Well it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride since I last posted here -- mostly didn't have the energy to post both at Facebook and here.

Last Friday was a truly lovely day. Not only did I get a lot accomplished (as reported here), but it was a really good session as well. I was interviewed before the session by a reporter from one of the local free papers for an article on traditional (or "Celtic" as he referred to it) music in the Seacoast area. He stayed for the entire session, recording both audio and visual and taking stills. He was very obviously enjoying himself.

It was a very good session, a good mix of musicians and singers and the energy kept up right up until the close despite a couple of the stronger performers having left an hour or so early. The biggie for me was that someone who has been sitting on the periphery for the past year or so, and who has been occasionally been lured into singing a song, actually brought his guitar AND sang three or four songs. I ended up saying to myself on my way home, "I'm doing it right. I'm carrying on the session the way Tom would want me to. I'm doing it right..." and feeling pretty good about it. I also emailed more information later about a question asked about a song I sang and was it related to another song. I'd partially answered the question at the session about the song I sang, but I had been unsure of the origins of the other song, so I checked. This, too, is in the tradition of Tom being the "authority" on history and how the songs relate to historical matters.

No good day goes unpunished. On Saturday I was basically non-functional. It was all I could do to get out of bed and be alert enough not to drown while taking a shower and washing my hair. I just couldn't go to the house concert at Sinsull's that night despite having looked forward to it for some time. The next two days were somewhat iffy as well, but I could (and did) spend a lot of time on the phone with friends. Fortunately, I'd been warned at grief group that I could very well have days like this, so, other than being annoying, I wasn't worried about it.

Tuesday was another good day. I had an appointment with a counselor at the hospice where Tom died and we had a really good two hour talk. And a bunch of people made a point of thanking me for the thank you note I had delivered last week when I'd originally had the appointment but she had gone home with a migraine. Then I drove to Dover to drop off a couple bags at Goodwill, but I stopped at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital first and walked the labyrinth that I'd been wanting to walk since I found out about it last November. And THAT was good... But I didn't just drop the bags at Goodwill. I bought a pair of shoes and a light/mid-weight jacket which I needed (and some books which I need like cats need wings...).

Today I got my passport application finally filled out, and a bunch of other paperwork accomplished and made a really nice boiled dinner. In about an hour I'll head to Portsmouth for a talk on the life of 18th century sailors at the Portsmouth Athenaeum.

Moving right along...again.

Linn