ALL IS ONE

Spring?

2007-04-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

Whenever will spring come?

Still iffy with cool temperatures, lots of wind and rain, but the pink, red, white and yellow tree blossoms have been awesome for two months now and the grass is the greenest.

February was a busy month.

Sadly, we lost our beloved Uncle Art in Carmel California February 7th after a brief illness. We adored him, so this was a complete shock.

My birthday was two days later and we did have a lovely meal out and went to see troubadour Stephen Fearing who performed one of his best shows ever.

Tony was interviewed and given a great new job with Acacia Landscape. He is very happy there as General Manager of thirty employees and five foremen. He is doing a variety of things like hiring, driving a big truck occasionally, deliveries and pick ups and organizing and gathering.

The fellow he works for, Steve, is very happy with Tony and we had a lovely meal out with the boss's family at Victoria Golf Club. Really nice people.

We see Tim and Pat and Alex often. Tim and I go for walks around Esquimalt and on Dallas Road with Alex during the week when Pat is working.

Tim, Alex and I go swimming once a week to baby water lessons.

Tim and Pat take Alex swimming one other time a week aslo and Alex is really taking to the water. He loves to splash and is kicking and using his arms and going under water.

Alex adores Grampa Tony. Alex does big belly laughs whenever Tony is funning around with him.

Tim's birthday was March first, he turned 28. We went out to Pagliacci's for lunch and the next night, he had a party at their place and Leeroy Stagger gave him a birthday call from my friend Maureen's house party in Chicago where Leeroy and Matt Hopper were performing a house concert.

Alex loves the animals at Beacon Hill Petting Zoo. The little goats loved meeting Little Bear. Alex has a bear hat so we call him Little Bear because Gareth at Legends Comics came up with this great name!

Uncle Art's Memorial was March 14th in Pacific Grove and Carmel. Wish we were there. It went well. A sunset ceremony back at Gull Cottage was the final farewell to this wonderful man. We will miss you bigtime, Doctor Arthur Niles Hull.

Alex has had his first three rallies ... one for Tibet, one for World Water where he and Tim were on stage blessing water in a ceremony, and an Old Growth Tree Rally where we formed a giant tree with our bodies. His next event will be Earth, Peace and Justice Walk the end of this month. We love that annual event.

Tim and I saw Tommy Hooper sing songs and play acoustic guitar at a local bar. He is quite Beatlesque and we had such fun and met some new friends there.

Rheostatics had their farewell concert at Massey Hall in Toronto March 30th. Tim and I would have loved to have been there. Apparently it was a giant love-in and an amazing evening. Quite a few tears were no doubt shed. We love you forever, Dave, Martin and Tim and also Michael, Don and Dave.

Alexander got his first haircut in early April. The back had the longest curly tail and is now all gone. Aww! He was fidgety in the barber chair sitting on Tim's lap so the bangs have to be cut another time, perhaps when Alex is sleeping, as they are in his eyes especially at swimming.

Tony highlighted my hair really blonde, I look pretty cool.

Margy went on a week's Mexican cruise. The food and scenery was great. She kissed and swam with dolphins.

Lucy and Will have been busier than ever. Lu had an art gallery showing of a dazzling necklace she had made.

Dad and Nancy went to Conneticut on Nancy's annual crossword competition and on to New York City for a weekend of fun.

Tim's marimba band Chikoro made the local, Vancouver and national newspapers and radios ("marimba bands muted" and "marimba bands told to tone it down") as they are being cut back in their band numbers to five and times they are allowed to play in the streets of Victoria this summer. It seems Victoria does not want any fun here as it is cutting back fests, festivals and a lot of musical happenings this summer.

I wrote a letter to the editor at The Globe and Mail and it was printed right away. I mentioned that marimba bands add much JOY to the streets for tourists and locals and it should be encouraged.

Tim and I went to see Great Lake Swimmers last Friday night. The band was mellow and wonderful. Our friends Clay George and Great Aunt Ida opened. Our friends Carolyn and Reid were there, always fun to catch up with them again.

We are almost mid-April and this means Tony, Will and Dad have birthdays coming up next week as well as my dear friend Jain. Happy Birthday, everyone!

Peace & Love
Spring, you can come anytime now

Allie XO

February First

2007-02-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

February is my birthday month and it is going to be great for music, friends and celebration.

It kicked off unofficially January 30th when Matt Mays brought his "When The Angels Make Contact" tour to town. The gig was amazing with a light show, a video show and one rocking music extravaganza.

Afterwards, Matt did an eight song encore and within it he did what seemed like a four minute dedication thank you to me for being there at his Guthries show seven years ago when he was twenty.

He then sang a song he had not done in seven years, Season To Leave and dedicated it also to two Guthries in his band tonight, Dale and Serge. Tim the drummer had also been with them that night at the Esquimalt Inn as well as integral to the making of "When The Angels Make Contact" sound.

Matt's other band is El Torpedo and the past seven years have been a mercurial rise to alt country stardom, including gigs with The Black Crowes and Blue Rodeo.

I have seen the band whenever they pass through town at first as openers and now as headliners. Hope El Torpedo comes back this year. I think a new album is in the works and I am certainly looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, "The Angels" definitely made contact with the rapt fans Tuesday night in Victoria.

Tim and I have amazing music Friday night in the full moon to attend. Three sensitive singer songwriters are bringing their magic to Lucky Bar. Leeroy Stagger and The Sinking Hearts, Matt Hopper from Alaska and Indio Saravanja.

This show promises to be a highlight of my musical year for sure.

On my birthday, Tony and I will be seeing troubadour Stephen Fearing. It will be beautiful.

The past two months of weather have been monumental.

Fierce winds and rain storms have compromised our trees and left a trail of devastation across British Columbia.

Two trees fell in our back yard, one toward our house in the middle of the night and the other a week later at suppertime into our neighbours' yard. Both miraculously did little damage and created a lot of yard work and a very large pile of firewood.

We had a two night one day power outage and enJOYed the living room by the fireplace "chillin' time." Used camping equipment for meals and tea and listened to battery music, nice.

