Under the open air at Humphrey's by the Bay, as a light mist fell upon us, we raised our voices to sing along with Crosby, Stills, and Nash to "Our House." Last night was amazing. It has been a long-time dream to see Crosby, Stills, and Nash perform live. They formed a significant portion of my life soundtrack in part of my early and mid-twenties. We were able to see Neil Young (one of my favorite singer/songwriters) a few years ago on his Greendale tour...
Anyway, hearing the three men harmonize in person was absolutely stunning. Even though I am a fan of Buffalo Springfield, The Hollies, and The Byrds (from which bands the three came together), something magical happens when their voices combine...
They played several of my favorites: Wooden Ships, Our House, Helplessly Hoping, Teach Your Children, Guinnevere, Just a Song Before I Go, Southern Cross, and many others. They also covered the Stones' Ruby Tuesday...and I am going to take my life in my hands and declare their version better than the Stones'. They also covered Dylan (though not one of the Byrd covers with which I am familiar), and as a big surprise to me, they covered a song by The Grateful Dead. I am not in the least a Dead fan, but for this one song, Crosby, Stills, and Nash made me a fan. They could harmonize just about any text, and I would love it.
We were most surprised at the number of Stills' Buffalo Springfield songs they covered, including For What It's Worth, which was totally moving.
Of course I was nursing a hope that they would do Woodstock, a Joni song from their Deja Vu album. I thought it would be fitting with the anniversary of Woodstock, but they didn't. Still, they did perform the title song to that album, and it was mesmerizing.
I LOVE CROSBY STILLS AND NASH! Sometimes I wish I could have grown up when all of the 60s and 70s folk and rock were being created for the first time, because I really feel like they are my songs even though I am of a different generation. What an inspiring musical time...
I am so lucky to have had such a perfect date with my husband and to have this memory forever with him.
In other news, we are all sick with a light cold in this house. Kate came down with the symptoms on Sunday afternoon...and it was a hop, skip, and a jump to all of us contracting the ailment. I knew I would probably get it, because of course I am going to wipe her nose and cuddle and kiss her even when she is sick. But it is no biggie...a little uncomfortable, but it'll pass. Katie had a fever on Sunday night in the middle of the night, but I could tell by feel that it was low grade. It's strange and part of the perfect order of things that a mother can know her baby's natural temperature so well and the behaviors so well that we can detect even the slightest changes. Kate was restless, though, and definitely warm...and so we were up for a little while. Mostly I was up, because I wanted to watch her until the fever broke and I rubbed her belly, back, and feet and tried to draw out the fever in a more natural way---any sort of medicine would be a definite last resort for us. Sure enough, her fever broke within an hour, and I ended up getting about four hours of sleep that night---not enough to bolster my immune system totally. Even so, this is a mild cold for me.
I started manifesting symptoms more definitely after Toastmaster's yesterday, although I could feel the thickness coming on even beforehand. I had set for myself the goal of trying another extemporaneous speech, however, and so I volunteered. The Table Topics Master was giving some easy topics yesterday, though, and mine subject was describing a time when I had to leave a job either voluntarily or involuntarily and what I learned from it. That was pretty straightfoward for me. I ended up winning the vote for best Table Topics Speaker, too, and I got a ribbon. I have now been voted Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics Speaker, and so now I am aiming for Best Speaker (for a formal prepared speech) at some point.
So yesterday was pretty eventful. There is too much going on this week to be sick. I am resting a little more today (I kept Katie home from her Toddler Time class on Monday), mainly because I don't want to go around infecting people. I wanted to maybe take Katie to the Peltzer Farm today, but I don't think I should be spreading this around. She seems better, but I still am probably contagious, even though I feel like I could have the energy.
Anyway, I hope everyone is able to stay well!
