There are no tunes; lost lyrics to songs; tablature or musical wisdom in this posting.

I just need to talk with you guys for a bit....some folks would call it "nattering"....
I call it blithering...;o)

BUT whatever we call it, under these words is a deep, sincere, thank-you ...to Max...

to this magic place called Mudcats.....

AND to its incredible members.

Sorry for not putting a "BS" title to this..couldn't do it...BUT I trust that those of you who believe Mudcats should be a music only site and stumbled into this thread by mistake, will find numerous music threads to enjoy today.

This'll take a while, Max knows some of this already, but I do want the rest of our members to know what Mudcats and 'Catters have been doing for me here.

Sooooo....some history......and I don't have a chance of keeping this brief!!!

Some of you may remember, that in late July of 1999, my home and three generations of contents, was destroyed by fire....caused by lightening during a severe thunderstorm.

I wasn't home at the time....I was away on vacation.

In that house was also my collection of old books, music books, old record albums,handmade wooden toys from Tennessee, well used percussion instruments for children, @300 cassette tapes I made over thirty years-of festivals, late night jams, music parties, band rehearsals, performances, friends etc.

There was also a variety of musical instruments . ..including 13 stringed instruments and my old beautiful (to my eyes and ears) upright piano. the list goes on......

No Martin guitars or other "expensive" instruments....but as you know, after spending time with an instrument,....it becomes a trusted friend....and through the years you learn how to compensate for the individual "idiosyncracies" of each one....they become a part of who we are, or at least they did with me.

Some of those instruments were also responsible, over the years, for introducing small children, Head Start classrooms,lost teenagers, and adult friends into a world of music.......as being something they were capable of playing themselves....and having FUN doing it.

A few have become accomplished musicians now...just because.....in the right place, at the right time, when they were searching teenagers, feeling like misfits and getting in trouble, they held a silly, goofy-looking, old "home-made" lap dulcimer and made a note or two play well enough to open the door and let their own talent come out.


All of us here at Mudcats are lovers of ....and share a passion for......music.
Some of you understand how devastating the loss of my music stuff was...and have suffered similar losses yourselves,........so I won't travel further down that road to articulate it.

taking a break here for a bit...LOTS more coming..