Saryndippity

Jenna, Family Reunion, and Irish Fest

My sister Jenna left for her year abroad at the begining of July, going first to Turkey for 3 months and then to Austria until next July. We were all very excited for her, but would miss her just the same. Jenna knew that calling while in Turkey would be difficult and she wasn’t sure if she would have internet access. But, when she first arrived she managed to send us all an email saying she was safe and sound. For awhile after that we were getting fairly regular email updates and she even posted in her blog a few times. And then it all stopped. As days went by we started to get worried and hopped everything was still going okay. And soon it was a month later and on one had heard from her.  And her birthday was on;y days away.  Well,two days before her birthday she called!  It turns out that everything is lovely, she just didn’t have reliable access to the internet.  And then, then she called again on her birthday.  So in the space of 3 days, we got to talk to her twice!  It was lovely.

The family reunion was also lovely.  Almost everyone was able to make it.  The day was filled with laughing, talking, playing, eating and Uncle Jon serrinated us on his mandolin at one point.  It was lovely.  My friend Manda joined us at the reunion and she stayed at Uncle Jon and Aunt Mary’s with my dad, Aimee and I.  (Mom was in Colorado for her brothers 50th birthday.)  I was really glad that we stayed with Uncle Jon and Aunt Mary, it gave me a chance to get to know my cousins, Zach, Ben and Noah, better.  They are really neat boys and are growing into really neat guys.  My family may be a bit strange, but they rock!

On Sunday Manda and I spent the day at Irish Fest.  We stumbled on lots of very good music.  And I once again thought that I need to have more Irish music in my collection.  The coolest part of the day was when we wandered into a tent set up like an Irish pub.  There were between 100 and 150 people sitting at the tables, a bar in the back, a stage up front (complete with a singer) and a “fireplace” off to the side.  And most everyone was singing along to the song.  It was so neat.  It felt very intamate.  I loved it.  If all bars were like that, perhaps I would go out more often. . .