Benicia Peace Vigil
... Barbecue!

21 September 2008

My Dear Peaceful People:

Last Thursday's Benicia Vigil for Peace had to have been one of the most memorable ones I can think of. It was Barbecue Time ... the one and only time we've tried something like this.

Although, it almost didn't happen. There was a day when Genevieve and I were on the phone together trying to keep each other's spirits up in the midst of numerous little catastrophes. Like when we lost our prime chef the day before the festivities!! Yeah, we mean YOU Tom. The guy gets a little intestinal blockage and thinks he has to dump everything and go immediately to the emergency room. Pooh. Some folks'll do anything to get out of flipping burgers for free on a chilly evening. Oh, well. At least he wasn't alone at the hospital. Tall Dave's partner, Nancy, wound up on the exact same ward at about the exact same time after a brain dead motorist hit her while biking in downtown Benicia, breaking her hip. Then, to top matters off, our Suzanne invented a new illness that she calls "Meltdown" that sounds positively gruesome.  We'd have gone up with a stretcher to fetcher, but didn't want to risk catching anything that sounded so ... nuclear. Even chef Cliff had to beg off with his own medical woes.

So that essentially left Genevieve and Cheryl to do the set-up with me anchoring the vigil from 4 to 5:30.

Well, not to worry. I guess this is the kind of situation where it is awfully nice to have relatives. And Cheryl and Genevieve's relatives came out in droves to assist. Genevieve's son-in-law, Stan, got charcoal started in both grills, and before long he was grilling hamburgers and veggie shishkabobs on one while his wife, Brigitte, tended to burgers and hotdogs on the other. Boy, but they were good! What a team! We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for stepping in like they did.

But the neatest thing actually happened before the feast started. Down on the corner I was surprised to see Wounded Knee come by. It's been a while since he's been able to join us. Of course, as he usually does, he strode up and down the line of vigilers with his home-grown clutch of burning sage to dispell any evil among us and to purify us all. And a little later on, he stood right on the corner with his drum, beating time, while he chanted in his own language. Oh, my. You should have seen the folks across the street. They stood around with their heads together, muttering and glaring. You'd have thought we were doing something positively satanic.

But what really caught them off guard was when we all up and packed up at 5:30 instead of 6! Not that we cared, mind you. We had other things on our minds, like FOOD.

First off, Genevieve asked Wounded Knee if he would do a blessing for the whole group. So he had all 21 of us hold hands in a big circle while he walked around it on the inside with his sage. I remember him saying that he was going to speak to his god. So it was up to us to "translate" that message for our own individual gods so that there'd be no misunderstandings!

And then ... we got to pile into the FOOD:

[Click on the small picture to see a bigger one]

Heh. That's Cheryl and Barb performing surgery on a big, fat watermelon with a way-too-short knife, as Bitsy watches in amusement. Heck ... we even had a MENU thanks to Genevieve (sorry about the crummy picture, Norma & Genevieve):

Now, get a load of this succulent sight:

And this:

Of course, we owe so much of this to Stan and Brigitte. Here they are front and center, with Grandma Genevieve fishing around in the cooler. That's Barb and Joe off to the left. And look who's over to the right ... none other than David G.!

Lookee who else showed up: George and our long-time-no-see Guillermo (now complete with flowing locks!):

Here's another table full of good folks. Clockwise from the lower left: Matt, Helen M.'s husband Dave, George's wife Jan, and Norma. Heh ... and that's my plate between Dave and Matt. I took this pic on the way to get seconds.

And check out this tableful ... clockwise from the lower left: Pattie, Barb, Genevieve and Joe:

Now here's one I guarantee will bring a smile to your face. None other than a Big Boy named Tanner ... a regular one-fisted hot dog eater! (And that's his dad, Cliff Jr., ready to catch the bun should that one fist lose it's grip.) Dad is Cliff and Cheryl's son:

Hmmmm ... I don't know too many people who actually manage to fall asleep at a barbecue. But this one sure did:

That's Tanner's new little bro, Sage!

Last but not least ... Helen and Dave M.'s surprise contribution to the barbecue:

Hope you enjoyed all this as much as I did!

PEACE!

Pat