Right now I can hear three or four music jams going on around us. There’s one in the “Rabbit Barn,” one in the “Swine Barn,” one at the Kaiser family’s campsite right inside the corral, and one in the ODPC pavilion. I hear the Rabbit Barn playing “Peacock Rag.” The one that’s at Kaiser’s is playing “Wizzard’s Walk.” That’s probably the fastest and craziest of the gatherings. Everyone is wearing battery-powered hats that blink or flash. We sat and watched them for a while and it was fun, but when John wanted to join a jam, he chose the one in the Rabbit Barn which is a bit more mellow.

Since arriving at the fairgrounds last Thursday, we’ve been non-stop busy. A lot of our time is taken up talking to friends. But there have also been a few pre-arranged events. Sunday night we attended a huge pre-festival potluck and jam at a nearby lake. We’ve gone out to dinner a couple of times. Tonight there was an ice cream party.

A lot of our time has been spent getting things ready for the start of the festival on Thursday. The tempo is definitely picking up. Tomorrow morning there’s a “breakfast” in the community building. At 1:00, we’ll join the officers for pizza. At 6:00, there’ll be a cart parade, followed by the “list” reception at 7:30 tomorrow night at our campsite. Also there’s a meeting of the “mentors” so Shelly and Richard (our friends from Florida who we visited a week or so ago) will be arriving in the afternoon. (She’s one of the participants in the program.)