That's how I would title from the 18th to the 22nd of August in 2009! I learned so much, had so much fun, made so many friends, and made so many memories!
It all started on the 17th when Dad and Mom dropped us oldest four girls off at the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party.
After getting set up in our cabin we headed up to the Mother Theresa Centre (MTC) to register and then sat down a listened to some kids that were jamming. Some of the kids were teaching the others a tune and it was a bit loud in the room, Michele Amy (the camp founder and director) went over to them and asked them to go play outside, because her assisants were complaining that they couldn't hear the customers talking. One of the students, who was playing a mandolin, (Seth), looked up at her and asked, “Excuse me. But what does it say on the back of your shirt?!” (Michele was wearing a new camp t-shirt, which says on the back, 'If you can't stand the music. GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!”) Everybody laughed and Seth said, “Sorry I couldn't help it!” ;-) Then when all the kids went outside on the deck, Gordon Stobbe (an instructor) shut his window. They wondered if they really sounded bad or what! LOL!
A little later Karrnnel Sawitsky (one of the instructors) came over to where we were and after talking a bit he asked if we were going to be signing up for the talent show on Friday. One of us told him that Ellie didn't want to, and he said we really should, because if we didn't, we'd 'break his heart'.
Ellie replied. “I don't care!”
Karrnnel laughed and then went and got his fiddle as some of the other instructors were jamming right there. Michele came over and introduced us to Daniel Koulack, one of the instructors, she said that he was a really a nice man, which we found out later was very true!
Ellie and I went and got our instruments and came up and jammed for a bit, then all of us girls went down to our bunkhouse to eat supper. After supper we returned to the MTC and after listening for some time Ellie and I went and got our instruments again, Naomi sat down at the piano and we started jamming with some of the other students.
As we were jamming a banjo player came over, and then a little later a mandolin player came over and he was joined by a guitar player. So we were playing along and having a blast, thinking that none of the instructors were there so we were not nervous at all, then for the next song the guitar player called out for 'Ida Red', and after playing the first break he started singing. So that was all fine and dandy, then on the chorus the mandolin player started singing harmony along with him, and after couple of verses the guitar player tells the banjo player, “Take a break Joel!” And all the sudden I realised that these three have played together before, and they're like, really good! And I also realised that they must be the “Whistlepigs” ( a bluegrass band from Minnesota), which also means that they're instructors! There goes my thinking that no instructors were playing with us! LOL! I didn't get too nervous though! After Ida Red, the banjo player (Joel Olson) asked, “Did I hear you guys playing Blackberry Blossom?” We said that we had been playing it, so he asked if we could do it again, so we did. We must of played it through about six times, Gillian Mehyer (Michele's daughter) was leading the jam, and she just kept on playing. :-) At about 11:00 p.m us girls headed off to bed.
The next morning after reading our Bibles we headed over for breakfast. As we were eating, Ray Bell (a instructor, and our 'older brother') came in and after getting his breakfast he came over and gave us all big hugs! It was so fun to see him again! He had Tahnis Cunningham with him as well, we had met her at a fiddle camp in B.C. , it was good to see her again too! :-) After breakfast we got our instruments and headed over to the Outdoor Chapel (OC) for the introductions.
I headed up to the MTC with all the other guitar students and the guitar instructors. Ray took lead when we got up there, and he had all the very beginners raise their hands, he had them all go to one side of the room and he had Buzz (Anthony Bzdell) take them.
Then he asked everybody who considered themselves advanced to raise their hands. I was just waiting for him to place me where he thought I'd do best, so I didn't raise my hand, besides I didn't think I'd be in the advanced class, but Ray turned (I was standing behind him) and told me to go over with the other advanced students and he told Chris Jones (from the Whistlepigs) that he was going to teach us.
So after Ray and Brandon Baker split up the intermediate students we all headed for our classrooms. Our 'classroom' happened to be the OC and the fiddle students were still getting divided up so we had our first class beside the OC.
First off Chris had us all tell our names and what instruments we played. He started with himself, and then went on to Justin Easton, then on down the line, Logan Amy, Kalvin Valko, Ian Brown, me, and Laird. Laird was the oldest on our class, I think he was around fifty, and then rest of us were kids. :-) I know Justin and I were both seventeen, and I'm guessing that Kalvin was around the same age, and Logan and Ian were both around 12 to 14. After everybody had told their names, looking around, I realised that I was the only girl in my class. It was a bit strange at first but then I got used to it.
Chris asked us what we wanted to learn, I said that I would like to learn more closed position chords, Kalvin said that he want to learn more finger picking, and Laird backed my request. Our first class we worked on some chord shapes and moved them up and down the neck.
At 10:45, the first class was over and there was snack in the mess hall. After the snack there was a dance work shop. Gord was teaching all the people on the camp some dances.
Then it was time for lunch at 12:00 sharp! :-) While we were eating, Naomi was asking what classes each of us got. I said that I was in the advanced class, because Ray put me there, and Ray who was sitting with us says, “Yeah, Lydia's the 'best' guitar player, other than Steve Kaufman.”
He's always kidding me about Steve Kaufman, because I'll say, “I learned it out of one of Steve's books.” or “Steve says it this way.” As in, explaining the same thing Ray was saying, just in a different set of words.
So Ray'll say something like, “Well I'm NOT Steve Kaufman!” And then we always laugh. :-) I always tell him that he knows the only reason that I'm not quoting him, is because, Mr. Ray Bell (Sir!) doesn't have any books or DVDs out. And of course he has to agree with me. ;-)
After lunch we had another class, this time we were able to have it in the OC. Chris thought up an icebreaker question so we started out with it, “What was your most inspiring time with music?” We all told our most inspiring times with music. I said that it was anytime when I jam with other people. It always makes me want to pratice more. Some of the others said that it was going to a paticluar concert, etc.
Then we went on to working on music. Chris mentioned that one of his favourite guitar instructors, Steve Kaufman, had said.... I probably got a big grin on my face, finally someone else that likes Steve Kaufman (Just kidding Ray!).
Later when he asked who took lessons, and who they took them from, I said that other music camp I only had Steve Kaufman books and DVDs for instruction. So after that it was always, 'Lydia's and my favourite guitar instructor, Steve Kaufman, says....'! That was the first 'connection' I had with my teacher. :-) I love getting to be friends with people!
Chris gave us the sheet music for Soldier's Joy, and after talking about for a little bit, he asked if anybody had any questions, he was looking at me so I said that I already knew the tune.
“Really? Play it for us!”
Oops! LOL! That's not what I had in mind! :-) But I played it for them, then Justin said that he knew it too. So Chris had him play it as well. We also worked on some other songs with closed chords up the neck.
That class was over at 4:00, and then there was jams. The fast jam was at the MTC and that's where I headed. The jam was headed by Karrnnel, Stephanie Labbe, Chris, Geoff (Jeff) Horrocks, Daniel Koulack, and Daniel Gervias (Jervay). It ended up being Stephanie and Daniel G. doing most of the leading. Karrnnel headed outside to learn a tune, and Chris was just learning how to jam 'Canadian fiddling style'. Stephanie is from Quebec and she has a bit of a hard time with English, she's a very good sport and laughs at herself when she makes a mistake. She had an I-phone that she was recording the jam with and she'd have Daniel say the tune's name into it. One time she asked Daniel to say the name into the I-phone so he did, “Heart To The Ladies.”, then Stephanie asked him to spell it, so Daniel says, “Heart, H-E-A-R-T. To, T-O. The, T-H-E. Ladies, L-A-D-I-E-S.”
It was a fun jam! After jamming we headed down for supper at 5:00. It was extremely good! :-)
At 7:00 the instructor concert began. Shannon Shakotko had the crowd sing along on the song 'Kombaya', and then Michele took over, starting with a story, and some fiddle tunes. She told why it's called a kitchen party, instead of a fiddle camp, and how it got started. She interspersed music throughout the story so she wasn't just talking for a long time.
Then Trent Bruner, one of the piano instructors, did his concert. He is always so full of joy, and bounces to everything! I love it when he plays rags! When he got done with his concert Michele came up and said that Trent had made a camp record, he had played for exactly 15 minutes, the amount of time Michele asked the instructors to keep their concerts down to.
After Trent, J.J. Guy was up. He had Ray, Trent, and Joel to back him up. And he also had some other fiddlers come up and play with him. He was the usual funny, bouncy, great fiddler! Everybody always loves his concerts. He was saying how much he loved coming to Kenosee, so Gord asked him why.
“Well, it's the food! I like coming here because of the wonderful food! In fact, this morning when I went to put on my pants I realised just how good the food has been!” That was the joke for the instructors for the rest of the week. :-) The food was too good!
Daniel Koulack was up next, and his concert was so pretty. He had Stephanie Labbe, Daniel Gervais, Shamma Sabir, and Donna Turk up to help him.
Following Daniel was the intermission. I went and bought one of the Whistlepigs CDs and one of John Arcand's CDs.
Brandon Baker came next in line. He has a gypsy style of playing which is very interesting to listen to. I liked it for the most part. Brandon is a very talented person, sometimes I wonder how I ended up in the same class as him two years ago. I think in that class he was like the highest level of playing and I was the lowest. :-)
Shamma Sabir's concert was wonderful as usual! She always does such a good job! Gordon Stobbe was after her and he did a great job too! :-) He's one of my 'most favourite' fiddlers. ;-D
Then Mairi Rankin was up. She is a wonderful fiddler, but all the instructors that Michele gets are wonderful musicians so that's no surprise. :-) She also tap dances very well. She didn't do any for her concert, but Daniel K had her do some on his concert.
After the concerts there was dancing inthe mess hall, or would that be, the place where we have our meals, as Daniel K said when he couldn't remember what it was called. :-) Us girls just went to bed. We wanted to be able get up for breakfast the next morning.
The morning of Wensday the 19th we got up and went down to the fire pit and read our Bibles, (that's where the sun first hits in the morning and it's nice and warm.), we also listened to Hannah practicing banjo. :-) When our patience wore out we went and had breakfast. :-) Well our patience didn't really wear out, but means how banjos are fun to joke about..... LOL! The poor banjo players at camp! They got picked on all week. And they really got picked on, on Pig'N'Whistle night. :-)
After breakfast we got our instruments and headed for the OC for the morning's news from Michele. Then everybody else headed away for lessons. I had it easy, I just had to take my guitar out of it's case, and I was set to go! :-)
For the morning lesson we played Soldier's Joy jam style, me, Justin, and Chris taking lead breaks. I kept messing up the B part, as I had never really played with backup. Chris was trying to figure out a song to give us to learn that none of us knew, so he pulled out Arkansas Traveller, but I already knew it. When I said I did, Chris says, “Okay, play it for us!”. Oops again! I was learning, never say you know a song, because Chris will make you play for the class. :-) We worked on tranposing some songs too. What's really fun is to hear Chris singing Jingle Bells, and everytime he comes to a new chord he calls out the chord name, or number. It can turn a boring song into an interesting one, because you never know where the number is going to end up. :-)
At 10:30 we had Pig'N'Whistle. I ended up in the Piano Room #1, with Trent, Daniel G, Stephanie, and Chris as instructors. We worked on figuring out what we wanted to do. And parted with the normal, “This is top secret folks! No telling anybody anything, and no spying on other folks.”
Lunch was at 12:00 and then at 1:30 we were back to lessons. It was pretty muchthe same as the morning lesson. We jammed a bit on Soldier's Joy, and worked on some other songs with chords up the neck.
I went to a workshop with Ellie. It was on playing backup with a fiddle. Gord and J.J were the ones doing it. I mainly just went to listen to the music. I love to listen to music, in fact our house is rarely without music playing. Whether it's on a CD or one of us playing, or all of us singing. We just love music!
After the workshop, Ellie and I headed up to the fast jam in the MTC. This time it was Ray, Brandon, and J.J leading it. One of Hannah's classmates, Ben, was there with his guitar, so we had quite a bit of fun! He's really good on the guitar as well as on the banjo and the piano.
Right after jamming it was supper time, and after supper we had some free time to do as we liked. Practice, take a walk, etc. So Ellie and I went for a little walk.
Right before the instructor concerts, us girls got our instruments and went to get Ray so we could practice our song that we were going to play for the talent show. But while we were talking in the OC Joel came along and had to show off how much his student was learning, so he had Hannah take out her banjo and play Cripple Creek. While they were playing I went up to where Chris was and had him sign the CD that I had bought the night before. The other girls and Ray had gone over to Piano Room #1, so on my way over I asked Joel and Fred to sign it. Joel took the CD and then sat there and stared at me. I probably started figeting then finally asked, “What?!”
“I was just trying to figure out which sister you are.” He replied.
Finally he figured out that I was Lydia, and wrote a little note along with his signature. Fred kept saying things like, “You're taking up a lot of space.” or “You're taking a long time to sign that!” When Joel finished he handed the CD to Fred, and not to be outdone, Fred wrote a little note as well. :-) Then I ran to practice with the 'girls'.
