It's been a big week.

For the past 7 days, the guitar has been in the possession of finger-style guitar master Don Ross. I commissioned a new piece from him specifically for the guitar to accompany a documentary being made by radio producer Steve Wadhams. This is the first time it's been in the hands of someone else for such an extended period. Given that it's Don Ross, I have no qualms (except that he and his wife Brooke Miller had a whole bunch of gear stolen from their car on a trip to Montréal back in October - gulp!).

Anyway, Don and Brooke came over last week to pick it up and they were just lovely people. Today, Don met me at the CBC Radio studios where we were guests on Fresh Air with Jeff Goodes. Don premiered the song in a mostly finished state for broadcast tomorrow morning in advance of our gig in Orangeville. It was spectacular. Truly.

After the show, Don returned the guitar to me and tonight Sarah and her parents and I came up to the little village of Mono where a small show had been arranged in the basement of the Mono Cliffs Inn - a cramped and totally charming little pub called Peter's Cellar. Mark Pickett did the organizing and the place packed out. He played, Sarah's brother Luke played, the young woman whose set we displace played and Laura Bird - a wonderful singer/songwriter who happens to be the person who arranged tomorrow night's show in Orangeville - also took a wonderful turn. It was the most perfect kind of night - small and intimate with a real sense of the impact this guitar has on the people who come face to face with it. Word of our presence even drifted up to the folks in the Magnolia Dining Room on the main floor, who asked to see it and came to join us later in the evening.

Special thanks to Mark and Annie Pickett, Wayne and Carol from the Mono Cliffs Inn and all the musicians who played.