East Coast Once More

So! It has come to be that time again, where I say good bye to one home and hello to another. We picked a doozy of a Canadian winter to live in a trailer with no running water. Let me tell ya! However, there are always positive sides and enduring everything that comes with a broken leg in such a small living space made the break a little easier to deal with! I will not be jumping off the back of a boat in Dominican any time soon or rather, never!! And once again, time becomes a question, it seems like only a short while ago I was hanging out with Chris Hadfield at the Ottawa Folk Festival. It sure has been an interesting ride, living by the heat of a wood stove, on a horse ranch outside of one of the coolest villages I know of, ahh sweet sweet Wakefield. Just a quaint little town with an eclectic vibe alongside the Gatineau River! Alas, when I think of the trails, the folks and the foods of Switzerland, I can not be sad.

Firstly though, I will be heading towards the Atlantic and out to Nova Scotia for a few gigs and then up up and away!! On a side note, if you haven't made your way East, I highly recommend it. The people, the fish, the view! Oh my! Indeed, that is where myself and my roadie/husband are headed, and soon! Ich freue mich as the say in Swiss German, and in English; I look forward!!

Packing has been another story entirely. I am still in awe of how much stuff two people can attain, even with living in such small quarters. I even purged a few "filled to the brim" bagsand yet I am still bombarded with too many things, certainly too much to take overseas. Thank goodness for friends and family with extra storage space! Having changed over from driving a van (for many, many years) to a smaller more efficient car, a Toyota Tercel, there isn't much space for suitcases and music equipment! Alas, where there is a will, there is a way.

Speaking of music.... My latest labour of Love and my newest record "Chameleon" is in the mixing stages!! What a thrill to be able to make a new album and with such talent as Brock Zeman, Blair Hogan and Steve Foley, I could not have asked for better... I am chuffed to bits about it and truly can't wait to share!! I think I will  dedicate an entire blog about the recording process as it was really something else. I am hoping to release it in Canada at the end of summer and perhaps in Europe before then, however, time will tell! I will, indeed, keep you all posted.

Now, with that, a few more odds and ends to take care of and then East, to the ocean!!

First Day of Summer 2013

And just like that, Summer began. In the darkest days of winter, most of us long for today, and here it is in all it's blue-sky-green-grass-leafy-tree glory (it's actually over-cast here, but we all get the drift!)

I Love both Seasons. All seasons, actually. Each one has it's best part, and each 0ne helps me, in some way or form, to be inspired to follow my dreams and stay on the right course. Naturally, on occasion I take the wrong road, the 'road less traveled' but in the end,  most avenues are right, as hindsight is always 20/20.

It's my first time writing here as a married woman.

The last few months were filled to the brim with excitement and plans and yellow tape and caterers and paperwork and dress measuring and clothes shopping and phone calls and invites and organizing and basking in the Love of my mans eyes. All in the name of Love and all for the best day of my life, my wedding day. It's true what they say... It was the best day of my life, and I have lived through some pretty tremendous days. This one beat them all, so does that mean it's all down hill from now?? I think I will coast on the coat-tails of being a newly-wed for awhile...

It was also the first time I grew out my nails in many, many, many moons. One can't play the chords on guitar with finger nails. I missed the sounds of the strings plucked and strummed and all those melodies that flow out while I'm rehearsing. So I'm back at it, and when you step away from it for a couple of weeks (or more??) it's amazing what comes out once you get going again. The tap from that fresh water constant-running-spring had been corked so when I liberate the cork, the water is in full flowing force. Refreshing, beautiful, colourful musical 'water.' Oh how I bask in the glory of thee.

So I am back to writing and back to booking, all as a married woman.

Some say that you feel differently in your relationship once you tie the knot. I concur! I won't go into gushy details of Love, but it does feel as though there is a tighter, kindred connection, more sincere in a way? It's hard to put into words...more secure in the saddle? Someone recently asked me how I was going to create songs, now that my heart is solid and strong. Well, thank goodness I have a unique array of friendships that provide me with stimulating stories, not to mention the catalogue of  life's drama I have already seen ;)

It's my first Summer away from my second home (Canada) in a long time. The last place I spent a Summer was in Ireland, when I worked out on the Emerald Isle's west coast, in Connemara, all those years ago. Well, here I am in Switzerland, south of Bern, a bike-ride (all up hill!) away from the Alps. It's pretty heavenly here, but WHERE isn't it heavenly in the Summertime?

I miss my Wakefield. If you ever have the chance to head up, north of Ottawa to the Gatineau Hills in Quebec, do it. Wakefield has everything from Organic Farms, to hand crafted beeswax candles, to luxurious bakeries, to the BEST bistros, the BEST poutine, and the BEST place to see live music, at The Black Sheep Inn. We have an arts festival at the end of August called 'Wakefest' and there is a market every Saturday featuring live music, fresh breads, cookies, coffee, hand picked vegetables, hand crafted felted masterpieces, local honey, local EVERYTHING!! So go check it out... Oh and yeah, the Gatineau River is the liquid Love that brings it all together.

In the meantime, I will sit up here in this old farm house on the hill, over-looking the small village I live in part-time (half Swiss time half Canadian time!) serenaded by the melody of the sheep chimes, a fridge stocked with local cheeses, delicious beer and a cabinet full of chocolate.

Remember folks,

Life is what you make it.

Love

Lindsay xo