Edward was with us and making the usual comments. And then compliments. :-) Ellie and I started the tune, Dixon County Blues, which has a lot of slides on the A part and then it goes into a nice bluesy feel on the B part. On the A part Edward was saying, “This song sucks. I don't like it.” And then we went into the B part and Edward quickly said, “Never mind! I like this song! It's cool!” :-)
I forgot to mention Edward before, he was a 13 year old Scottish kid that attached himself to us from the start of camp. And he never kept his opinion to himself. But he was sweet too. :-) So pretty much if you saw Edward, you'd see one of us around too.
The instructor concert was at 7:00 but people had started gathering at the OC around 6:30. Us girls were just sitting there listening to the instructors testing the mics, and Ellie and I were 'fighting' with Edward. Ray came over and asked me what I had been learning in class. First off I just said, “A LOT!”
Then I told him that we were working on a couple of different tunes, and also working on some transposing. So Ray tells me about this new Steve Kaufman (WHAT?!) DVD that he got. ;-) It's on transposing, and he said that Steve gives you about 5 songs and says to take the one that you know, and play it in, C, A, G, E, and D open positions. He said it was pretty hard. It's called the 'caged thoery'.
Brandon started the concerts with a sing along. Then Geoff Horrocks did his concert. Stephanie was timing him on her I-phone, and Geoff was making a big deal about his backup crew for the different songs, getting up there quickly. One of the songs that he did, he had Shamma, Donna, and Kim
deLaforest, come up and sing with him. It started out kinda like a love song, then on the chorus he said, “I can tell by the touch of your bow, that you need me to teach you again..... You sound best when you play nothing at all!” Then Gordon took a 'break' on the fiddle, except he did it with his bow about 2 inches above the strings! :-) Geoff said, “You never sounded better! But now take a break for real!” So Gord started playing for real. It was too funny!
After Geoff, Buzz was up. He sang a really nice song for his daughters. And he also did some other songs. One of which he used a slide on his guitar. He had the Whistlepigs up to play backup for him on one song.
Kim deLaforest was on the stage next. She sang a song and played some really pretty tunes. On one tune she had Ray play finger cymbals, Buzz play a drum, and Daniel K play a 'rain stick'. It turned out quite funny! Ray got real dramatic, and ended up laughing at himself, and he almost forgot when to clang the cymbals.
Up next was Daniel Gervais. He played a very pretty waltz for his grandparents, and then he played two swing tunes/songs, one of which was “Sugarfoot Rag”. The first time I ever heard Sugarfoot Rag was on a Calvin Vollrath video, and Freddy Pelletier sang it. I'm now convinced that you have to have a Quebec accent to sound right singing the song. LOL! :-)
Daniel was wearing a crazy hat and coat when he was doing his concert, and now when ever I listen to his CD, Endless Possibilities, I can see him playing the paticular song/tune with that outfit on. :-) By the way, I would recommend his CD to anybody who likes fiddle music. It has just the right amount of the different styles. I paticularily like the tune that he wrote called, 'Phantom Of The Opry'. It's really neat. It's deffinently well put together.
I don't know whether I like Daniel's or Gordon Stobbe's playing better. :-) Both of them play so well. I like Gord's playing because he looks like he's just up there goofing around, and I like Daniel's because he is up there goofing around. :-D How do you decide?! :-)
Then it was time for the Whistlepigs! Most of the crowd hadn't ever been to a bluegrass concert so they didn't know what to expect, and the Whistlepigs hadn't played for very many Canadians so they were pretty nervous. But trust me, when they got to playing the crowd LOVED it! They had J.J and Daniel K come up and play with them, so that they'd be “Forty percent Canadian materiel”. The Whistlepigs consisted of, Fred Keller (mandolin), Joel Olson (banjo), and Chris Jones (guitar). They usually have a bass player and a fiddle player, so that's where J.J. and Daniel filled in. Chris was singing the song, 'Half As Much', and the words go “If you loved me half as much as I love you. You wouldn't worry me half as much as you do.....” as he was singing along he said, “I love you, J.J.!”. The crowd laughed! And then if it wasn't funny enough, J.J. replied, “I love you too!” :-) Then the crowd really laughed! On the last song they had Brandon, Justin, Seth, and Riley (one of Hannah's classmates), come up and play with them. It was so good they got a standing ovation and an encore! So they all came back and played another song. The crowd from Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party are now Whistlepig fans! I guess you would say, they're 'hog wild' over the Whistlepigs! LOL!
After the concerts were done there was a lizard that was crawling around in the OC, and I had seen Daniel G running from it so I jokingly told Hannah to go put it on his head. Well, she took me up on it! But she did it so well that nobody, except those who knew what she was doing, knew who did it. Daniel turned around after the lizard fell off his head, and asked, “Who did that?!” But Hannah had mingled well with the crowd and he never knew until later when Hannah came and apoligized, because she hadn't relized that he was scared of them. But you could tell he got a kick out of it because he was always bringing it up. ;-)
Following breakfast on the morning of the 20th I headed for the OC. Class went really good. We worked on Soldier's Joy and June Apple, a tune that Chris gave us. Ian and I already knew how to play it as Ray had given us some music for it before. But we knew how to play it in open A, where as the music that Chris gave us was in G. So we just struggled through it in G.
Chris gave me a new pick. It's quite a bit heavier than the one I normally used, he said that I don't play loud enough, and that after about 2 weeks I would forget how my lighter pick felt. But he did let me finish camp playing with the lighter pick. Elsewise I probably would have had to drop out on all the lead breaks.
Pig'N'Whistle went well. We just figured out what everybody would do, and also figured out what songs we were going to play.
At about 1:10 I went the OC. Chris was changing his strings on his guitar so he showed Laird and I how he normally does it. As he was changing them he told us that we were going to have to play two songs for concert night, so he was trying to figure out which ones to do. He thought we'd do June Apple (I almost told him that he'd be the only one playing lead if he did that one! Unless we changed the key.), and then he thought maybe we could try Blackberry Blossom. I know there's a couple different versions of the tune, so I asked him if the music he was going to give us was like the one I played, and I played one A part of the style that I know. As I played it, Chris quit doing what he was doing and said to Laird, “Look at her fly!”
Then he had me show the chord setup to Laird. After he got the hang of it, I was showing him another tune that I really like. The tune is called Billy In The Lowground, but I had forgotten the name.