We have had three sets of snow so far and may have more next week. This is some sort of record for Victoria who seldom sees the white stuff.

We are into a week of sunny blue skies, cool temperatures and clear nights. Great for walks up our back hill or along the water and observing the fulling moon.

This is a welcome reprieve after the wet winter.

The snowdrops are up. The pink and yellow blossoms on some trees were up on the trees during December's snow.

I think spring is just around the corner. Sunnier days lately are giving us hope.

Christmas was wonderful with Margy here and baby Alexander and Tim and Pat.

Alexander is eight months old February 4th. He is so lovely to be around and trying to grow some bottom teeth. They havent quite pushed through yet.

Life is good. Spring is coming and my birthday is near.

February is an awesome time of year.

Peace and Love
Allie XO

Rain, Wind & Snow

2006-12-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

November has a reputation for much rain and record amounts did fall, whipped up with plenty of wind, stormy days and nights and finally a week of snow. Exciting month.

The snow started to fall on the island last weekend and Victoria got thirty centimetres Sunday.

A Snow Day was called for Monday, kids got to play in the snow as it was hazardous to try to drive anywheres. Libraries, universities, colleges and other public buildings were closed.

Walking around in falling snow is beautiful. The city and our town look kinder and gentler in the white blanket. But this heavy amount of snow wreaked havoc on trees and hydro lines.

We got to chat with our neighbours as we took to the streets to clean up, shovel and assess damage. Hydro workers, municipal employees and tree-scalers worked on fallen branches, trees and wires.

Transportation was frightening for a few days of snow, ice and black ice. The evening news was pretty and sometimes not so pretty.

The homeless had a tough time of it but more beds were offered indoors.

Tim, Tony and I had fun in snowy walks and Cal enJOYed some snow though he isnt really ready for big adventures in it due to his knee still recovering from surgery. Hot chocolate breaks never tasted so good. We were at Beacon Hill Park when the slopes were empty, Tim had some fun flying carpet rides. In Victoria, inventive sleds are the norm as we see snow seldom ... pieces of cardboard, innertubes, newspaper boxes and misscellenaeous plastic sheets are gathered for sledding. Sometimes folks bring real toboggans as well.

Baby Alexander saw his first snow. He is growing and smiling up a storm. He is experimenting with words and reaching out to us and his toys. He is ready to crawl and is rolling all over the place. Such a lovely little boy.

Christmas will be amazing with Alex, Tim, Pat, us and my sister Margy, cant wait. Maybe the weather gods will bless us with more snow for my Arizona sister.

November was a great month for music. Tim and I saw Raising The Fawn and Tony and I saw Blackie & The Rodeo Kings. Earlier, we saw Justin Rutledge and Jim Cuddy Band and The Mahones all in one night, two venues. I really liked the Bruce Cockburn concert.

December first already, where did this year go?

Hope everyone's December and New Year is best ever.

Love, Allie XO

Sweet September

2006-10-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Summer was spent seeing Baby Alexander whenever possible and watching him grow a bit every day. Now that he is four months old, he is rolling over, babbling, cooing and smiling up a storm. What a pleasure to watch his eyes light up and his flashing a big smile when he sees us.

This September was wonderful. Lucy and Will came cross-Canada driving and camping to see the baby and us. We had a lovely few days with them that included yummy suppers, lots of laughter and stories, Lucy & my seeing Hayes Carll in concert and us all seeing Chikoro Marimba, Tim and friends, downtown performing in the streets and we even saw killer whales at Witty's Lagoon while wading in the water there. Magical, this LotusLand.

Then, Dad and Nancy came here for a week's visit. We had fun picnicking & strolling Butcharts Gardens and a day trip to SaltSpring Island. Seeing Mount Erskine was a highlight of the latter and funny experience too. Beacon Hill Park and Emily Carr House was another fun outing.

We share an anniversary with Bill and Nancy so we all celebrated together at Il Terrazo, a lovely restaurant downtown Victoria. The food was delicious and the desserts were divine. Thanks, Dad and Nancy!

They loved some home-cooked meals here, too, thanks to Tony.

Dad and Nancy really enJOYed seeing Chikoro perform a couple times, once in the street on a Friday night and the next day at a street hockey festival. Tim and Pat even graced us with some gumboot dance! Alexander provided the smiles.

It was splendid to have family here and when Margy comes in December, that will be awesome also.

The last week of September and first week of October saw Tony, me and Cal heading down the coast to camp on Washington and Oregon beaches. The weather was amazing and we met really cool folks along the way. We ate well and I had as many coffee icecreams as possible as they don't taste as wonderful in Canada. Tony made us crab croissants one night at camp. We had lots of bbq.

We stayed in campsites close to the ocean most of the time and at night, the lullaby of the pounding waves made sleeping easy and carefree.

We took the Olympic Peninsula along its west coast and stopped first night in Kalaloch. The endless beach there is beautiful. Sunrise with all the seagulls taking flight is lovely as is first light on the morning waves.

We camped at Cape Disappointment two nights going and two nights returning, in Washington.
The beach has a lighthouse at one end, North Head, and a jetty on the mouth of the mighty Columbia River on the other. Cal and I enJOYed early mornings on the beach and Tony, Cal and I appreciated sunsets with all the birds flying southwards for some reason. Orange sunball, pretty.

The cape has volcanic sand and towards evening, it shines like diamonds in blackness. Some nights, the breezes blow and it resembles desert sand drifting.

I swam at Benson Beach the afternoon we arrived. Ofcourse I was the only one in the water and I loved it. Crashing waves and not too cold.

One morning I walked to the lighthouse cliff and the other morning I walked all the way to the jetty. We could see big ships heading into the Columbia all day, past the jetty.

Fog arrived and we would experience it mornings the rest of the holiday but it didn't dampen our spirits at all. Only made things more surreal and mystifying. Sunny afternoons always followed and warmth.

We stayed at Beverly State Park and the beach was beautiful and again, endless. We saw surfers on the green calm sea one day when we were standing on a cliff watching whales swim by and feed. I noticed a seal swimming among the surfers, i think he was seeking protection.

