Linda's Report

    Folks started making their way to the Saturday evening festivities. It is a catered dinner. There's a socializing time before the dinner is served. Barry, Armenia, Elaine, Dan and Chuck were all there of course. As a side note, Moultrie (Walt) has visited and been a good sport in past years, but last year was quite frail, and Susie was worried about the stress of traveling again. Since I wanted him to know we were thinking of him, I picked up a card and had all the actors and as many of the fans as possible sign it. (I had envisioned a bigger blank card, but unfortunately, shopped for it in Roslyn, where the selection of blank cards is fairly limited. I tried to zip around between activities catching as many as possible till it was full of writing. My apologies to anyone who was not able to sign it. So you know, it is on its way to him as we speak.  :-)  Thanks to everyone for helping out with that!)

    Barry Corbin was the first to speak. Before he started though, he took his last NASA hat from the show off his head and auctioned it off right there on the spot for charity. It was quite exciting, and fetched a handsome sum. I'd tell you who ultimately prevailed, but will let him tell the tale (hint, hint! I think he's on this list, but is usually quiet. You know who you are and we'd love to hear it from your perspective, ok?) Barry did some talking and also had a question and answer time. It was an absolute hoot! Elaine also spoke. She said she's been doing some stand-up, and especially at the beginning of her talk it had that kind of rhythm and delivery. And for those who don't already know, unlike the  character of Marilyn, she talks. She also spoke about her participation in a video called Rez-Robics (see t-shirt in picture) which is an exercise video especially for Native Americans to encourage exercise to help combat some common health problems, especially diabetes. Armenia (Mrs. Anku in early episodes, Marilyn's mother --as in real life -- in later episodes) also spoke. She has the most wonderful smile! Barry paid homage to her as being the "heart and soul of the show", a wonderful, caring and helping woman who keeps the old ways alive.

    I'll tell ya. It was almost surreal. Just being there was a magical feeling, the kind of feeling where you just feel so lucky to be there experiencing the moment and you don't want to forget a single second. My face hurt from smiling so much and it turned out to be a common malady.   :-)

    Barry spoke again later a bit about alopecia (sp?) which causes hair loss. His hair loss is due to that (and he also has a toupee which he is wearing in the file photos) He popped off his toupee to accent his point. He also talked about speaking to a group of children that have it. He talked about how none of us are the pinnacle of evolution and whatever it is that makes us feel different can either wreck our self-esteem or make us stronger, and he encouraged everyone to go for the gusto instead of focusing on whatever deficiencies we think we might have. (I couldn't help but be reminded of Maurice's speech to Chris in Burning Down the House, where he said something to the effect of ....when you come up against a problem, you go over it, around it, through it, you don't sit on your hands feeling sorry for yourself....)

    Chuck Greywolf did his sharing and welcoming especially of the new folks. He is a good will ambassador par excellence. If you've never experienced it, I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you...come see for yourself.   :-)

   Also besides the speaking and such, there was the auction. (I was excited to see Elaine win something I had brought! And to think-- I almost didn't bring it!) And the quilt Dolores made was raffled. It was very exciting to see Barbara from Chicago win it. Also, Eddie from California had been selling CD's to raise up money to give to charity and donated it to a fund dedicated to the wildfire firefighter the town of Roslyn recently lost. Hey! And who could forget the Dress as Your Favorite Character Contest?! Wow! We had everyone from Larry Coe to Holling to 2 Shelly's to Officer Semanski (very authentic!) to Maurice to Adam and more. It was hard to choose -- a lot of care had gone into all of them! But ultimately Adam (James from NY) won with Officer Semanski (oh! where's that name list?!) a close second. Remind me -- who was third? They were all good.

    Things started winding up, and yes, it was quite late, but oh so fun! Some folks headed out for more fun even so (um, yes me too! To quote Dave the Cook, "Wild dogs couldn't keep me away!") We went to the Brick first. It was quite memorable. Then we went to Marko's (water, thanks!) and chatted yet more while watching bird-dog trials on the TV above the bar. Go BeBe! And who could forget the "tail-cam" concept? LOL!!! An absolutely chock-full day and night -- exhausting, but I wouldn't trade it for 'bout anything, can ya say amen, Moosers?