During the lesson Chris decided that we'd play and sing 'Hey Porter' and also play 'June Apple'. But thankfully, he said that, means how Ian and I both knew it in open A, he and Justin would put their capos on and play it in A as well. That way both Ian and I could play a break. We also decided who was going to play what on Hey Porter. Laird and Justin were going to take lead breaks, and the rest of us were going to play different chords. I had my capo on the 5th fret and was playing the D chord progression, and at the end I was to play a 'Lester Flatt 'G' run' that was in the D position. Ian was doing the bumps at then end of each verse and playing bass runs, and Logan was playing 'mandolin chops' with chords op the neck. So we practiced both songs a couple times and then it was time for a half hour break before 'confessionals' and workshops at 3:00.
There was three people at Chris' workshop, well four if you count Chris too. It was just me, Logan, and Riley, one of Hannah's classmates. Logan left partway through the workshop as he had a confessional to go to, so mainly it was just Riley and I. Chris taught us a couple of songs and then when the workshop was done and Riley had left, he came over to me and asked me to play the one tune that I had been playing before class. So I played it, and he played backup. He said I was doing quite good for how long I had been playing, and having no lessons. I was glad he said that, because I've always wondered if I'm doing good for how long I've been playing, or if I needed to push myself a lot more.
Instead of the regular fast jam at the MTC, there was a 'bluegrass jam with, Chris, Joel, Fred, Gordon, J J, and Daniel K. It was fun! One time they were playing Blackberry Blossom and Chris jumped up and yelled, “You know this one Lydia! Pick it!” I shook my head, but he insisted, so I tried. And I tried about 3 times, finally I put my hand to my forehead and shook my head. Chris laughed and said, “Alright.”
I have a very hard time playing lead if someone else is playing a different version, it's something I need to work on, but not in front of everybody! :-) After the jam got done I stopped Chris and asked him if he could help me out sometime on the rythm for the main song in our Pig'N'Whistle. So we decided to meet on the MTC deck about 15 minutes before the concert that night.
After supper I went up to the MTC deck and was talking to Mehgan, a girl that Michele introduced to me, because she liked horses. Then Chris showed up and asked if I wanted to go get my guitar and work on the ryhthm, unless I was busy. I replied that I was bored anyways and ran and got my guitar.
We worked on the one ryhthm, which was really easy, but I just had no idea how to play it. Chris asked me to play Billy In The Lowground again, we played it a couple of times, then I asked Chris if he had ever heard the tune Nothin' To It. He said he hadn't so I played it. He was playing ryhthm with me but the note leading from the A part into the B part I wasn't holding out long enough, so after working on it a for a bit, I finally got it. I was going to put my guitar away but Chris said, “Play it one more time, then I promise I'll leave you alone!” :-) So I played it one more time and got through it with only one mistake! Yeah!!!
Chris said that next time he saw Steve Kaufman he was going to tell him all about me, and he thought that Steve would be proud of me. I'll tell you, when your instructor, whose picking you admire a lot, says that to you, it certainly makes you think a little better of your self! ;-)
The instructor concerts that night were great again! Shannon Shakotko was the first one. She sang two love songs to her husband and then did one song called 'Blue Night'. All three songs were very pretty. I love Shannon's songs!
Karrnnel was up next. He had Mairi up to play with him on some of the songs. I do like his style too. It's more a gypsy style, kinda like Brandon's guitar playing. I really like his medley of C-Town and Johnnie Macgillery's. I also like The Nameless Scotchman, Blue Fiddlestix, Cord Doby, and all the other songs on his CD. :-)
Ray came up next, and he did wonderful as usuall! He played and sang a new song about his old Martin guitar. I loved it! It was so pretty! It was called, 'Martin Box'.
Donna Turk's concert was good as well. She said that she never can tell a joke right so she had J J come up and she whispered the joke to him and had him tell it. But she'd only whisper one line at a time, and one time she got to giggling so hard that J.J. just came up to the mic and said, “Ha, ha, ha!” By the time the whole joke was told, I was laughing so hard I was crying. It was even better than if J.J. had just told a joke by himself.
John Arcand was up next. I love his playing! Everything is very traditional, and is played in a very dancing sort of ryhthm. If I ever were to dance, I would want Johnny playing the fiddle. He started calling us girls, 'his girls'. So we're pretty good friends. It's funny, you can pretty much take anything from Johnny, and still love him. But if someone else said some of the things that Johnny would say to you, it would be an insult. It just Johnny, and it's kinda his way of saying that he is noticing you.
Stephanie Labbe ended the instructor concerts for the night and the week. Everybody loved her concert! She played 'three' songs, but the middle 'song' was a medley of about 5 songs. It was amazing, and yes, even when she forgot the next tune in the medley. It was called, 'Joys Of Quebec'. That was funny in it's self as Stephanie is from Quebec. :- ) She got a standing ovation though! Her whole concert kept you on you toes!
“Oh my goodness! It's 8:09!” That would have been Ellie, after she checked her alarm clock on the morning of the 21st. When she said that, five beds exploded! (Maybe I didn't mention before that we had a roommate for the week. Buzz's daughter, Jasmine. She was so sweet!) We all got dressed in a hurry and then ran for breakfast! Thankfully we weren't too late. :-)
After breakfast I went down to the firepit with my Bible and guitar. After reading my Bible, I practiced June Apple some. Another lady came down with a mandolin, and means how she had forgotten her tuner, I lent her mine. I got to class just on time, instead of the usual 20 minutes early, but nobody other Chris was there. After everybody showed up we started playing the tunes. Then Chris came up with the idea to practice standing where we would be on Saturday night. We set up some mic stands and practiced both songs a couple of times. Chris showed us exactly where to have the mic on the guitar when playing lead and when playing ryhthm.
Pig'N'Whistle was hilarious! Jared Amy (One of Michele's nephews) was one of the main actors and in one part he'd say, “I don't know why the girls don't look at me! I mean, LOOK AT ME!!!!” Everytime he said it, Chris would burst out laughing, which would set me laughing, and then I'dloose the ryhthm for the riff.
Lunch was at 12:00 and then we had another class at 1:30. This time we went straight to practicing with the mic stands. It went fairly well.
After the break there was the workshops and the confessionals. The Whistlepigs had a workshop on the history of bluegrass. Naomi, Hannah and I went to it, while Ellie went a workshop that Karrnnel was giving. The bluegrass workshop was really good. One time Joel and Fred were arguing about who wrote the tune 'Bluegrass Breakdown', Earl Scruggs or Bill Menroe.
Joel finally settled it by saying, “Hey! Earl's god! Get that right!”
That brought a laugh. So Chris said, “So you see why, Earl and Lester left their grouchy mandolin player......”
After the workshop at exactly 4:00 my Pig'N'Whistle group met in the Piano Room #1. We went through the whole setup 2 and ½ times then Shannon came and got us so we could go and figure somethings out for the stage. She and Gordon asked what our group name was, Trent thought for a bit and then replied that it would be, “The Musical Anglers”.
At 7:00 it was time for the Pig'N'Whistle/talent show. Anthony Kelly kicked off the show with the song, 'What Else Could Go Right', which is a very nice song.
Then J.J came on stage and told a joke, “So this man is riding out in the desert looking for water, and he stole a can of peaches! No, no, no. That's not the right one. There's this magician, I almost said musician! There's this magician and he's doing his first act on stage, and my Grandpa stood up at the back of the hall and said, She stole a can of peas too! No, that wasn't the right one either!” Then Gord hooked him with 'the hook' and pulled him off stage!
The first Pig'N'Whistle was the one that Hannah and Ellie were in. It was called Gordie's Angels. Banjo runners are sneaking acrossed the 'boardER' (one person held a board, and another person held a sign that said, ER), and are going to destroy the fiddle music of Canada. So Gordie's Angels went to stop them. Hannah was one of the banjo runners, and as the three banjo runners and the three 'angels' were fighting, the narrator said, “Okay, now we'll pause for a brief comercial!” And they did! The fight froze in place and when the comercial was over they went back to fighting. Finally the angels won and they had Hannah 'screaming', “I'll tell you anything. Please don't torture me, I really never wanted to play banjo!” So they asked her who the leader was and she answered, “Daniel Koulack.”
“Where is he?”
“Right there!” Hannah pointed him out in the crowd.
A side note here, Daniel K was not in this PNW! The people had just told him to not sit in the front row, and to answer 'no' to every question, until the accordian came out.
So the angels had the 'little angels' go and grab Daniel K, and they brought him up, tied him to a chair with toilet paper, and then proceeded to question him.
“Is your name Daniel Koulack?”
“I need a mic!” Daniel replied.
They tortured him with a tinwhistle, still he aswered “No.”, to all the questions, even when one of the angels asked him, “Is the shirt you're wearing green?”
Daniel answered, “No.”
But then one of the angels (Geoff) got an accordian and started to play.
“Make it stop!” Cried out Daniel.
“Are you Daniel Koulack?”
“Yes”
“Are you the leader of the banjo runners?”
“Yes.”
And so it all ended with the angels getting the 'truth' out of Daniel and then the peace was restored to Canadian fiddle music.
Then there was a couple of talent show acts, one of which was the 'Bluegrass Banjo Band'. It included Hannah, and three of her classmates, Jo, Riley, and Ben. They played and sang, 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken', and then went into 'Old Mcdonald'.
They had just added on the Old Mcdonald that afternoon. They had a really good bluegrass ending on Will The Circle Be Unbroken but then decided to change it and surprise Joel! Hannah said that looking at Joel's face when they went into 'Old Mcdonald' was worth everything! His jaw about hit the ground, and then he doubled over with laughter!
'Cord Doby Rides Again' was the next show. Naomi was in it, as was Ray, J.J., and Brandon. Ray came out wearing a big wig, and then started the show. They said that they had a set of CDs that had Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in every style imaginable! And they did! The first one really 'put the twang back into Twangkle'! A little kid came out and sang, “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high. My wife left, and now I cry. Twankle, twankle little star, my dog ran away and I can't start my car! It was really good!
On one of the versions Naomi came out and played it on accordian. She did pretty good too! A side note about the accordian, when Naomi first put it on when her group was practicing, Gord kinda looked at her for a bit, then he came over and said in a real low voice, “I don't want to embarrass you in front of all these people, but you have it on up-side-down!” You should have seen Johnny and Trent laugh when Naomi told them about it! It was pretty funny!
I don't remember what talent show groups came up next but, my PNW headed for the Piano Room #1 three acts before ours. It all went as planned whence we got on stage. And means how it was my PNW, I'm going to tell you all about it! :-)
The narrator starts with, “In the not so distant future, due to global warming, the seas rose faster than anyone expected! In fact one small thing could set off catastaphe! The final fatal flush!” (here Stephanie had recorded a toilet flush and she played it over the mic. The joke all week was that the toilets were getting plugged and Michele was asking people not to wait so long to flush.) “THE FINAL FATAL FLUSH!” (Trent and Daniel G played some spooky music) “THE FINAL FATAL FLUSH!!!!!” “And the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party was washed away!”
“Awwwwww!!” This was the rest of the PNW members moaning over the camp getting washed away.
“However, we are still accepting registrations!” That brought a laugh!
“Now local fishermen tell tales of what they find in the lake.”
Now we turn to Mackenzie Easton and Jared Amy, the fishers. Mackenzie was wearing a rain poncho, and Jared was wearing Chris' chestwaders, and both have fishing poles.
“Oh Jared, I feel so sorry for you, out here fishing when you could be going out with some girl!”, said Mackenzie.
“Yeah!” replied Jared, “I don't know why the girls don't look at me! I mean, LOOK AT ME!” This set Chris laughing, which got me laughing, and then I lost the riff!
“Oh well let's get to fishing!” Says Mackenzie, and both she and Jared proceed to knock their poles on the the ceiling! As they're fishing Mackinzie said, “I've caught a lot of strange stuff in this lake. It always seems like there's music in the background though.”
“I got a bite!” Exclaims Jared. A pipe comes flying up from behind the blue sheet that's the 'water', and lands in Trent's lap.
“It's a pipe.” says Jared, disapointed.
“Looks like it fell out of a tree!” Mackenzie points out. Will Elliot (Michele's husband), who smokes a pipe, had fallen out of a tree during week one.
“Oh well, let's go back to fishing!” Mackenzie says as they both 'throw' their lines back in.
“I've got another bite! I hope it's not another pipe” Jared 'pulls in his line', and Dillon (one of Naomi's classmates) comes stumbling up on stage.
“Well at least it's not another pipe!” Says Jared.
“I'm not just a pipe! I'm a hornpipe!” Replies Dillon. And then after Trent counted us in, Dillon proceeds to whistle 'Sailor's Hornpipe.
Back to the riff, and back to fishing.
“I think I got another bite!” Jared brings in his line and here comes two girls, one of which has a boot held out in front of her.
“Oh, it's just a boot.” says Jared.
“Not a boot, that's a shoe.” Mackenzie corrects him.
“Hey that's my shoe!” exclaims one of the girls as she grabs it away from Jared.