We love stopping in at funky Depoe Bay that features a sheltered back harbour under a bridge. This place gets whales practically on shore visiting in the front bay. Too foggy to see them the morning we were there, but the afternoon down the coast at Devil's Punch Bowl blessed us with these mighty mammals.

Visited Newport, a quirky sea town. At the wharf, many sea lions were barking, sunning and preening themselves and sleeping on eachother's backs, ten feet from us. Quite the spectacle.

Heading north again, we came to Cannon Beach that has the beautiful Haystack Rock almost on shore. Beside it are The Needles, smaller rock stacks. Different parts of the day, you see it at low and high tides and bathed in fog, crashing waves or clear with tidepools. Most photographed place around.

We camped nearby along Ecola Creek that leads to the beach. Cal and I enJOYed sunrises daily. Early birds and humans and their dogs catch the prettiest time of day, new beginnings and all that. The campsite featured many wild bunnies and Cal could not believe them nor has he ever seen any before.

Cal's favorite beach activities were eating crab, how esoteric, and trying to bury the odd seagull that has met his demise and lay forlornly on or in the sand. Otherwise, he was meeting other dogs and running away from the incoming waters or venturing into them to hunt for tiny fishes. Cal loves the beach.

Ventured into Seaside and walked The Promenade. Many folks on the beach here, touristy town.

Coming toward the Oregon Washington border, we stayed at Fort Stevens in a forest where a brazen mama and two grown baby raccoons tried to visit Cal repeatedly. He went nuts at the possibility. The beach contained miles and miles of shoreline ending at the Columbia River. We drove to South Jetty which was being reconstructed with massive boulders. Awesome to see the process. Fort Stevens has an onshore ship wreck, a few rusty remains of a ship that went down at the mouth of ther Columbia River. Eery. I wandered the people free beach for an hour or two with Cal. This season, offroad vehicles are allowed on it and I saw two jeeps.

Back in Washington state, we couldn't wait to get back to Cape Disappointment. Got our beach campsite back and wandered the beach for hours. Also, visited North Head Lighthouse. Beautiful on the cliff overlooking our beach, what we had been looking at from my first swim there. The port of Ilwaco is a nearby funky town we visited several times. It was there at Fisherman's Wharf that we bought the crab we would dine on that night.

Stopped into the town of Long Beach and walked part of its boardwalk promenade that streteches two miles in wood and another that is paved and goes eight miles for dog walkers, skaters and bicyclers. Kites on the beach, kites on all beaches, good winds some afternoons.

Two days later, we headed toward home, staying two nights in our beloved Port Townsend. Still busy despite tourist season really being over. We love this dynamic town and its beaches and its ambience.

Home to Victoria on the Coho ferry where we spotted several whales close to out boat and then the navy put on an air show for us! It so happened it was a naval weekend in town. Welcome home!

Tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving. It feels great to be home for it.

Thankful for our families and friends and happy to be celebrating with Tim, Pat and Alexander tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Peace & Love
Allison XO

Fabulous Folk Fest

2006-07-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Early July every year we celebrate our global village with Folk Fest, a feast for the eyes, ears, taste buds and much more.

The harbour is set up with a sea of white tents and booths offering crafts and foods from around the world. The main stage big white tent features bands, musicians and dancers from Ireland, Austria, Rwanda and everywheres inbetween. There is a floating barge beer garden that delivers night time alternative music like hip hop, dub, rock and pop.

Another Folk Fest site is a few blocks away in the square with a circus like theme, acts for familiies and children and nightly music for everyone. The food villages at both venues have everything from mo mos to langos to mango ice cream. We have eaten pakaris, spicy sauces, wraps, crepes, rice, veggies, pizza and sweet yummies. At the end of the night, Nepalese folks offer up "five bucks!" plates. Tim and I have been known to get them several times. "Five bucks!" We laugh as they entice us with the bargain shout out, but they do very well with it.

Our friends sell glow sticks and necklaces to the evening crowds at music events and around the Folk Fest village. As Tim and I listened to percussive music leaving the site last night, I bought a giant hoola hoop which I plan to twirl around my waist for exercise and fun this summer at home in my yard. Woo hoo! Tim and I tested it last night in the harbour as we listened to the buskers enroute home. We videod eachother, we have such silly fun sometimes.

These ten days, we have danced to a west coast celtic kitchen party with fifty folks on the stage at one time and African, bluegrass and gospel. The weather has been perfect. Kids are center stage for the acts, they jump around, socialize and have the grooviest time in all the ambience. Families, youth, we are all there.

Sam Roberts Band was wall to wall smiling faces for the rocker. Mighty Po Po had a dance and song troupe here from Rwanda who had not left their rainforest before let alone travelled for three days on an airplane. The ride didnt cause them any concern, only were perplexed as to what to do with the seatbelts. We had the pleasure of meeting the Rwandans and socializing with them a bit. Tim and I went to lunch with Po Po and them. Mighty Po Po's music was playing as we dined, that was pretty cool. It is awesome to have no language to share but smiles, hugs and the venue of a global village to hang around in together.

Mighty Po Po's family escaped the genocide in Rwanda and moved to Canada but all these people lost loved ones as did Po Po. "Genocide never again" is a wrist band Po Po wears all the time.

Jean-Claude was admiring a daisy chain green and white necklace I was wearing, so I looped it over his neck. I would later see him dancing up a storm on stage with the little necklace over his red beaded chest necklace. I am sure it will return to Rwanda with him. How cool is that? This performance group is called Urunana Rw'Abadatana and are indigenous pygmy people called the Batwa.

Performers we enJOYed at Folk Fest ... Outlaw Social our hometown bluegrass old tymey musicians, Chikoro Marima whose group includes Tim, Alpha Ya Ya Diallo from West Africa, Sonny Smith a San Franciscan with witty wordplay songs, Neko Case our Americana diva, The Grandmaster from Belize a dub poet, Ridley Bent, master beat funky storyteller, Greg Macpherson from Winnipeg on the barge, Grupo Fantasma doing Afro-latin-funk with a big band of hipsters, K'Naan a Somalian with hip hop urgency, sincerity and powerful peaceful words.

