2005 Getaway Reflections Here...

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:20 AM

No fibs, Leo. The Sunday concert number preceded as it was by the story-telling intro, had a magical quality.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: beardedbruce
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:21 AM

" no where is written in stone that a bowl ahs to hold anyting, other than beauty..."


Damn, Bobert, I may have to steal this one from you....

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: mooman
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:24 AM

I'm sorry I couldn't come in the end. It really seems like I missed something good. I hope to make it across the pond next year and meet all the people I've been wanting to meet.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:28 AM

Mmario-- don't you be calling my friend a liar, now! :~)

Gobsmacked/sniff.....

~S~

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:37 AM

Rita,
You didn't get as much sleep as you thought you did Friday night. It was more like 1:00a.m. when we staggered past each other in the cafeteria.

I am sorry to have missed the harmony workshop...actually, there are a number of workshops and mini-concerts I am sorry to have missed. We really need to get serious about this cloning workshop:>)

Janie

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:52 AM

Spot-Lit moments- so many, so many-

Walking through the camp across the grass from building to building and having music accompany me from one spot to another, now over here, then over there, then over there, then over there… I felt my ears turning and pointing like those of a donkey as I walked.

The Harmonies Workshop- being blown away by so many voices. Mia's, Jeri's, Ron's, the lady who likes Ginny Hawker's songs and sings them so beautifully, Charley Baum's voice and benign presence,..

"Here We Go, There We Go"- who did that song? Loved it and its orchestration.

Skarpi- so totally different from what I expected, even though I was overjoyed at the prospect of meeting him. So amazingly good and satisfying, he made the world manageably smaller. (Did anyone besides me cry in response to his Elvis Presley song?)

Bobert- Quite apart from his persona, he has a wonderfully expressive voice and impeccable rhythm in his music. I have always said that the blues depresses me- but I was exhilarated and energized by his blues workshop. As the songs circled the group, each one's blues style and approach was so different I was immersed in it. As the Beaubear himself says, singing the blues is celebratory, an affirmation of the spirit. Thanks for showing me that.

Chance (Fortunato) and Susette- I love them. They sing the songs I grew up with and take them to another level. And Susette- have you heard her sing Carter Family??

TJ O'Malley- like Chance an impeccable pro. He does blues too. And he has nice legs too. (Don't take it too personally, TJ- in Juneau when a man goes 'round in shorts his legs beam their whiteness to all and sundry, displaying plucked chicken more than comfort.)

Barry Finn- I finally got to hear him sing and a treat it was. I do understand, Barry, that your voice is not yet at 100% but your 80% is eminently rich.

Ron Davies- his mellow viola makes me absolutely melt into puddles. And his voice- the man knows his music.

There are so many, so many…

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 11:59 AM

I have barely slowed down this last few days, since we still have guests (Noreen & Stewart) and have not even finished unloading the van yet! I have downloaded pics, but have not edited and sorted them, so I will be posting many images that will jog memories ("oh, yeah! I remember her/him....who was that?" .I took a bunch of crowd shots at the concerts, too so I may have at least snaps of 'almost' everyone.

The line is beginning to blur between "Mudcatters" (which I guess means anyone who has posted once..*grin*), local folks who NEVER post,, (like Hunter, who has been at every gospel sing since time immemorial), non-local folks who never post, but who have been at Getaways longer than I have...(like Keith Baldwin, who started things off with "Hoboes & Trains" and added a song to MANY sings)....I will identify them as I post pics.

Since I have now attended 28 consecutive Getaways..(not nearly as many as Dick Greenhaus and SongBob and a few others), my mind blurs sometimes, and names escape me....but you all can help if I fail to put names to all the pics!

I am still sorting out my feelings of awe and camaraderie at some of what I saw and people I met....and since I was overwhelmed with setting up my wood display too, I was often not at all of the music I wanted to hear. (thank you ALL who made nice comments [and especially those who took something home..*happy smile*)

so....here are 4 pics of the audience Sat night....see how many you can pick out...many more to come

audience 1

audience 2

audience 3

audience 4

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 12:46 PM

At the Sunday night concert, a British couple (I think) did a lovely piece. He played concertina and she had red hair and a lovely soprano voice. I imagined a ballerina dancing solo to it as they sang. Who were they? And who ever you were, thank you.

Janie

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 12:51 PM

It was reely nice.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 12:53 PM

I have so many more bright moments to share but right now I want to mention Hunter and Peggy, FSGWers- I would have loved to talk longer with them. There wasn't time.

The Getaway does have several serious flaws. Cloning would take care of just about all of them.

