Or I guess you could say, “It’s a wrap.” Either phrase describes a completed project.

I FINALLY, have the Evart ODPC Workshop Program ready to go to the printer tomorrow. Whew! What a relief.

About three festivals ago, a lady stepped forward and volunteered to assist me by proofing the program. Her name is Nancy Basford and she’s been a God-send. She comes to the festival from Oak Ridge, TN, so all of our communication is done on line. She has a keen eye which is tuned to detail. She patiently corrects my many errors. She’s easy to work with and a genuinely nice person.

Before she came along, John and I would “read” the program to each other to verify that it was accurate but it was a challenge, and I know many things slipped through. I can’t begin to tell you how stressful it was on the two of us. John is not a detail person, and it drove him crazy to have to look for tiny errors that I felt were important. He has enough to do and the time it took drove him crazy, therefore much of the proofing was done just by me. It’s really hard to spot your own mistakes.

I tell everyone that Nancy saved our marriage. Although that’s an exaggeration, it does make for a much happier household.

The 2009 festival program is now completely ready. It is available for download at http://dulcimers.com/workshops. I just hope I don’t discover any errors after it goes to the printer. When it’s too late to do anything about problems, I don’t even want to know that I’ve made a mistake. (Ignorance is bliss.) We can always put a notice on the bulletin boards around the fairgrounds, if it’s something that makes it difficult for the attendees to understand or misdirects them.

So today I feel a real load lifted. Now I can start packing for the festival. We leave in 11 days and there’s lots to get ready.

Thanks again, Nancy, for making the job much easier.