I was fortunate enough, a couple weeks ago, to go and spend a week at one of our provincial parks here in Saskatchewan. Cypress Hills Interprovincial park is close to where I grew up and is a place I often go for inspiration and rest. Before arriving at the park, I wondered if I knew what I was doing? Would I really find inspiration here? I was planning to write and finish some songs. As soon as I arrived and got unpacked I realized that I was right to come, that I did know what I was doing. I remembered continue reading…
Awakening
February is the month of love
February is the month of love! I think we can view this more broadly than romantic love as love can show up in our lives in many ways. I have been playing different love songs for Wednesdays with Wanda this month and when I played a show in Saskatoon I tried to think about different types of love and love songs. I played some songs about romantic love, the good and bad sides as well as some songs that I love. I had a few lovely moments at the show in Saskatoon. A two year old and his dad come continue reading…
Transitions
I realized a few weeks ago that transitioning out of my life as a nurse was going to be a little more challenging then I thought. I will be retiring July 1st. I have been so tired from my work as a nurse that I had assumed that there would be no issues with this change. Then I realized that I have a lot of pride in what I have done in my nursing life and that I wanted to leave it in a thoughtful way. I have come at this in a couple of ways. Firstly, I went to continue reading…
Happy New Year 2019
Happy New Year! I hope that 2019 has started well for you! I have been thinking about people being whom we don’t want them to be. It’s been a theme this last week when I have been talking to friends. We can’t make people do what we want them to or have them be whom we would like them to be. Perhaps it has come up this last while because people have been hanging out with their families over this holiday season and if there are people we would like to change, it would be those we are closest to. continue reading…
Christmas is nearly here.
Christmas is nearly here. I decided this year I would play a few shows during December as part of my music biz plan. People like music at Christmas and I had a Christmas single to play so it seemed like a sound decision. I have enjoyed playing although I have only just gotten into the spirit of the season. I received a couple Christmas cards a couple days ago and that helped. It is interesting to sing Christmas tunes and not actually be in the Christmas spirit. It was fun to have people sing along. It was also a stretch continue reading…
Birthday Month- A Time to Reflect
I have been home since the last time I sent a blog post and I have also celebrated my 59th birthday. Last year on my 58th birthday I released my sophomore CD Shifting Sands . I can’t believe how much has happened in the past 12 months both from a music and personal perspective. I have had the pleasure of performing at three festivals, have had more Regina shows then ever before and became a grandmother. I continue to be challenged with the business side of things and know that I love to perform and I love to write songs. continue reading…
Showing Up
I have just finished my 10 day tour Life is Wide Open 2, which took me from Regina, Sask to Kelowna, BC. I had six shows in all and I am grateful for each one. The biggest lesson for me was the reminder that it is important to show up. I reconnected with friends from my grade 12 class (1977) and with other friends whom I hadn’t seen for several years. It was also a healing journey for me as I reconnected with old friends from my church life. I was very involved with my church life and Christian faith continue reading…
New Season, New Beginnings
It is eleven months since my album Shifting Sands was released. It is nearly impossible to believe that it was such a short time ago. I have come to love and understand these songs more and more as I play them. As I head out on my tour/trip I understand again the words of the song Thanks Past Me. I find myself almost daily being grateful that I can depend on something I have done or learned in this past year. I bought some new sound equipment yesterday and was proud to realize that I do understand some of the continue reading…
Camping in a Tent , a Gig and Connections
I drove the highway from Ravenscraig towards the Cypress Hills and I could feel my body begin to unwind. Concerns I had been obsessing about seemed to lose their intensity. I found my tenting spot when I got to the park and got set up. My body relaxed even deeper into the nature that surrounded me. Then there was time spent hiking in the trees. Wildlife seen on the road near the park, coyote, deer and a hawk reminded me of my place in the universe. A Moose showed up on the road as I drove back to the park continue reading…
Building Community and Trusting Oneself
Hello on this first Wednesday of July. I have a lot of things to look forward to this summer plus I have had a great first half of 2018. I have been performing a couple times a month which is way more than ever before and I am grateful for all those opportunities. The show that I am reflecting on today is one that our songwriting group just had on June 20th. We had our wind up which we celebrated by putting on a showcase which included nine of our songwriters. We were fortunate to do so at a local continue reading…
