December 18th, 2001
London, Ontario

 

Hello strange and beautiful world,

It has been such a busy past month. I've been recording and writing and housesitting and businessing and running through the forests with Raven the dog. I am now officially on Christmas vacation (which means it's time to shop and clean and organize and sew and cook and label all my endless amounts of Remington Steele videotapes (...yes i have a small 1980's detective drama problem.) I will be in Ontario until the new year at which point I am heading south south south. Going back to Virginia for a spell and then onward to North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. I'm gonna hit Jacksonville for this year's International Folk Alliance conference. Yay Folk Alliance and all my friends I haven't seen in a year and total overwhelming sensory overload- hooray! And hey, any good reason to slip south in February is so totally welcomed. I am looking very much forward to Spanish moss and snapping turtles and warmer-than-here-ness, but I think I might forgo the whole Florida Epcot experience this time. (But, I must admit the Norway Viking boat log ride with flashing trolls was officially extremely fun.) Come the new year I will for sure be playing lots more gigs. I've also got some radio and television plans so I will keep you all posted!. Until then I will be stewing in my artist's shell and working hard on finishing writing for my new album "Root, Heart & Crown." I will be recording sometime in the spring and then hitting the road to sing and play my brains out in every little corner of the continent... so watch out.

October 19th, 2001
Toronto, Ontario

I'm in crazy Toronto at my dear friends Katie and Masina's house listening to the streetcars go crash-bang-boom outside the window. I am o so very tired and recovering from a long long long but amazing week. Had a great time at the OCFF conference last weekend and then intensely began working in the studio with my wonderful producer Ken Whiteley, bassist George Koller, drummer Davide Direnzo and an fiddle player Anne Lindsay. It was so great and everything sounds so amazing and I am so very elated right now. I'm gonna celebrate by having a big ol' bath in kt and m's giant beautiful bathtub and maybe sipping a wee bit of tequila while they're off at the bar watching Peaches sing. Tomorrow I'm heading back to London to see my parents off to Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan. But first, I need to zip down to Queen Street to score the one item I most desperately need to add to the aesthetic collection of my life...I mean, how can I resist a giant flaming pink mosquito net with crown velvet trim...impossible I think!!! I will be hiding out in London for the next month or so working hard on grant applications and writing writing writing...