Well! We missed some of our members at the latest meeting, and it was their loss. The venue, the town, the guests and the weather couldn't have been better.

As for the venue- Thanks Michael Cartwright for setting us up in the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo Choo. This is not only a hotel built around an historic train station theme (complete with train cars retrofitted as hotel rooms and meeting rooms) but it's a convention center complete with a variety of restaurants and shops. And Chattanooga's river environs are amazing. Their downtown is being renovated and refurbished at an astounding rate. There are riverside parks one after another all filled with people recreating in a way that would please Normal Rockwell if he could be there deciding what kind of painting he would start next.

Thanks to our speakers: James 'Doodle' Lyle, Chattanooga Times-Free Press editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett, and Funny Pages principal Tom Bancroft. I won't even try to bring everyone up to speed on their presentations. If you weren't there, I'm very sorry for you.

We had a fine silent auction that brought some really greed-inspiring donations. We raised a bit of money for the Milt Gross Fund and for the Make-A-Wish foundation. I personally came home with a Cartoon Network goody bag filled with things that made my kids admit that, yes, I was allowed to leave for a weekend here and there if this was the sort of payoff on my return. I'm very sorry for you if you weren't there, too, but sorry too that the prices of things weren't merrily driven sky high by hordes of cartoonists and their families and friends. That sort of thing looks good for our chapter's image. As it was, we were awfully polite to one another and didn't get quite vicious with our bidding, though I heard a few apologies for having outbid others. Had to make one, too.

Next year, make plans now to be in Maggie Valley, NC! There's even some thought of visiting a wild west theme park. A fine time will be had by all, I'm sure. If there are guests you'd like to see, or events you'd like to coordinate, jump over to the chat forum on this site and let's all get in on the discussion!