nickel neighbors

my sweet mother recently went on a trip to visit her family in carlsbad, ca, the home of taylor knox, alisa, and legoland. my mom's family has lived in carlsbad since the late 1950's and my aunt lives in an older portion of town, close to the beach. she has been in the particular neighborhood for about 5 years and my grandma recently moved in to the mother-in-law unit (one of the few mother-in-law units that i know of that is actually inhabited by a mother-in-law). many of the folks in the neighborhood have been there for many years and the neighbors all seem to be pretty close. my mom arrived a couple weekends ago and it happened to be the day that the neighborhood was throwing a going away party for one of the neighbors who had recently sold her house. also in attendance was the new owner, who figured it would be a good time to get acquainted with their new neighbors.

here is where it gets fun. in addition to being a wonderful seaside village, carlsbad also happens to be the origin of the excellent alt/bluegrass/whatever band nickel creek. and my aunt's new neighbor happens to be a member of said band and at their little neighborly get-together, a couple of the band members got together and sang some songs. my mom casually called to tell me all this and that she had a nice conversation with the band over barbeque and sodas. my little brother then proceeded to increase my jealousy by cruelly gloating over his brush with fame.

his body will never be found.