Australian Vacation 1

So, I never did complete the SAC 4x4 Songwriting and Blogging Challenge - I will try again another year. The third challenge involved finding a co-writer among fellow challengees and I did offer to act as lyric editor and wordsmith. But I got no takers, and was already involved with a co-write at SongStudio2016 that same week. I let it go. The 4th challenge, regardless of wonderful encouragement from Rosanne, was to gather from 2 unfinished songs to complete a new song. That during the week of packing and travel to Australia was simply too much to undertake.

No matter. I finished all I had to do on my new EP Cool Cat - it is being mixed by my producer, Chris Birkett, and will be mastered at Silverbirch, ready for manufacturing before I return. The first two challenges in the SAC 4x4 generated at least starts to 2 new songs. And I had a wonderful week at SongStudio2016, staying with my sister Mary, and performing I Still Want You with co-writer Tom Phan at the Hugh's Room SongStudio Student Showcase. What a great send-off.

This hiatus in Australia is exactly what I need. When I am able to get back to open mics in Toronto, after Thanksgiving, I will be refreshed and raring to go. My first week here has been a lazy lovely visit with brother and sister in-laws in Canberra. The one long outing we had was to the botanical gardens where the sections are arranged according to the geographic areas of Australia, giving us a glimpse of what we will see in our travels further afield. The banksia varieties are astonishing in the size and colour of their curious brush shaped blooms. And there, the richness of this country's bird population is easily apparent, at every turn. We saw yellow robins, currawongs, fairie wrens, crimson rosellas, and wattle birds.

Yesterday, we made the 650 km drive through the hilly countryside to Melbourne. The rains this winter have been unusually wet, leaving the dams (water holes) full, the streams and rivers high and running. There were places where the trees were standing in water and I hope it bodes well as protection against summer fires. Verges, hillsides, and fields are lush and full of happy fat sheep and cattle. The land is dotted with the pale blue grey gums that I love so much. The evening ended with a wonderful reunion with a much loved niece and her family, where we were served a delicious meal, traded songs, and came back to our rental house ready for a good night's sleep.

More to come...

Finally Some R&R

It has been crazy around here the last little while. Ever since I finished SongStudio, the Songwriters intensive on July 27, there has been one thing after another consuming my days, energy, attention, whatever. You get my drift. Today, finally, with my 8 year-old granddaughter off to Art Camp and a bit of alone time (other than our carpenter friend and his work mate sawing and banging away on the porch reno), I feel as if I might have a calm, relaxed day of self-direction and grace. After I shower and dress (yes, it has been a slow lazy morning thus far) I have given myself a bit of a to do list of odds and sods to get done around the house. Then I will pick up the young artist at 3:30 and have a bit of fun with her on into a quiet evening. The to do list includes washing and drying the vegetables I harvested from the garden yesterday (green and yellow beans, cucumbers, green peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes) as they keep better and longer once that is done. I am also going back to my weekly sort schedule. Today it is the gable room's turn. It's full of a lot of stuff from parent households, old photos, stored clothes. I have made a dent but would like to get it cleared to make room for a single bed for grandson visits. I may get there in the hour devoted to it today. Otherwise, I have a lot of correspondence to catch up on, reflections and photos from this year's trips to deal with, and all at a lovely leisurely pace. It is cool and rainy today. Great for working inside.