Squam was divided this year in to two classes for me. An all day one on Thursday,

and then a class that focused more on lyrics for a half day on Saturday.

Well. The talent was abundant, the bravery, wit and joy abounding. Thank you all who ran around like goofballs with me, challenged your own "I suck" factors, and kept chipping away at the beauty.

In other news, once again I was reminded how important it is to take even a little time to un-cage, unfurl, dance like a fool, laugh until it hurts. OK i didn't sleep much, but boy did I "get my soul known again" as Woody Guthrie would have said. And I even got to build my own Ukulele with my friend Swirly. Ok I only did the more nuts and bolts part, (and the sound hole sparkles) I'm good with glue and screw drivers, but Swirly painted "Bettina" on there.

Me and Swirly, aka Christine Mason Miller

Derek

and Lauren, our fearless Uke building teachers then sat around and jammed with us for the better part of the afternoon.

 (candy cigarettes, promise!)

That night we performed our little version of "Hey, Jude" for the coffeehouse.

Here's the clean, daytime version:

Ukulele kit? about 20 buck from the Curiosity Shoppe. Getting your soul known again?

PRICELESS.