My Summer So Far...

...has been really great! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Here's a bit of a recap. Back in June Noah and I had the opportunity to work with uilleann piper Troy Donockley on a recording session for the Bose corporation. Got to spend a few days at a great studio near Sturbridge, MA playing tunes, swapping stories and watching Monty Python clips on YouTube. From there we went to the Old Songs Festival in Altamont, NY and had a great time as always. Noah picked up a tenor guitar at the instrument swap and has hardly put it down since. After the festival we headed off to Western & Swing Week at Ashokan where I taught fiddle and ukulele. Tons of great music and great people. But now comes the big news... Noah left camp a day early, drove back to Manlius and PROPOSED to Kailyn on their anniversary! And she said yes! So that was pretty exciting. Our good friend Gabi Raffler is visiting this summer from Austria. After I got back, we picked her up at the airport and headed off for a week of vacation on Lake Champlain in Vermont with the Zieglers and the Culottas. We had a wonderful time. Swimming, biking, hiking, sunsets, movies, a little birding (picked up Clay-colored Sparrow south of Burlington) and lots of great food. Anyway, I finally got back on Sunday and Sarah and I leave this afternoon for Grey Fox, Ashokan Northern Week and Augusta. We'll be back in early August. Hope you're all having a good summer as well. Stay cool!

Noah and Robbert playing tenor guitarsVisiting Shelburne FarmsGABIIIII on the summit of Mt MansfieldSunset on Lake Champlain