An End to the Summer

Today marks the last night that we will be playing on the Princess Cruise ships this summer. We are excited to leave for our Fall tour (This coming Sunday evening! It's almost here!), but playing on the Princess Cruise ships has been absolutely wonderful!

A few key things we will be missing:

1.) The FOOD - Paul especially has loved filling a plate (or two...or three...) every night (and yes, sometimes at lunch too) before a show. We just wish Melissa had let us go up and try the ice cream and milkshakes, but sadly, dairy like that just isn't good for the voice before a show. 

2.) The stage crews - Wow! If we could talk a few of the people we've come to know this summer into traveling with us, we would never have to set up, take down, do sound or our own lighting ever again! It would be heaven... One of the best things about playing on the ships was being able to show up, practice a little bit, and step right on stage. They had everything done for us.

3.) The BIG fancy stages -  After working lots and lots of summers at the Mount Roberts Tramway (which we adore for different reasons), a big stage to really move around on was extra special and made us feel like rock stars (even when only eight people showed up for the show - YES, that really happened).

One thing we will NOT miss:

1.) The evil looks we got from security when we were late getting off the ship because they scheduled our show right before departure leaving us no time to get paid or pack up - One guy DID look like Hugh Jackman though, so that was sort of a consolation prize...

We thought we would show you a little bit of a look at the Coral Princess Cruise ship as we get on to play our last show. Hope you enjoy it!

An Evening of Music

   Not too long ago, we heard the sad news that our dear friends the Truitts were going to be moving away from Juneau. This called for a going-away party filled with music and yummy desserts (I mean...dinner). 

   Lots of our friends came over for the evening to wish the Truitts off on their new adventure, and the evening ended wonderfully with home-made raspberry pie (made by Quinn and I from our very heavy raspberry bushes). 

Now, we need to clear something up with you. 

Very often in our travels (and sometimes even here in Juneau), people will come up to us after a show and they seem to think all we do in our free time is sit in front of our fireplace on cold winter evenings and play music happily together. 

And that's sort of true...

Yes, there are lots of cold winter evenings.

Yes, there is a lot music played in front of the fireplace.

But no. We are practicing. 

We very seldom just get together and play for fun.

(though yes, practice is a lot of fun sometimes)

Getting together with friends and just playing music seldom happens outside of Folk Fest week here in our house, so this evening spent with four guitars, two fiddles, a banjo, a bass and a piano was absolutely wonderful.

The night turned into a worship service/talent show, and we filmed parts of it to capture the moments we shared with everyone. 

We hope you like this little look into a very special evening:

"For where two or three gather in my name,

 there am I with them."

Matthew 18:20