Saturday was the day for the annual Music in the Mountains Brewfest fundraiser at the Fairgrounds. It's a time and place where, for one entrance fee (designated drivers come free), folks can mill around amongst the pine trees whilst tasting brews from 25-30 microbreweries. Unlimited. There's live music and food to buy, but, otherwise, that's the whole deal. As a person who doesn't care much (or at all) for beer, the attraction is a bit mysterious until I substitute the word "chocolate" for "beer". Oh. Now I get it.
We helped with the set up in the morning (already well underway from the day before), did our jobs from about 2 to 6:30, and helped with the clean-up--about a 12-hour day spent in the most beautiful fairgrounds in the state. Tom's job was to lead the team of people who monitor the gate--checking IDs, banding, line control, etc (he did that job last year while I was backpacking). My job was to sell tickets, which I think I handled with sufficient aplomb. Since we both worked at the gate, we were in the perfect location to observe how much, uh, happier folks were on the way out than on the way in. So far as we could tell, their DDs, the taxis, and shuttles all did their jobs to get everyone home safely (some people even camp on site), though there was one guy we weren't too sure about who took off on a bicycle. Nothing in the blotter, though. Too busy for pics.
On Sunday, we had been invited to San Francisco by Dylan and Emi to meet her folks, who were in town from Colorado. Rachel also joined in on the fun. There would be brunch at Emi's followed by a walk to the park where the San Francisco Symphony would be playing a free concert.
Michelle and Doug Hofmeister are delightful people, as we expected they would be. We learned a few things about them, among which is that they sing in a chorus there in Boulder.
Their singing background is a bit different than mine, however, having sung mostly in Opera choruses in Chicago. In fact, I think it's how they met. Recently having moved to Boulder after 35+ years in Chicago, they live just a few miles from where we lived in the mid-seventies and frequently pass the hospital where Dylan and Rachel were born.The concert was wonderful! It was part of a commemoration of the Mexican Bicentennial. In keeping with the theme, the conductor was Alondra de la Parra, an amazing 30-year-old Mexican woman who blew us away!
She conducted several works by Mexican composers, all of which we loved, then followed them with Dvorak's New World Symphony and the overture from Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. We were all quite impressed! All outside on a beautiful day! No fog!
After the concert, Michelle and Doug left to catch a plane home and we hung out at Emi's for a short while to see their fabulous pics of Italy and have a bit of a munch before driving back to GV. Not content to leave well enough alone, though, we scarfed down some Swedish fish and Foster's ice cream on the way. One word: overkill.
The photos are all taken at the concert: Dylan and Tom, Emi (sitting behind her folks), Doug and Michelle, Rachel and Me, and Alondra de la Parra/orchestra.
