Boo Here.

Herself has asked that I give you guys the lowdown on the whole Kerrville thing. She being a bit overwhelmed by – and still recuperating from it all. Yep. What a ride! The Short One was rather excitable the entire trip but who could blame her. She was on her way to a very important occasion and $4.00 per gallon of gas and 20 hours on the road was not going to dampen her spirits.

Now, me? I thought I was spending another weekend at home so imagine my surprise when I was pulled from my dashboard armchair only to be placed in a window seat in the biggest truck I’d ever seen. I know these girls were camping but you’d think the Diva’s were staying for a month the way they packed this behemoth.

Iowa – sometimes it feels like you’ll never get to the border, especially when you take a left at Des Moines. Missouri – thanks to all the by-passes Kansas City was a cinch. Oklahoma – we watched the most magnificent lightning storm, it crawled along the belly of the clouds - amazing. And, finally, Texas! Texas was hot!

We got in Friday morning and set up camp – home sweet home. It only took 5 minutes before these northern beauties were drenched in sweat. So, as soon as they could it was back in the truck and off to San Antonio where we spent the evening in a real bed, with a real shower and a real toilet – for the last time.

Saturday morning and back at the ranch. We were very fortunate to be staying at the famous Rouse House campsite. Lindsey, Deb and Liz were on hand at all times to keep all the little fledglings in line. Thanks to the Rouses for keeping herself from exploding with the sheer energy of, “whatdoInowwheredoIgonow?”

The Kerrville Folk Festival was wall to wall to wall music. Campsite fires burned till all hours of the morning with music going round in circles. People would stop in the middle of the road and start up an impromptu jam session. Even the mainstage lasted until midnight.

Every morning, the little fledglings would start their day by serenading each other. They would show off their deep intellectual understandings of themselves and their world. Songs of love, snow, jesus, underpants…

And, sometimes they’d do it all night, too. That’s Michelle & Scott Dalziel and our new friend, Hans York. This particular evening they eschewed the normal fair of deep, philosophical, introspective folk music for the more mundane and mood-lightening cover songs. There was everything from Leo Sayer to Hogey Carmichael to They Must be Giants. And this one guy from Columbia who even made Gordon Lightfoot sound fun.

Finally, here’s herself. Onstage. On her Birthday. Doing the one thing she loves to do more that anything else in the whole universe – playing music.