(I recollect that KT was put in charge of the Cloning issue. I suspect she just didn't have enough time.)

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 12:56 PM

'Twas maybe Crane Driver and Sussex Carol?

This just dawned on my when I went over my schedule: was Merle Roesler there? The Songwriters Showcase went straight into Scottish Songs without Merle's mini-concert, and I remember a button lying on the check-in table when I was leaving.

Skarpi surprised me as well. I thought he'd be good, but he was better than that. Truly a pro with a really great voice. Barry Finn, in full voice on a good day can stip paint at 50 paces if he has to. He did just fine at the Getaway - nobody needed paint stripped.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 01:22 PM

Janie, you're right, I remember now. My memory is a bit weird at best, but I can remember things (sometimes) when somebody reminds me....

Jeri, Merle couldn't make it after all. (Sob). She and Carly both sang at my very first Getaway (1977, maybe?) and I was -- gobsmacked? -- by their beautiful singing.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Celtaddict
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 01:49 PM

The folks who did the sound for the concerts also did a wonderful job. Those one-song-each shows can be nightmares of sound changes.
I don't know really who was FSGW and who was 'Cat though I know many are both. What an amazing deal we 'Catters have though that FSGW organizes this event and opens it to us! How do I volunteer to help from here?
Charley, I want to visit the volkshtetl some day! (Or night!)

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Amos
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 01:58 PM

Two out of a million dazzling moments: hearing Jeri's "WhenI Go", which she (amzing gal that she is) snatched off the radio and would not let escape until she owned it; and discovering from El Greko that the simplest sadnesses are sometimes the most overwhelming; I joined about thirty others in diving for the Kleenex by the time he finished his Christmas song for a departed mother. I swear this big, impressive hunk of a man has a heart of soft spun gold. Then there was the amazing performances from Wales which had me gobsmacked as well, and...the first five minutes was another miracle. I finally found this Hellangone back o'beyond after arriving at BWI hours late and feeling my way through the back-woods darkness on dwindling roads and marginal certainties. I was thrashed but excited to be there. I climbed down from my rental car and turned to see a figure looming up in the shadows. It was the man I had come so far to see more than any other single man, the Ole Skippuh himself.

I could not have started things on a better reception than that greeting in the shadows from ole Kendall his own self.

It went from new heights to newer heights thereafter.

I wish I could tell you-all how much it meant to me, but, in a rare and amazing Murphy Moment, I have to confess that words fail me. SNifff.


A

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:05 PM

I think you have them right, Jeri! Cranedriver and Sussex Carole. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Hope some one got them recorded!

Bobert's done gone and given everybody the sniffles. Quit yer sniffin' folks, and go blow them noses!

Love,

Mom

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Allan C.
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:20 PM

It was I who led the song that had the background of "Here we come. There we go." That was for the workshop for "songs you learned from someone else."

The "foreign songs" workshop was fabulous! Skarpi did a couple of great songs - one in Icelandic and I think the other was Norwegian. If memory serves, Charlie Baum sang in a language I had never heard of. The variety of languages represented there was amazingly diverse.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:52 PM

Um, excuse me, but I, too, mentioned the sterling qualities of an FSGW person -- Mia Boynton -- who doesn't even own a computer (let alone waste her time posting here), but obviously fills every spare minute with sturdy practising 'cause she's one fine musician.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Celtaddict
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:54 PM

You are right about the Foreign language songs. I knew Skarpi would be there so would hear Icelandic, and expected French and Spanish, and even those songs were from Brazil and Vera Cruz (with the typical quaver); also Italian, an older Slavik language, two different Hebrew rounds, Irish Gaelic (from two different singers; I was going to try one myself but the circle was large and fortunately I passed; two people would have spotted the fluffs), I think a German and I do not recall what else but I know there were more.
Also, who sang the heartstopping werewolf song near the start of the SpookyGrim? What was it? Wow.
And the woman who was not yet familiar with "On Ilkla Moor" was fun to watch; what a treat to see someone hear something good for the first time! I learned it as a simple children's song and the impromptu chorale was amazing.
I never would have thought string bass could sound so good. (Gutbucketeer? I can't say I have either 'Cat or other names down)
Another great moment was when someone at the Foreign Language circle sang a song South American fishermen use to call up the wind, and out of nowhere a brisk breeze sent the trees waving and the barn door slamming.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:57 PM

I missed so many workshops! I can't stand it!!!!!

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Allan C.
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 03:03 PM

Celtaddict, that was me, too. The song was "Curimao." To my amazement that song has conjured winds on a number of occasions.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 03:08 PM

Whoa. And I'll bet that I don't have it on minidisc. Might you be persuaded to post the lyrics, Allan?

