The jamming was excellent. Sometimes there were structured African rhthyms, which I do enjoy a lot, and they were delicious. But more often it was free form jamming, often with the big African drums but sometimes with just voices, or didjeridus, or flutes. I made a point of using every single instrument I can play -- there's quite a few! -- as well as a couple that I'm still learning, like the bodhran. Note to self, get out the tin whistle and learn it again!
There was also lots of fun playing games of all kinds. I juggled, and showed some people how to learn contact juggling, and it was just a whole pile o fun. There are poi swingers here too -- I first saw poi in the raver community, they've now made it to the drum community too -- and I showed some folks the basics, and we had fun there too.
A personal high point for me was showing off the Obelisk, with its new user friendly control interface. It was a great success! The kids learned how to use it very quickly (which is why I worked so hard on the GUI interface) and everyone went through the "double take" stage when they first saw the POV images. Always amusing to watch!
The trees are vast and majestic, with great presence, almost like Ents. I spent two afternoons just basking at the sanctuary
The nights were punctuated by the hoo-hoo-aw calls of owls (barred owls, I think, from the sound) and the days by the knocking of woodpeckers, lots of them -- at least one was a pileated woodpecker, with the white moustache and distinctive red crest. Now I'm back in the city, and the night is full of sirens, and the day is edged with jackhammers.
This page maintained by Wil Howitt