I'm looking out on a pretty darn beautiful and mild day today like most of this year's winter here out on the wet coast. Since my last tour I've spent an unusual amount of time at home - which I LOVE. And much of it with partner Bill here, which is somewhat unique, and surprisingly enjoyable! Wait, that didn't sound right. Well, he doesn't normally spend big chunks of time home on Bowen since he's usually staying at his place in Vancouver doing gigs, but a hole in both our schedules afforded us an increased degree of cohabitation. He's actually very good at it! And it IS a skill! Of course, after 15 years together, the fact that the word "surprisingly" could be included in any description of the relationship, is in itself remarkable! But let's be honest here - we owe it to solo time. It's a feature not general built into coupledom, and frankly, it should be!
HOME SWEET HOME! I returned home safely from my Big Adventure driving through Saskatchewan and Alberta, playing 17 house concerts in 20 days. And what an utterly unexpectedly wonderful adventure it was! Louie proved to be pretty useless as a second driver, continually veering off the road to chase squirrels, so I was solo for that formidable responsibility, but he was still GREAT company. Someone warm and furry in the passenger seat who never required engaging conversation, sharing a bathroom, or demanded the ever present CBC radio to be turned down, cannot be underrated. And thanks to Bill Werthmann's life saving hint of chewing ice chips to stay awake, I wasn't plagued & tormented by my usual Drowsy Driver Syndrome.
Read MoreI'm hold up at home preparing to do a solo tour of house concerts. It mostly involves learning to play harmonica in the fine folk tradition of it being the only way to add a soloist and still be solo. It's a whole new skill set requiring, unlike the other wind instruments I've played, sucking AND blowing, and the coordination of knowing when to do which. Trickier than you'd think, though millions have mastered it before me.
Though I will be performing solo, I will not be traveling solo. Louie, the handsome boy above, is coming on the road. Not the most practical way to do a tour of house concerts, given the tolerance required from the hosts, but I figure if I get stuck in a prairie snow storm for days on end, he'll keep me alive with his body heat. It's worked for the ferry line up in the winters all these years. Plus, it will be good to have someone to help me with the driving!
Summer always seduces me into kind of a suspended state – days on end of warm sultry weather lulling me to think it will ALWAYS be like this. Like living in LA without the oppressive humidity, smog and crime. It’s so cliché to say “I LOVE summer” – who doesn’t! – but man oh man. Last Sunday Julia, Bill, Jane and I played at the Harmony Arts festival in West Vancouver – on a stage just a few feet from the waves lapping behind us. A cool breeze blowing off the water – families and couples all cuddled up together on the grass. It was heaven.
Walking the dog at 9:00 tonight. It was mild, almost warm, and still light! Halleluya! You’d think, given the earth’s continued revolutions around the sun are a pretty sure thing, (earthquakes knocking it off its axis notwithstanding) that the arrival of spring would be less of a surprise to me. But in fact, every year I marvel and swoon. It really did come again! Well, it’s ludicrous to complain considering we only recently had of our week of winter, with the snow on the mountains finally providing the vista we had hoped would greet the Olympics. But the reality is, I run cold, and live in a north facing house in the shadow of a huge hill, so I spend the winter with a primal hunger for the heat of the sun in my bones. So now I’m high as a kite on the promise of it all.
Hello my dear friends!
Most have you were notified back in November that the new CD was finished and almost available. Of course I intended to follow that up with the confirmation that it IS out, along with Christmas - then New Years Greetings. So much for intentions. So by now I'm on to the second pressing, which in fact allowed me to correct the glaring typos etc. that I committed in the original booklet. Mistakes like, oh - repeating an ENTIRE song! I guess working 24 hours straight to finish it wasn't such a smart thing. Oh, but by now, those of you who have been on my mailing list for awhile are accustomed to a regular serving of typos. Perhaps you even find it comforting! A few of you have begged me to send my posts to them for proof reading first. But noooo - my childish & chronic "I can do it myself" - and usually impulsively at 2 am when I don't WANT to wait until morning - approach reigns. Here's what son Mike had to say about the botched booklet: