Indeed some really good friends have posted here and I thank you all very much. Jeri did the shot of some old bum in the woods near Ormstown and I used it for the liner notes. She's a good musician and fine photographer and an even better friend. Another friend from Mudcat wrote a short piece for the liner notes and I like him very much for his character, his sense of humour and his guts in returning to school to get journalism credentials in Scotland. He ain't 20 anymore.

I will mention that I was depressed for a long time at not being able to include some people from the UK.

I'd wanted to get Tony A to do some harp (harmonica) on a few cuts; Tim L to lay on a few guitar tracks and Bob Knight (the owner of the best male tenor voice I've ever heard in my life and a wonderful person besides that), but I was just unable to do it. If there's a tomorrow, I hope so much we can accomplish that.

I've been gigging and having fun with audiences, and that's cool. The rubber hits the road on the stage, and that's as it should be.

"The Rookie" seems to have reached a few people in the firefighting community. Despite being too old to continue 'rescue' work, I will always have a big place in my heart for those guys and gals, and in that fraternity--seems I meet one or two from it at every gig I do--I'm made to feel welcome. Shared experiences do that.

Once again, I thank all of you for your very kind comments.

Last: C Ham, I sent you two e-mails but I guess they didn't reach you. Please get in touch.

BM

PS Please let this drop off the page. Thank you.