Pondfilk report

( Loooong post follows, it is to be hoped with pictures  )

  and runnerwolf  sat on rocks and took in the view.

I got a SCIENCE! lesson.


This stuff?  Jeffrey tells me is bullwhip seaweed, the stuff from which scientists make agar, the stuff you put in petri dishes so that bacteria will eat and grow!  He used a handy-dandy pocket knife to cut off ends and show me the interior.  It was not slimy on the outside, it was slimy on the inside.  He was able to get a horn-like sound out of it, but it wasn't loud.  I called to the people on the lookout above to light the bonfires to warn Gondor, but they were oblivious.

I spent a large part of the afternoon plucking out melodies from the Echo's Children songbook on classic guitar.  And people sang along, so I did pretty well.  jeffreycornish played along with me on dulcimer, and jerilynn (I think) on flute, and this moment may be one of the happiest of my entire weekend.

I spent a lot of this con in odd spots, really *talking* with people, deepening friendships and exchanging stories.

When I went to bed late, late on Saturday night/ Sunday morning, my head had no sooner touched the pillow than I thought about how amazingly happy I was.  And a little tune popped into my head, and swirled about.  I squeezed out my door, dashed back up to the main room, grabbed the last piece of paper on the printer, and scribbled madly.  Once again, just like last year, shaddyr was on hand with tech help to get the song recorded.  She recorded me on her computer so I wouldn't lose the melody to Morpheus overnight.  She also pointed out that the melody would sing very well in a round, and echoed me as I sang it to show me.  (I think hours of playing Echo's Children may, I say may have had an effect!)  After a year of only practising music with no creative spark, I get it again while being immersed here.

Sunday at Pondfilk, solomons_pondgot me up early so I could go to the UU service with them.  It was funny;  I heard a pleasant voice chirping back to him and actually looked in my bed to see who else was sharing it with me, because my inner fuzz did *not* match the awake, coherent, happy perk found in that response.  My subconscious must be such a faker, it was in fact me talking.

The UU service went well.  Everyone was pleasant and nice, and we sang ( and I signed), and runnerwolf did the homily.  It's been a long, long time since I've been to my UU locally.  I ought to see if there is a closer one to me now.  The Lundervilles played with solomons_pond  and pondside , and made pretty, pretty music.

When we got back, several of us fed pondside's new fish at Pondside.


Wingman!  (Or is that Finman?) photo courtesy of  [Bad username or unknown identity:   jeffreycornish] 

In the afternoon, muscial fiends of John's (Dr. Filk) came to play and remember him.  It was *very* crowded.  Good music, good folks.  Very emotional.  Feeling slightly overwhelmed, I crept out on the porch and found a number of the other filkers already there, for similar reasons.  At some point, folks made me eat after I'd lost track, and was trembly.

A bunch of us went out to eat dinner at John's Place, and I had maple lamb (where else but in Canada?)  Let me see:  raishaan , slweippert , dawn, jeffreycornish , runnerwolf , mysticwinds , me (and another gracious lady who commented during picture taking that she didn't want her photo online, so ...) took over a line of tables down the centre of the place.  I was in the centre, and felt like I was pulled in both directions from conversations on the table ends that I wanted to join in all at once!  And mysticwinds recommended a chocolate mousse that was NOM NOM NOM!

Oh, oh!  Just or hsifyppah:"MAD SCIENCE!"


With thanks to jeffreycornish for taking and posting it!  I got to buy her and John's CD there; motherinlawtree had brought them.

Late night, with much chatting and song.  Early morning Sunday.  I cried when I left;  I didn't want to go.  Petal sat in my lap on the way to the airport and comforted me in her sweet, puppy way.  Doggie kisses help.

The flights home were not as dramatic as my adventures in arrival.  I did scare myself in Seattle, because I mis-read where my gate was, and trammed on those underground trains all over the airport looking for my flight home.  I got there just as the plane pulled into the gate, so I did not have time for lunch.  We somehow lost time on the flight, so in Memphis, I had just enough time to briskly walk to my next plane and board, no supper either.  (Bad diabetic!  Living on sugar soda and airline cookies and granola bars not good!)

On the Seattle to Memphis flight, I talked to a couples counsellor who had training from a famous doctor who has also written books about raising emotionally intelligent children, which I have studied for my line of work.  I told him I had a strong marriage, but was always looking for things to maintain and keep things happy.

On the ground in Columbus, I maintained my help deaf people on trips streak by interpreting a minor issue with baggage for a deaf couple back from Vegas.  We chatted until my husband and Sparkle arrived to pick me up.  They missed me on the first loop past, and I heard Sparkle wail as she caught sight of me and the car kept moving.  She thought my husband was going to leave me...They got me dinner ASAP (I was SO starved,) and I got home safely.

As predicted, I slept the night with a Sparkle necklace wrapped about me!

Edit:  the pictures jeff posted bigger now, I think...but the cuts are strange?

Thank you so much, solomons_pond and pondside , for inviting me and having me out.  I had a lovely time, and didn't want to leave to come back home.

Mah husband, he loves me

Not only did my darling, darling husband  take care of the home front, allowing me to go to Pondfilk with a light heart, but today, when he got his haircut after getting off work this morning, he brought me home some of Jeni's pear ice cream!