Music and Family Photos at Folsom Lake

A two-part day. First the band concert — a full stage of kids in black, tubas along the back row, the director in his striped shirt standing out against everybody else's concert dress. He kept turning to wave sections in and out, and the horns down the far end got their moment near the close.

Afterward, down to Folsom Lake for family photos. The water is a long way out — we stood on what should be lakebed, rocks and patches of ice underfoot, the dock sitting far behind us. Everyone came: the grandparents, the other families, the two little ones in their sweaters holding hands with grandma through the big group arrangements. Then it broke apart into smaller sets — just the four of us, the girls flanking us, one of them wrapped in the red plaid scarf that ended up in half the pictures.

Snow was still holding on in the shade between the rocks when we packed up.