Friday night we met up with Tom and Judy and attended the Picnic Pops. We listened the Grand Rapids Symphony out on the ski slopes of Cannonsburg while enjoying a ... picnic!
It was such a great evening! The Symphony played a mix of stuff, old and new classical pieces. I know my favorite was Gershwin's An American in Paris (because I love ALL of Gershwin's music) ~ but I almost picked Suite from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Andrew Lockington. The composer had driven to Grand Rapids from Canada to hear his song played LIVE and even said a few words before it was played!
After their final number, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, the fireworks began! They were not as spectacular as the one's we saw over the 4th of July ~ but I like to see fireworks anytime I can, so this was a real treat.
I was invited to "the sweetest west side block party ever" via my friends on Facebook ... and since Dylan was one of those who invited me, and since The Bridge Street Special (the band Dylan plays in) was one of the featured bands for Saturday afternoon, I checked it out! Mr. Jones decided to come along too!
The block party was located very close to where Arnie's used to be over on Leonard. I say USED TO BE because ... look at it! A few months ago, I can't remember just when, it burned down. They do plan to rebuild ... but doesn't it look sad?
I took a TON of pictures of the band setting up and performing. I'll post all of those over on Facebook later in the week.
I never did catch the name of the actual sponsor of the block party. But from what I could gather, it was a small neighborhood church who had heard about a family close by who had lost their 21-year-old son in an unfortunate situation downtown and were grieving his death. The pastor who now and then came to the microphone to welcome folk who were gathering told a little bit about this family and how his church was reaching out to comfort the friends and neighbors through the love of Christ. So they kind of made it into a party! The street was blocked off, there was free food, great music, fun games for all of the little kids to play, even a very cool clown who screamed and yelled and gave away prizes. What a nice way to show everyone how very much God loves them!
I love to hear Dylan's band. Well ... it's NOT Dylan's band ... but you know ~ it's easier to refer to it that way then to give their whole entire name every single time! They play such sweet bluesy kinds of songs, most of them written by members of the band! They are wonderfully talented, all of them!
But I'm a bit partial to the bass player ...
And today was our monthly small group's prayer and share time with a potluck to follow afterwards. These are my favorite Sundays ... when you can spend as much time as you would like chatting with folk and getting to know them better.
We had so much food! I made a crockpot of creamy chicken and broccoli casserole and a bunch of three cheese macaroni (both of which are spelled incorrectly on the picture ... but I just noticed that this very minute!). When our lunch was finished, we packed up our leftovers (still warm) into the trunk of our car and drove on over to Meijers to do a quick errand. On our way out of the driveway that leads to Knapp Street there was an elderly homeless man sitting on the edge of the lawn with a sign to the effect that he was tired of being homeless, he was hungry, and he was a veteran. We drove right by him, but as soon as we did I remembered the warm and yummy food that we had right in the trunk of our car, along with disposable plates and silverware! So I turned the car around and asked this poor fellow if he would be interested in our leftover potluck food. He was! It was awesome to be able to load up a plate and hand it to this guy. He had a really nice smile.
You didn't really think I could do a post without a flower picture ... did you? These wild roses were growing in front of one of the houses around the block from the neighborhood party. They smelled absolutely ... delicious! I read a beautiful passage about the LORD this morning and I will share it with you!"He will be gentle ~ he will not shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope. He will bring full justice to all who have been wronged. He will not stop until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth." Isaiah 42.2-3
Doesn't that make you want to cry just from the pure joy of it?
Doesn't that make you want to cry just from the pure joy of it?
4 comments:
Wow - the symphony looks like a completely gorgeous evening. Have you ever seen the movie August Rush? I was reminded of it looking at those pictures...Good movie if you haven't seen it...
Also - when are you and the boys coming for the game? If you'd like to, you could come earlier that day and have lunch at our place with Bob and the kids and me...
Hi Shelley! Thank you very much for the lunch invitation ~ but it works best with the boys' schedules for us to leave G.R. at about 1:00 and arrive over at Cornerstone somewhere around 4:00. Can you meet us over there and just visit for awhile? I now am the very proud owner of TWO of your fabulously illustrated books and very much NEED to have them autographed! And it would break my heart to be in Detroit and not be able to see your sweet face, meet baby Nolan and enjoy Matthew even for just an hour! Hope you can meet us at 4:00 or so!
We would be happy to meet you there at 4:00! I agree, it would definitely be worth the brief encounter =)
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