The kids and families were thrilled by a few days of legendary Fred Penner of "The Cat Came Back" fame, and also a wonderful puppeteer named The Puppet Guy who had Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner and much more to engage us in wee musical fun moments.

On the main stage, John Boutte from New Orleans wowed us with a Sam Cooke-Otis Redding voice and soulful presentation. The kids were whooping it up running back and forth in front of the elevated stage but it didnt take away his powerful song punch. Wow!

One night on the barge, a Jamaican dub poet Ari Up joined forces with an Austrian Jamaican band Dubblestandart to incite dancing mania from the packed barge. We watched from the adjacent wharf the Queen of Punk-Reggae work her magic.

Today and tonight, we bid farewell to these ten days of entertainment, foods, crafts. The blue skies, the puffy white clouds, the warmth and amazing sunsets have framed the harbour event beautifully.

A band called Ozomatli from LA will present a rocking political and social message this evening and we will surely dance up a storm, bidding a fond farewell to Folk Fest.

It will be odd to see the harbour lose its brilliant white tents but we look forward to seeing them rise again next summer.

Next? Open Air concerts, camping and Alexander William Green time. How sweet it all is.

EnJOY your continuing summer. Hope your weather is a lovely as ours.

Allison XO

Groovy Grandparenting Mode

2006-06-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

We got a call two Sundays ago that Tim and Pat were off to the hospital to welcome their new baby into the world. Exciting! It was a long wait for us that morning and afternoon, but finally the call came from Tim that Pat had just delivered a baby and we asked what is it and found out "It's a boy!" We immediately phoned family with the great news, Aunt Margy, Great Grampa Bill and Great Gramma Nancy, Aunt Lucy and Cousin Will, Great Uncle Art, Great Gramma Lois.

Tony and I made our way to the hospital and found Pat, Tim and baby and their friends Brian and Shawna still in the birthing room. Pat had had support all day from her mother Terry and Shawna and Tim. Pat's brother Jon had been there all day and moved to the waiting room to pace when the birthing time got close. Doctor Stubbs and Doctor Kevin were there. Two forty five in the afternoon, the baby arrived. Beautiful, calm, alert, a good weight and long fingers, arms and legs. It's a boy! Tim cut the umbilical cord. Baby bonded with his family.

We all were pretty amazed and blissed. Tony and I got a turn holding Baby Green. We took small videos and lots of pictures. June 4th 2006, what a brilliant day!

During the next couple days, we would return to hospital to see this wonderful little person. Pat was doing really well and Tim was happily sleeping on the floor on a mat Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. The three of them came home Wednesday and "Tim Bit" had a name now, Alexander Wiliam Green.

We want to hold the baby every day but we go over to the apartment every couple three days, we dont want to be too intrusive. Alexander's first outing was to the doctor last week where he was declared "perfect" with adorable cheeks. His first stroller outing was last Sunday to a Rick Hansen RUN where Chikoro Marimba was entertaining on the waterfront.

Alexander does lots of sleeping on road trips in the car, in the stroller walks to the water and in the Baby Bjorn when he goes for groceries and folks everywheres stop Pat and Tim to admire him.

Pat and Tim had a home nurse visit where she anwered all their questions and told Pat she was doing just fine with the feedings and everything else.

Everyone has been generous with gifts. Tim and Pat have just about everything they need for the baby. Our next door neighbours gave them a wonderful hiking backpack for carrying the baby and a portable playpen. The outfits and baby gear have been great. This baby is going to be "styling!"

Also, my sister Lucy did his charts and said he is going to be a musican, craftsman, artist, leader, communicator and world traveller. He is going to be busy!

We think he is beautiful, alert, a wonderful sleeper and has the most awesome big dark eyes that focus directly on you. A really cool litle dude. We look forward to everything. Two weeks old tomorrow on Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Tim and Pat and Alexander.

Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere, especially Grampa Tony, Great Grampa Bill and Great Uncle Art.

Love,
Gramma Allie

Moody Month of May

2006-05-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here listening to the new Alejandro Escovedo album, "The Boxing Mirror," and blissing and at the same time reminiscing on the month that has been an up and down one for me. It has been kind of a transition time, highs and lows, laughs and a few weepy moments. That's very strange coming from me, Miss Smily Smile. Dont know quite what to pin it on, but will be glad when May turns into June, that's for sure. Who ever said May was merry?

Lots of cool things happened this past month. Tim is in a marimba band called Chikoro and the ensemble spent two weeks creating a new recording in a new studio in town. Matt James runs it and things went really well for them there.

I got to feel Pat's baby squirm in her belly. The baby comes in June and we can't wait. Impending grandparenthood fills us with JOY. Tim and Pat moved into a new larger apartment and the baby room is shaping up nicely. There have been a couple fun baby showers and the clothing, bedding and bath items have been wonderful.

Tim and I saw Joel Plaskett and Matt Barber one night, it was a great rock 'n' roll show. I got Bright Eyes tickets for early June and Tim and I lucked out with second row seats.

MySpace has given me a wealth of new friends and internet connections. I love the one-on-one stuff and it continues to flourish. I have received the kindest most supportive words from friends, especially this month, and it makes me very happy.

We have never seen a more lush spring. Everything is the greenest green and the flowers and blossoms have been amazing.

The street markets have returned and so have the harbour and Government Street buskers. We have pianists, accordianists, fiddlers, banjo-players, guitarists, hammered dulcimer, sax, marimba bands, steel drums, percussionists, didgeridoos, opera singers, jugglers, acts with flames, Yo Yo Man, unicyclists, painted people and mimes. The inner harbour walkway is full of native crafts and local art. The tourists are in abundance. The cruise ships are back. Victoria looks and feels thriving.

Business is booming. Buildings are rising, new businesses like Mountain Co-Op are opening. Downtown is exciting to visit anytime. Always lots going on.

