moving on from peggy seeger....
a few other thoughts.

RICK FINES: 'the Benoit of Blues'. most women will know what i mean....
i love blues, and i have known and loved rick's blues for several years. it was great to have him at the woods, and, considering the vast number of hugs we shared up there, i don't think it's out of line to say he's a new true friend.

MARK HAINES: who needs The Zippers? mark is a stellar talent on his own (and with tom). mark and i had a couple memorable conversations under the stars, thinking aloud about the preservation of precious memories. i was thrilled to be a co-student with mark in peggy's songwriting class....he added so, so much.

TOM LEIGHTON: ditto about The Zippers. tom makes nuclear energy look like the first version of the mousetrap. tom's choir direction took me back in time to when i used to teach high school choir and bands. what great leadership, tom! i was privileged to get an 11:00-11:45pm piano lesson from tom. every time i lost my concentration, he strictly got me back on track! the lesson ended with tom giving me homework, and the direction to check back when i'd learned the lesson. i had to apologize to him for spending the rest of the woods playing my other instruments, and not getting to the keyboard.

ELDON COOPER: i didn't take any classes from eldon, but we crossed paths on occasion, and vowed to spend more time sharing music together in the future. i was wowed by the contributions he made to our song circles. nice talk after DADGAD class, too.

CHRISTINA SMITH: christina and i were students at the same time, at the university of western ontario, more years ago than i care to divulge. her cd, "Fiddle Me This", is one of my favourites. she is a blazingly talented cellist. and very wonderful person.

JEAN HEWSON: chrisina's music partner. and very wonderful person. she makes me think i've been to newfoundland and back. jean was in a room down the hall, and she and i had our best conversations between showers. i supplied 'Jean Silverfish' with her new spiritual name. gives you a bit of an idea about state of the showers, doesn't it??

The Woods. every year is the best, and this was the best of them all.....

~black walnut