What I love most about the festival is the people. They are great. I had a run-in with a mind-reading goose--the one who was chasing the goats around. He came at me with his wings out and his face hissing!. I thought, "You'd look nice after 5 hours in a 350 oven." Bastard really came after me, so, not being the hero type I elected to get my butt outta there. Nasty little guy--all seemingly 250 pounds of him. That was after my performance so I don't know if that's what got him going.

And ya gotta love a guy like Beer (Adrien). He picked about a dozen pails of blueberries and gave them to his friends. They contain an antioxident which I think in the health lexicon means ya don't rust.

The kids who did the noon stage were great, and one of the gals is gonna do a song on thye main stage with me next year then a solo. That kid could sing. Her folks gave me permission to ask her so I hope they are there in 2009.

I like laid-back towns, and after the frenzy and heat of Montreal itself, it was a wonderful break away from my routine life in Hinton.

I got to meet some great folks there, and the fellow who did sound gave me a neat fire hat which I thought was rather cool. Gotta admit though that Budweiser tastes like horse piss after three cans. Good though. Switched to coolers--the vodka kind.

I met a whole bunch of Adrien's family, and they're as nice as he is. Crazy, too. Norm got a new focus on his music and I expect he'll get a CD done before 2009 closes it's door. That will be something I look forward to. His "Some Mother's Son" is a phenomenally touching address to the war-mongering tendency of the human race, and there weren't too many dry eyes when he finished that song.

That stone grain silo sure does make me think of a place from the Merovingian's time, and the night skies there are filled with stars, all where ya'd expect 'em to be. Locate Polaris and vector backi in my head and I could feel the Rockies and the Prairies, the somewhat faster rivers of the west, and hints of strong winds that carry one's memories to other places and times.

The small towns of my youth and teenage years are still much the same although as with all places people live, the closer ya get to the hub the busier life gets real fast.

The duet, "Northern Crossing" blew me away. Their song, "That's What Worries Me" is the best song I have heard by anyone in in many years.

I'm looking forward to next year. Hell, it's less than 10 1/2 months away.

Bruce