Summer tastes like Black Eyed Peas

31 May 2005

Summer surprised us this year! It has been a cold rainy winter since March... oh, did I say winter? I meant it has been a cold rainy SPRING since March! It was kind of hard to tell the difference. But, all of a sudden, summer arrived last Thursday, and boy were we ready for it!

I spent the entire weekend working on my sunburn, riding my bike and sitting in cafes drinking coffee with ice cream in it. I also took pictures of Skamba Skamba Kankliai, the International Folk Festival that they have in Vilnius every year. My favorite was the (all-male) group from Israel, except they were Palestinian, not Jewish. They were AMAZING. The energy in their songs and music, not to mention the dancing, was just breathtaking. The best thing is, they always looked like they were truly having FUN! There was also an incredible group from the Caucuses, their voices were so strong, they could command the entire audience with just one note. Sitting on the steps of the Prezedentura Sunday evening listing to folk music was the perfect way to end the weekend.

The festivities continued yesterday with the Black Eyed Peas playing in Vingis Park. I went to the concert as a photographer, my first concert since my Colorado Daily days! I think I forgot how to take concert pictures though. I got a few that I really like, but they didn't come out as some of my photos in the past. Then again, I'm now shooting with a digital camera, and it just doesn't have the personality of film at all. It was also hard because the stage was 3m off the ground with another mesh fence in front of it, so getting a clear shot was tough.

The atmosphere was great in the park. It was cooling off a bit, and as the concert wound to a close, the rain started to fall. It stormed all night, sleeping with the windows open, I could almost imagine I was back at camp in Minnesota, except for one major difference - every time the thunder struck, a half a dozen car alarms went off. Reluctantly, I put in my ear plugs and went to sleep.

I woke up and couldn't remember what day it was, or if I had to go to work or not. Then it hit me that it's Tuesday, I DO have to go to work, and I'd better hustle too because it was 9:30 and we had to finish the magazine today! Sleepily, I pulled myself out of bed. It was actually a great day to work. Rainy and warm outside, we had a nice breeze in the office with the window open. As I left the office at the end of the day, the sun was starting to break through the clouds. Sitting down to my dinner of a hamburger, green beans and a glass of red wine at my kitchen table, I left the window open and the light was warm on the orange buildings of the old town. The breeze was cool and smelled of nostalgia as I imagined that I was sitting at the kitchen table in our house on Lake Charlevoix eating a hamburger off the grill.

June will be a busy month at work, on Saturday we're going to Latvia to represent FHM and to enjoy a day of extreme sports. We will have a weekend ski camp later in the month and my birthday coming up on the 27th! I was singing "Happy Birthday to me" last month as I bought my plane ticket to Greece for the same day, and my friend Irma is expecting her second child sometime around the 20th of the month.

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