Five days ago we arrived here in Evart, MI, for the ODPC Funfest. Today is Monday. The festival doesn’t start until Thursday, but we’ve been enjoying the company of some of our best friends and the nicest people you can imagine.

This pre-festival time is a time to get re-acquainted over long chatty dinners. We stop and “sit a spell” with folks who share their past year and life’s experiences. Stories are fascinating as we get to know these people better.

Last night we had a typical Evart jam session. The music was still going strong when I went inside at about midnight. The intensity of the music was unbelievable. We had about a dozen hammered dulcimers plus fiddles, guitars, bass, and mandolins. It was fun beyond description. I made some recordings as well as videos and plan to add them here or on http://dulcimers.com (my website which features the festival.)

We’ve also been eating and eating and eating some more. Food never tastes better than when shared with friends. Three couples who had arrived early shared the meal preparing duties for the first couple of days, but past three days or so we’ve been going “out to eat” but there’s always a whole crew of folks who ride together. Yesterday afternoon we had eight of us for pizza and last night five of us went to the local “drive-in” which was a throw-back to our youth. The tray on the window, root beer floats, and burger baskets brought back memories of our teen days.

During this pre-festival period, we have been really relaxed, but over the next few days we’ll be working. We’ll need to set up the workshop areas (I’m the workshop coordinator) for the festival, and get everything ready. Someone commented that they saw me last year during the festival and I was “a blur.” We do have to hustle to keep everything flowing smoothly.

I’ll try to write more later, but it’s hard to find time.