You're also a writer at heart, so, that's just cool. I can rarely keep comments short-and-sweet either. :-)
Your strings experience sounds wonderful. I'm more of a woodwinds gal, myself - I used to have the full octave set of tin whistles, for instance. I still don't have a sopranino recorder though.
I totally get your point of not wanting to carry around a gold mine - and something truly unique is to your advantage to be sure. It's like when I travel with black suitcases - I always paint them up with dabs of sampler paints so that I can recognize my suitcase in an instant.
Something I miss from living in England is all the buskers here and there - on the Tube, along the town's pedestrian precinct... wherever. It gave such a lively atmosphere - not something often done in the US, unfortunately.
Great to meet you, Monty. I will try to catch your posts again soon.