Most of Christopher's friends and family couldn't come
to his graduate recital
in Bowling Green, Ohio, so he decided to try again, closer
to home.
With the help and encouragement of his former teacher,
Mr. Jones,
Christopher arranged to give a big hairy recital at the
University of Louisville.
Sure enough, many of his friends and family decided to
come.
There's two friends and one family member, in the parking lot, before
the concert.
This picture needs no explanation.
This is Christopher, before the recital,
with his accompanist, Krista Wallace-Boaz.
She played great.
Betsy and Kathie can't agree on whether to go inside.
Susan is leaning in Kathie's direction.
We met Mr. Jones before the concert.
Betsy and Susan are impressed.
An extraordinary number of Christopher's friends and family members
were present
for this historic, hairy event.
This is Christopher and his accompanist,
onstage at the Margaret Comstock Concert Hall.
Christopher brought his tuba.
Actually, he brought two tubas.
a big one and a little one.
That's what real tubists do.
Christopher played great.
Ms. Wallace-Boaz did too.
And the page-turner turned all the pages
at just the right time.
As his accompanist gives the pledge of allegiance,
Christopher does a soft-shoe in honor of the American flag.
Christopher, like all of us, is proud to be an American.
Mr. Jones congratulates Christopher after the concert.
Betsy was impressed with Christopher's tuba playing.
After the concert, she said,
"Ohhhhh, can I touch you?"
Carrie said no.
After the recital, we all went down to Buckhead's Mountain Grill,
on the Indiana side, to get something to eat.
Some of us thought it was called "Butt-head's,"
but we were wrong.
The view of Louisville and the Second Street Bridge was great.
Big Owl, who used to live in Charlestown,
has crossed that bridge many times in his life.
At the restaurant, Bill presented Big Owl with his Father's Day gift,
a "Blackout Buddy," for when there are blackouts at Big Owl's home.
Big Owl likes this kind of present.
Bill also gave Christopher a present, in honor of his recital.
It was a DVD of "King of the Hill."
Christopher likes this kind of present.
Kathie tried to give the "Blackout Buddy" to Susan, but Big Owl said
no.
Betsy is saying, "I love salt, I love pepper, but which one do I love
best?"
Betsy really loves salt, and Carrie really loves pepper.
Fortunately, they had both at the Buckhead Mountain Grill.
Donna joined in the discussion by stating her affection for both ketchup
and mustard.
Fortunately, they had both at the Buckhead Mountain Grill.
Bill is just being silly, trying to make Donna look like she has horns
growing out of her head.
She doesn't.
There was this real bad, but funny thing that happened when the waiter
brought our food.
It was already getting dark, and he tripped over something and dumped
all our food on the floor.
It took almost an hour for them to make new dinners for us.
Betsy and Carrie passed the time by comparing portion sizes for appetizers.
After some discussion, they both decided that size WAS important.
They finally brought our new dinners, and we ate in the dark.
Christopher is almost as proud of his cell phone as Big Owl is of his
digital camera.
Isn't this a great picture of Christopher and Carrie,
with the lights and skyline of Louisville in the background?
Christopher isn't normally very messy when he eats,
but we all had to eat in the dark that night.
Look at Christopher's shirt front...
Big Owl couldn't help but notice that Christopher and Carrie are tall,
whereas Betsy and Susan are less so.
Notice how Bill and Christopher, who are both Bettlers,
are taller than Donna?
Donna is also a Bettler, but she started out as a Berg.
Notice how Big Owl and Christopher are taller than Kathie and Carrie?
But Big Owl doesn't care if people are short or not.
Some of Big Owl's best friends are short people.