Caroline and I normally gravitate toward the late-night singing sessions, too, since neither of us are sufficiently adept on instruments to jam with the pickers, and both of us are very ballad/trad oriented. I was just coming back from near total voicelessness five days before the Getaway, and Caroline was just beginning to come down with a similar affliction, so we eschewed all late-night gatherings. A good ballad sing in the parlor of the White House might have been nice, since we were in the front room right off of the parlor and the songs could well have lulled us to sleep. Maybe next year?

We also seem to have one foot in GWFS and the other in the Mudcat. Many GWFSers are friends of ours stretching back over several decades. We don't sense a great division between the two camps, if there is one. When someone is introduced to us by his/her Mudcat handle, we're grateful, as we're glad to be able, finally, to put a face to a nom de 'net. After that, it's just "welcome to the party," regardless of affiliation.

Caroline is wonderfully able to walk up to perfect strangers and say, "Hi, I'm Caroline. Who are you?" (I'm too insecure to do that.) Then, when she introduces them to me, she can usually tell me their names, where they live, how many children they have, what kind of music they like best, what kind of music they hate most, and what they had for dinner last night. Very few of us have that skill. Her only trouble comes from being unable to read name tags or buttons, or to recognize people from more than a few feet away. Please keep that in mind, folks.

So -- we did miss the great late-night quiet "group sings" this year, but that was our own fault. If either of us had been in better voice, we could have started one somewhere. Next year, for sure!

Sandy