We are still "at" the Getaway as far as I'm concerned.

I didn't realize ahead of time, how much the company of our Shellback houseguests (Barb'ry and Andy and Noreen) would ease the pain of having to drive away from Camp Ramblewood for another year.

It's just nicer not to have to say goodbye to quite everybody as we leave the camp.

We had two cars this year. The Shellbacks rode in the van with Bill. Joe Offer drove my car as far as Baltimore Washington Airport (he did make me drive myself home from there though....) We took the scenic route, more or less inadvertently but happily. It went along the Susquehanna River past a beautiful old mill.

Tinker, I do hope at least some of that tape becomes available since I was almost certainly the only person at the camp except Lily Ani who fell asleep and missed the entire Saturday concert....

A few memories now, then will post again when I've had some sleep (which may be Wednesday morning.)

Heather Wood's Songs From a Hat workshop. She pulled topics from a hat and people threw out first lines of songs with that word/topic. Worst case I know of: The word was "door." Songs included "A You're a-Door-able."

Bob Zentz' song "Last Skipjack on the Chesapeake Bay." All of Bob Zentz' other songs. Bob shared leadership of the Maritime workshop with Derek Seed of the Shellbacks. Very nice.

The dedication of Ron Davies & Claymore in missing some of the late Friday singing so they could have a rehearsal for the waltz workshop.

Elizabeth LaPrelle, a sixteen year old ballad singer from Virginia, both solo and in concert with her mom -- gorgeous harmonies, unbelievable voices. Meeting Elizabeth's grandparents, who came on Saturday, and inviting her grandmother to sing in the Mountain Music. She did, too.

Hearing Rebecca Kimmons (of the Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet) and Elizabeth LaPrelle do heartbreakingly beautiful singing in the Mountain Music. (All right. I confess. I set up this workshop for my own enjoyment. If any of the rest of you enjoyed it that was purely coincidental.)

Getting so involved in the Pub Sing (led very well by our son Darriel and his good friend Allan Rathbone, who has also been coming to Getaways since he was a small kid) that I missed the Irish workshop. Being so tired that when I realized I had missed it, I started crying.

A sense of wonder at all the individual talents that make up the Shellback Chorus. Meeting Alanww, Snuffy (Vaughan Hully), SussexCarole, Derek Seed, Jill Thompson(is that right?), Theresa Tooley, many more including of course Barbara & Andy & Noreen.

Hearing Barry Finn sing Anything, but especially all the ballads he sang this weekend. He sang a wonderful ballad about a battle with Sioux Indians, among other things.

Mick's concert. Mick cares so much about the people he tries to help as a union organizer, and his monologues in the middle of "This Land is Your Land" were impassioned and very moving. I was still drying my tears afterward and Joe Offer grinned at me and said, "He steamed my glasses." Keep steaming people's glasses, Mick.   

Hearing Noreen and Lisa Null singing ballads with the harp and other instruments backing them up. Beautiful, and so typical of the Getaway experience.

We have some incredible jams at the Getaway. David Scheim on harp, Joel Bailes on fiddle or piano, and Ron Davies on viola are Getaway regulars who were here this year. David is probably the most unusual, from the point of view of folk jams. There are lots of folk harps and folk harpists who specialize in Celtic music, but David can jam or accompany a singer in maybe a dozen different styles. It always seems to work.

This year thanks to the Shellbacks there were lots of button box players joining in the jams.

Oh. I said I'd just write a little, didn't I?

One more thing. Every year I get totally nuts before the Getaway and start worrying that this year the program will be a total flop. I would like to thank everyone who beamed at me and said they loved this year's program, with special thanks to Dani. I had been fretting and stewing as we exchanged PMs about the program and she always had something helpful to say. As soon as she arrived Friday night she gave me a big smile and the most wonderful hug. I knew it was going to be a great weekend, program or no program, weather or not.

Rita