Then ... I spent a little over two-weeks visiting our home-base in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura Counties. On my very-first day home...I picked up some new golf-clubs after spending an hour with the club-fitting guy at the TaylorMade Center at Roger Dunn in Santa Ana...and spent 8 of the next 16 days trying them out at a variety of courses in the area... Robinson Ranch, Goose Creek, Hidden Valley, Rustic Canyon, Hacienda C.C. - it was a virtual Tour de Golf!!
I had strategically planned a number of geographical gatherings to get together with friends...one in Thousand Oaks for the NCAA finals, another in Alhambra for a night of general "beer and fellowship", a night out at Bahooka Restaurant in Rosemead with the Tiki Crowd, a super-nice night out with friends for wine and dinner in Santa Clarita... We had a reunion dinner for my old parish of St. Barnabas the Apostle... I had lunch with Fr. William Bower, I went to Mass at St. Mary of the Angels in Hollywood. I went to two different L.A. Kings hockey games, an L.A. Angels game and a Dodgers game at Chavez Ravine. My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mark put me up in their extra bedroom in La Habra and put up with my late-night comings-and-goings (which was awesome (thanks so much, guys!). And - the visit closed with a super-dinner with great friends at the "Cat and the Custard Cup"!
Basically - with all of the golf and partying - I burned the candle at both-ends so bad that the flames met in the middle and I was a total burn-out!! I got sick in the middle of the trip and actually didn't shake it until I had been home for a couple of weeks! I don't think I will make the same mistake of "over-booking" my calendar...I needed a "vacation-from-my-vacation.
Getting home meant getting back to work on the music. "Music?" you ask? Yes...due to some word-of-mouth and a world-class venue (the Beyond Coffee shop in Jubilee Hills) - a few other ex-pat fellows and I have formed a Bluegrass band!! It started just as a "pickin' session" on Thursday nights...just a couple of guys who love the music and have fun playing. We expanded our repertoire to include some Celtic songs for St. Patrick's Day....and now (Hyderabad is a big city but really feels like a small-town the way news and info spread through our ex-pat community!) - we will be playing at "World Music Day" some date around the 21st of June (with bands and musical acts from all over the world) - and then...the U.S. Embassy has asked us to play at their annual 4th of July party!!
When we are all together (something that has not actually happened yet!!) the line-up includes myself on guitar and spoons and some lead and background-vocals, "Dan the Banjo Man" who works for the U.S. Consulate, along with another great guitar-player and vocalist, Elvin. The Banjara Hillbillies (that's the name we came up with for the band....some of us live in Banjara Hills!) line-up is complete with Patrick on mandolin and backing vocals. If I do say so myself...I think we are beginning to sound pretty good...
See for yourself and tell us what you think - check out our Banjara Hillbillies YouTube Channel to see videos of some of our weekly practice-and-pickin'-sessions. If you are in Hyderabad, be sure to stop by Beyond Coffee on Thursday nights from 7:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. - and Sunday afternoons from around 2:00 P.M. onwards...and hear us perform live! There will be more updates coming about our upcoming gigs!! It's all for fun and it's pretty exciting to watch it all come together so nicely!
Amy Suzanne and I were planning to take an "after-busy-season" vacation to South Africa...but - we really couldn't get a trip of that magnitude on the calendar in so short a time. Then, we thought briefly about Thailand or Cambodia....but - those places look like they'd be even hotter than Hyderabad right now (we've been as warm as 44-degrees C. this last week - that's almost 112 F.!!) ...
So...we have decided to go to EGYPT!! The recent troubles there have subsided and the discounts really cannot be passed up!! We leave in just two-days (on Thursday the 12th of May) and we will be returning (hopefully with a few hundred photos for our Facebook page!) We will try to check-in from our tour - - actually Egypt and Jordan - and provide updates...
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers....we have a friend house-sitting and watching Beloved the Lhasa Apso while we are away! Check back often for updates!! God bless!!
