Robin June Nakkula

05:17 pm: Abstract / Precis / Synopsis
I'm a medical researcher who got a Master's Degree at the Ohio State Univerisity and hasn't been able to move back to Michigan. (Call me a Spartan, not a Buckeye!) I've been a science fiction fan and filker and pet rat owner for several decades, and at the Date Out of Order above, I will have been married to my displaced-farmer husband Alan for as long as we were engaged (not his fault! I'M taking the responsibility for that one.) I've had enough varied life experiences (which I don't usually talk about until the topic comes up in conversation) that I'm constantly amazing and blindsiding even the friends who have known me for years.

Tags: myhistory

10:32 pm: Marcon & Miscellaneous
Got back from Marcon yesterday. Wangled the iMac away from Alan just today. Finished unbankrupting the pants just now. You get the picture.

Fun. Lots & lots of fun, got to see many old friends: so many I'm hesitant to list them, as I'm Sure I will forget to mention someone. Despite that, here goes:
I was looking forward to seeing peteralway & bigbumble; Pete got me a copy of the CD tribute to Dave tnatj that he put my song on, and that will give me a chance to hear the other folks' such songs again. I got to see exapno and catsittingstill and billroper and catalana; also archiver_tim, braider (Well, she's local to me, but still ...), filkertom, infobits, lavenderbard(we waved in passing), markbernstein, marklafon (who apparently filled in all the panel slots that my missing the panelist deadline left vacant-sorry!), mrgoodwraith, msteries and Lady Elaine, old_fortissimo for the first time WAY TOOO LONG, Dagnabbit! (GOT to ensure that that doesn't happen again!), scs_11, and singingpatient (I owe you a Waffle House Story), and qnvhrtz.
Got Totally Blown Away by "Dream of A Far Light" as done by min0taur, Sally, tollers, sweetmusic_27, Jennifer, and judifilksign.
(if you saw me at the con, feel free to comment. If you saw me but I didn't list your name here, Please Do comment.)

Got to write 2 new songs & premiere 3 new songs. (A Welcome Change after a toooo-loooong dry spell.)

Stayed at the hotel, even though this year that trick is NOT saving us from the traffic jelly that will be the Dublin Memorial Golf Tournament this week. ( I remember the year before we started taking hotel rooms, driving home to Dublin in the wee hours, and hearing on the BBC radio, all the way from England via local NPR, how Tiger Woods had played a mile north from me).

Brought pizza and salad home to Kodiak Rat as a bribe to get her to forgive me for leaving her alone (the hotel rejected non-assistance animals). She forgave me.

Tags: davealway, filk, marcon, music, peteralway, rat, travel, writer's block

08:01 pm: Lansing! My old stomping grounds.
Didn't post before since I'm always afraid before any planned trip that something will ruin the plans, but Alan and I managed to get up to Lansing, Michigan, our old home before Ohio. His job has him up here for almost a month, and I came up for a week's vacation and to get him settled in before I take the good car away for a while.

Tomorrow I hit Elderly Instruments and Michigan State University (get to play the role of the visiting alumna) and Martin Luther Chapel. (The people at my current church get this non-understanding look on their faces when I talk about going back to MLC, both those whose surnames are on the old sanctuary & the roads hereabout, i.e., been members all their lives, and those who moved here from other churches.)

Tags: michigan, travel

10:30 am: My first captioning
Okay, I admit, I do find these funny...





Until I can get the picture to show, here's the link:
http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=908851

Apropos of current ephemera:
Today, we do my bandmate's daughter's wedding. A week from today, we do our best man's wedding: Bob & Amy. A week and a half after that, Alan goes to work in Lansing for 3-4 weeks, and I drive him up and take some vacation IN LANSING!!!!! ( I have MISSED that town!)

Taxes? Laundry? Hah! You jest!

Tags: alan, rat, travel, wedding

04:30 pm: Semi-annual classical guitar ensemble concert
Just about to leave for the concert -- wishing that I had advertised this sooner:




“A JUST POST-WINTER EVENING OF GUITAR
MUSIC”
with the members’ ensemble of the Columbus Guitar Society
Waverly Wilkerson, Director
8:00pm, Saturday, 29 March 2008 at
Capital University’s Huntington Recital Hall, Bexley
Admission is free!
As always, You are cordially invited!
For info: www.columbusguitarsociety.org or 614-561-9204

Tags: cgs, classical, concert

09:07 pm: Writer's Block: Stolen Goods


A 12 string Martin Shenandoah guitar. The second time it was stolen, it didn't come back, but I had insurance by then, and was able to replace it with a better Martin 12-string.

