Well, we can (and do!) certainly hope for better food next year, but there's no chance we'll be doing it ourselves. The new camp (West River Camp, near Annapolis, MD) won't go for that. But it is a much nicer place: flat grounds right on the Bay, fairly modern, reasonably well-maintained buildings with LOTS of bathrooms, etc.) I'll be surprised if the food isn't better than Ramblewood's, but there's no way to tell until we've tried it. As some have mentioned, many years ago at Prince William Forest Park we hired Debbie McClatchy to honcho the food, and it was always fine. When we moved to Camp Letts, we had to settle for the camp's food (very blah..) the first year, then convinced them that we could do it ourselves without wrecking their kitchen. After Debbie stopped coming (and didn't I hear a rumor she's slowly getting out of the folk-camp-catering business?), we had to find other volunteers to be in charge of the kitchen, and that got harder as time went on -- it's an absolutely exhausting job, both before and during the event, and the head cook never got to participate in the rest of the Getaway. It also meant everyone had to contribute at least two hours of work time. That actually was a lot of fun, what with the chopping shanties and all, and it was an excellent way of getting to know some folks you might not otherwise spend time with, but it did mean having to decide what two hours of workshops to miss. Anyhow, when we first approached Ramblewood about this, they replied with an adamant NO. So that's the way it is. When we visited West River last year, we did ask about this, and were told it wouldn't be possible. I expect there are insurance issues involved, for one thing. So we'll see how it goes.

More details about next year's camp will emerge in time.

Sorcha, I'm sorry you were feeling bad and didn't enjoy the Getaway -- you were one of the people I was looking forward to meeting, but it never happened. I hope you won't give up on us!

The pictures posted so far have been great! Thanks to all concerned! I particularly like Annie's shot of my son Dan Schatz (surprise, surprise!), and Larry's photos of Jeri and of Keith Baldwin. I'll try to post some captions/comments on Larry's pictures before long. And I'm looking forward to yet more pictures!

Getaway highlights for me included:

The weather! Best we've had for a long time! Too bad we can't program that in advance…

The "Raise the Roof Gospel" session – that's my kind of gospel singing!

Seeing Barry Finn up and around. He's too skinny, but otherwise in fine form and still one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. And this year we got a bonus – Justine!

Great singing in the Dining Hall Saturday night! I didn't last beyond 2 am, but what I heard was dandy.

The Saturday concert was excellent!   I particularly enjoyed Roger's "it's a duck (not an armadillo)" song; Lorcan Otway's song and lore about the Underground Railway; Kathy, Mary & George ("Oak Ash & Thorn") sounding really great; the Byzantine (now, is that "bye-zan-tyne" or "bizz-an-teen" or "buzz'n-ten" or what?) Babes; and of course the "Ladies of the Club" finale.   What I was able to hear of the Sunday concert (had to leave before the end to get Ken to the train) was also fine, particularly George's beautiful song.

I was delighted to hear Mary (Maryrrf) Smith's singing – great voice, great songs!

Another treat was seeing the various Mmario shawls in evidence – particularly the gorgeous one he made for Jacqui. Simply beautiful.

One thing that made the Getaway special for me was having both of my sons (not to mention my daughter-in-law!) there. This has happened several times in recent years, but not every time, and since we all live in different cities it's a special treat for me to have us all together. The only downside to it is that I tend to spend a lot of time with them instead of getting to know other people. Well, I suppose there are worse things…

And a special bonus for me this year was working with Rita and Carly on the program committee. We're old friends, of course, and we've worked together in the past, but somehow this year it really went especially well, and made all that advance work a pleasure. And of course the great advantage of being on the program committee is that all the work is done in advance – there's nothing to do once you get to the event, so you can relax and enjoy it, which I did!   

Special thanks to Charlie Baum, who did a great deal of work in advance and still had to deal with on-the-spot problems like lost items and nonworking toilets. Thanks, Charlie, you're a prince!

Next year's Getaway can't come too soon for me!

Nancy