I arrived back home in Maine around 9:30 pm yesterday, after first dropping Barry and Justine off in NH. What fun we had driving back, hours of stream of consciousness conversation: the Getaway workshops, concerts and after hours sings; our own life stories of how we got involved in doing this kind of music, and the wonderful people and the bizarre people we have met along the way. And every once in a while someone would surface long enough to get us to exit at the proper place!

Now I can hardly remember anything about the weekend; it's all a blur. But I took careful notes and some recording, and if I can find them or access them, I'll report back in detail.

I believe I had a wonderful time. But there are these flashbacks that I'm wondering about. Was there really a large hairy ape in the bed next to mine in my cabin, festooned with with green ribbons and "I love you!" hearts? I'm certain there was loud snoring coming from the corners of the cabin occupied by Brett and Micca; I never snor! I seem to remember stopping off at another cabin around 1 pm where I heard some singing. There I found Skarpi, El Greco, Celtaddict, Ranger1, and several other folks. My next memory was checking my watch and seeing that it was 4 am. What happened? Were we abducted by aliens? Where is my orange boat jacket (but thanks for returning the keys to the van)?

Sunday I was seriously worried about "crashing" in the afternoon but I managed to make it to the Sea Shanties workshop that I was coordinating with Ken Schatz, and came out of that fully energized for hours more of fun. I think we did good!

As a newcomer I really appreciated the schedule of workshops and other activites. I knew some of the folks who were at the Getaway but the workshop format speeded up the process of identifying other people I didn't know who shared my interests. And, of course, I got to meet some virtual friends from Mudcat for the first time.

Thanks to all the people who made this happen this year, and to the many more who have worked as hard in past years. Here's to next year!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble