Music and more

5th The kids left evening of the 3rd. 4th we sat around a talked till 2:30 then 7 of us headed to town, Lydia and I were payed for working here in June (Naomi had been paid before) so we were able to deposit those. F. Banga will pay us for July later. We did some shopping and then got a few minutes of net time at Michelle's house. That was an answer to prayer, I'd been really hoping that I'd be able to get the last month's doings off before starting on this one. :-) I don't know how much time I'll have to type in the next 2 ½ weeks but hopefully I'll get a few minutes. :-) Today we cleaned up, did/are doing laundry, put together all the campfire packs, the popcorn and the memo books for each week into the new bags for this year. That took us a couple hours to get everything in order. It's now 3:20 and I have two more loads of laundry to finish up then we'll be caught up on things. All our things have been moved to bunkhouse/cabin 4 ½ where we'll be staying for this week along with some young native girls who need some “moms” to be around. :-) Second week we'll have some other girls who come from broken homes that will need some mothering. :-) Anyhow I'll be talking to y'all later. :-)
Hannah
It's the 8th here.... my left hand fingers are all sore and the tips are red from all the playing. The last month of not playing took out my callouses seems almost totally. LOL! I've learned 4 songs and some harmonies to one that Daniel K. taught me last year. I have 3 class mates.... Garnet, who is just learning (he's in his late 40s or early 50s I'm guessing, but he catches on pretty quickly), Rob, has taken three finger bluegrass style for 6 months before this camp but old-timey/clawhammer styles are new to him. He's around 30, and his familiarity with the banjo makes his learning quicker. Elaine, was here last year and Daniel K. taught her several songs. But she wasn't able to record them or have them written out so she forget major parts of some of them. (She's in her late 50s to 60s , I think.) So that's my class. :-)
The concerts have been phenomenal as usual. The talent some people have... :-) I could listen to them for hours on end. Wow, and how they can work around so many different styles. :-) I love being around the music all day. :-) I'm having to type in sporadic moments.... LOL! And I need to close now. Maybe I'll get a chance later on. :-)
Hannah
13th..... it's 11:30 pm. The Johnny Arcand Fiddle festival has been very very wet/rainy, cold and rough. But I have learned some amazing things. For one how cold I can get when I don't bring leggings or a heavy sweater along. LOL! Two that one of my class mates from camp last year is a fantastic guitar and banjo player (which of course makes me “sick” since I have no such talent and he's only 13 :-) He also plays 5 other instruments. That is simply not fair at all..... some people like myself can play a bit but advanced in all areas is not possible for myself it would seem. :-) Maybe someday I'll be able to rock my world. LOL!
Michele had us in the tent and you can imagine how that was working out with the wind and rain. So tonight we're in Saskatoon as Michelle's Mom's place for a dry, warm place to sleep, and also to get some showers. :-) And on our way back out to the festival we're going to stop by Long and McQuade so I can pick up a banjo capo and maybe a chord sheet. :-) I have a basic chord sheet but I really want to learn some fancier chords like diminished and augmented chords, they sound so sweet in certain styles of music. I'm kind of pumped and happy right now, besides being tired. So if my giddiness gets to you I'm sorry. :-) Lydia and Naomi were practically jumping up and down after their workshops today... they had so much fun, learned new things and were with the most amazing teachers that they loved it tons. :-) I sat in on Lydia's workshops, so I ended up getting the know in on a really cool chord progression, that sounds incredible on the guitars and I really wanted to learn it for the banjo. Asked a few people to help me work it out and ended up Gordon took myself and the banjo along with the paper and pen and figured out all the chords and so on for the first three strings so it was easy. I practiced for 45 mins or so going over them but then we had to leave for coming into town. And I need to go shower now and hit the hay. :-) Soft warm bed tonight... AHHHHHHHHH LOL! ZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!
Hannah
14th... morning. So I'm back. The shower was wonderfully warm. :-) So anyhow.... I need to post this... go up and eat breakfast. Thank Fran (Michelle's Mom) for having us here. Ask Michelle if I can go with her and Shamma shopping. And I also need to do my hair up, it's still pretty wet from the shower last night. :-) But I'm not complaining. :-) I'm listening to You Raise Me Up.... it's such a beautiful song, and so so true about our gracious God we serve. God is amazing, he raises up to more than we could ever be on our own. :-)
Hannah