Friday Jots

â–¶ Successful event (on the SWVA scale of things) with my presentation for the DAR yesterday–with the emphasis on scale. That same lack of the human swarm hereabouts that makes life so livable here also makes it hard in a bucks-for-bang way to find audiences sufficiently large so that investments of travel are offset by book sales. Having half the audience buy books is great, but wouldn’t it be nicer if there were 200 instead of 12 in the audience?

â–¶ I’m still considering the camera changes. I will confess here (only because nobody’s watching anyway) that I downloaded the Canon EOS 60D manual the other day and have been reading it. I am such a geek.

â–¶ The Prairie Home Companion Summer of Love appearance in Salem last night was worth the high ticket price. We’ve been listening to Garrison Keillor since the late 70s. The man is an American Institution. His memory is prodigious, his sense of timing impeccable and his nuance of language and song and slapstick are unparalleled. His sound-effects man (is it Tom Keith or was he the one before?) is amazing in his own right, but of course, as a closet sound effects generator (ask my kids) he easily gained my admiration. Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek was a significant contributor and might be a regular touring member. (See the sidebar–her Latest Journals on her web site.) She was new to me as a solo performer; watch out, Miss Krause, the competition is coming up fast from behind!

â–¶ Ready for some Wasted Friday Minutes: (Not really! I’d never do that to you, my imaginary reader!) Watch TWO videos:
1) the most amazing animal behavior video I think I’ve ever seen. Sheep art. High tech. Border collies will someday rule the world. And 2) a 10 minute video produced by a ridiculously young New Yorker who came to SWVA for the first time recently and produced a stunning showcase commissioned by those types who want tens of thousands of people to swarm into the Roanoke and New River Valleys like locusts of wheat fields. Fine. We got no wheat here in Floyd. You hear that?

â–¶ Suddenly, a mile from the house yesterday on our way to Salem, the driver’s side front tire began making a terrible metallic grating noise. We swapped cars and got to the show on time. But I’m left to figure this out. So with the portable phone in the car out on the gravel by the garden, I called Joey at Protocol to give me a risk assessment. “Listen to this” I said, and held the Panasonic handset out the window. “Sounds pretty rough!” he said, but unless the wheel seemed loose, I could PROBABLY drive it safely for him to have a look. A mischievous rock is what I’m hoping. Like Roseanna Roseanndanna used to say, “IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING.”