I be alive and well, and life be gettin' 'ectic.
For ten years, I've only occasionally got out the concertina and honked around on it aimlessly, as there were few or no other 'tina players in my locale. Now there's a jam group starting up, so I'm trying to get up to speed in addition to my fiddling, banjoing, etc., plus taking part in a guitar class in order to keep a friend's course program afloat (if I quit, several other students will probably quit as well. My friend doesn't get paid for it, but we -the dulcimer bunch- need guitarists for accompaniment and beat when there's no bassist available, so yeah).
My folks are in need of both my driving and chore services, as Mom is recovering from/dealing with an ongoing physical problem; Dad is in the midst of a surgery process. For the nonce, he's unable to drive and in fact do much of anything due to the danger of messing up the work that's been done and is ongoing. Which means I'm going like heck about 80% of the time, Taking care of the house, &c.
You'll see me flitting about on facebook (which I'm still not sure I really "get" if you know what I mean), not because I'm a social butterfly, but because I now seem to be either the only or one of maybe two people who take care of the Dulcimers' FB page (that's my "Play Director's Blurb" on there each month). I expressed interest in, and in fact joined several groups (including a couple of concertina groups, whence came the info about the startup of the jam group), so that's ongoing; such also help me get info about performance opportunities, as per a dulcimer colleague's suggestion.
I'm about to/thinking about going to step down from the Dulcimer Society's Play Director position, but that actually increases my work load for the next couple of months, while I get the files and calendars (the Events Scheduled and the Events Call-Up calendars for preparing to schedule/solicit/handle plays in the coming year for whoever takes over), and the FB page particulars associated with the position in order for the handover.
All that and the regular day-to-day crud have me a bit busy at the moment.
I'll try to post something soon.
MWBailey