July 23, 2003
London, Ontario

My, it's been SO long since I wrote... shame on me! I guess that means I've been supremely and excellently busy in the best possible way. So far the summer has been truly good to me, festivals, lounging, forest adventures, sleeping in...Mmmmmm. I've also been working hard on booking for the fall, winter and spring and am planning visits to New England, Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, the Southwest US, California, BC, the far reaches of Ont-errible and justa 'bout everything in between. Yayyyy roadtrip!! Most fondest memories of the past few weeks include an incredible weekend at Mariposa with the delicious likes of James Keelaghan, Bob Snider, Michael Wrycraft, Anne Lindsay, Jason Fowler, Jim Moray and the Wailin' Jennies wailin' out the 80s tunes around the piano till all wee hours... Oh my. This past weekend at Home County was true heaven!! The hometown festival proved very fruitful and fun as all heck. Spent much time dancing with the one and only Darlene (and her mighty hula hoop) to the late night croonin' of Jackie Washington ( who played on and on and on and on.... What a guy.) Next adventures will take me to Vermont to perform at my good friend Chris Jones' venue the Eclipse Theater with two of my very favourite players (and people...) Zubot and Dawson. Yay roly-poly hills and Moo Moos and red barns... Rural yum, here I come. 

In the back of Maybelle the Van. Photo by Morris Lamont of the London Free Press.
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May 28, 2003
London, Ontario

MY GOODNESS has it ever been QUITE the month (gasp), but I am back in Ontario and back in action. My parents have fly flyed away to Europe and I have been happily poodle sitting in their absence. Me and little Raven the dog have been doing much hiking in the glorious forest and watching much high quality television (boo hoo Buffy bye bye). I have also been loving my NEW CELLO and have been madly trying to teach myself how to play it. I can already play the them from Angel- which is just like a total dream come true... Have also been spending a lot of time in the backyard being total Garden Girl of the dirty nails and rippling biceps (I wish). Today planted black hawthorne, wild grape, creeping jenny, raspberries, strawberries, sage, orange mint, cilantro, hollyhock, roses, echinacea, poppy, foxglove, and a whole rainbow coloured world of beets, butternut squash, yellow zucchini, greens and purple Japanese eggplant... Mmmmnnnn. Getting ready for summer festival season... the wild and crazy adventures encroacheth!

Grandpa Paul L. Sweetland 1914-2003

May 1, 2003
Sperryville, Virginia

Lovelies, Happy sweet and delicious May Day- my most favourite day of the year. All is so glorious and green in gorgeous Virginia and I am so incredibly happy to be here. Heading out the the Smokehouse Winery- fine makers of honey wine for a May Day celebration gig and other fine and sordid goodness. The sun shineth and the bees buzzeth and all things good seem to flow. Yippeeeeee!

In Sperryville, VA with Miss Jenny (in front of the REAL authentic Dukes of Hazzard car...no lie) havin' some catfish, coleslaw and bluegrass tunes down at Cooter's Garage.

April 1, 2003
London, Ontario

Greetings sweet lovelies, 

Happy April Fools!! Ahhh the spring it comes finally.... Even tho it's a wee bit of a brrr one today, Raven the dog and I are still supremely psyched at the excellent meltingness of snow (which means WAY more forest walking fun and other said goodness.) Have just returned home from a lovely trip up to Ottawa for gigs and friends and art gallerying and museum visitation. There's a "Mysteries of the Bog People" exhibit on at the Museum of Civilization and I could not resist the lure of the illustrious Bog Man. Was a bit of an archaeology girl in University and have written many a serious bog body epic essay in my time ('tis true!) Had a total intellectual bronze age blast. Also, I've been listening to the "Life of Emily Carr" book on tape by Paula Blanchard while driving and am SO incredibly passionately in love with Emily Carr and her story. It's even more exciting for me cause it's set in Victoria, BC in way yonder day (late 1800s early 1900s) and I have been learning much craziness about the history of my old neighbourhoods and haunts. In other news I have been keeping busy with much music work, but also finding time for the ever important fun and I just can't wait for warm weather and tank tops and rolling in grass... Mmmnnnn grass rolling.... Altho, I am quite enjoying the slowness of spring and am loving every second of the end of my first full (and totally frickin' brr) winter I've spent in Ontario in over 8 years! And I even got to have a true Canadian maple moment the other day when my darling friend Mary Beth took me out to her family's sugarbush-in-the-woods. It was my first adventure of the maple syrup shack variety and I was truly overcome by the glorious goodness of it all. Imagine: big blazing woodstove in little shack in the wood cranking out the heat with simmering vats of maple sap steaming up the air with sweet sugary yum. The ultimate steam bath of heavenly goodness! I am sure there is nothing so delicious in this world as wood smoke and maple steam. Mmmmnnnnn delish!

