6 February 2010
After days of sadness, perhaps tonight’s gathering for Bert will finally provide the closure on this that so many of us need.
Kyle and I and a dozen or so truly wonderful people, all spent the day at Scarborough working on our East Wind Games booth. The floor repair turned into a floor replacement, and when I left at 4:30 p.m. I had no idea that the guys still had seven more hours of work ahead of them! How Kyle and I can ever truly repay these guys (and gals) for all their hard work and devotion, is totally beyond me. I can only hope that someday we’ll be able to even the score. The beer and burgers we provided surely don’t cut it!
I left the faire site, went home for a quick shower, and then Kelly and I headed out to the wake for Bert. It was a lovely event, with so many of Bert’s friends from all walks of his life, gathered to pay one last tribute to him. A friend of his with a giant, old home in Fort Worth, opened the ground floor to the crowd, and somehow bore the knowledge that she’d have some cleaning to do when all was said and done. Food tables were set up in both the kitchen and entry areas with an array of yumminess I’ve rarely seen equaled. People sat on furniture and on the floor throughout the house; a giant group of grazers constantly mutated in the kitchen. Two separate rooms became musical spots with guitars and flutes and bodhrans—even a hammered dulcimer—and voices raised in song. It was a beautiful evening and only my exhaustion caused me to want to leave by about eleven o’clock.
Kyle and Kelly and I all got home around the same time, all completely spent from the hard work—both physical and mental—of the day.
My photo today is of the beautiful cake that someone made for the party. A fitting farewell for our friend, Bert.
~MB
