First Fish Fry...

...of 2010 was this weekend. But before we could do it, we needed to get some flowers out in the backyard, which we did last Sunday. Here we are, modeling our brand new gardening gloves.

Then we wanted to spruce up the fish fryer's windscreen that I made a couple of years ago--it's a necessity here in Chicago unless you want to keep relighting the fryer every 30 seconds. So I painted it blue, then Lori painted figures on it--a catfish, a fishcat, and a fish skeleton. Isn't it cool?

We had over our friends Nancy and Steve, and Sharon and Stacey (Nancy and Sharon work with Lori). We had catfish and hushpuppies, Nancy and Steve brought kale salad and watermelon, Sharon and Stacey brought appetizers of deviled eggs, asparagus, and cucumber sandwiches, and Lori made sweet potato fries and her famous berry cobbler. One of these pictures is blurry--sorry about that. (Think I was a little blurry when I took it.)

The night before, we met at Fitzgerald's with folks from the library's children's department to hear a Beatles tribute band, American English. Of course I forgot the camera. But if we can get some photos or videos from others, I'll post them.

I'd just like to recommend the group to you if you get the chance to hear them. Aside from the fact that most of them looked to be in their 40s, they were very convincing in the music and mannerisms.

The first set was incredible--as the early Beatles. The second set they came out in the Sgt. Pepper uniforms, and it was good, but not as good as the first set. We left before the third set, so I don't know what they did there--probably White Album, Let it Be and Abbey Road stuff.

My biggest disappointment was they didn't do anything from my favorite three albums--Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul, and Revolver, the latter of which is considered by most reviewers as their very best.

But, go see them if you get the chance--the first set alone is worth it. They were a real, performing rock band then, and the songs from that era were mostly recorded "live" (in single takes--no overdubbing) in the studio.