Tags: stolen goods, writer's block

10:44 am: It's snowing outside . . .
. . . but it sounds like rain. I don't think that's a good thing.

Went outside to shovel the path from the back door across the back yard and parking lot to the church, just in case some of the Scioto Methodist Mens' Basketball club showed up to use our church's gym (that they rent Saturday mornings, and Alan or I have to unlock for them). The closer I got to the church door, the more and more apparent it was just how unlikely it was that they were going to arrive. I left off at the knee-high drift in front of the church porch; there'll be mechanized plowers later this weekend who can tackle that.

Although, Murphy's Law holds that if I had made this assumption before I left the house, the men would have been thronging the parking lot, and I would have been unprepared.



Why is it that the most shovellable snow waits to falls for me until the month of March? No matter what latitude I'm at?

Tags: snow

01:17 pm: Star Wars, as retold by a 3-year-old (!)
Don't know if anyone else on my friendslist has found & posted this yet (I haven't been on here in, oh, 14 hours or so), but I found this on Facebook, and Alan and I both laughed and found it amazing.





Enjoy!

Tags: science fiction

07:08 pm: Sorry to miss ConFusion after all.
Well, I WAS going to have a concert slot at Confusion this weekend. Friday night, right after a themed filk ("Music of Middle Earth") that would have matched the largest, oldest portion of my Rolling File Cabinet of filkbooks from the Michigan State University Tolkien Fellowship.

I was looking forward to it since I had had to give GAFilk a pass. avt_tor was very kind to get me back on the program participants' list (Alan and I slipped off it somehow last year).

However, today I received notice that my pastor's funeral and visiting hours will be this Friday and Saturday.

Pastor David Reimann was my neighbor, the officiant at our wedding(*), my bandleader, and a friend I've know for 16 years. I don't have any more details about his death, but it's a logical result of the double whammy of his returned cancer and his heavy work schedule this past month of December.

A normal month at our church has 8 services to: plan, to select and delegate and rehearse the music, to prepare and compose the text and the visuals, and finally to stand up and give the liturgy and/or sermon. 10 services, in a month with 5 Sundays. This past December, there were 16 services. I had joined the video projection team as a substitute and filler-inner for when there weren't enough of the regular guys to cover all the services; I programmed and ran the video board for 5 of those services, and watched as the pace ground down both me and Pastor Dave.

I didn't fall down, like I had eight years ago at Christmas Eve late service, but I could feel it in my muscles, starting to creep up again. PD didn't fall down, but I could tell he was hurting worse than me, and that shocked me. He took a leave of absence for health reasons a week and a half ago, but it wasn't enough.

Again, apologies to those people who won't get to see me this con weekend, and keep us in your prayers.



(*)The 108-year-old tiny church sanctuary, at the back of the user icon, behind my guitars, is where Pastor Dave married Alan and me in 1995.


Tags: absentfriends, alan, christmas, church, dublin, pastordave

04:53 pm: Merry Christmas, Blessed Holiday-closest-to-your-own-heart.


(I borrowed this from the OVFF image library)

In less than an hour, I'm headed over to church (*) for both Christmas Eve services: 7 PM will be the orchestral service, with one song played by me, my guitar, and the contemporary band: "Born Tonight," written by Denver and the Mile-High Orchestra.

(* the wee thing in the background of this user icon)


Then, with barely a few minutes to catch one's breath, we bug out, break down, and reassemble for the 10 PM service, with handbells and many, many choir pieces for me to help sing.

Tags: christmas, church, music

07:24 am: "We're on our way, packed up our pack . . ."
Final packing to drive up to Michigan solo for the House Sing in Ann Arbor, MI.

Going up early to have enough rest to get /g/o/o/d/ better-than-otherwise versions on tape of the songs I wrote for & with Dave Alway.


As Mom used to sing before long trips:

"We're on our way, (we're on our way),
"Packed up our packs, (packed up our packs),
"And if we stay (and if we stay)
"We won't come back. (we won't come back).

"How can we go?
"We haven't got a dime,
"but we're goin',
"And we're gonna hava happy time!"