I have been buying lots of music lately and it's all been wonderful. Neal Casal "No Wish To Reminisce," Ron Sexsmith "Time Being" and Rocky Votolato "Makers" are really cool.

Mother's Day was nice. I went to the annual Hatley Park Art Day with its beautiful gardens and also to Sunday Market downtown. The weather was warm, sunny and blue-skied. It couldn't have been any better.

Tim went up-island this week to Cowichan Bay to take part as an extra in a Kim Basinger movie. It is called "The Mermaid Chair" and Tim plays trumpet in the marching band who follow behind some monks. The film is about a married woman who falls in love with a Benedictine Monk. It airs in September on Lifetime Cable TV.

Swiftsure is on this weekend and our harbour looked awesome filled with over two hundred sailboats Friday. This morning, five different categories of races took off ten minutes apart, on Dallas Waterfront. The sailboats come back starting tonight and through tomorrow depending on the size of the vessel and length of their particular race.

These have been the highlights of this month.

Some of the lowlights were things like Tim's not being a member of his marimba band Mufaro anymore. That's a bummer.

The world watched an incredible webcam placed in a nest as two eagles on Hornby Island awaited their offspring, taking turns warming the two eggs. We watched several weeks. Eventually we learned the sixteen year old female was beyond her bearing years and the eggs were not going to hatch.

Some dog attacked Cal in the park the other day and I did a headspring while still hanging onto the dog's leash. He is fine but sore and I took a warm bath and pills because I felt pretty achey for a day or two.

The spring's lushness has given many of us our worst allergy season ever. I feel like I have a permanent cold, sore throat and weepy eyes. It has been wet then very dry and windy and the Cairn is brown-grassed already. The dangerous Spear Grass is ready to wreak havoc with our dogs early this year.

Downtown is seeing a lot of police action. Arrests, shakedowns, clean-ups. The bad, the poor and the homeless are being dealt with. At the same time, due to a lovely climate year round, more folks without homes are coming to live here every day. It's quite a problem.

May has been an inbetween time, a confusing time for me. I have had moments of disconnectedness and letting go and times of communing and new beginnings. Happy, sad, hopeful. Tony has had a tough month also, but his has been work-related.

June is coming. We will soon have a wonderful grandchild to hold. Sounds mighty fine to us.

EnJOY your June and summer.

Love, Allison

Peace on Earth

2006-04-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Earth Day and our annual Peace Walk and the sun was shining warmly on us.

Kindred spirits gathered in the square with signs, banners, flags, posters, children, dogs, a profusion of colours. We hugged friends and smiled at everyone, anticipating the lovely walk through the streets and afternoon on the Legislature lawn. Crosby, Stills & Nash was playing over the loudspeakers to get us in a groovy frame of mind. We heard a speaker and a few songs. A sparkling stilt woman bellydancer walked among us. Then, as tradition has it, a samba band, dressed brightly in oranges, reds and yellows, led us out onto Pandora and then Government streets. This percusssion is mesmerizing and we always opt to be up close to its rallying cry for the fifteen minute walk.

The streets were lined with people interested in the large crowd walking and dancing by. At the Legislature, music and speakers awaited us and information booths on the environment and world issues. A Yogathon was going on raising money for a wildlife group. Folks settled onto a piece of the lawn with their friends to take it all in.

We heard a reggae band, a solo acoustic man, a percussion man, and finally a bluegrass quartet called Outlaw Social. A few impassioned speakers spoke inbetween acts. I took lots of pictures of little angels, dancers and free spirits.

Leaving the event, several hours later, I noticed the sunshiny streets were filled with tourists. A boat show in the harbour featured a dazzling array of flags blowing in the wind. Summer was upon us. Life was good.

I would wake up to the morning papers and four Canadians killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. One man was from Victoria, a reservist. Peace on earth is not getting any easier. But we can dream, can't we?

Peace out
Allison

Hawksley Workman

2006-04-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

Hawksley Workman is a raconteur, a showman, a shaman. His voice stretches and reaches places opera singers find comfortable. He is known to throw in the odd yodel and racy purr of a kitten. His songs are sensuous, edgy, seductive. He is sex and rock 'n' roll in a fedora and bandana, big hoop earring, small jacket, striped pants, wide striped lime tie and dusty shoes. Tom Waits meets Charlie Chaplin. The audience is totally taken with him. It's Sunday night in a grand old church now music conservatory.

Hawksley is raving about the venue and his eight minute trip over here by plane. He said he could have walked it was so fast. He said Victoria is lovely but has no irons and his dry cleaned outfit was a rolled ball in the suitcase by the time he had arrived. The big trip from Toronto had been the same day. Anyway, to us he looked dapper and quirky and we liked what we saw.

He sat on a stool and beside him was a suited spectacled pianist named Mister Lonely. This duo would mesh magically tonight. Hawksley played guitar and closed his eyes while delivering the songs passionately. He also hit a tiny glockenspiel for occasional notes. He played banjo twice during the evening. He had a megaphone and shouted words into it once and a tiny harmonica's music the next time.

After a few sit-down numbers, he stood with his guitar and rocked out. Back to ballads, he remained standing. Mister Lonely was constantly switching between a grand piano and a harmonium. Swirling melodies, unchained symphonies.

Hawksley is funny man with shrewd insight into things. He made us laugh a lot.

He alluded a half dozen times to music abjudicators and how they would rate his night's performance by taking notes like "he made two mistakes in that song" and "he talks too much." He was feeling really good and playful and was appreciative of the evening. We couldn't help but agree. Hawksley was "on" tonight and we were the JOYful recipients.

Highlights were Goodbye To Radio, Claire Fontaine, Anger As Beauty, Smoke Baby, Jealous of Your Cigarette and a kinky Tarantula.

We got an encore of a couple of songs and Hawksley and Mister Lonely received standing ovations. Some of us lingered for a chance to see him after the show but to no avail. Merch table did well tonight and I discovered three discs I did not have, rare beauties, a compilation and early work. I can't wait to give them a spin.

