Dear Family, Friends and Folk Fans:

Happy spring! I hope you have all weathered the floods and wicked winds and are looking forward to a rejuvenating summer. Here’s some news from Esperance in Red Creek. Dan and I have had a great year and look forward to hearing your news either via email or when you come to concerts. Our biggest news is that Dan is still cancer free….hallelujah! He continues to be in touch with some fellow head and neck cancer survivors, giving encouragement where he can. He is back to jogging a few times a week and can eat all but the most acidic foods.

We lost our dog Zeus last March. He was 14. Our house was just too empty without a furry friend so in July we adopted Jack, a one-year-old border collie. Nearly a year later, and a few pairs of socks sacrificed, Jack has relaxed into our routine and we into his. He is a great Frisbee dog. His greatest thrill is to catch the ball while he is two feet off the ground. Jack travels well with us and never runs away as long as we have some projectile ready to throw for him. You may see us at rest areas in the mountains this summer throwing tennis balls for the boy.

We had many wonderful musical opportunities this past year. We were commissioned to write a piece for the Oswego County Chorus and were on hand when all hundred voices debuted “Music is Our Gift.” We’re grateful to Paul Brewster for that opportunity. We made three trips to Florida in the past year. In October we went down to Boca Grande for the wedding of CJ and Michelle Dates, in January our friend Jack Osborne sponsored a concert for us at the Port Charlotte Unitarian Universalist Church, and in March we gave a concert at the UU Fellowship in Venice. What sweet generous friends we have. If you’d like to invite us to come to a warm, sunny place in the winter and give a concert, our bags are always packed!

We were also invited to develop a program that would pay tribute to the troops Memorial Day Weekend. It was the idea of Stephen Svoboda at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts. He also asked Alex Roalsvig to conduct interviews with 20 veterans and edit a video of the interviews. Dan and I learned several new songs to intersperse with the video segments. We gave three performances Memorial Day Weekend in Indian Lake, Tupper Lake, and Long Lake. It was very gratifying to see those men and women stand and be honored for their service.

Dan and I, between us, have released three recordings this year. Together, we recorded “Be the Light – Songs of the Christmas Season.” We had great interviews with public radio hosts Dave Bullard of WRVO, and Todd Moe of NCPR to talk about the new CD and our seasonal concerts. Dan recently released a new instrumental album called “For the Love of Friends,” which includes the title track a tune he put up on his blog when he was going through treatment. The new recording is chock full of Dan’s signature tunes and features Tom Hodgson on guitar and Henry Jankiewicz on fiddle. I finally decided to fulfill a longstanding request to put all my Adirondack women’s songs on one album. The new issue includes several old favorites (Lydia, Big Belle, Mary Brown, Give Me Wings) and three new songs, Sanctuary, The Queen, and Julia Preston. It will be out by summer!

I could go on and on (maybe I already have) but I hope we’ll have a chance to share the rest over a glass or mug of something and hear your latest and greatest to boot! Please keep in touch and support live music when you can. Thanks for buying music; it keeps a song in our hearts, gas in the tank, and a new Frisbee for Jack now and then.

Cheers - Peggy