Her voice has a certain gravitas to it, then at turns it is lifted by a whimsical lilt driving a hearty laugh. Free as a kid's laugh, really.

It is her 80th birthday, and a party has sprung up near Scott's Corner south of Carlton. She is flitting around, getting this and that ready. She earnestly thanks everyone who arrives, with theatrical gestures as further exclamation. She dings around on her electric keyboard, playing along with the alphorn player set up under one of the tents.

That whimsy shows again as she goes from station to station in the traveling children's museum she urged over...