script, the show could be good enough to get shown on Greenbelt public access cable, a la Wayne's World.

Monday was another day for the Festival, but John celebrated Labor day by actually going into work to get some things done "before the end of the month," which had already ended. I rode my bike down in time for the second set of Shoe Suede Blues, Peter Tork's (of The Monkee's) band. I met up with Dorian there and we danced a lot, but it was really hot again. Bleah. Anyway, afterward the band did a meet and greet, so I rode home to grab John's copy of the movie Head to get autographed. John had just gotten home when I walked in, so we rode back together. When we got back to the stage, I saw a tent set up and the long line was almost gone, so I told John I'd lock up the bikes while he went and got the autograph. So I locked up the bikes and turned around, and John was nowhere to be seen. I looked around confusedly for a while, and it became apparent that Peter was getting ready to leave, when I saw John coming back from a distance. I motioned to him to hurry up, and he got the autograph just in time. He'd ran all the way over to the Community Center where the band had played LAST YEAR, even though all the bands had been playing right where we were this year. Silly guy!

J: Yeah, I was in too much of a panic to notice Peter Tork as I ran right past him to look for him in the Community Center, but I figured it out just in time and ran back to the tent.

I'm not really into autographs. Heck, years ago I gave Michael Palin mine, rather than take his (And he thanked me for it. He's a genuinely nice,
funny man, but that's another story.)

I thought it might be fun to get a few words from Mr. Tork, though, so I said, "Have time for one more?" and shoved the empty tape box into his hand before he could put his pen down. He looked at the box carefully, as if he were surprised that Head came out in VHS. While he signed it, I said, "You might not believe this, but it's one of my favorite movies." He handed it back to me and said something like, "No, I can think of a few depraved individuals who might like it a lot." So there's another brush with fame!

Kory's brother Kyle is in town for his yearly visit. He's going to the baseball games in Baltimore. Coincidentally my Uncle Dennis invited me to a baseball game tonight, so I got to surprise Kyle. I knew he'd be standing at the outfield flags.

We saw Kyle Monday night, and ate dinner with him, Kory, Leo, and Lucy at (drum roll please) the New Deal Cafe, where we seem to live a good part of our lives. Leo expressed trouble believing that one of my top ten favorite movies is Head. He, Lucy, Gina, and Kory started coming up with other titles to crowd out Head. They came pretty close. Now I am compelled to actually work up a top ten list. I fear it will have more than ten films though.

THE HEAP
where we wade the web

vegan society uk
batman
wrap them in love
mushroom recipies
hummingbird nest
book crossing
berry's favorite movies
madd matt's guide to...
takoma park folk fest
tender murders

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wts
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gary
kevin
chris
ilana
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margit
dan & 'becca
lee
sugarbaker
dorian
amethyst
johnny
grandpa k
day job central
eric z
koralleen
izolda
rich
grant

 

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