Not only is it "high season" for dance...it's high season for fund raising events, apparently. Since we've been back in the valley, we are getting offers of freebie tickets to events that have a dance component.
The Mayors United event is our style...wine, beer and munchies, but NO boring, too-filling banquet and not too many speeches...well, since 5-mayors are involved, SOME speechifiying will be in order. But we're there to "salt" the dance floor. We get up and start dancing right away when the band starts and others will join in. Since the event planners are going to the trouble to rent a dance floor and hire a band, they want folks up and dancing, so they'll remember WHAT FUN it was and come again next year. Works for us! Maybe we'll even get someone to snap a photo of us dancing...stay tuned!
Our black & white, carbon-based unit (as they used to say on Star Trek) is taking it easy today after a too-close encounter/territorial dispute with the new cat on the block. (We think). Got a good claw hit above her right eye. Like some of us here, she's not as fast as she used to be. Luckily we have good antibiotic ointment, but it bears watching for infection, which kitties are prone to. A nice cat weekend indoors will suit us, even if it doesn't make her happy!
I happened to look in between my tomato cages yesterday and I found this one stem with 6, count'em, 6 ripening tomatoes. These are the Brandy Boy hybrid (a cross between the heirloom Brandywine and Burpee Big Boy tomatoes. So they are as yummy as Brandywine and far more prolific like the Big Boy. You get the best of both! So it's tomato glut season here in the Rogue Valley...not quite frost time but getting close, so we are picking most all the red ones we find. Still lots of green and pinkish ones remaining. We keep the tarps close at hand for threatened nighttime frosts. So far, so good!
We finally got some ripe pimento peppers. There are still many green ones left on the plants. We hope they'll ripen before the first frost.
I like to grill them to get the skins off. Makes the eyes water, but the skins come off so easily after you "sweat" them in a plastic bag. Then I pack them in EVOO, vacuum seal and freeze 'em. Bon apetit!
The results of having a great time and showing off for the spectators!
This year the Medford Jazz Festival organizers finally figured out that dancers are people too! We were able to have a great dance venue with a large floor.
Our favorite band (16-piece Southern Oregon Jazz Orchestra) was scheduled to play at 9:30AM (for pete's sake). We got ourselves organized and headed down to the venue by 9AM. TURNS OUT WE WERE THE ONLY DANCERS THERE. It was just too early for most of 'em I guess. So we had the floor to ourselves...good for having lots of fun and entertaining the folks, but grueling for dancing for 2-hours straight. You see, nothing makes a dance band more unhappy that NOT having anyone dancing, so naturally we felt obligated to dance EVER SINGLE NUMBER THEY PLAYED! OYE! So we put on a good show for the sponsors (Anna Maria Creekside - a retirement residence). They loved watching us and we loved performing for them! So we Fox Trotted, Waltzed, Rhumba-ed, Swung, West Coast Swung, Cha-Cha-ed, Salsa-ed and even Tango-ed ourselves right into oblivion. 
This year's event hosted 16 musical groups with over 150 performances.
Happily for us, our dance students (Tom & Joy Lowell) sponsored a venue, so we got free badges! That's a savings of $140!
So, yes, we DID have to show them our s--- badges, frequently. So you're wondering why we don't have any photos of us dancing? Photography was not allowed unless you were an "authorized photographer" for the event. We do know that many photos were taken of us performing, but we don't know if we'll ever see them!
