Steve and Benny

Sunday was a great, great day on The Island.  Indian Summer was in its glory.  The sun was shining, and brought the temperature up into the low 80's, and at the same time crimson leaves were literally falling.  This was the perfect day to sit on the patio at Lotus.... but first a little detour...

The day was off to a great start at Solomons UMC, and I left so pumped up.  Several youth were confirmed, the music was amazing as was the message - we need to love one another.

Okay, end detour... though church is by no means a 'detour' for me.  Anyway, feeling great, enjoying the weather, and needing lunch, I was trying to connect with Deb.  She was in Lexington Park, at Zion UMC, when I saw Val (a friend of ours) on the Riverwalk.  A quick phone call and Deb was on her way to Solomons to meet us.  I'm not sure who decided, but in keeping with the perfect weather, Lotus was our destination.

No goofiness here...right

Steve

The joke as we got to Lotus, was that both Val and I had left our money in our respective cars.. and Deb ended up buying.  Another friend, Kaitlan was already there and joined us for what turned out to be the rest of the afternoon.  We were having a good time and enjoying our food when a musician started setting up.

Benny

After  a few songs, the artist said his buddy would take over for a while and they would be trading back and forth for the rest of the day.  It turns out they are in two separate bands and have some original songs as well.  Steve had a very eclectic variety in his repertoire, from Billy Jean by Michael Jackson (which included some really high falsetto.) Now you have to picture a solo acoustic guitar, with no drum machines or anything. Remarkable.  The "Take on Me" by A-ha, was another really creative rendition.  On this one, Steve used his vocals to cover the electronica in the middle of the song (2:05 on the YouTube version I found.)  Now this really was radical.. he used a his voice to make a "turkey gobble" during that portion.. it kind of worked actually.  Very daring. Very daring and really fun. He used a pedal board to add some harmonies on top of his voice with a button to great effect as well.  Simple Minds, The Turtles (Happy Together).  Benny was more hard rock, and reserved.  He has a bit of a dark, Metal-influenced, persona on stage.  He's black on black on black..  Black hair, beard, shades, shirt, and blue jeans for a little contrast.  The man has some serious pipes. Strong with a slight touch of huskiness, it works on all the songs he does - extremely well.  Benny covered Creed, and dared us all to say we didn't like Creed 'back in the day' when we were 11. (he was being generous for some of us.)  He did others I can't remember, and also Garth Brooks' Thunder Rolls. More of a list in a bit...

The ladies never saw Benny's eyes, so I've included this (imperfect) shot:

 

Steve was incredibly funny, often calling out to the crowd passing by on the side walk,  "Red Stripes just 3 bucks, come on in." He started auctioning off "a drink, a beer, whatever, if you can name this band."  I negotiated for a slice of the Key Lime Pie, which he said was fine.  So everyone including the table next to us, started guessing.  Fortunately, "smart phone" use was allowed by Steve, so I ended up with the win.  Score one slice of pie!

 

Deb calls out "I'll get you, You and your little dog, Toto, too"

The next challenge was to guess the movie, band and three actors from a song.  Our table and the next were neck and neck calling out our answers, and Deb came up with the movie (Breakfast Club) and Simple Minds.  Since the other table called out most of the actors, we decided they should get the slice.  It was so much fun.  One slice of pie for each table with 4 forks for each.  Everyone got enough of a taste to enjoy it.

The fabulous folks next to our table..  they were awesome.

Keylime Pie

My lovely Deborah

Kaitlan

 

Really thought they were going to join the fun

Between the funny ladies (Val and Kaitlan) and Steve on his mic, we all had just the best time.  By the way, both Steve and Benny have amazing voices.  Steve Nelson is in a band called  A Day Off Earth (https://www.facebook.com/adayoffearth)  and Shallow Deep (https://www.facebook.com/shallowdeepmusic) that plays at Toot's in Hollywood every Tuesday from 8:30 to Close, and if I understood it right he's at The Rudy Duck every Wednesday to host the Open Mic Night.  Benny Skibicki is in Damage Control , (https://www.facebook.com/damagecontrol1)  and will be coming to Bollywood, in San Sushi Plaza, California MD in October.

This leave literally fell right there on our table

SIDEBAR:  There is so much to take in while you sit on a porch at Solomons.  Cyclists, walkers, cars, motorcyles, the river, the foliage...  I've scattered some of these around the post. /END SIDEBAR

To give you a sense of the music covered, and the length of time we spent, here are some of the songs these guys laid down.

Faith - George Michael

Love is What I got -  Sublime

Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

So Little Time ( an  original)

King of Wishful Thinking - Go West

So Happy Together - The Turtles

Don't Forget About Me - Simple Minds

Thunder Rolls -  Garth Brooks

I Want to Hold Your Hand - Beatles

Inside Out - Phil Collins ?

