Did you miss me?

It was a quick trip, so you probably didn't even know I was gone. We went down to S. Oregon to go to the Britt Music Festival. We missed it last year, but we have been going for more than 20 years, missing very few years. The last time we went I wrote about it here. We lived in Ashland, near Jacksonville where the festival is held, for thirteen years. Going back to the area is a chance to see old friends, see what is happening in our old hometown and have a nice break in the routine.

We headed out on Thursday morning, taking our new route through the countryside and the town of Tualatin before hitting the freeway well south of the Portland traffic. Stopped at a stop light in Tualatin, I saw something interesting two cars ahead of us.

It was a llama, riding in a little trailer attached to the back of a car. He seemed very pleased with his vantage point and rode along, calmly checking out the scenery and other cars. Handsome fellow! We followed him onto the freeway, but the llama and his driver exited at the next exit.

We arrived in the Ashland area late in the afternoon and headed to Jacksonville, with our friend Muriel, where we had a great Mexican dinner, then made our way up the hill to the beautiful concert venue on the grounds of the Peter Britt estate. It was the second time we had seen the Indigo Girls at Britt. Their beautiful voices seemed to float across the hillside and up into the starry sky. The beauty of the place, the smell of the pines, the music fills me with such joy.

It truly is one of my favorite things in life. Here is one of their lovely songs. Even more beautiful with the audience singing the chorus along with them. "So we're OK, we're fine . . ."

It occurred to me, sitting on that hillside with people I love, surrounded by beauty and music, that whatever the world takes out of you, these are moments that fill you up again. And we really are OK. We're fine.