Sung by the Andrews sisters
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/a/andrewsisters8644/cuantolegusta295029.html
(and most probably by my mom, back when she was the front vocalist for a local Big Band.)

Written by by Gabriel Ruiz & Ray Gilbert
http://www.alligatorboogaloo.com/uke/tabs/050225.html
(this I gotta learn, but probably when I get a round TUIT.)

Tags: davealway, filk, filkcomposition, peteralway, travel

10:31 am: The Calm before the WhirlWind that is OVFF
OVFF starts tonight for me: I'll be the concom member starting the Fetal Puppy Filk. All you folks here on line who came up with that moniker for the Early Bird sing on Thursday night, you should have heard the surprise and uproar when I stuck it in PR2 and thereby introduced it to most of the rest of the concom!

I have rehearsal and packing to do myself, even though the hotel is just a few minute's drive away.

A note for local navigation: Avery Road, the north/south route at the US-33 exit west of Interstate 270, still goes through, north of the highway, to all the shops and restaurants, but south of the interchange, the road is blocked until after the con. Dublin has become enamoured of rotaries, and is installing them hither and yon, both where they are and where they are not needed. Having grown up on the Gateway to Cape Cod, I can recognize a useful traffic circle. Some of these ain't it.

Tags: ovff

09:13 pm: OVFF Progress Report 2


Crowne Plaza Columbus - Dublin Hotel
Columbus, OH
(same hotel, different name)


October 26-28, 2007

Ohio Valley
Filk Fest 23

All Dorsai.
All the time.

From the /F/e/t/a/l/ /P/u/p/p/y/ Early Bird Filk on Thursday night to the Dead Dog circle(s?) on Sunday night, join us for a weekend of musical fun and excitement!

• Excellent guests!
• Pegasus Awards Concert & Banquet!
• Song contests!
• Workshops!
• Theme Filks!
• Yoga!
• Too many exclamation points!!!

Programming

Concerts
We have a fabulous lineup of concerts this year. Moonwulf is our Guest of Honor, Marty Coady Fabish will grace us as Mistress of the Toast, and Interfilk is sending Ellen “Blade” McMicking on sortie. Steve and Dortha Biernesser will perform. Also, to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary Bill and Brenda Sutton will be providing us with a concert, and a reception in the con suite as well (they were married at OVFF). Anyone with memories, photographs, et cetera, is requested to bring them to the con.

Pegasus Nominees Concert
On Friday night at 8-ish we host the Pegasus Nominees concert at which all of the songs nominated for the Pegasus Awards will be performed, giving everyone a chance to hear them before voting.

Songwriting Contests
Two awards this year – one for Judge’s Choice, one for People’s Choice. Also, two contests!
Traditional Contest (Saturday) Topic: No Sh**, There I Was. Tell us your tall tales, using original lyrics and either original or existing music. Iron Filker (Sunday) : The topic and format will be announced on Friday at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

One-Shots/Twofers
Slots are selected by drawing – signup deadlines are midnight Friday night for the Saturday slots, and Saturday by 6 PM for Sunday slots.

Pegasus Awards Banquet
The Pegasus Awards Banquet is an elegant (or not-so-elegant) dinner at which the winners of the Pegasus Awards are announced. Limited number of tickets are available.

Kids’ Pizza Party
There is a free children’s pizza party for children during the Pegasus Banquet. Simply sign up at registration and drop your child off at the pizza party on your way to the banquet

(Fetal Puppy) Early Bird Filk
A number of con members have been showing up at the hotel on Thursday night. We have arranged with the hotel to have an open filk room for an Early Bird Filk. Note that water will not be provided – just the room. If you do arrive early, please consider gophering to help set up the con suite.

Interfilk Auction
This year heralds the return of the ever-popular Interfilk Auction. Come support the spread of filk!

Theme Filks
Theme filks are circles with a particular theme. Most of the time slots can be signed up for on a first-come, first-served basis at the registration desk.

Memorial Filk
To commemorate those we’ve lost from the songcircle, this past year and also before. Bring your songs, poems, stories, and memories. Friday night between the Pegasus Nominees Concert and the Open Filk.

Chamberfilk will not take place this year.

Dead Dog Filk
Sing until the last filker drops. We’ve been known to have 70+ people at this unofficial final filk!

