A harper's garden

I spoke to Brett today (next door neighbour/ex-partner) about using the garden plot in his yard. He said I was quite welcome to it, which is way cool. I've been having the urge to get back into gardening for the past few years so this is a great opportunity. It's going to take a lot of work; the plot has been fallow for several years. There's going to be a lot of digging in my immediate future...

Of course, I'll have to be careful of the "wildlife" that nests in the garden. This shot is of Bageera, who is Freja's brother (Brett took two kittens from the same litter - it's cool having her siblings close by).

Currently listening to:
Kent
Du och Jag Döden (2005)

Yummy's birthday

I just realised that my oldest cat, Yum Yum turned 13 this month. Wow.

... and yes, Yum Yum is her name. Both her and her brother KoKo were named after characters in the opera The Mikado. KoKo was hit by a car a few years ago.. both Yum and I miss him lots. :(

Anyhow... before I have to break out the tissues....

She was sitting at the living room window watching outside early this evening and I managed to get this shot of her. I love my Yummers. :)

Currently listening to:
Sigur Rós
Takk (2005)

Oh, it's Friday

Another lovely day here in Victoria (14°C and sunny). Sadly, I have been stuck inside working on a survey form for a client's website. Nearly 7 hours later and the d@mn thing is finished. It's online and it's time for me to move on to the other projects of the day.

The community centre for Fernwood Village (my neighbourhood) published a call for submissions for Fernwood bands to perform at the annual FernFest on June 11th in their recent newsletter. FernFest is a community festival with a market, entertainment, etc. The band discussed it last night and we decided to submit despite the fact it'll probably be a free gig. Besides, it never hurts to give back to the community. :-)

Several weeks ago Jude and I put together a demo CD package; it includes our bio and relevant information, so it's just a matter of burning a CD and printing the booklet whenever we need one. Being prepared ahead of time is a good thing!

Later....
Well, the demo CD has been dropped off along with a very nice cover letter (if I do say so myself). The receptionist at the centre was all excited, we'll see how the coordinator reacts. lol.

Currently listening to:
Les Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall, Dir.)
W.A. Mozart: Serenate Notturne, Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Banquo - 2nd round of recording for the new CD

We spent a second evening in Jude's recording studio tonight working on our soon to be released CD. Our plan is to have this thing wrapped up and off to the CD manufacturer by the beginning of June (no pressure). With our plans of touring some of the Gulf Islands next month and our July 2nd gig at the ICA Folkfest we want to have some product to sell at gigs! As of next week we will be doing two nights a week in the studio as the ensemble and then going in separately to do overdubs.

It's quite the experience doing this. We are all in separate rooms and can hear each other through headphones. It means that we have to be tight with our parts as we lose the visual cues we give each other in any other setting. The real fun will begin when we start to do the overdubs and multi-tracking.

Recording highlight this week:
Adam's "so-far-untitled-but-it's-kinda-Arabic" tune paired with Tant M'abelis (a great French Troubadour song). Adam is on fiddle, Jude on mandola, Jen on finger cymbals & shaker, Eric on mandolin and I'm playing both a frame drum and dumbek *at the same time* (no studio trickery here folks!). This track is mind-blowing-- I can't wait to hear the final mix!

2.5 years later?

So, the other day I had this email from a friend (Hi Sara!) who was asking friends to send along their blog links. I had been thinking of doing this for some time lately, then realised I already had one. I am so easily distracted.