Back from FilKONtario

Back from FilKONtario. Dead tired but happy; it was a glorious weekend. Thank you THANK YOU to FilKONtario and Interfilk (and everyone else who contributed to the effort) for making it possible for the 16 members of n'Early Music Consort to come to Toronto from Britain.

I woke up with a bit of a bug this morning (hopefully short-lived) and have way too much catching up to do with work to write much today, but I had to say that this past weekend was definitely an example of one of the things I love so much about a filk community event like this one: the exchange of music and friendship from all over the globe.



Above: Simon Fairbourn took this photo of Marilisa and me yesterday (and recursively, here's Walter's photo of Simon taking the photo)

I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to say proper good-byes to some of you; I had to leave right after the closing ceremonies (thanks to Walter for the lift home!).

Speaking of closing ceremonies: huge thanks to Judith Hayman, by the way, who filled in at the VERY last minute as stunt guitarist for Allison, who had to leave just before because she was feeling quite ill. Judith had never played the song with us before, and there was no time to rehearse. And thanks SO MUCH to those who sang along; Allison usually sings melody for parts of the song...as Jodi and I were singing the first half of the song, we later found out that the same thought was going through both our heads: "Oh dear lord, both of us sing harmonies on the bridge and don't know the melody well enough to wing it..." :-)

It didn't help, of course, that we were still teary-eyed from n'MC's rendition of Sam's Song, a beautiful song by Zander Nyrond traditionally sung at the end of every UK filk convention. As the room filled with the voices of people joining in on the chorus, I couldn't help thinking, "When am I going to see these wonderful people again?" It's one of the bittersweet aspects of the global filk community: you meet so many kindred spirits, yet most of us live so far away from each other that many years may pass before our paths cross again.

I've posted some photos from Sib's visit and will gradually be uploading photos and con highlights to my FilKONtario Flickr pics set. I'm sure Allison will be posting photos and con reports in her LJ when she's feeling better.

Again, many thanks to the FilKONtario concom and guests!



Above: a gift from Heather Borean, who knows about my love-hate relationship with squrrels. I *love* this mug...thank you, Heather! :-)



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