Workshops
Mountain Dulcimer run by Peter Alway
Peter has a workshop on how to play the mountain (lap) dulcimer. He has a few, but if you could bring any of your own to OVFF that would be appreciated. Handouts for music will be supplied.

Washtub Bass run by Bob Passovoy
The ever-talented Dr. Bob has offered to show how to make a washtub bass with a few common tools, and (time permitting) a short lesson on how to play. Materials provided. Limited space. Signups at Registration.

Beginning Voice run by Mark Bernstein
Mark will be doing a beginning voice class for 12 lucky people … all will sing, and please no audience (less stress for the class).

Performance run by Marty Coady Fabish
Marty will lead a workshop on how to get the most out of a perfromance.

Songwriting and DADGAD run by Michael “Moonwulf” Longcor
Wulf will lead a workshop on songwriting and what DADGAD tuning on a guitar can do to expand your options.

Yoga run by Mary Crowell & Teresa Powell
Mary and Teresa will lead the popular morning yoga workshops again this year. Bring your yoga mat if you have one.

More workshops in the offing . . .

Children’s Programming
Children's Programming will be available throughout the con with all the usual favorite activities: pool parties, a treasure hunt and 
games.

We would like to make parents aware that on Friday evening 
there will be a Dormouse's Tea-party that children may wish to attend instead of the Mad Hatter's Tea-party. Participants in the 
Dormouse's Tea-party are encouraged to bring a small friend (stuffed
animal, toy, or doll), but like the Mad Hatter Tea-party, hats *are*
required. Friends who don't bring their own will get stuck wearing
one of ours.

RPGs for Teens
On Friday at 8-ish and on Saturday, Bruce Coulson will run roleplaying games for teens.

Also on Saturday evening during the Pegasus Banquet will be the Kid’s Pizza Party: details at the left.

Conveniences
Scooters for the mobility impaired
We are working to make scooters available for the weekend to the mobility-impaired. Rental fee is approximately $150/weekend, price confirmed later, Call 614-451-3154 by October 1, 2007 to reserve one.

Hotel
Crowne Plaza Columbus – Dublin Hotel
600 Metro Place North
Dublin, OH 43017
614-764-2200 / 800-Holiday
Room Rates (breakfast buffet for 2 included):
1-4 people: $90/night
Mention OVFF when you make your reservation!
Shuttle: Please note that the Crowne Plaza does not have an airport shuttle. However, there are independent airport shuttle services to the Dublin area. For details, call 614-868-8888. These shuttles are not affiliated with either the hotel or the convention.



Dublin, Ohio, USA at the northwest corner of Columbus.
★ = Crowne Plaza Columbus – Dublin Hotel and OVFF

Memberships
Adult memberships are $30 until October 15, 2007, and $40 at the door. Children’s memberships (ages 12 and under) are $5 until 10/15/07 and $10 at the door. Toddlers-in-tow are admitted free. “In-tow” means the child is with an adult responsible for them at ALL TIMES. Our dealers’ room is sold out. To be wait-listed, please call Larry Smith at 614-442-1010). Tickets to the Pegasus Awards Banquet are $25 prereg, $30 at the door. There is no children’s banquet rate; however, children who are convention members are welcome to attend the free Kids’ Pizza Party.


Options:
Adult memberships at $30
Child memberships at $5
Pegasus Awards Banquet Tickets at $25

Please let us know:
Total $ enclosed

Name

Address

City, St, Zip

Phone
Name as you want it to appear on your badge:


For more than one membership, list all names, badge names, and addresses separate sheet.

Volunteering

__ I am interested in gophering at OVFF.

__ I am interested in being on OVFF concom.

Contact Information
Mail to: OVFF
3824 Patricia Dr.
Columbus, OH 43220-4913
Phone: 614-451-3154
Email: OVFF@ovff.org
Website: http://www.ovff.org

Tags: dublin, filk, ovff, pr2

11:26 pm: Classical Guitar and mandolin concert
Okay, no pretty graphics this time . . .

Saturday Sept 15 at 8 PM, in Capital University’s Huntington Recital Hall, Bexley, (embedded in south-eastern Columbus), Ohio, U. S. of A.

The Columbus Guitar Society will present

“A SUMMER EVENING OF GUITAR MUSIC”
with the members’ ensemble of the Columbus Guitar Society
Waverly Wilkerson, Director.

