Dear Folks, The last five weeks have flown by for us. Life with a new knee is really good so far. Robin was out of the hospital in three days and has been rehabbing like a dog on a bone ever since with the coming weeks' work in mind. Linda, when not vying for the FlorenceNightingale/Mother Teresa award, has been gardening every spare minute and is way ahead of most years. Late spring usually finds us playing catch up on most things around the house and place, so it's sort of nice to feel like we won't be scrambling when we return home. And while it's been a beautiful time to be home, we sure are dry. The days have been so balmy and lovely that one hates to complain, especially when considering the extreme weather conditions that continue to plague parts of the country. But in the back of our minds we're wishing for rain. What's that saying, "be careful what you wish for?" We're looking forward to all the upcoming work. Robin just came in from cleaning the van, readying it for the trip to Minnesota. Going out to the Midwest is almost like a homecoming for us, having spent so much time out there in our many years of performing. There are lots of friends and lots of memories that come from those traveling days. We're playing some of the old favorites and a couple of brand new venues. We've been keeping our calluses up, learning songs off our new recording, which now has a title. "These Old Dark Hills" is also the title of the last song we finished right before going to Nashville to record. It's become a favorite of ours and we look forward tobringing it and some other new pieces onto the stage at our upcoming concerts.  Plans are for the CD to be released on Red House Records in late July. It's always a treat to join up with the A Prairie Home Companion gang for a broadcast show, but this one on April 28 at the fabulous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN makes us realize with all honesty that it doesn't get any better than this. We are working on some special material for the show and also hope to sing our song, "Maybelle'sGuitar and Monroe's Mandolin" on that sanctuary of a stage. We'll hang around for a day or two afterwards and get our CD cover pictures taken by Jim McGuire, photographer extraordinaire. If you're not familiar with his wonderful portraits check out his website: http://www.nashvilleportraits.com/ and have a look. We've had the pleasure of working with him 3 or 4 times in the past and always enjoy being in his studio and in his company. Then we'll turn right around and head to the northeast for a couple of shows the first weekend of May. After we get back we'll be sure and write and let you know what's going on. We were sorry to with draw from the Alaska cruise. When push came to shove too many folks had to drop out at the last minute for us to make it work. We were happy to find that most of the folks who were signed up decided to continue on without us and we wish them a bon voyage. It was apleasure working with Lynette Miller and it was a hard decision for us to make. Bumper sticker of the month: " I'm living the dream, one nightmare at a time." We look forward to seeing some of you along the road. Please tell your friends if we're coming their way. Your pals, Robin and Linda