[charlene]

I'm baaaaack!!!!
I'm sooooooooo happpppyyy!!!!
What a night!
It was too good to be true. But it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I shall try to recount all the details of "Char's Excellent Adventures In Orillia at Mariposa with Gord"
In the beginning:
It was a beautiful day here in Ontario. About 76 degrees ( I have converted it from Celsius for you Americans!), blue skies with puffy white clouds dancing through the sky.
The drive up was vision after vision of farm fields with growing crops, cattle, sheep and horses.

Orillia is about 65 miles north of Whitby so it only took an hour and fifteen minutes to get there.
We drove around town and took a look at where the festival was being held. We were at Tudhope Park two summers ago with the kids and knew exactly where to go. We found our hotel and checked in to our "suite" ? that was only $150.00 Canadian dollars.!!! It was just a large room that had a pull out couch beside the king size bed. It did have a view through the trees of the lake however. After watching a couple of holes of some golf tournament on TV we headed out for a late lunch because my 12 year old daughter Lisa was "STARVING!!"" We left our surly, rock lovin' 16 year old at home.

After a lovely lunch "al fresco" we headed to the festival.
We were loaded down with lawn chairs, blanket, cameras, a small cooler and various other things but it was only a 5 minute walk to the gate. There were already several hundred folks spread out in front of the "Main Stage" waiting for the show. This was at 6:15 p.m. We found a nice spot about 10-12 rows back and a slight bit to the right side of the stage.
>From our seats we could see Gord and Rick talking and Barry and Mike were standing by a trailer looking at their gear. The trailer was not a mobile home thing but just a 15 foot one you pull behind your car. Gord and his guys stayed off on their own and didn't really mingle with too many people. Gord's manager was chatting with people and would bring them over to Gord. At one point Gord was incredibly animated in some story he was telling and was laughing and slapping his leg about something! I took some pictures with my zoom lens. He's a very small guy!

Around 6:30 some Folk singers came on and I got up to wander around. My husband and I were looking at some of the artisans and crafts and spotted Terry Clements and his wife walking hand-in-hand in front of us. He stopped at a display of handcrafted guitars and strummed a few for a few minutes. They continued walking around and as they passed us in a spot under a grove of trees we said hi and shook hands all around. He's as grey as I am but when he took off his sunglasses his eyes were a beautiful sparkling blue. We chatted about the tour in the States and he said they were all glad to be able to fit Mariposa into the schedule. My husband asked for an autograph and Terry asked who to make it out to. He said "To Charlene" . Terry then attempted to spell it out loud but said "een" instead of "ene". He then graciously signed a piece of paper "to Charlene..." thanks, Terry Clements. I took a pic of my husband standing beside him as he signed and Terry's wife said if I wanted to get in a picture she would take one for me. I gave her the camera and she snapped one off! Terry put his arm around me and I put my arm around him. I asked him where he was living now and he mentioned York Region which is a suburb north of Toronto (Greater Toronto Area now). He said they were going on around 9:40 after the other acts. I said that would be right around the time the bugs and mosquitoes would be everywhere. He laughed and did a little shudder thing and said he'd have to put on long sleeves then. We wished him well on the rest of the tour and I mentioned I am following Gord's tour on the internet and they should check in once in a while and see the great websites. He did a funny little face like - "oh-oh we better watch what we're doing!" and laughed. I asked if there was any chance Gord would be doing any signing before the show. He said to come around behind the area that was for the talent and their people. I told him I had my 30 year old 45 of IYCRMM that I wanted Gord to sign and he said "wow that was a long time ago". I laughed and said "yea, and look at all of us - none of us have aged at all!" He ran his hand over his grey hair and laughed again. We shook hands and said goodbye. They headed to their car beside the cordoned off area and got out their lawn chairs and a small cooler and headed into the "talent" area. He and his wife were really pleasant to talk to and Terry seemed kind of surprised we even talked to him let alone asked for an autograph. My husband and I both noticed his hands shaking when he signed it though. I think he was nervous! The two of them were obviously enjoying their time together, arms around each other's waists and holding hands as they walked throught the artisans booths. It was kinda cute!
part 2 - next message...
Char