The program will include classical and contemporary pieces for nylon-string guitars, in ensemble, and small groups.

euge_o_rama, Andy Ruzicho, Tom Pryor and I will also be participating in our Mandolin Quartetto Romantico.

Since it is our annual pre-season fundraiser, there is a $5 general admission, waived for those with a Capital Univ. ID

I don't feel ready, but then again, that's been the case ever since I joined in August 2001, just one month (ulp!) before the concert.

Tags: cgs, classical, concert, guitar, mando

01:32 am: Dublin your pleasure, Dublin your fun


Random concepts from the Dublin Irish Festival in Ohio, ("the Heart of It All"), U.S. of A.:

When planning for the festival, make sure your musical instrument is portable. The portable-er, the better. The festival grounds have expanded yet again, so there is more ground to cover, in hotter heat.

A sign of a well-miked and well-amplified bodhrain is that you can hear the drumbeat resonating in your throat.

The best bargain on beverage is still the Giant Ice Tea. Your first $4 gets you a quart (scant liter) in a styrofoam cup. Refills in the cup cost $2. We bought ours on Friday, brought back the empty cups on Saturday for more, and plan to do the same thing on Sunday tomorrow.

We spent most of the day at the Music Exhibits tent for the instrument makers/vendors, helping out Bob Tedrow, who made Alan's concertina (that we bought a year ago at the festival). Bob is up from Alabama, but this year his wife and daughter couldn't come along to spell him at "huckster's table" duties, so we've been doing so.

Got to see braider's band Aisling (okay, Mary, just how is that supposed to be pronounced? I don't see an "h" after the "s.") Their new album came out, and while the tracks are audible on their MySpace page, it's a whole different dimension of interest when you get to see the fingers moving on the fretboards live before your very eyes.

Also got to see Karl Wohlwend's band Knot Fibbin'. Karl is a local guitar genius, who helped to found the classical Columbus Guitar Society that I belong to, plays out Celtic-ly with Knot Fibbin', and also I've been told he has a regular rock 'n roll band whose name escapes me now.

Fun today; more fun tomorrow after my morning gig (contemporary service at church: STILL looking for another guitarist who want to cover for me on those weekends that I want to go away. It's a volunteer gig, which explains why it's taken so long for any replacement to step up.

Tags: dublin, irish fest

09:08 pm: We've lost Liz Gross
Dr. Elizabeth Gross died today (Friday June 27, 2007) after losing a battle of almost a fortnight in a local hospital. Details as they become available.

Liz was the reason that I relocated from Michigan to Ohio, with an offer of a berth in her newly-reconstituted Biophysics graduate school program. Unfortunately, the last time she caught site of me in the hallways of the Biological Sciences Building, I don't think she recognized me.


UPDATE: Visiting hours are on Sunday July 1st from 2 to 4PM and 6 to 8PM at Schoedinger Worthington Chapel.
( Directions )
Funeral service will be Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, "on" the Ohio State University campus.
( Directions and link )

Tags: absentfriends

12:34 am: And I thought it was only a zucchini joke....
You remember that joke:

A guy decided to drive into town and tossed his accordion in the back seat of the car. Once he got there, he stopped to run a errand before heading on to where he was going to play. Upon returning to his car his heart froze in terror -- Oh, no! In this sleepy little town on this warm summer day, he had forgotten to lock the car!

He approached and peered in the side window with trepidation --

Sure enough, on the carseat next to his accordion were now two more!


Well, something like that happened to my hubby Alan Friday at work. He'd been taking in the concertina to practice on during lunch break, so a coworker brought him a suitcase and said that he knew more about this than she did, so he should take it. It's a piano keyboard accordion (so he's said; he hasn't opened it to let me see for myself yet) that was made in the Detroit suburb of Warren. Alan's not sure that it's a permanent gift.

Brian Peters is touring this side of The Pond, giving Anglo concertina concerts & workshops, and we had a choice of Alan either catching him in Lansing (next state over) next Saturday or in Cincinnati (2 hours away) on a weeknight. Elderly Instruments on the Saturday would have been fun, but more expensive with the motel room tossed in, and whatever I bought while Alan was busy, so he opted for the weeknight gig. THEN he told me that there was a preliminary Beginner's workshop held this Saturday by the fellow hosting Brian's on Thursday. Okay, so I pack up the portable busywork and forget the gardening for the day.