Allison

Music Will Heal My Face

2006-04-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

My friend Myles told me that music would heal my face and it needs healing this week after some laser zapping of tiny spider veins on my cheek and chin which makes me look pretty scary temporarily. So, I went out to Lucky Bar for the healing. I knew it was going to be a wild Friday night as a party was happening on my street and also in the park woods behind our house and downtown, when I was parking the car, a surfer surfed by on the hood of his moving truck. Tons of people in the street now that the weather is getting milder and more spring-like. Met Tim outside Lucky and ventured inside. Big crowd. When The Hylozoists took to the small stage, and they are a nine piece ensemble tonight, the party kicked in. Mind-blowing music, mallet-playing vibraphones, keyboards and percussion. Dressed all in white, quite the sight going along with the aural delights. These dudes are members of the other two bands that are playing the triple bill and a couple other musicians. Awesome and amazing. The Fembots came on next and the band has beautiful songs and really rocks. Cuff the Duke came on close to twelve thirty. Ah, now I remember what it is I love about this band besides its youthful enthusiasm, it's their brilliant songs skillfully played, kick ass showmanship and bop till you drop joie de vivre. They brought it on. We went home happy and healed, atleast in spirit.

Allison

Snow in March

2006-03-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

Victoria doesn't get much snow, some winters not at all, but this March has seen big winds, much rain, hail and a couple small snowfalls. Spring is arriving officially in a week and our February Victoria flower count this year was five and a half billion, but most of the blooms were under some snow a bit this March. Last night, we got lightning and thunder, no rain, and then snow flurries again.

We like seeing snow and take full advantage of the fleeting white scenery with dog walks and pictures. We had snow flurries in sunshine the other day. It's all good.

Tim's birthday was March first. He spent most of the week recording with his two marimba bands but we got a chance to party with him twice. He got a beautiful blue green Betta fish from his friend Tara and we had fun selecting it and giving it its new home. Tim named him Lukin from a Pearl Jam song. Lukin is busy making happy bubbles.

Mufaro and Chikoro were laying down tracks for a local musicians' compilation disc coming out this spring. Mufaro will record a full length in April. It will be great to have new music for summer.

We attended an Oscar party at Pagliacci's Sunday night. I was delighted with Ang Lee's directorial win for Brokeback Mountain and disappointed Walk the Line was snubbed except for Reese Witherspoon's popular win. George Clooney was a treat as a winner and I felt sad Matt Dillon did not win nor Joaquin Phoenix. They will have other years, their acting is brilliant. I have a film recommend for everyone, go see or rent Transamerica, Felicity Huffman is fascinating.

Tim and Pat went to Saltspring Island to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Honeysuckle Cottage at the north end was perfect. They went up Mount Maxwell with a stunning Gulf Islands view in beautiful weather. They had some great local food. Their cottage hosts gave them flowers and chocolates for their anniversary and provided them with breakfast materials. They had fun and shopped too and were at a beach for sunset. They drove home over The Malahat in a challenging rainstorm the next day.

We are one of the windiest cities in the world and this winter it has been most blustery and chilly. I will take this winter over other folks' winters any day, but we look forward to gentler temperatures and less wind. The clouds have been incredible, though, wind makes for exciting cloud action.

Tim and I had quite the adventure this week. Walked Cal to Saxe Point Park and overhead we saw three eagles and a hawk and one eagle was carrying a small animal in its talons which we later would identify as a squirrel. Also, eagles have been frequenting our back woods park often as have hawks. We have unlimited birds and squirrels for their enjoyment. One of the eagles settled on a branch two trees over from their giant nest and proceeded to eat every last bit of the squirrel, innards, bones, tail. It took quite some time and we watched for twenty minutes until he was finished and flew away. National Geographic, Esquimalt style.

Just this morning, I saw a flock of pigeons hastily escaping our back yard and one collided with the corner of our deck so I looked down to see how it was doing. A hawk had him in his grasp eight feet below me and flew off when he saw me. He landed near our back fence and proceeded to defeather the poor pigeon. We were watching the drama unfold and finally the hawk wanted some privacy and left our yard to retreat into the woods with breakfast.

Sad news Friday, our up island friendly whale Luna who loved people and boats too much got tangled in a tugboat's propeller and lost his life. We are really sad. This Orca, somehow separated from his pod five years ago, had been living the good life up island off Gold River. First Nations people thought he was the reincarnation of their chief who had just passed on.
The whale delighted many and frustrated others, Luna was quite the mischievous animal, perhaps too playful with some boats, and now he is gone.

Spring break is upon us and spring around the corner, hopefully.

EnJOY, everyone.

Allison

It's the Weekend, the Sun is Shining and I Feel Fine

2006-02-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

It's the weekend and the sun is slowly melting the overnight frost and I feel fine.

Last night, Tim's two bands played JOYous marimba music at a downtown venue. Chikoro was on first and came on strong. Their radiant faces show the delight they feel for the music and we respond with dancing and smiling and communing with our friends. Good-sized crowd for an under-advertised Thursday night fundraising event. The funds raised were going to the needy for job search and other programs. Everyone was very happy to be there feeling the music and catching the JOYful spirit.

We recorded it with film, audio and stills, so it will definitely be seen and heard by friends and family in future. Also, a group called Splash is making a compilation cd of local bands and our Chikoro and Mufaro will be on it.

It was sweet to reunite with marimba aquaintances and friends. Chikoro played ninety minutes all in one set, wow! Tim and Pat and a friend came onto the dance floor and gumboot danced for part of one song. Nelson aka Nellie, joined the band for a few numbers. He played trombone and Tim played trumpet. Kind of ska meets Africa, quite fun! The ensemble was a fireball of energy. We were spent when they finished.

After a short break, Mufaro took to the stage from the back of the restaurant bar coming forward through the audience playing percussivley, djembes and hand claps. Exciting beginning to a smoking set. Traditional Zimbabwean costumes added to the vibe. This ensemble has been together a few years and has evolved into a powerful and dynamic group. Excellent energized set. Tim played in both bands tonight, as he always does, I admire his unbounded energy and am amazed by his marimba muse.

