An extremely random and incomplete list of memories from FilKONtario. Please forgive the lack of LJ name links as I don't have time to look them all up tonight.



- Sweet Cinnamon Tea and X-Men comics from Rand. Thanks, Rand!

- Hearing Peggi and Wayne sing "Who's Garden Was This?".

- Seeing Karen Linsley perform her first concert since the loss of Lloyd, backed by Freddy Brown and Jodi. Karen was fabulous and I especially liked the "first dog on the moon" song. Karen had a very moving blurb in the FKO program book. A quote:

"Since Lloyd's passing, I have been a bit isolated from my community and second home.... My voice was as silent as Lloyd's piano. But it is finally time to come home. They say; "If you love something set it free. If it comes back it is yours, if not it never really was." You set me free when I needed some space. I am returning now to say that I am forever yours."

- Hearing Tanya Huff's first concert! I was also highly amused by the Hobbit Fancier song that Tanya wrote Saturday morning at the con and debuted later that night :). Samwise is mine, Tanya...

- Seeing Mary's cross-stitch bookmark based on my Gondorian tree pattern. And sharing gingerbread and sugar plum spice tea! Thank you, Mary!

- Kathleen Sloan's new song "Take It Back". An anthem for filkers everywhere.

- Heather Dale's concert. I adore Heather's wonderful Arthurian-inspired lyrics, her voice and her piano playing and I'm just sorry she didn't find our local filking community sooner! She'll be the Interfilk guest at OVFF, so don't miss out!

- Moonwulf's concert. Highly entertaining, funny and moving songs and bad banjo jokes.

- Watching Urban Tapestry's "Gathering of the Fellowship" DVD go for $575 in the FKO auction! :O Thank you so much, Donald Clark, for supporting FKO!!! I was especially happy for my husband, John, who worked so hard to video, edit and prepare the DVD.

- Seeing both Deb and me embarrass ourselves at that same auction :). In her enthusiasm Deb managed to bid against herself for a WETA totebag. As for me, in the middle of fierce bidding I see a friend across the room and start waving to get his attention. -Not- a smart thing to do during an auction, as auctioneer Moonwulf teased me about later :). That could have been an expensive wave...

- Having dinner with Pete and Jill Grubbs and family, plus Jodi, Rand and Deb at Kelsey's.

- Having lunch with Erica Neely and her mom, plus Deb and Jodi at the hotel.

- Reliving the fun chili/song/strawberry memories of last Wednesday night with Deb, Dave Clement and Graham.

- Celebrating Deb's birthday! I gave Deb a Powerpuff Girl Slumber Party jewellry box- I couldn't resist. We all learned to hate the music in that box by the end of the weekend :).

- Singing "The Hockey Monkey Song" in the hall for friends on Sunday afternoon.

- Singing Dave Weingart's "The River" for him in open filk on Sunday afternoon.

- All of the performances at the Filk Hall of Fame concert, my favorite part of programming at FKO.

- Hearing Dave and Erica sing "Sam's Song" at the end of the Filk Hall of Fame concert.

- UT having the honour of closing the con after them by singing Deb's "Home To FilKONtario".

- Representing new Hall of Famers Katy and Ju by singing Phil Allcock's "Precious Moments" at their request at the Hall of Fame concert.

- Jodi and I singing back-ups to Freddy Brown's one shot, "C to C" to the tune of "The Cover of The Rolling Stone".

- Kathleen's bead workshop! Poor Kathleen anticipated 3 or 4 participants and ended up with 15+ :). I learned how to start a beaded bracelet, maybe at Kathleen's next bead workshop I'll learn how to finish it! (I had commitments and had to leave before the workshop was over)

- Getting the chance to see friends Pat and Andrew. It was waving at Andrew that almost cost me dearly at the auction :).

- The fantasy theme filk UT hosted on Friday night. Lots of Tolkien songs and you know that can't be bad. We sang "The Silmarillion", Deb's "The Question" and "Into The West".

- buying a mini-quilt and quilted handbags in the dealer's room.

- A special letter and gift from Tom Jeffers delivered by Dave Clement. We missed you, Tom!!

- Paul Kwinn's goofy program book bio for Kathleen Sloan.

- Graham Leather's Canadiana jam. Everyone worked hard to make sure their songs fit Canadian content in some way or another. I really liked Susan Urban's maple tree song and Sue's river song.

- Learning John Hall will be the Interfilk guest at Conchord! Yay, John! John also donated a double CD of music from a 1980 Dorsai weekend to the FKO auction that sold for $800, whoa.

- Seeing a very happy FKO concom make over $2000 at the FKO auction. Whooooo!

- Hearing Gary's sweet engagement love song for Sheryl. Hooray for Toronto engagements :).

- Hallway conversations with MEW, Andrea, Lloyd, Yvonne and so many others I don't see often enough.

Oh my, this is just the tip of the iceberg. So many good times, so many wonderful friends. Thank you so, so much to the FKO concom for your hard work and the special chance you give us all to be together. I've already pre-regged for next year.