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So, we finished the shelf install last weekend. Linda was in really good spirits. She was like a kid with a new toy when we finished. It made me feel great to make her happy! She then invited us into the living room for homemade lemonade. I started talking about music, and I think I threw her for a loop with my knowledge of musicians and music history. I told her that the first time I'd actually seen her on TV was on Dolly's show in the 70's. I was a young teenager and Dolly had Linda and Emmylou on her show. I was amazed at their harmony! They did several old country standards and it was magical. She was surprised that I even new of that appearance, and happy to hear how much I had liked it. She then gave me the greatest gift she could ever have given me. We sat and talked about music for nearly 3 hours. She told me about meeting Emmylou first, through Grahame Parsons, then her and Emmylou meeting Dolly together. We talked about Jackson Brown, and him introducing her to Glenn Fry and Don Henley. About her telling them to form their own band. We talked about her youth and her Mariachi history. I think that she enjoyed revisiting the past as much as I enjoyed listening to it. She kept being surprised at my knowledge and set a few of the stories I'd heard straight. I had one of the best times of my life!

That is a hell of good story Steve - I'm massively jealous! We saw Emmy Lou in concert around 6 months ago in Birmingham Symphony Hall (UK). She's 79, and made it clear that was the last time she'd tour outside the US - because of her age she finds it difficult now on endless long hauls. She was superb - lost the clear as a bell high notes, but still absolutely awesome. Back in the late 70's and getting seriously into audio, standard albums that showed off the quality (or not!) of a system was Linda Ronstadt albums. And one of my favourite albums even now is Trio - Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmy Lou Harris - released in 1987 (nearly 40 years ago - eek). Like you said the quality of the harmony and the way their voices complemented each other raises goosebumps. They actually spent well over a decade after the TV show you remember, Steve, trying to follow up with an album. But their personal tour commitments got in the way until Trio was finally recorded.

Carole suffered more angst than me when our kids went to college; Rob to Warwick and Liz to Essex. But the thing to remember when this happens is "Job done". You bring these little creatures into the world totally helpless, they progressively grow up - then they are adults, and quite rightly fly the nest. Now at 41 (Rob) and 37 (Liz) they both keep in touch regularly, and with each other. By phone and WhatsApp. Rob lives in the NE of England, and Liz is on the Gold Coast in Australia with a permanent residence Visa (so she can apply for citizenship). WhatsApp is a wonderful tool.

Wasn't today, but my nephew returned from the ISS last week....! Long read, but pretty cool.... NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Closes Out Space Station Mission - NASA

The Weather and the parking gods smiled on us as we got to show Sue why Big Sur and Highway 1 have the reputation they do.

This one will be hard to write, not because anything bad happened, only because change is hard. TL/DR - Nate is sad because Lily is in college. Longer, rambling version. Today we helped Lily move into college. She decided that she wanted to go to UNH in the spring time, so that's where we headed today. On top of the usual angst/sadness associated with dropping your first kid off at school it was a bit of an emotionally-charged day because that's where I went to school, met Maura, and lived for a few years even after graduation while Maura pursued her graduate degree. And in a simple twist of fate, the dorm that we lived in while Maura was a hall director is where Lily ended up as a Freshman. So it was a day of wildly swinging emotions. I'm confident that she'll do great there. The program that she's in (Occupational Therapy) is as good or better than any other in New England and it's very much right up her alley. So we know where she'll be for the next 5 years - it's a 4+1 masters program. What I can't figure out is why it very much feels like I have a broken heart? I mean I get it in lots of ways. As I explained to Andrew on the way home (he and I left first to get him to soccer practice), for every day in the last 18+ years I've known exactly where and when I'd see Lily next. Now, not so much. I expect it'll be at least a few weeks, if not longer before we see her. That's probably most of the pain I feel. But there's also a piece of me that feels a little, well, lost without her in the house. So we'll see how these next several weeks go with only one kid to day-to-day worry about. I'm not sure Andrew wants the additional attention coming his way. 😂

I Was thankful we were lucky with our timing. Others may not have been so lucky https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/big-sur-wildfire-22381679.php https://www.instagram.com/p/Db3V1TIFGzb/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== EDIT: California’s Big Sur sees evacuation orders as Timber fire grows https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/11/big-sur-timber-fire-evacuations?CMP=share_btn_url

I thought this was worth mentioning - Revox announced they are selling new audio compact cassettes, Type I C60 and C90 - what a crazy time we live in: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/new-blank-cassettes-now-available-from-revox/