Tony and I were tired, as were Fred and Terry, Pat's folks, so we left at twelve fifteen. Mufaro may have had one more set but we were heading home to see Cal. Cal would have loved to have been with us tonight, he loves marimba music, good for the soul.

It's the weekend, the birds are singing at our backyard feeder, the sun is shining, life is good.

EnJOY, everyone.

Allison

Billy Cowsill, RIP

2006-02-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

A musical hero of mine has fallen over the weekend, Billy Cowsill. He was a Blue Shadow and a Co-Dependent, he was a wild liver and probably had a bad liver, he had addictions, but most of all, he had a beautiful voice and killer harmonies and wickedly lovely songs. He rose from the ashes of addiction and self-destruction, was picked up by folks who believed in him, took a sturdy road back towards the music with his new band The Co-Dependents, fell into bad health, hips, back, collapsed lung in surgery, benefits and fundraisers were done for Billy, and I think he couldnot perform anymore with only one working lung, and eventually died.

His music is his legacy, long will Billy Cowsill shine on.

We will miss you, Billy
Allison XO
......................................................................

a cross-posting:

Sadness, again, for Cowsills

As mourners gather to honor Barry Cowsill, news arrives that another brother of the singing clan had died Friday in Canada 01:00 AM EST on Sunday, February 19, 2006

BY ALISHA A. PINA
Journal Staff Writer

NEWPORT -- William Cowsill, 58, the lead singer for the 1960s family band The Cowsills, died Friday night in Canada, according to his brothers -- who learned of the death yesterday just moments after a memorial service for another brother, Barry. The Cowsill siblings had gathered at King Park for the service honoring Barry, who drowned after Hurricane Katrina. About a half-hour afterwards, they received a phone call about William's death.

"We don't know what happened, but he hasn't been well for a while," Robert Cowsill said last night, as a party to honor Barry Cowsill got under way at the Hotel Viking. William was suffering from emphysema, osteoporosis, Cushing syndrome and other ailments, Robert Cowsill said.
The oldest of the Cowsill siblings, William was living in Calgary, Alberta. He had moved 35 years ago to Canada, where he formed a successful band called Blue Shadows, according to Robert. In addition to his five siblings, William is survived by two sons, Travis and Del.

Despite the bad news, the Cowsills decided to go ahead with plans to perform at a partyhonoring Barry, which drew a crowd of 500 to the Hotel Viking ballroom. "It's shocking," said Paul Cowsill. "I can't begin to tell you how weird it is. But we're still here and now it's just a party for two."

Paul said that William had had problems with drugs and alcohol which "caught up with him."
"He'd be the first one to tell you he's paying the fiddler," Paul said.

Earlier in the day, a couple of hundred people bid farewell to Barry Cowsill amid fittingly stormy weather. Barry Cowsill drowned in September, after Hurricane Katrina. His body was found in the waters of downtown New Orleans on Dec. 28. He was 51.

Yesterday's offbeat memorial service at King Park lasted barely 30 minutes because of the blistering cold. Numb-faced family members hurried Richard Cowsill through the eulogy, a column written recently by a New York writer. The article characterized his brother as
someone "always in the middle of some kind of storm" because of his life's many ups and downs.

Then Susan Cowsill tried to release her brother's ashes into Newport Harbor. A sudden gust of wind blew most of the remains back at the mourners. "I got ashes in my eye and I'm digging it," said brother Paul, 54, who lives in Oregon. "It's tough losing one of the babies [of the family]. When I was little, [the youngest siblings] were under my care. I love Barry a lot."

Barry Cowsill played bass and sang in the family band of six, which was the real-life inspiration behind the hit television series The Partridge Family. The Cowsill family had eight in all -- father Bud, mother Barbara, daughter Susan and sons William, Robert, Richard, Barry, Paul and John. Richard Cowsill was the only sibling not in the act.

The Cowsills were spotted by a NBC producer at a regular Newport gig in 1965. Soon after, they had three number-one hits, including "Hair," "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" and"Indian Lake." They also had two other Top 10 singles from a total of eight albums. In addition, they starred in their own television special, headlined in Las Vegas and did milk commercials.

"Being born and raised in Newport during the '60s and '70s, someone like myself had to be influenced by the Cowsills," said city resident Dave Livingston, who left a condolence message on the family's Web site, www.cowsill.com. ". . . We all dreamed of being the Beatles or the Dave Clark Five, but having a Newport band on the radio and television made it actually seem
possible."

The online memorial book was 54 pages long and had more than 1,000 entries. "I was a young girl who grew up with the clean music of the Cowsills," wrote a Freemont, Calif., woman. "Barry was my 'first love,' and through all these years I have remembered him on his birthday."

The article Richard Cowsill read at the service confirmed that Barry was the family's heartthrob. It said he had dark, wavy hair, an easy smile and was a "cutup." "There was a time -- the 1960s and early 1970s -- when thousands of American girls drifted off to sleep at night with full-color Barry Cowsill posters gazing down on them," Richard read while laughing.

Many laughed with him. Some women in the audience, gripping flowers and wiping at tears, said that was them. "It's almost poetic," Richard said as the flowers, dusted with Barry's ashes, flew out of the women's hands and were carried into the air by the strong winds.

"Barry set this up. You can find him everywhere now. It's just what he wanted."

Tweedy Tonight

2006-02-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Vancouver where Tim and I went over to see Jeff Tweedy solo acoustic. We were walking around in the afternoon in an uberstorm, a mighty big wind and rain and got drenched, but managed to take tons of digital pictures along the seawall and in Stanley Park and downtown. The evening with Tweedy would be magical as well as shelter from the storm.

Our ferry trips going and coming were filled with celebrity sightings and adventure. Ran into Terry David Mulligan whom we had seen on tv the night before on "Shakin' All Over" a tribute to Canadian psychedelic sixties and seventies bands. Mully was a television and radio disc jockey for years, now a film critic on tv, and commented throughout the program as did several musicians. He had missed the show and appreciated hearing about it from me, especially regarding the bands and musicians that were featured.

