I dropped Brenda off at the home of Sandy Milroy and Ken Jens in the beautiful woods of Chapel Hill. Their Japanese Garden is beautiful with interesting found rocks from behind the house and knock-out sculptures. You can’t miss the iron statue of a soldier from the buried army of Xian. He looks over the gentle hillside. (See my iPad photo below.)

It was Ken who suggested the Ruggero Piano store in Raleigh for our two-piano concert. And Sandy was very active in publicizing the event for tomorrow evening, Friday, June 26.

I then drove to Phyllis and Roger Lotchin’s house. Maybe five miles away, again deep in the woods. Cedar trees of great height dominate the landscape everywhere. And blooming Crepe Myrtle trees. Their flowers remind me of the pink and white blooms on our Chestnut trees, but they bloom all summer, and are of varying heights, some like bushes. (See photo below.)

I have seen Phyllis and Roger probably only four times since she and I commuted to our teaching jobs on the Illinois Central in 1961. But it always seems like it was just yesterday that we last visited. Unfortunately, their computer was down, and they don’t have wifi, so I couldn’t blog for three days (thankfully I am able to backdate these posts).

Thursday evening the three of us drove to the Jens’ home for a dinner party — the real McCoy — drinks, hors d’ouvres, and sitting at the dining room table for a lovely salmon filet dinner.

Lynn and Josie Elwell were there. Lynn offered to provide refreshments for the concert evening as soon as I had told him about it. Now here we were on June 25, 2015 at a dinner party together. Lynn was one of Ken Todd’s closest friends in high school, and was in our wedding party on June 25, 1960 — fifty five years later! Of course he hasn’t changed a bit.

Don and Marilyn Hartman from next door completed the party. Don loves to play the piano and sing, but he surrendered the piano to Brenda who took requests (old favorites like Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Some Enchanted Evening and Nice Work If You Can Get It) and there we were for an hour after dinner the eight of us, racking our brains trying to remember the lyrics to countless songs.