So, in terms of my upcoming travels, I'll be heading to Toronto this weekend the play with James Keelaghan at Hugh's Room, then it's off to Michigan for "Ladyfest"and then down to the the Blue Ridge mountains of sweet Virginia for some May Day bonfire extravaganza... Hope to see y'all out in the yonders.

xo, k

Little Raven and her Alligator on my bed.

February 20, 2003
Sperryville, Virginia

Greetings from the sweet and snowy Shenandoahs where I've been held up in delicious hibernation for the past week. It's just a short drive from Washington D.C. up into the hills but you would hardly know it as it is SO beautiful and ancient here its like another land altogether. Had a seriously out of control festival of snow this week and we got snowed in UP TO OUR EYEBALLS. Took us days to shovel ourselves out (well Jenny did most of the shovelling, while I baked us biscuits and honey apple bread on the wood stove) And Jenny made a wicked Snow Witch with the carrot nose and the big pointy hat and how sad, today she melted and her head fell off. We got to play Little House on the Frozen Prairie and I got to be Ma of the cooking and cleaning while Jenny was Pa of the shovelling out of the carriages. We were totally stuck in the beautiful nowheres with no way out for days... Ahhhhhhhhh... Finally had a chance to catch up on some much needed rest after a truly insane couple of months. Worked so hard all January to the point of serious exhaustion from acute stress monkey syndrome. Managed to get myself totally ill just in time to hop in the car and drive myself to Nashville for the Folk Alliance conference. Regardless of the sniffles, I made it through and had a truly amazing time... mostly thanks to my dearest friends the Little Red Hen darlings without whom I would surely perish. Now I'm putting myself back together at Chez-Jenny and her converted hunting lodge/sleazeball motel/country home of goodness by the river in Sperryville, Virginia. I am discovering that being truly happy in this life for me must include much more sleeping, breathing, baking, wood stacking and fire tending... Mmmmmmnnnnnnn....

In other news, last night I got to have my second glass blowing lesson in Eric the neighbour's glorious glass studio. SO MUCH FUN. But wow, it's really hard work. Concentrated so intensely for hours on creating my masterpiece which in the end tragically fell off the big flamey poker and back into the fire of its creation. I almost cried. 

So, I will be leaving this lovely land soon (hopefully before the predicted coming rains and possible flood... yikes) and back to Toronto for a gig that's SO gonna rock the world. Will be performing with my most favouritest ladies, Serena Ryder and the Road Dog Divas at Hugh's Room on February 27th. So all y'all Torontonians/Ontarians won't wanna miss it. Believe me. We's gonna take down the house. Hope to see you out there.

xoxox
K

January 15, 2003
London, Ontario

Hello glorious world... I am here in snowy snowy land all cozied up with SO much work to do. Have been extremely caught up in the business of doing a major radio and media promo campaign and have been mailing and mailing my little brains out! So, on that note if you are a radio or media personality and have NOT received my package as of yet (and would like to!!) please contact me at kristinsweetland@hotmail.com!!! Well, enuff said about that... In other news I have been occupied with mucho graphic design work trying to get posters and promo stuff done for myself and the Little Red Hens (a collective of fabuloso and oh so supremely talented women performers that I belong to...) for the Folk Alliance conference in Nashville. If you are planning on attending the conference please come check out our so-sure-to-be-rockin' showcase in the Little Red Hen Room!! I will be takin' off for Tennessee and yonder southlands in a couple weeks.... Can't wait to hit the road again... Ahhhhh the road...