Greetings from another New Englander (North Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts) who's currently living in Maryland just outside Washington D.C. Like DWitty, I often wish I were back in the land of scrub oak and winter beaches, but my work (developing national habitat conservation policy for the National Marine Fisheries Service) doesn't lend itself to small New England towns. I've been thinking about a career change, though.....

I've been singing my whole life, but discovering Celtic music has given me a renewed passion for music. I'd give my right arm to be an accomplished fiddler like Maired ni Mhaonaigh, but singing is what I seem to have a talent for, so I sing every chance I get (mostly our UU church and coffeehouse). I'd like to sing for larger audiences someday, but I'm still prone to stage fright, so I'm slowly feeling my way along.

I have a 3-year old daughter named Kiera (I know, that's not the traditional spelling, but we thought it would easier for teachers to pronounce) who loves to dance to fiddle music and play with my younger sister's violin, so I'm wondering what the right age is for starting lessons. I don't want to force anything on her but if she has an aptitude for music, I want to give her every opportunity to develop it. My husband Rob doesn't share my musical passion but he does like beer so he's amenable to hanging out in Irish bars when we can get a babysitter.

Because I'm basically an introvert and have a hard time talking to strangers in person, Mudcat's been my lifeline to fellow musicians and music lovers. Next year I hope to go to the FSGW getaway and meet some of you face to face. It's been great learning more about you all on this thread.

Hey MAX, can these autobiographies be saved to a page where people could access them by searching for names? I've seen that on other web sites and it's a great way for people to get to know one another.