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: CarolC
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 03:21 PM

This year, just about every time I thought I was talking to someone who was strictly FSGW and not at all Mudcat, I would then discover that I was talking to a Mudcatter without realizing it. I found out, for instance, that I have seen PaulineL at every Getaway I've attended, and just never connected the person with the screen name. There were quite a few people I saw, and some I spoke with, whose names I never learned and I have no way of knowing if they were just FSGW, just Mudcat, or if they were both. I see this as a good thing. I think it shows that the line of separation between FSGW people and Mudcatters is very insubstantial.

I am a bit dismayed to see quite a few names of Mudcatters (and/or Mudcat spouses) who were there, but whom I somehow missed getting a chance to meet.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Allan C.
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 03:55 PM

Ebbie, here are the narrative and lyrics in English and horrible Portuguese. I can't write Portuguese well enough to do it justice. So here it is minus the proper accent marks and possibly misspelled:

Off the north coast of Brazil there's an extensive fishing trade. Each day men go out in log boats to catch a fish known as Curimao in nets they throw by hand. They aren't always successful in catching this huge fish; but are nearly as glad to bring in one a little smaller known as Lambai.


Curimao

Vamos chamar o vento
Vamos chamar o vento
Oo-oo-oo

Vento que da na vela
Vela que leva a o barco
Barco que leva o gente
Gente que leva o peixe
E peixe que da dineiro
Curimao

Chorus:
Curimao hey Curimao ou Lambai
Curimao hey Curimao ou Lambai
Hey Curimao hey Curimao ou Lambai
Hey Curimao hey Curimao ou Lambai
Curimao

Come let us call the wind
Come let us call the wind
Oo-oo-oo

Wind come and fill the mainsail
Mainsail make my boat go
Boat go and carry my brothers
Brothers fish the waters
And waters bring us good fortune!
Curimao

Chorus

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Amos
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 03:57 PM

Alan:

If there's ever an MP3 of you singing that, I'd love to get a copy - or any other medium I could listen to it on.

Thanks, brother.


A

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 04:02 PM

Janie-

So is "Cranedriver" really Andrew McKay, the singersongwriter and concertina player from Swansea? I wasn't aware of his Mudcat name. And Sussex Carole is his fiancee, or are they already married?

Anyway, they were one of my favorite couples that sang last weekend.

Bill D-

Who is the bearded fellow in the blue-checkered shirt, near the front on the right inside aisle? He plays guitar and was part of our late night gang in the cabin earl-lye Sunday morning. He's almost as old as me.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: kendall
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 04:24 PM

Crane driver and Sussex Carole are due to marry in April.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Amos
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 04:33 PM

And a foine couple they are, too -- they both sing beuatifully, and they both have a fine hand at turning a song.

A

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Nessie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 04:35 PM

Still intoxicated with the spirit of the Getaway... So much warmth, talent, humour, diversity and generosity all in one too-short weekend. This audience member feels very much part of the family!

Nessie (aka Mrs El Greko)

hic

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 04:40 PM

Charlie--I assume they are one and the same er, two and the same? (or Kendall woulda set us straight.) I agree. Lovely, lovely music.

Janie

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:04 PM

Sorry I wasn't really in top form....felt like crap most of the w/e, had a HORRID headache Sat eve so went to bed about 7 PM or so. Also I was distracted by 'worries' that I should have been able to leave at home but couldn't.

Personally, I thought the food was lousy, the entire camp needs major maintenance, the director is a jerk, and some of you left really horrible messes in the dining hall.

Sorry, but I come from the Take only memories, leave only footprints school, and IMO, we left a LOT more than that. Just as well that the Getaway is planning to find a new venue, because after the mess I saw in the Dining Hall after meals and on Monday, they might not want us back.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:14 PM

I agree that the food was, shall we say, uninspired? I suspect that if the director and crew had made an effort to get us on his side we would have been more helpful to him and them. Ya gets what ya sends out.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:16 PM

Charley..I read that name badge 3 times on the checkered shirt fellow, but I forget! Will figure it out....

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Bobert
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:30 PM

As fir the food, I think Sgt. Billy Ballbuster was in charge of that, as well as being the rule guy... Bet he was the one who locked me outta the pool, too... Glad we're rumblin' on past Camp Tumbleweed next year...