“INTO, SEAN RYAN'S POLKA, ONE , TWO, THREE!” That was Trent and we hit it up and both girls tap danced to it.
Jared and Mackenzie decided to keep them and then they went back to fishing. The next thing Jared caught was a 'salamander' who came up and and told a tap dancing joke,
“Why did the tap dancer have to retire? ....... Because he kept on falling into the sink!”
The fishers went back to fishing, and pretty soon Jared says, “I've got another bite! It feels strange!” And here comes a banjo player, Liam, up on the stage. He played the intro into Foggy Mountian Breakdown, and then stepped up to the mic and said,
“The only problem with playing banjo is, half the time you spend tuning, an the other half you spend playing out of tune!”
Mackenzie shoved him off the stage where he got a bucket of confetie over his head.
The next 'fish' Jared caught was, Evan, a kid around 6 years old. He came up with a hat like Fred's and an 'eyeliner mustache'.
“I heard you call me!”
“No, no. This is Pig'N'Whistle, not the Whistlepigs!” Mackenzie told him, “But while you're up here I'll tell you a joke. Why can't you have a fiddle fish?”
“I don't know, why can't you have a fiddle fish?” asked Trent.
“Because you can't tune a fish!” Replied Mackenzie.
“Yes you canned!” Yelled Evan.
Then we went back into the riff, while Jared and Mackenzie went back to fishing.
“I've got another bite!” Jared called out. A little kid with a fiddle came up.
“Is that, a fiddle fish?!” asked Mackenzie.
“I'll show you what kind of fiddle fish I am!” Said the kid, and Daniel G who was in the band, started to giggle. I, of course started to laugh and lost the ryhthm of the riff. It never fails, if I'm trying to concentrate on something, the slightest laugh, or giggle for that matter, gets me laughing and I lose my place.
The kid to play Boil Them Cabbages Down. After he got done playing, Jared decided that he was too small to keep, and they threw him back.
Then Jared caught the last thing in the lake, a mermaid!
“And then she was beholden unto him, and him unto her, a mermaid, a 'Lady Of The Lake'.” said the narrator.
Trent counted us in to the song, 'Lady Of The Lake', and we played it while Jared and the mermaid (Brigid Mcnutt) danced.
Then we went back to the riff, and the narrator said something about living 'happily ever after'.
And then we sang the line, “You and me goin' fishin' in the dark. Fishin' for talent at Kenosee park.” , three times over.
And that ended the Musical Anglers.
Means how the talents acts were interspersed with the Pig'N'Whistles, there was some more talents show acts. I don't exactly remember the order of them, but the next PNW act was really funny!
Everybody came out dressed in something that was 'Roughrider green'. And one person in paticular was in a long green robe, he came out rubbing his eyes and moaning like he had just got up.
From behind me I heard Chris say, “That's JOEL!”, and Fred (who never stood on the pinic tables) jumped up on the pinic table, “WHAT!” I guess they were surprised to see Joel taking a main part, because he's normaly so shy. Or is he?! :-D
Then, up on stage, a little kid came out dressed as a gopher and gave Joel a present, “They're a couple of tickets to the Roughriders game today. The game is in one hour. It's at the Mosaic Stadium.”
“Thanks!”, said Joel as he was looking at the papers. “Hmmm, Mosaic Stadium, sounds like it may be in Hawii!”
Okay, how do I discribe the noise that the other people made to transport him to Hawii?! :-) Alright, <<<<<<. I know it's strang, but hey! LOL!
So Joel's in Hawii, this lady comes up to him and says, “Hello! What do you want in Hawii?”
“Hi! My name is J o e l O l s o n, and I'm looking for the M o s a i c S t a d i u m.” He said. (anywhere I spaced the letters, he talked really slow).
“Oh you must be looking for the Roughriders! We love it when they come here for training! We always sing their song for them!”
And then all the people start singing the Roughrider song. “Green is the colour! Football is the game......”
Then Joel looked at his papers again, “Hmm, Sa chew een, (the crowd laughed) Ree geena?. Must be in northern Europe.”
<<<<<<<<<<<<
Kyle St. Godard came up to the mic and they get to talking, Kyle adding in “Hoy, Hoy!' every once in a while. :-) And so the 'Ukrainians' sing the football song to him too.
Joel finds that the Mosaic stadium isn't in Ukraine, and it's not in Quebec, it's not in New York, even though it sounds rough! :-) So then he figures out, 'Green is the colour.....' and he says, “Maybe, it's in Ireland!”
<<<<<<<<<<<<
Laird comes out, “Top of the mornin' to ya, laddie! What wou'ya be doin' in Ireland?”
“Hi, my name is J o e l O l s o n, and I'm looking for the R o u g h r i d e r game. I need to hurry, I only have about 5 minutes!”
“We like the Roughriders, but ha' ye never heard of the Mosaic Stadium, or the Roughriders before?! What planet are ye from?”
“I'm from M i n n i s o t a.”
All the other people say, “Ohhhhhh!”
“Well, that answers me question then, doesn't it?!” Says Laird, and Joel starts laughing.
Then a little kid comes out dressed in light green, “Hi! I'm an leperchuan, and I can grant you one wish.”
“Oohhhh, I wish I was at the Roughrider game!”
“So it is!”
Kyle comes to the mic, “Welcome! I'm your announcer, my name is Kyle St. GodARD and the Roughriders have just made a touchdown!”
All the others start cheering and Joel jerks open his robe and reveals a Roughrider sweatshirt! And all the people start singing, “Green is the colour! Football is the game......”
The second to last talent show act was us girls and Ray. As we were back stage listening, the kid before us was also in the last PNW act, and when his name was called for the talent show act he was going to go on stage dressed up in his PNW cloths. “No no no!” Cried Kalvin lunging for him. He caught him right before the kid got out the door, and then we watched Kalvin do the quickest job of taking off the PNW cloths! :-) It was pretty funny!
“The Holter Girls” were called up next so we came out and got enough mics setup, (thanks Will!), and Naomi introduced us, “We are the Holter girls, and this is our older brother, Ray Holter (Ray had told N to introduce him as Ray Holter).” Ray pretended to flick his 'hair', and toss it around. The crowd loved it! Then we played and sang 'This Old House'.
The last PNW was hilarious! It was called, 'An Old Man Remembers'. Fred was the narrator, and he was so good! :-) It started with......
“So you've got to stand up to things like that!” Fred is talking to two little kids.