Mapquest managed to get us there with only a few moments of lostness, and deposited us at the historic Columbia Baptist Church. There was a number of groups of people there gathered for various music projects. The concertina workshop was in the "old nave" narthex, and a group held an Irish session right on the altar stage in the sanctuary! I looked around for unused acoustical space and found a room not currently in use. I had taken my classical guitar & my ensemble pieces, and got much of my neglected parsing of it done (I have to mark up my music bigtime to be able to sightread, er. learn that stuff for the semiannual concerts). I also took my 1922 Style B Martin mandolin, which several people wanted to see. Alan got a lot of positive feedback about the amount of progress he's made since he bought the high-quality Tedrow concertina, and he's got high hopes for keeping up with the coming workshop.
I can't go, I have rehearsal. (Also, some unused bumper stickers that say this.)

Tags: alan, squeezebox

04:03 pm: Easter Snow Filk
Got up early this morning to sing in the choir for both church services: 7 AM and 9:30 PM, special times for Easter (compared with the usual 8 or 10:45AM). I still call it "Oh-dark-hundred Hours," even though it's nowhere near as bad as the year I still lived a half-hour drive away, first service was at 6:30, warm-up time was 6 AM, and Daylight Savings timechange kicked in to boot: I had a meltdown and we almost didn't make it that year.

Anyway, this year at 6:30 AM I walked out the back door to cross the backyard and the parking lot to get to church (much easier), and noticed the snow on our lawn, and what had survived in our square-foot garden from last season, and the little tray of Jiffy-7's of broccoli etc. sitting in the minigreenhouse waiting to be inserted into Block 8. And I started singing new words to the "big, new" song we had done last Christmas.

Easter Snow Filk

TTTO "See amid the Winter's Snow," words by E. Caswell, Music by John Goss, arranged by David Willcocks (c) 1961 Oxford University Press

See, beneath the Easter snow,
Kale and collards try to grow;
Cabbage, coles in greenhouse lie,
Waiting for the frost to die.

Hail, thou ever blessed morn;
Hail, Redemption's happy dawn;
While we dress in pastel things,
Plants in stasis wait for spring.



The original has a line that I've written over that ran "See the tender Lamb appears, Promis'd from eternal years." Of course it referred to Jesus, but it always made me think of lamb dinner. Ahhhh.
Gosh, I miss Passover Seders.



I'm not sure why I decided to post this when I missed logging:

Sunday March 11, the day after Dave's Memorial (fun I wished didn't have to end)

Saturday March 17, the Columbus Guitar Society members' ensemble concert (the ensemble pieces were diverse, modern and fun; my solo guitar and singing of "Slane" was shaky until the hour before, but I think I may have pulled it off; and the Mandolin Quartetto Romantico triumphed bigtime)

Sunday April 1, Palm Sunday AND contemporary band service (at the 10:45AM service, I reprised tarkrai Steve Macdonald's song "Palms," this time besides me and my 12 string, I added Dave Tyack on bass and Pastor Dave on keyboard, so it wasn't quite the solo effort that it was back in 2004. Next time, I'll try to add harmonies for the singers.)

Tags: filkcomposition

11:50 pm: Celebration and Regrets: PiecesParts the Second
The Harp:
Dave had dabbled in many instruments, and he had a Herb David metal-strung lap harp made from a kit. He had given it to Margie Price on "permanent loan," but it came back to him when she was lost to ovarian cancer at the untimely age of 35. He offered the harp to me on the same basis (as well as the hammer dulcimer) while we were living in Lansing, during the last of the gaps when our upstairs bedrooms weren't filled with a family of a single mom and her kids. When Alan & I moved down to Columbus for grad school for me, we decided against keeping the hammer dulcimer, but took the harp.

( Further harping on the subject )

Tags: absentfriends, davealway

11:13 pm: Celebration and Regrets: Dave Alway's Memorial and Farewell Party
Earlier this evening Alan and I got back from western Michigan and Dave's memorial / Fen 'n Filk.

It was a mixture of complete highs and lows: fun, astounding sights, and the frequent sharp pangs of "this is the last time for this, here at Glimmerglass."

On the other hand, the fellowship with everyone there, and the deepening friendship and interactions with Bob and Peter were healing and good.

( Details in here )

Tags: absentfriends, davealway