Ahhhh, as fir my gardenin' buddy, Jeri, I'm sorry but I really wanted to spend some time with you... Seems I was always headed somewhere, plus had both a workshop and an mini-cocert to do and I kept seein' you thinkin' that Sunday night I'd finally be able to share some gardenin' stories, then I calll the P-Vine and she is sick as a dog, so I beat feet home to make her tea...

Sorry, Jeri... I really wanted to have some time wid ya... Sniff...

Sho nuff did...

Bobert

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:30 PM

Sorry, Ebbie, that is no excuse in my book. We don't need to lower ourselves.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: CET
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:47 PM

I think the werewolf song (or shapechanger, the species of beast is left to the imagination) was from Sue Mathieu. I understand that she may be recording some of her repertoire of ballads. That will be a CD worth looking for.

The food was definitely less than 2nd rate, but I didn't get such a negative feeling about the director. There were rules. He was obliged to tell us about them, so I didn't take it amiss.

Edmund

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 05:54 PM

Well, in my opinion the salmon entre Saturday evening was actually quite good. The chicken was good. The roast beef looked awful but one didn't have to choose it. In general I think the kitchen crew did a reasonable job, even if they were a little surly. They were particularly pleased that Amos showed up for his early Monday morning breakfast but were rather pissed that no one else who requested an early breakfast materialized.

I didn't notice much of a mess but I wasn't in the dinning room for a late night inspection.

There was regrettably no recycling options available for plastics, bottles, or cans. It would be nice if this were an option for next year. I suppose I should have taken more of my empties back with me to Maine and cashed them in.

I'm pleased that so much of the area was smoke free, although I noted that some folks at the barn workshop lighted up around the big open door oblivious to the wind blowing the smoke in.

But I had a great time and only regret that it couldn't have continued on for a week or two longer!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:00 PM

The director...the big cheese...has been 'pretty' reasonable for 5 years. The little Sgt. has his own interpretation of the rules, unless the Boss tells him specifically what to do.

This camp caters to a WIDE variety of eccentrics...from nudists to SCA folk...etc., and they adjust by being a bit inflexible on some subjects *grin*....The food has been better, and could have been ok this year with just a little better preparation. The morning bacon was not up to previous years..perhaps they had different suppliers or cooks..*shrug* (Several years ago, Rick Fielding complemented it as being WAY above some camps he has met!)

Some things were fine...some were borderline....but we sorta survived!

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:01 PM

Charley, I thought the stuffing on the salmon was great- delicate flavor but crunchy. The salmon itself was so blatantly farmed fish that I wished there was someone to whom I could strongly suggest making the effort to get wild salmon. The difference between the two is quite remarkable.

The chicken was gone by the time I got there- but I was told that we were informed that the choice given us was EITHER/OR chicken or beef. I sincerely hope that the greenish tint to the roast beef was because of herbs! *G*

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:15 PM

The 'good' salmon would have raised the cost of the weekend 20%, I'd bet...*grin*...and would YOU have trusted that staff with top-notch salmon? (Alaska Mike has brought good smoled salmon for Friday night a couple of times! YUM!)

Many years ago, even before my time, the Getaway used to survived on hot dogs and beans and cheap salads, I have heard. The only really great times were the years we hired Debby McClatchy to do the food...and even then there were menus that pleased some and irritated others.....me, I don't like meals based on large amounts of onion and eggs...but, I'm from Kansas.........

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:22 PM

As to the "chicken OR beef," we ask to have all registrations in by about October 5, and we had 145 people by that day. That is the day we need to tell the camp how much food to order.

In the final 2 weeks, we went up to 170 people. The camp let us keep adding people, but they couldn't work miracles with loaves and fishes and I guess it was a bit tight by Sunday. But we really preferred to let everybody come who wanted to, rather than have a bit fancier or more plentiful food.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: lamarca
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:28 PM

Ebbie, the farmed salmon was topped with surimi - fake crab - which goes right along with the "Cheap Food to Feed the Masses" approach of the camp. I thought the naked hamburgers and hotdogs with stale buns for Saturday lunch were pretty awful. This is where I REALLY miss the Good Old Days of the Getaway, pre-camp Ramblewood, when Debby McClatchy, banjo picker and cook extraordinaire, was hired to cater the Getaway. She had imaginative, tasty, affordable meals for a crowd, crafted over her long years of cooking for dance camps, the Bay Area Getaway, etc.

Everyone who attended the Getaway had to sign up for 2-3 hrs kitchen duty sometime over the whole weekend, which led to Carrot-Chopping Shanties, Chicken Puppet dances (don't ask, it's disgusting) and other communal activities that helped make the work more fun. I'm hoping that perhaps the new camp will allow us to do our own food again, and that Debby would be willing to come back from the Left Coast to organize it!