It was all based around jamming under Gordon's window, on the MTC deck. They had Gord, yelling at them (they actually used Gord), threatening them. And they had a dance, a circus act, and lastly, a “Nice little jam. Right underneath that old fella's window.”
Gord is telling them to leave, finally he says, “Don't make me come out there! I'm coming out!” He comes out dressed in a bath robe.
“So we set up a little trap!” says Fred.
As Gord comes up on stage, shaking his fist at the jammers, a little kid sticks a plate of shaving cream in Gord's face! It was pretty good!
What was funniest though was hearing Chris and Joel laughing about Fred up there pretending to be an old man.
After all the acts were done Ellie, Hannah, and I decided to stay up for once and play for the dance. So we went and got our instruments and went and joined the musicians in the MH (Mess Hall). When Chris saw us, he gave us two thumbs up from out on the dance floor, and I thought, 'this is going to be fun'! With Gordon calling the steps, the dances got under way! There was all sorts of dances, 'Sasha', The Virginia Reel, waltzing, and two different kinds of square dancing. On the Eight Person square dance, they got 11 squares going, a camp record! Last year I guess they had 9 squares and Michele really wanted to break that record, so she said even if she had to get all the musicians out dancing and just have Trent singing and playing the keyboard, she wanted to break that record! Fortunantly she didn't have to get the musicians out to dance. :-) After the dancing was done, us girls headed for bed. Naomi had been down listening at the campfire.
aThe morning of the 22nd us girls got up on time and after reading our Bibles headed for the MH where Naomi asked if she could use a phone. She called home, and talked to Mom a bit, then after she got off we went in the MH and were talking to Mr. Banga. After a little while, Mr. Banga said that we could dish up our breakfast even though it was around 20 minutes early. But Naomi replied, “No, I want to wait because I know Johnny was showering and I like sitting at his table, 'cause he's fun to talk to.” What Naomi didn't realize is that, Johnny was sitting right there, drinking a cup of coffee. He did have his back turned, but.... I tapped Nome on the arm and said, “Nomie, look!” pointing to John. Everybody started laughing and Naomi went over to Johnny apoligizing for not seeing him, he just laughed and gave her a hug! :- ) So her joke after that was, “I see you Johnny!” And both of them would start laughing! :- )
More people started coming in so we got our breakfast and ate.
After the 'Camp info meeting' at the OC, our class got under way. We practiced June Apple several times and then took Hey Porter through once, but Kalvin wasn't there so Chris had to sing it. About halfway through class, Michele's sister came and took a couple of pictures of us. Anthony Kelly and his wife came and were listening to us, and so Chris was saying, “We have a celebrity watching us!”
One time Chris told us to take a bit of a break so I went over to talk to Anthony and his wife. Anthony was one of my teachers in 2007, I already knew him/was friends with him. :-) But almost as soon as I was talking to him Chris called me back over to practice again. “Slave driver!” laughed Anthony. Well Chris may be a slave driver, but he sure makes sure his slaves have fun! :-)
Kalvin showed up sometime in there so we were able to practice Hey Porter a couple of times. We did our whole practice up where the stage would be using mic stands.
Then there was a break, so I went and talked to Meghan. We had this thing, she'd be sitting on the deck of the MH and after putting my guitar on the little deck in front of my bunkhouse, I'd come over and we'd talk horses. Usually Edward would show up, and then he'd leave, because we were talking boring talk. :-) Then after a while, I'd go and put my guitar away and do whatever.
This day after talking a bit we both headed in different ways. I found Naomi and Ellie talking to Dillon and his cousin. We didn't know if they were related and after Naomi asked, Dillon said, “I don't know how people can tell. I don't see any similarities.”
Kalvin came over and looked really hard at both of them and then said, “You both have really long eyelashes.”
We all laughed and then got to talking about different things. Pretty soon Seth joined us, and the Hannah did too. We talked about all sorts of things. :- ) Including what nationalities we could make fun of. Naomi said that we could make fun of about 8 different nationalities because we have around that many in us. Seth said that he could make fun of Ukrainians and about 6 different kinds of Mennonites, then Dillon said, “But we're not going to make fun of anyone.” :- )
After the break there was String Band practice in the OC. We were going to play and sing Faded Love. The fiddles had different parts and then there was the backup, and the singers. It all went very well, and after it was done we headed over to the MH deck to get the group picture. Then there was the instructor picture. After that us girls wanted to get a picture with the Whistlepigs. And Chris wanted a picture with us girls. We got some pictures with other people, including Edward. :-) He always claimed that he didn't want his picture taken, but I guess he was 'honoured' that we wanted a picture with him.
Lunch was at 12:00 and then the last class was at 1:30. We practiced at the mic stands again, but this time Ian and Logan had gotten stuck out on the lake so Chris had to play Ian's part on June Apple. Kalvin was getting better on Hey Porter. He had a little trouble on the last verse but with Chris' help he was quickly getting it.
When we got done playing Hey Porter for the last time Chris says, “We're going to be golden! You guys are so good!”
I knew Hey Porter would be good, Kalvin was going great, Laird's and Justin's lead breaks were fabulous! And all I had was a little run at the end, that I had played a couple thousand times so I wasn't concerned at all. But I was a bit nervous about June Apple, I had the first lead break, in fact Chris hit the 'potatoes' and then I took the lead, and I kept messing it up on the B part so I was nervous that it would sound bad. But Chris kept telling us to relax and not to get worried about the concert so I tried not to think about it.
The four of us girls went up to the MTC deck for pictures with Shamma, Donna, Kim, and Shannon. We also sealed our 'sisterhood' with Shamma with chocolate! We adopted Shamma as a sister earlier, (our family has such a shortage on girls! LOL!) so we had to seal the sisterhood to same way we sealed Ray's brotherhood, with chocolate. Once something is sealed with chocolate, it 'never' breaks! :-) But it might melt! So we got some pictures with our new sister, from the front and from the back. Thanks to Kim for taking the pictures. :-)
At 3:00 there was confessionals with all the instructors, but meanshow I hadn't signed up for any, I just practiced June Apple some more. :-) Around 3:45 Naomi went for a confessional with Trent. I was standing in front of our bunkhouse wondering what to do, when I heard a veichele driving in. The parents of the students had been showing up all day so I thought nothing of it. But when I saw a white 15 passenger van I didn't think nothing about it! That's my family!
I waved to them and then walked over. I was just saying 'Hi' to Dad and Mom when Ruth came running up to me, “Wiya, look! I got some new sunglasses!”