Wonderwall - Oasis

Take on Me - A-ha

Apologize - Timbaland (One Republic)

Drive - Incubus

Santeria - Sublime

My Own Worst Enemy - Lit

yep,  FUN

 The little girl was playing intently, she had the nicest braided hair.

 Steve's friend had some beautiful art work on her arm.

A friend of Steve's

Eventually it was time to go, I just wish I could bottle up days like this one, with talk of Loving one another, having great food, falling leaves, passers-by, music and fun. I'd place this bottle on a shelf with a label "In case of boredom and depression...  OPEN and ENJOY!"  I hope you all take some time to enjoy the patio or small dining rooms in The Lotus Kitchen , and hopefully on Friday evening or Saturday afternoon you'll be listening to some good music as well.

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Till next time,

Blessings,

Brian

You Never Know

Solomons is sometime like the proverbial Box of Chocolate in Forrest Gump, you never know what you'll get .. till you get there. 

Today held several treasures.  If you didn't know, I like cars.  I like all kinds of cars.  I'm not a brand loyalist, nor knowledgeable of every feature of every cool vehicle, but I admire the art of them.  Nice cars, and trucks, are rolling art.  Much the way I look at watches and clocks for their mechanical precision, I feel similarly about cars.

 Good fortune brought a great number of nice rolling stock to Solomons today.  Two Ferraris - one in typical red, and the other in blue, several Porshches and a boat load of BMWs.  And interestingly, there was a VW Siroco!  It looked like a car club had invaded the island.

 

The Gazebo is a great spot to loiter..  Yes loiter.  It has shade and there is always someone who wants to evade the sun for a little while.  Today it brought a couple dog owners, and another event that I'll get to in a minute.

The "family" of a couple with a few "Goldens" looked like a painting sitting under the gazebo.  The dogs were sitting so nicely.  I found that these folk come to Solomons often and walk their Retrievers.  The eldest if I recall was around 13 years old!  The younger two were resuces, the youngest may have a bit of 'hound' but still a gorgeous dog.  All were so well behaved, which is a testament to "Mom, Dad" and the elder dog.  The rescues needed a lot of socialization, I was told.  You couldn't tell a bit; they were so gentle and loved the attention I was willing to share.

 

 The other side of the gazebo had another couple and their dog.  Julie and Pete told me that "Yukon" is still a puppy, and again this guy is a rescue.  They have two other German Shepherds that stayed at home while Yukon had their full attention.  He, too, was a great dog.  A little dog came by and started getting a bit aggressive and Yukon, jumped to his feet (he had been lying down) but just looked at the little guy as to say "Really?"  Pete and Julie were a blast to chat with, telling me about a great Cruise that Deb and I should look into..  a Land and Sea trip to Alaska.  A ship and train had taken them up the coast and then into Denali.  They told some amazing stories.

 Lastly, a wedding party came to the gazebo for some photos.  I was sitting in just the right spot to take a few myself.  Take a look at the photos and then we'll talk some more:

 

 

 

 

 

So what do you think?  I love the colors, the shoes, the old and young.

Now guess who got married?

 Does this help?

 

 

These kids, these days:

 

Awesome!  Love knows no bounds.  Congratulations.  The best part may have been after the photos were done.  The Bride says, in a strong loud voice.. "Now, let's Party!"

To end this post, I will tell you that on the way home Deb and I got stuck on the bridge, very close to the top.  Being stuck on top of a 170ish foot span may not be for everyone, but I took the opportunity to take these:

This one covers most of the "island"

Back Creek can be seen here separating the island. The church is Solomons United Methodist.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church is near the center, the Pier restaurant on the right.

Another great day on Solomons.

Till next time,

Blessings,
Brian

A Dreary Day

It's been too long since taking any photos, so I braved the misty weather and the breeze and took a few shots of the emptiness of the Riverwalk.  It felt forsaken, abandoned and left to itself.  Later there were a few souls that braved the weather just enough to duck into Stoney's Kingfisher Restaurant, but that was about it.

Even the bridge looks dejected in it's muted grays, and lack of anyone admiring it's beauty.  The sun and light clouds often provide a magical sunset for runners, walkers and those that come just to admire the world.  The bridge today is just lonely.
 
The walk was empty as expected, and the gazebo provided some shelter for the diminishing mist.

 One bonus shot, from NAS Patuxent River at lunchtime.


As I was framing the shot, a heron alit on a piling.  It looked liked the world just dropped away sliver of land beyond the boats.  Maybe the earth is flat and ends right there after all?

Well, tomorrow should bring some sunshine, and all of this will be a distant memory.

Blessings,
Brian