I just edited my last story, proofed my last page, and that means it’s finale time at the P&C. The news desk will handle it from here.

I love going to Middleton Place for this last concert, because it is the ultimate Southern evening and the dividing line between seasons. Before this event, it’s still spring. After it, we are beginning the meltdown of summer. But for one glorious night, it seems like we might be able to stay on the cusp, put on a enough bug spray and enjoy being outside.

I like to see who shows up, as in festival celebrities; and who shows up with chafing dishes and crystal in tow, as in lifestyles I will never acquire. Then I settle back on my blanket with a glass of wine in a plastic cup and wait for the music to start. Somewhere along the line, my patient hubbie realizes I can talk again without babbling about deadlines, headlines and online.

Now the notion that I’m a music fan is laughable given the critics I’ve worked with in the last two and a half weeks, but even I can recognize that sometimes the humidity plays havoc with the string section, and the crickets chirp louder than the flutes. There are certain pieces of music that work much better outside than others. This year is “Pictures at an Exhibition” so it ought to hold its own against the climate.

But no matter what the weather, I still love the night. And on Monday, I’ll be down a bit. The artists have gone home, the gossip has died down, and the audience has all headed to the beach. So I will sleep for a week, and then wish the festival would start all over again. We’ve just gotten the hang of it by the time it’s over.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s festival and thanks for sharing your comments with us. This blog has been one great adventure. See you next year.

I know you think they are already doing show with their podcasts and videos - and they are - but they will hit the public airwaves on NPR at 9 a.m. Monday morning as guests on the program of the same name - “Spoleto Today with Marcus Overton” - at 89.3 FM.

There’s no relationship to the program and the blog other than once upon a time both the newspaper and Marc jumped on the name at about the same time. Believe me - there will be a lively discussion about it.

In case you don’t know it, Marc once ran Spoleto Festival USA, so he’s an insider and knows what he’s talking about.

He also rode his motorcycle in the storm over the weekend to Georgia and back to see elderly relatives. He said he felt like a drowned rat by the time he got back to Charleston this afternoon. There’s more to this man than a great radio voice.

Janet and Dan, along with intrepid videographer Geoff Marshall, plan to talk with him about this grand new blogging frontier for The P&C, otherwise known as how to learn to podcast and videoblog in five easy lessons. It should be fun - if they are awake, that is.

I heard something about a party tonight …

Tune in.

Here’s a mea culpa - it’s Saturday I think, and the halfway point of the Festival.

Since I edit Spoleto Today for the ‘dead tree edition’ (as Dan likes to call it), I’m now a night owl. I tend to hum Eliza DoLittle’s song to Henry Higgins under my breath (Words, words, words …) Because I work straight through the 17 days, I lose track of time, a point my husband reminded me of when I asked him for the third time what day it was. I liken the festival to going on diet of chocolate cake: There are so many sweet things to do, that it’s hard to know when to stop and take a slice of daily life.

Tonight is the night I usually do that by watching something atrocious on television - like staying up to 2:30 a.m. to watch the HGTV series Clean House. (I do that instead of actually CLEANING the house, while I try to separate the cats from the dust bunnies).

It takes some endurance to keep up the pace, as glorious as it may be. Even Joshua Rosenblum said, when he turned in his column tonight, that he had stayed up last night watching “The Empire Strikes Back.” No classical music in that unless you count the opening credits, which is a modern day icon of sorts.

So I’m not the only one. Dan and Janet have been partying harder than I have, and they have teens at home, so … need I say more.

Here’s my theory: If you live on chocolate cake, eventually you will go nuts, or crash after the sugar high, but it sure is delicious while it lasts. I’m headed to Harris Teeter at midnight. I hear they might have a discount in the darkened bakery aisle and I need a rush to keep me going.

Charleston Ballet Theatre’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival production of ‘Under the Angel Oak: CBT Xposed with Christine Kane,’ scheduled to be performed today on John’s Island was canceled because of the rain.

However, the show will be performed at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday at the CBT black box theater, 477 King St. All tickets, which are $25, will be honored.

If you are planning to attend Enrico Pieranunzi’s duo performance in Wachovia Jazz tonight at The Cistern, you will have to go to Gaillard Auditorium Exhibition Hall instead, thanks to tropical storm Barry.

Instead, it’s at 77 Calhoun Street, with parking in the garage, so take some dollars. Spoleto Festival USA officials will be on hand at The Cistern to redirect audience members who show up there to the new location.

There are no refunds because it is a rain or shine event. Anyone with questions can call the Spoleto Festival USA box office at 579-3100.

Many of us who walked out after the Tribute Concert for Gian Carlo Menotti found ourselves touched by two things, the excellent singing of Karen Huffstodt, who sings the role of Begbick in the opera ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’ and Mayor Joe Riley’s impressive tribute to Menotti’s vision.

In case you don’t know it by now, Menotti founded the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy and Spoleto Festival USA, but the two festivals split over whether Menotti’s adopted son would take over Menotti’s role as impressario in Charleston, a point Joe made during his speech. Joe said it could never happen here. Menotti died in February and this is the first festival that could honor him in some way.

Riley was tactfully honest and quoted from a letter he sent the Maestro last fall prior to Menotti’s death. As he pointed out, they were still arguing, but Joe’s conclusion to the letter in which he wished Menotti well was enough to bring many in the audience to the edge of tears. Joe’s sincerity about the contribution of the man to our city was fitting and balanced the problems with the festival split with respect for the difficult, funny, artistic man who shared his vision for Charleston as a player on the world stage. Walking down the street afterward, Joe said he remembered his first phone call to Menotti, when he couldn’t even pronounce his last name, and the visit to the city when Menotti saw something that others in Charleston didn’t - that Charleston is a beautiful, unique place.

Huffstodt proved that she can hold a stage with her stunning presence and her voice, working through an aria that challenges the singer’s range. With her sweep of red hair and stunning purple dress, she was an impressive diva at her best. I heard at least one person say that she sung the aria as if she were acting it on stage, which is of course the highest compliment. She is also the best advertisement to go see The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny that there is.

Bill Struhs needs some credit, too. He’s been photographing the festival (almost for free in the early years) since 1977, and had an impressive archive of photos that were shown on a screen above the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. It was amazing to see faces from so long ago, many of whom are gone now. They all looked so happy.

Whatever you may think of Menotti - and he was always provocative so you had to have an opinion - the tribute concert was an appropriate way to remember him. I’m glad I went.