Talk about fabulous. Neil came out alone to do an acoustic first set, just Neil and his circle of guitars, his harmonicas, and keyboards. After the Gold Rush is one of my long-time favorite albums; it's been with me through a lot for I'd say at least 35 years. His passion, his voice, his presence...I cried at the familiar (like the title track from my all time favorite album, as well as "A man needs a maid") and fell in love with the songs I hadn't heard before (like "Love art blues"). The second set was a highly energized full-band rock concert, again mixing old with new (like "Oh, lonesome me", on the one hand, and a jaw-dropping new "No hidden path"). Sigh, sigh, sigh....I would hear him again tonight, and tomorrow night, and the next night. I wonder if he will ever tour in Spain?
Two days later, Luis, Diana and I hit the road. We took off Tuesday late afternoon for my brother John's house in Michigan. To break up the trip a bit, we stopped for the Tuesday night in Indianapolis. Remember the car we got after the pumpkin went through the window of the previous one? Well, before we left on our trip, the Optima had shown some low tire problem through an indicator light on the dashboard. So Mary Sue helped us to fill all the tires with air (the air pumps here in the U.S. are quite different from those in Spain), and the right rear tire was especially low. About halfway between St. Louis and Indianapolis the light came back on. So early Wednesday morning, we visited the nearest Firestone, who patched up the tire. Good thing they were located right near a Walmart, as Luis had forgotten to put our coats in the car, and they were left behind on the sofa in St. Louis. So, while the tire was being fixed, I got a new very warm down jacket - we left St. Louis at 75 F (24 C), and we were heading into Michigan's first snow fall. Indeed, as we rolled into Lansing, Michigan Wednesday afternoon, the temperature was dropping. And as we drove to Lansing airport that night at 11:30, to pick up Elisa (flying in from Boston) the snow flurries started. We woke up the next morning to a silent white world, and a flat tire! Yes, that rear right tire was like the proverbial pancake. Off to Firestone again. They found a hole, and a nail, which I now have as a souvenir. We think now that it is patched, finally.
There was a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving day - 1) probably just short of miraculous that Elisa flew in right on time in a storm on the eve of Thanksgiving, and after having to change planes in Chicago O'Hare's airport; 2) a white Thanksgiving - just beautiful! Luismi loved the run he, Elisa & John had at Hawk Island Park; 3) the delicious turkey, playing Monopoly, and spending tim
e with John's family; 4) that John has fun musical "toys" in the basement, allowing Luismi to play the rock star:
Luismi, Elisa, Diana & I left Lansing on Friday and headed for Chicago. The four of us had such a great time. We stayed at a posh hotel in downtown Chicago, went to the Signature Room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building and enjoyed a beer while looking out over the city lights, saw the Christmas windows at Macy's/Marshall Field's, strolled along the lakefront to Navy Pier where we ate some good ole' American hotdogs, took pictures at Cloud Nine (The famous Bean) at Millenium Park, had dinner with my college mates (Marie, Donna and Mark - who amazed us all with his ability to pull a cork out of an empty bottle -, Terry, Cathy) at Park Grill, in Millenium Park, watching the skaters whiz around right in front, had breakfast on Sunday in Downers Grove with wonderful friends...we even took in a grade school basketball game (Fran - nee Molloy - & Desi Jones' daughter).
It has been so hard to see Luismi back off to Spain this weekend, and get back into work. It's almost the end of the semester, and so much to do before I go!
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