I picked her up and after exclaiming over her glasses turned to talk to Dad and Mum. Both Dad and Mum had to do stuff so I took the rest of the kids and went around to introduce them to friends. I introduced them to Meghan and Chris and then Shannon came over to say 'Hi'. Then we headed over to our bunkhouse.
At 4:00 I headed over to the Piano Room #1 for the jam. There was only one jam and it was pretty slow but we played for a while. Then we headed over to the MH for supper.
When it was getting more towards concert time I went and changed into a black skirt and a shirt and vest. Our class had decided to wear something black. :-) I was hauling my guitar around and then I saw Chris and Ian on the MH deck practicing, so I went up to them, and asked Chris to sign the instructor CD that I had just bought. He then told me to get out my guitar and practice with him and Ian. So I pulled out my guitar and we went through June Apple. Then I put my guitar in the MH and headed for the OC.
After a couple of the groups had played I went up and stood at the 'back stage' door so I could some pictures. My class was in the second half of the concert so I didn't have to worry about getting my guitar atleast until after the intermission. We had ended up right after the banjos, in fact Michele had forgotten about us and we were, '15.5' or something like that. :-)
Right at the intermission my class went and got their instruments out. Ian and Logan were practicing June Apple so I went over and was playing with them, then Chris came over and after calling Justin and Laird over, we played June Apple through like we were supposed to. Then we headed out to the OC and listened to the different classes. Chris was starting to get worried over Kalvin not being there, he said that he had just went and talked to him, and Kalvin was ready to do it. Laird and I were looking on the bright side of things and at the same time said, “Maybe he's practicing!”
“Yeah! Maybe he's practicing!” Said Chris. He was getting more and more worried. Then he decided to go get the words just in case, while he was gone, Laird told me he was going to go down to the campfire to look for Kalvin. He came back and told Chris that Kalvin was over with Logan and Ian. He had been down by the fireplace practicing. :-)
As we were listening, I asked Chris what our group name was going to be. “Oh, yeah, we don't have one do we. Hmmm, 'Lydia & The Pigsty Pickers'!”
I made a face so he shortened it to, 'The Pigsty Pickers'. We went backstage right before the banjo class went on stage. Chris was telling us to be quiet, and then he burst out laughing! And as soon as he quit, one of the banjo teachers said something and Chris burst out laughing again! I thought he had told us to be quiet! :-) ( LOL!) What had happened was, when all the students got in place, Daniel K asks, “Shouldn't we tune up?” So all the banjo players hit a bunch of odd notes, plink, twang, dwoing, and Daniel says, “Sounds good!” :-)
After the banjo players got done we went up on stage and got into place.
It went, Ian, Logan, me, Justin, Laird, Kalvin and then Chris. We all had a mic except for Justin who had his eletric guitar, so he didn't need a mic. When practicing Laird and I had shared a mic, but this was nicer because we didn't have to move around so much.
Chris hit the 'potatoes' and I took the lead on June Apple. Surprisingly enough I wasn't too nervous. The practicing in front of the mic stands had paid off! :-) Ian took the lead after me, and then I stepped out of the way and Justin stepped forward and took the lead on the A part, and Chris took it on the B part. Then it was supposed an all play, meaning Ian, Chris and I were all supposed to play lead, and then on the second part the backup was supposed to do chops. I said, we were supposed to do an all play. Chris and Ian forgot! I hit into the lead again and I was picking hard, then I realised that Chris was leading the backup in chops, on the first part, and also, nobody else was playing lead with me. Yikes!!! Here I was giving it, because I want my lead to stand out with the others and I'm the only one playing lead. :-)
I heard Hannah yell, “Yeah Lyddy!”, and I looked at Chris, he realised what was going on and then came in on the lead on the B part with me. I really like his version and my version when they're played together because at some places they harmonize. So we did get June Apple done without any 'train wrecks' and then we did Hey Porter.
Justin led us in, and Kalvin started singing. He did great! After two verses, Laird took a break, he was really good! Kalvin sang another verse and then Chris called out, “Make that thing scream son!” And Justin took a break and flew with it! After one more verse and the tag, I 'ran' us out of the song. Chris told the crowd our group name and all our names and then we left the stage in the hands of the next group.
When we all got outside, Chris and Laird were giving everybody high fives, and Chris gave me a hug, dispite the guitars. :-) I think we were all excited and very happy that our songs had come off so well. But I think Chris was the most excited! :-) He had a right to be though, he had worked the hardest! Then we went and put our instruments in the MH.
I grabbed my CD and was going around finding instructors and having them sign it.
After all the classes got done it was time for the String Band. Everybody fit in when they could and we did Faded Love. It turned out pretty good for having only practiced it a couple of times.
After that everybody was putting their instruments away, and saying goodbyes. I ran up to the stage to grab my CD and pen to get the few last signatures. When I got up there I found the CD but someone had taken my pen so Will lent me his, and I ran and got all the signatures. Then I came back and gave the pen to Will.
We went around and said goodbyes. I said goodbye to Laird twice, and shook his hand twice, but then the second time he asked, “Do you mind if I hug you?” For an answer I gave him a hug. I loved my class! It seemed like we were a team. And that made it so fun!
I told so many people goodbye. It seems so sad to only be able to see them once a year. Even Edward hugged me and said, “I'm going to miss you!” And he always said that, 'I was the mean sister'. :-) Chris said that he hated saying goodbye, so I told him just to say, 'See you later' instead of goodbye. And that's what we parted with. :-) So then we Holter's loaded the van up and headed out.
About half an hour down the road we were talking about camp, and then Hannah realized that, she hadn't grabbed the banjo off the pinic table. Just to make sure we looked through the back of the van, no banjo. So we went back to camp and found the banjo on the pinic table, and I ran to the bunkhouse to make sure we hadn't left anything else. I had! :-P I had left the instructor CD on the bunk above my bed. But there was nothing else. So then we headed out again. :-) And this time we got home, at around 4:00 am.
The next morning (or was that afternoon? I ate 'breakfast' around 12:00) guess what we heard?! Jesse, Martha, Zeke, and Cilla were all practicing! :-) I didn't practice for a couple of days, I slept! :-)
The end result after camp? Us four girls, Jesse, and Martha all want to kgo back for two weeks next year! :-) it was so fun, and we learned so much!
Special thanks to: Chris Jones, my wonderful teacher!
Michele and Will for running such a great camp!
Mr. Banga and all the cooks for the tastey food!
And my family!
Really looking forward to next year!
Lydia Holter, the Galloping Guitarist
guitarlyddy at gmail.com
www.gallopingguitarist.blogspot.com
Sounds like fun!
ReplyDelete