Category Archives: joy

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family

We visited both of my paternal aunts and uncle in Virginia in the last few days. The picture is one of my aunts and my daughter.

I also took a picture of these photographs.

Joan, Malcolm, Patricia Ottaway
Patricia, Malcolm and Joan Ottaway

My father is in the center, with my two aunts, taken at different dates. The one of my father is in 1938 or 39. Aunt Pat is the same one who is with my daughter.

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family escape

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: family.

My daughter and I are out visiting my son and his girlfriend on the east coast. My son wanted ideas for Christmas, since he and my daughter know I have enough stuff. I suggested tickets to something: a play, music, something in the DC area.

They took us to Georgetown on Sunday and we did an escape room! We were in the prehistoric one and solved it before the one hour timer. Lots of clues and math and letters! It was great fun! We escaped being eaten by solving all of the clues and leaving the escape rooms, hooray!

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Kinetic Koterie

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: coterie.

I love the Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race.

There certainly is an in crowd, a coterie, but everyone is welcome! Hapless tourists wondering what the heck is happening are protected by the virtuous and kostumed Kinetic Kops. The sculptures have to go by land, by sea and through mud. Some of them are heavy and with the silly costumes people forget to stay out of the way! The sculptures have a water test and a brake test, down a steep hill. There is a parade, competitive bribery of judges and fierce competition to win the Most Mediocre!

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sing

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: sing.

Sing! This photo if from my birthday, some years ago. My father is the seated guitar player. He is gone and so is Andy Makie, standing.

Andy brought music to everyone he could in his last decade. Here is an article: Why music? He talks about it here and another version here. My daughter was in a classroom that received a box of his strumsticks and lessons in second grade and for a while he lived in a trailer on my father’s land and built the strumsticks in my father’s barn.

My father, Malcolm Ottaway, loved both classical and folk music. He was one of the people who started Rainshadow Chorale and I got to sing with him in it for 13 years.

This party was like my parents’ parties: a music party. Bring an instrument. Our age range was under 2 to 70s and everyone made joyful noise at some point. My son led the high school Chamber Orchestra to play too.

  • Port Townsend High School Chamber Orchestra


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