Well, we did manage to assemble a critical mass of fine singers, and a fine group of storytellers as well. Uncle Jacque has done a good job of describing the festivities, and it's true that many of us had a hard time recognizing him in his "cleaner cut" appearance. My wife Judy has just finished loading some of her digital images of the party which I think capture its spirit well, and at least some of the charcters assembled; for a virtual good time:Click Here!

We'd be happy to try to add other digital images to my personal website if folks would e-mail us relatively low-resolution JPEG images; because we are still on a "dial-up" internet connection, no attachments should exceed 1 mb.

It's a good thing some of us got there early to help with cleaning up the barn and set-up. Sharon and Bunker's barn is what they use for restoring their vast inventory of nautical antiques and is stuffed with all mater of distracting, intriguing stuff. We had everything shipshape and Bristol fashion inside with tables, benches, and sea chests set up before the front swept in with its accompanying thunder storm. By 4:30 pm folks were busily making music, grilling up dead animal parts outside, guzzling quanities of beer and other fermented/unfermented fluids.

I especially enjoyed Capt. Bunker's stories, Joe Terrieau's (Jets) reminiscences of WWII convoys, Dennis' story of the killer ship Judas Iscariot, and Nor's brother Barney's poem of the mountain climbing tragedy. And it was great that some of our New Hampshire Press Room singing friends were able to brave the traffic to join us.

Oh, and Linn, thanks so much for that incredible holographic picture of the tall ship Red Adair. Where did you ever find it?

Amazingly enough, we didn't leave the barn in complete shambles. We might even be invited back! Thanks, Sharon and Bunker, for hosting this wonderful gathering.

I'll add some more later, but I'm still enjoying the memories!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble