bluegrass re-entry

Well, I've been meaning to get a post up here before now, but life happens, so I was a tad surprised to discover I've not posted for lo these many months.

Where to begin?
The winter was a long and cold one, and I got a beast of a new stove over Christmas while Alex and brother Pete were here, Pete with a Navy buddy who is also a mormon*--Lynn got to reading on that whole thing while we were en rotue to or from Annapolis, where lad Peter is currently, a plebe no more. The stove burnt up about 3 chords of wood, just from the holidays to now, but we were glad we had it; the man cave was actually too warm for habitation most of the winter hehe.

The last time I wrote on this blog I had just seen Pete after basic.

Tempus fuggedaboutit, I guess.

So the winter passed, and I had some chance to play and learn some tunes on the mando, more or less...finished my coursework for the doctorate...w00t! And am working on the dissertation, which I dropped off today.

that was like dropping off a load of wood. A big load!
I was up to WindGap a few weekends ago for their sleep-over shin-dig. Rich and I got there on Saturday, cause it was raining like a dog Friday. Weather was perfect and Rich had a really nice grille set-up that the perfessor from work set up. Grilled meat and drank carbonated non-citrus-flavored adult beverages and played a bit of music, but mostly just sat around camp and jawed, which was very cool, as I had not done that sort of thing much the last year or two, being busy with the schoolwork.

We racked out about one in the morning, heater working like a champ and hot and cold running water..sweet! Last thing I remember was Rich saying he had sausages, pork, venison and steak...potatoes and chips...and he was hungry for chicken, which I had forgotten!

the next morning damned if Rich doesn't wake up and say he hears 'coons, even though I was pretty sure I had secured the food, then a minute later he says:


Big chickens! And there they were, two roosters and a half dozen hens out in our camp, clucking and then eventually crowing their heads off at six freakin thirty

But it was cool. Broke camp and dropped the camper off at around 9, then home to work on my writing and some chicken wings hehe...

Mando is coming along, and I've played at cheap jobs; played at Borders last weekend for a book signing, where I met some very nice people--hiya Tom and Gail from Millville or Milton or wherever you were from in PA..
it was nice meeting you all.
This weekend is kinda goof-around time, maybe take a couple trees out and dice 'em up before the poison ivy gets too far along.
Weekend after I'll be up in Tunkhannock for Danny Steward's Festival, playing Sunday--a gospel set and another in the early afternoon. I was gonna head up on friday night right after school, but Mill Creek scratched so I am not playing there....

and I'll play Kettle Creek again for the 17th time, God be praised!!
As a mandolin player. nannner nanner! *L*
*they had an eye-talian angel in that book of mormon, name of maroni, that would be beaunie's brother of an angel, and eveybody knows they are eye-talian.