Family Dinner Night

Once a week the family gathers. The core group is Wendell, Cheri, Nick and Erica, but usually we have family friends Crystal, Llu and Tom. And of course the four-legged family members are included: Itty Bitty, Vladimir, Moog, Alobar, and sometimes Vito.

The night of the week varies depending on schedules for classes, work, meetings, etc. Currently it's Monday nights, although tonight we have a special edition Sunday Family Dinner night.

There's always music of some sort, either homemade or as a minimum, something recorded. Sometimes both -- homemade, recorded music. This picture above is from last week when Tom was back in G'ville for a couple of weeks before his stint working at a ski resort. The highlight that night, I think, was playing hacky sack while listening to Hawaiian music by the great "Iz", Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

The kids always pitch in and clean up after dinner. Here's Erica and Crystal happily washing dishes. (Contrary to the way it looks in these pictures, the guys do dishes as often as the girls - And the girls make music with the guys!)

Tonight we're doing something a little different with a West African theme: FuFu and peanut soup. We don't always get so creative, but I was inspired by my friend, Jesse, who I accompanied to an ethnic market last week.

Here, Nick is helping Llu restring her guitar, while Erica supervises.