Hello!

Here's a full report (unless I've forgotten something since yesterday, of course):

Got to Ithaca in midafternoon, bought way too many books, went to the Ithaca Guitar Works, bought strings for my Mandolin because one of the E strings had snapped the night before when I tried to tune it, wandered around the mall, bought a panflute at this AWESOME drum store, went to the Moosewood restaurant at around 4:30 because I needed a refill, they weren't serving till 5, so I had a nap on the couch in the lounge area.

Of course, as soon as I settled in to nap, I heard someone come through the door, so I had to look. Praise looks a lot like her pictures, so I recognized her at once. There was a guy trailing after her, that had to be Hardiman.

So I got up and smiled at Praise, so she would know it was me, and then said that I had a surprise for them.

I led them around the corner, to the table I'd picked out earlier. When Praise saw Little Hawk sitting at the table, she burst into tears. I guess she thought I'd brought flattop down with me, she must have been really disappointed.

Anyway, we all sat down and ordered food, and then started talking about everything imaginable. We started with the Orillia Non-clique, I think, and all of us picked on flattop because he wasn't there to defend himself. And why he thinks I need to blow my nose any differently than I do already is beyond me. (But I digress...) For some reason, we didn't pick on sophocleese, or on any of the honorary members.

Then Little Hawk started trying to convert Praise to his brand of spirituality. It was funny to watch, particularly after the stupid accusations Praise has been getting on Mudcat lately. Believe me, Little Hawk is much worse for that than Praise ever could be. He'll talk your ears off on any subject imaginable, and on a few that aren't.

Hardiman went out for a smoke, and Praise cleared off the table, then demanded a lesson in finger-picking. So we told her some stuff for normal guitar, cause neither the Hawkster nor myself ever played slide geetar afore.

Then there was much more talk, about everything and anything. Eventually, MMario showed up, and we talked about ren faires and acting, for a while. We also all had strange stories about animals, and shared them all around. That was wierd, but very funny.

(I don't talk much, especially if I need to eat, because I am such a slow eater that if I'd talked, we'd have been there long past closing time. We did take some pictures, and I'll be putting them up when we get home.)

Then the musical instruments came out. Little Hawk played a few songs, then Hardiman, then I sang 'Forest Enchanted' along with my Mandolin. Praise, did you sing something then? MMario sang that ballad of Lord Reynalds Son, or whatever Lord it was. Alan of Australia wrote it, loosely based on the story of Beth Gelert. Beautiful song, horribly tragic story. I like the ending with the shield, though, that wasn't in the poem I know. Good performances from everyone who did perform. Somebody else in the restaurant started playing spoons during one of Hardiman's pieces, and I tried to play the panpipes that I'd got one week ago. (I kept on messing up the intervals.) That was fun too. And it was good to watch someone who can actually play Mandolin.

We talked for a bit after that, and then decided to leave. Big hugs all round. MMario told us to drive safely, because there are a lot of deer around.

We actually saw a couple of deer on the way home, a male crossing the road to go to a field to nibble, and then a little later, a female. Little Hawk was driving slowly though, and we missed them by several feet. We almost hit a skunk the night before that. Hawk swerved to avoid it, and it took faster than usual for that skunk to cross the road. Usually they just swagger, this one was actually hurrying. It didn't spray the car or anything, thank goodness!

Good food, good friends, good music - yeah, it was fun.
See ya next time!
~*sirepseh*~