251) KFF Week 2

Kerrville: Week 2 of the festival was really special for Liz. She was excited to have her family out there at the ranch: her brother and his family from London (Eric, Jo, and Theo) and her brother, Larry, from Austin all came out for the weekend, with Eric and Jo getting on the kitchen krew and Larry chilling out all weekend. Shayna brought her friend Calla too, so it was a jolly party at the Lazy 'N' Ranch (my name for our pop-up).

My weekend visit to the Dialysis Center went fine and the staff were friendly as ever, although for some reason, they thought I was coming in at 8, not 6:30 a.m. That's a sad thing to hear at 6:30 in the morning... but, they busied themselves around at setting up my chair and it was smooth sailing after that. I have been able to pick up needed supplies in town for Cari, so that makes me feel a little useful when I go in for Saturday morning dialysis.

On Saturday afternoon, while Liz and party were out swimming at our favorite swimming hole, I attended the Music to Life concert, hosted by Paul Stookey and his daughter, Liz Sunde. It was a series of folks singing their songs about changing the world, and my friend Lisa (The Therapy Sisters) won an award for writing. She is second from the left end on the top row, looking quite proud of herself. Amy Spence ("Carry the Weight of the World") and Randy Browning ("Left Wing Radical Rag") were highlights of this afternoon concert.

When the kids got back from swimming, Jo and Eric had to start their dinner shift and the rest of us caught the Austin Lounge Lizards in the heat of the downing sun. They did a few of their new songs, including their newly famous hit about "progenatoravox" on the new CD, The Drugs I need. Theo really liked the Lizards and I believe that before the end of the weekend he ended up with one or two of their CD's. Of course, the Lizards play out here every year and we hear plenty of them ala KUT... They are losing their fiddle player and made plenty of jokes at his expense this set.

Slaid Cleves was back on the mainstage after who knows how many years of being away. By the time Jo and Eric got off their shifts they were ready to hang it up as krew, but I did get a shot of Eric in his new cowboy hat with Theo and Uncle Larry listening to Ronny Cox. After the concert on the mainstage, Larry and the Londonites went out to visit the campfires and I turned in, getting some needed shut-eye before my Sunday breakfast stint, along with Eric, Jo, and Lizzie. Eric and Jo quickly realized why we all do breakfast kitchen krew rather than dinner. After breakfast we sat for a family photo taken by Calla at the pop-up.

So, now it's on to finding time for Week 3's post, where we'll feature the relaxing last weekend and pics of our friends on staff.