Welcoming A Full House

I suppose it’s a fear of jinxing things to say right out loud while it’s happening, “This is perfect!”  In fact, isn’t there a saying we are all fond of that goes, “The best is yet to come.”  Well, I’m here to tell you that last night’s House Concert here was, indeed, perfect, and I don’t think it could possibly be topped.  The most we can all hope for in the future is parity – if that word can even be used in the context of musicians, performance, audience, food, wave-lengths and all the other nuances and subtleties of the evening.

The musicians were Larry Murante and Wes Weddell with a guest appearance by Nick Drozdowicz.  Plus, there was an audience participation opportunity, as well the ambiance added by a whole host of ‘connections’ among us all — connections that spanned the centuries. They ranged from Sarah Crouch, our resident ghost who lived here in 1892, to Tod Marshall, the current Poet Laureate of Washington State who we hosted for a Poetry Reading last September. (Actually, Nyel had a sudden hospital stay and we couldn’t be here as planned, so I guess we were ghost hosts!)

Nyel, Bear and Tater

Larry and Wes were fresh from a ten-day Singer/Songwriter Retreat co-sponsored by Sue and Bill Svendsen of the Performing Arts Center in Long Beach and by Cyndy Hayward of the Willapa Bay Artists in Residence here in Oysterville.  These accomplished musicians shared the stage, one song each, throughout the evening – some new, some old, and all heart-tugging in one way or another.  Of special note (but we hope not by You-Know-Who) was Larry’s “Ballad of Mrs. Crouch” written back in the early 2000s, after his first stay in this house.

And topping things off in a fabulous serendipity, Holly, one of Nyel’s favorite nurses at Emanuel Hospital came with her husband, Max AND with their two wonderful dogs, Bear and Tater.   When the concert was over, ‘the boys’ came in to visit.  Nyel, who has been saying “We need a dog” for months now, was in seventh heaven.  Shhh!  Don’t tell the chickens!