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:43 PM

Every now and again I hark back to the days when I used to camp out. I did my own cooking and -trust me- the food was not that great. I really don't care much about the variety. The judicious applicaton of some seasonings on individual items would not come amiss, however, and without great additional expense. But I expect you are right- taste buds differ.

Bill D, I don't know if you got any of the three pounds of smoked wild salmon KT and I brought? Last year we added two pounds to AlaskaMike's store (And ssssshhhhh- a Juneau friend of ours makes the stuff we brought, unlike the store-bought salmon Mike brought. humph. *G* Incidentally, don't anybody yump down my t'roat- Mike himself told me that he bought his at a store.)

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Bobert
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 06:47 PM

Well, not to be complainin' but there are folks, myself included, who don't eat red meat... Other than the chicken/fish night, the rest of the meals were slim pickin's... Thank God fir the salad bar, though...

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:20 PM

Welll...on the chicken or night, I chose chicken...it was bloody in the middle. Took it back, fussed, got another piece. It was bloody too so I was a veggie for the night...I can't eat fish. Overcooked, dried out burgers and cold stiff buns don't cut it.

I AM a cook and a caterer too....have fed multitudes many times. The food was, IMO, inexcuseable.

So is a toilet that won't flush at 2 AM (yea, so we told them the next day...that doesn't help at 2 AM), sinks that don't drain, showers that run either HOT or cold but not both...

Still no excuse for the mess I saw on Monday AM.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Amos
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:22 PM

Well, Sorcha as for top form, I was out of that shape after Friday night, which as I recall ended about sunrise; and it kinda got shaggier and funnier from then on forard. But I must say that taking the waves as they came, and making th emost of it, was by a long shot the best attitude I could find and it seemed to work purdy well!

A

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:40 PM

I agree with you, Amos. By the way, it was such fun to see you have such fun! I wasn't at all surprised that you are an excellent guitarist and a great singer but it hadn't occurred to me that you would leap in with both feet as though Camp Ramblewood was just what you were expecting. It was great.

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:47 PM

Enough about food already (said the fat omnivore); I see that as a "maintenance" factor at events like the getaway, and not for prime consideration - though if it really is terrible I accept that it can detract from the overall enjoyment.

Me, I'd have enjoyed the event just as much with a couple of slices of bread and a hunk of cheese for each and every meal. But that's just me (a cheeseaholic omnivore). Non-working toilets are more of a problem, but then things do break down now and then, and the timing often follows Murphy's Law. So I shrug shoulders, shout "kismet" and move on to the next toilet, or even better, the next session.

I know I am being a little flippant here, and don't take me to task on it, but don't you find that sometimes a little hardship aids the camaraderie? By all means let's try for better next year, but also let's not allow such things to detract from what was still a magical weekend.

Even if some of the magic was slightly odorous or under/overcooked :-)

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:48 PM

So the food was worse than it had been in the past. The price is right for the Getaway. I, for one, don't want the job of locating camps who will take all of us wild banshee types. And I don't attend the Getaway because of the prospect of good eats. (Or a decent mattress, for that matter. Not only were they woarn out, when everyone in the cabin rolled over, it sounded like popping corn and woke me up from my sweet snoring!) Shared travails bring us closer, eh?

Jeri--how come I didn't know you are a gardener? You been holdin' out on me, girl! I demand pm's about the joys of diggin' in the dirt and gardening in the North vs. the South. Sheez!

And Bobert--stop that sniffin'--go to doctor, boy. You done infected half of mudcat!

xxoo,

Janie

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: InOBU
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:51 PM

Hiya Kiddies... I started putting some comments on the Mudcat Gathering Photos on the Mudcat Flickr site... so I invite others to post comments when you see a photo with no name on it, click on the photo, add a comment, then folks will know who is who and you can leave as many words thereafter as possible... like photo of Greg... Skipjack, you can post a comment under the photo saying, Greg - Skipjack, loved the singing, good backup band, that sort of thing...
Cheers Lor

Subject: RE: 2005 Getaway Reflections Here...
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:55 PM

Sigh! If I wanted a quiet weekend and a gourmet meal I certainly would not have decided to go to the Getaway. Good lord! Certainly the salmon we had in the Pacific Northwest was fantastic. And we even have folks in Maine that prepare food better than the kitchen crew at Camp Ramblewood.

However, I was there primarily to make music and meet some other folks who shared that archane wish.

Sorcha- I'm sorry that it was such an unpleasant experience for you.

Charley Noble, with the iron stomach

PS

If it wriggles or is bloody I don't eat it!