When I was a teen-ager, I played in a very popular rock'n'roll band in the Chicago area. Though we made pretty good money for those days, cut 2 records, and toured locally 2 Summers, there were times the money was not "rolling in". The son-in-law of my "second" Mother", Jack Easterly, gave me a job working at his Clark Service Station. He always had a position for me no matter how many times I quit when things were good in music. He meant a lot to me in those days.

His son, Bo, was a little shaver back then, and has grown into a good Man. He has a family, actually lives near my Mom and Brother in Illinois, and has been watching my blog to see how the house was coming during the build. In a grand gesture of kindness, he turned this bowl for BD and me to display in the new house. It is made from Sycamore and is absolutely beautiful as well as meaningful to us. Our deepest thanks, Bo, and Pam, his Aunt and a close friend of mine since our teenage years...the goodness of the family shines from them both as sunshine on a new day.

On a second note, the picture behind the bowl is one of a great deal of significance. My Grandpa, whom I loved and looked up to as a model and hero all my life, was nearly 94 years old when he died in January, 1984. He and I spent several weeks one Summer when I lived in Tampa, FL, driving to see his family in Missouri, at least as many as we could who were still alive. He told me much of his life story during those days, how he worked the farm, and as a kid once visited St. Joseph, Missouri and said hello to Frank James who was sitting on his front porch. Anyway, "Mr. Al," as he was called at the Winn-Dixie grocery store where he worked part time until he was 93, was known as a man of kindness, humility, dignity and integrity. I strive each day to be as much like him as I can, as his take on life and what it meant to live it rightly and justly were characteristics passed on to my Dad and hopefully to me. Getting back to the bowl, the picture behind it shows my Grandpa along with his daughter, her daughter, her daughter and her daughter (Great-Great Granddaughter). It is 5 generations of him with Georgia Lee, Lanie, Kimmy and Kimmy's daughter whose name escapes me at the moment. As well, I have a second picture with Georgia Lee, Lanie, her Son Randy, and his daughter (whose name, I ashamedly admit again I can't call) to make it doubly good. Both were taken on the same day.

The second picture, the one to the right of the bowl, is of BD's Grandma when she was a little girl. I will let her supply the background on her in another post on her blog (gababs.blogspot.com). We have put up several pictures in the guest room of a dated nature, and will enjoy our guests trying to figure out who they are and to whom they are related.