Calling at C-Gulls and at Stuart Bunch

[cjsmith]

Paul and Pat Harrington were once again great hosts. I am always thankful for the kind souls who are willing to open up their homes to traveling square dance callers. Without free accommodation and carpooling, trips like this would be a lot harder to do. Plus these two have CATS! I spent way too long scritching the cats, cuddling the little bony five-pound blind one, trying in vain to "help" give one her pill, and just generally making myself a nuisance.

This time, I think I managed to get the level of the C4 dance nailed. Several people came up to comment that it was just right. (This is markedly different from last year, where a misunderstanding or miscommunication caused me to bring material that was not just too difficult but massively over the top too difficult. Apparently my 4 Phantom Triangular Boxes usage has been the talk of South Florida for a year.)

It feels so good to call a dance that works out well.

Naturally, I then had to tell the club president that I couldn't make any firm commitments for 2010, which is a bummer to have to do on a day when things are going well.

Rob has described the overland travel and the wildlife in our hotel room in this entry.

Next was two days' worth of calling C3B at Stuart Bunch, where this time I brought a mix that would have worked perfectly last year... and the floor level was quite different this year. You can't win 'em all. (Well, not without writing about three times the material you'll need for every dance, that is.) I dug up some additional easier stuff and intermixed it with the tougher stuff, and I don't think anybody got too ticked. I have also promised to call fewer Rotary Circulates.

Now I'm not calling anywhere but the local C1 club for more than five weeks. I think I'll unpack.

Comments

[canseefour.livejournal.com]

Paul and Pat Harrington were once again great hosts. I am always thankful for the kind souls who are willing to open up their homes to traveling square dance callers. Without free accommodation and carpooling, trips like this would be a lot harder to do.

You are sooooo right. They look after us too, and we always have a great time with them. I also agree about the kind souls who open up their homes to us.

Glad it went well this year.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Aren't they great? And I adore their kitties.

Hey, question for ya. (Actually I should put it in a separate entry, perhaps with a poll.) What do you do about house-gifts for a situation like that? I've almost never done a blessed thing, and I feel guilty about it.

[canseefour.livejournal.com]

We love their cats too - we often have to drag Barry out to the car when it's time to go.

We generally don't take house-gifts either, but have gotten over the guilt. We normally do for the first time we stay with someone in Europe (or Japan - I've never been there - Barry has called there once), and try to keep it "Canadian" but also something small - a token as it were. We do sometimes try to pick up the bill for dinner or lunch as a thank-you. The situation doesn't always allow that, but it seems to be something we can do.

I know if the situation were reversed (we were hosting out-of-town callers), I certainly wouldn't expect anything. I also know that in some circles, it's considered an honour to host the caller. In our situation (and probably yours - mostly challenge) it often becomes a case of staying with friends, which for us just adds to the enjoyment of the weekend.