After a long winter in the city, lately I've been craving time spent in nature.  Yesterday I picked up Kevin (my good friend and the other half of Sungod Abscondo) as well as an Australian friend living in Presov, Slovakia, and we headed out to the country for a day with the guys.  We loaded up the car with our guitars, some bongo drums, some sausage, a football, and a fair amount of alcohol.

After driving through a field, we arrived at a spot Kevin had been to years ago.  As we unloaded the car and made our way through the trees, we discovered a couple sunbathing in their underwear.  Though we invited them to join us, I guess they decided to pack up, and soon left. 

Kevin brought out a little radio and put on a traditional Hungarian radio station as we went into the forest to gather wood for a fire.  Soon after we had the fire started, two younger Slovak friends arrived, by bus, with another huge bongo and some more food.  We enjoyed their company and for the opportunity to practice our Slovak. 

After grilling some sausage and having a few drinks, we settled around the picnic table with our instruments: two guitars, three bongos, maracas, an another percussion instrument that I don't know the name of.  For something like 3-4 hours, all of us joined in as we played our Sungod Abscondo songs (including a bunch of new ones) as well as a few covers. 

One thing you find out as you play guitar in the forest is that the birds start singing as if it were morning.  I guess those birds became backdrop to some sort of mildly hypnotic state as we just kept on strumming and drumming.  Slowly we noticed that the perfect, sunny sky had begun to change.  The temperature gradually cooled and the rain clouds started to form.   During our new song, "Thunder", we heard just that in the distance.  It started to seem as though we were the ones changing the weather.  After all, Sungod Abscondo does mean something like "hiding the sungod".  Well the thought was good for a laugh.

Eventually our music was silenced by the rain.  We put everything away, but still didn't feel like leaving.  After standing around the fire to stay warm, we somewhat foolishly decided to play some American football in the rain.  First we had to teach the Slovaks and the Australian how to throw a spiral (without much luck).  Then we had to improvise the rules for a 5-person game of football on slick grass.   I'll just say that, somehow, the Slovaks ended up beating us.  I think it was because they were younger and less afraid to fall than us 30-somethings.

Not a bad way to spend a day with the guys.