Neighborhood Troubadour

(Photo by Barbara Wilder)

(Photo by Barbara Wilder)

Barbara Wilder

Since the high point of my day is my morning walk with a neighborhood friend, I look forward to finding something new every day. We were walking up Desert Bluff in SaddleBrooke TWO and noticed a crowd gathering. “What’s happening?” asked my friend Marjorie Diederichs. As we warily approached the group, keeping our six-foot distance, we saw that we were being serenaded by a man with his electric guitar in front of his garage door.

He was taking requests and I asked if he knew “Greensleeves.” He said that of course he did. That was his first song when he was learning the lute. He said that he has been an entertainer at Renaissance Fairs and other events. We settled back under a shady tree and enjoyed “Danny Boy” and “If I were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof. He knew all the lyrics, and it was so enjoyable to listen to the music and see the smiles on the neighbors’ faces.

Randall and Linda Dighton are our new neighbors, having moved here in December from Paradise California. They lost just about everything in the Campfire wildfire, but managed to grab their important papers, lockbox, cats, and guitars, and escape from the flames. We are so lucky to have them here. Since my friend and I take the route up the Desert Bluff hill on our walk about once a week, we were fortunate to see them again the next week. I got their business card this next time and found out a little more about them. Linda is a calligrapher and Randall describes himself as a troubadour. Indeed, he is!