Sunday, July 23, 2023

Three Beautiful Things 07-22-2023: Chipping In, Breakfast and Parade, Reunion-ing at The Lounge

1. Today was a full day in Kellogg as the All-Class Reunion occupied every hour! I started the day at seven this morning at Teeters Field and helped a crew of volunteers set up tables and chairs for tonight's catered barbecue dinner. I pitched in not only because the committee needed help with this, but because I thought I'd hold up better doing some work in the cool of the morning. 

I held up pretty well, but, even at 7 a.m., the temperature was starting to rise and we had no protection from the rising sun. I got a little winded a couple of times, but got a good job when I was asked to open chairs around the tables as others hauled them over. 

After a while, a quick and hardy youngster asked me if I'd like him to help me. 

You bet I did!

Things moved along lickity split once he started unfolding chairs and getting them placed. 

2. I trudged from Teeters on up to McKinley Street and Cas was unloading bags of ice from his pickup and putting them in a large cooler in The Lounge. Saturday was going to be a long and busy day at The Lounge and he was loading up ice as a back up to his ice machine.

After we yakked for a little while, he headed home and I crossed the street and enjoyed a very tasty breakfast at the Elks.

I joined Marcia and Doug at a table out front in the shade and we had a great visit and before long Denise joined us. The four of us had more great conversation and then Deni offered to drive me up to Diane's where parade preparations were taking place.

The Class of 72 made great contributions to the parade. We decorated a trailer that Jake pulled with his pickup. Behind us, Al and Ping rode in a side by side, Stu and Lars rode in Stu's classic Oldsmobile, Jeri and Don rode in their convertible, and Judy and Jen rode in their CanAm. 

3. The parade ended. We returned to Diane's and undid all of our purple and gold decorations and popped all the balloons.

A handful of us headed down to The Lounge. 

I didn't feel like going out in the heat to wander around nor to sit in the stands for the Welcoming Ceremony, so I drank a few slow Rainiers and got to see longtime friends who came in and out of The Lounge. I enjoyed seeing Sharann and yakked with her a while. I had a great conversation with Renae. Windy and I sat at the bar together. We've known each other for nearly seventy years and had a lot to talk about. 

I headed home, drove in the driveway, and got a call from Debbie. 

She was uptown! 

So I returned to The Lounge, we stayed for a short while, and decided to have dinner at home.

I was bushed.

It had been a full day of light labor and lots of conversations.

I stayed home, rested, fixed dinner, and went to bed early. 

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