A lovely summer evening

E and I were on the way to Buffalo for a meeting on my project. Along the way we stopped to see Dad. He is now 87 years old and still going pretty strong. He still has his unusual sense of humor. We caught up with him on the front porch. As we drove in and opened our doors, we heard a horn blast. Note the sousaphone in the background of the picture. Dad has been in love with the "tuba" since I played in the high school band.

So when he found one for sale he bought it. Every now and then he toots, trying to make 4 octaves so he can play taps. Below you can sense his unusual nature. A sousaphone is fairly heavy (I know, I used to cart one 4 miles in a parade dressed in a heavy wool sweater and serge pants). At any rate, Dad thought he would string the horn up so he wouldn't have to pick it up every time he wanted to toot!

This is the same guy who built himself a papier mache spotted dog (Dalmatian). Then he dragged it along on a cart behind him when he walked in parades as a clown. He would throw candies to the kids along the edge, then, as they rushed to get the candy, the dog would pee right over the top of the fire hydrant on his cart. The kids would squeal and giggle and have a ball! One time the dog peed on a sheriff's deputy.

These days Dad likes to go out to dinner, so we all piled into the van and went to Watkins Glen. While I was growing up this was a small, kind of depressed town dominated once a year by the Watkins Glen Grand Prix. That is long gone, though there is racing still. Watkins (former home of Watkins Salt) is now becoming a bit gentrified. There are lots of old Victorian homes (all the small towns around central New York have them). Now there are also nice restaurants, a better hotel, and plans for town houses on the lake (Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes).

So we had dinner in one of the nice new restaurants, right near the docks from which the dinner cruises leave. Dinner was out on a beautiful open porch.

Then we went on to a concert at one of the town parks with a band shell. There was a small band and a huge repertoire. This was lots of oldies, polkas, cha chas, foxtrots, tangos, swing, jazz, and more.

The dancers were out, but they were mostly around Dad's age. Some were older. He pointed out a couple of guys who were over 90, dancing away like they were young again. I even saw one of my high school teachers.

Dad danced with his lady friend, too. This was great.

The couple below is a central New York dancing championship pair (polka, perhaps?)

The band seemed to have a great time. They had clearly worked together for a while. They were really good!

This was a wonderful evening! The weather was cool (70 or so), bug free, and very pleasant. What could be better?