Tim had David the Eighth, his goat mascot, with him and stopped to talk to The Canadian Tenors on board as they were asking about the goat. They decided they needed to have a mascot to travel with them after hearing about David's adventures in South Africa, Central America, Mexico, Mount Killimanjero, Australia, Europe, Kitchener, Toronto and Winnipeg. We spent a good time talking with Giovanni, Paul, Leon and Joey about their music and Tim's music and they hope to come to Tim's Mufaro and Chikoro marimba gig later this month.

The wind was picking up as our ferry docked and soon the rest of the day's and evening's sailings would be cancelled in 70 to 100 kilometre gusts.

We took buses downtown and easily found our hotel. Tim and I took a walk along the harbour past Canada Place on the seawall toward Stanley Park. It began raining hard and was extremely windy. The rain seemed to be falling sideways up our sleeves and down our necks. Stopped for lunch at Cardero's. Beautiful view, yummy food, a window table overlooking the marina. We went out again into the weather and realised we should have dressed better for this west coast storm. The valet for the place was squatting in his tiny booth and looked like a jack-in-the-box.

Went as far as Stanley Park and we were the only ones outside it seemed. Some folks were at the Vancouver Aquarium. Tim found another pet, this one of the stuffed variety, Tigger on the ground unrecognizable under several layers of mud. We decided to head back to the hotel and dry out. We made good use of the hair dryer in our room for coats, scarves, hats, gloves, pants, socks and shoes.

Fast forward to Tuesday evening.

Jeff Tweedy was here on a small west coast tour doing his folkie thing. He grew his beard especially for this and encouraged the yahoos to not whoo hoo during his sensitive songs. The sold out Commodore, one thousand fans, loved him and respected him. It made for a beautiful evening of music by a mellow troubadour who can rock us when he feels like it with Wilco but blow us away acoustically with his amazing songs alone. Jeff was funny as hell, interacting with the audience members and charismatic. His jibes included politics, working out, pot, rehab, his sons' mis-aim toilet habits, sweet digs at his drummer who opened for him, Jesus, Satan, George Bush and The Sea Hawks, the latter included as a Seattle-ite was shouting out for his home team.

Amazing night, awesome venue, second row center standing twenty feet from Tweedy.

Woke up at six fifteen the next morning, pile drivers on the waterfront were sounding off the construction of a new building next to Canada Place. The sun came out and we enjoyed a continental breakfast, then Gastown, Canada Place and another seawall walk. Walked all the way to English Bay admiring the mountains and the busy harbour, Lost Lagoon's greenery and tall trees, squirrels, geese, herons, bikers, rollerbladers, bicyclers, runners and strollers.

It began to rain and the number of boardwalkers lessened and umbrellas sprouted. After thirty days of rain, the sun's appearance this morning had been a great gift.

We were drowned ducks by the time a bus driver and then another one gave us a couple of free rides towards our eventual three zone purchase ride to the ferry. I guess they felt sorry for us.

Waiting for the ferry, we ran into a friend, Adam, who was sitting forlornly in an empty room looking out for his ride to tour Calgary and Edmonton. The snowy weather further down the road was making it mandatory for winter tire chains and they were going to have to get some. I am assuming his ride came but it was two hours late. Adam is touring with Ridley Bent and the music they make is awesome, kind of talkin' blues ironic hip hop rap.

We had plenty of time before our five o'clock ferry trip, so we checked out the new food and crafts market complex at the terminal and it is awesome. Ran into Tom Landa our friend from The Paperboys. Tim got to tell him Pat is having a baby and I am going to be a Grandma!

Also on our ferry heading back to Victoria was a hip hop band called Zulu Nation, they were exhausted and sleeping for the trip.

Great to be home. I think I even saw some sun this morning. Our friends and family back east saw Victoria on the news yesterday morning, all about the storm and the power outages. That was the Tuesday that was and we were there, only Vancouver-style!

Allison

Snow Moon

2006-01-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Victoria had twenty six days of rain in a row and our walking boots were getting mighty muddy.

Yesterday, however, the sun came out and I am sure most folks went outside and soaked up the rays to ward off those grey day blues.

Perfect day for the weather to clear as our son's friends, Brian and Shauna, were getting married in sunny Sooke and Tim was tuxedoed-up as best man.

We walked Cal up our park hill and then he got his paw stitches out at the vet's. He loves Doctor Quan and his visits to her. There is a four foot high counter at the clinic that he rests his front paws on looking for a cookie but the jar had been removed to the back room for re-stocking. Cal stood at the counter poking his nose in some brochures until the cookie jar reappeared with his treat.

Cal got me up in the night, actually four thirty in the morning, and when I let him out in the back yard, I could see the amazing "Snow Moon." I didnt know that a few moments earlier, a six point earthquake had hit off shore up-island, thus Cal's need to tell me.

The sun is shining again today, Day Two, we may get spoiled.

Hope the weather is kind and gentle for you folks, too.
Maybe we all will have an early spring.

Allison

Balmy December

2005-12-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

We have had a "Pineapple Express" most of December, blowing that warm wind here from Hawaii, so although we have had a fair amount of dark sky days and rain, the temperatures have been record-breaking high for December.

A weather highlight for the month has got to be last week's thunderstorm and lightning, a rare treat, as we seldom see lightning and hear thunder but the warm air meeting the colder air at five fifteen one night brought on the dazzling array of sights and sounds and a big boom to start as a transformer was hit over a mall. Evacuations followed. Lots of power outages. The five o'clock commute was one vehicle across the unlit intersections at a time and people were polite and careful.

This is the season Butchart Gardens has the only outdoors skating rink on the island and Tim and I were two of its first customers. Reminded me of Quebec in our youth on the rinks Margy, Lucy and I used many cold winter months, vying for ice time with the hockey players.

Tim and I finally got to see The Rolling Stones at IMAX. Mick, Keith, Ron, Bill & Charlie, two storeys high, was quite the amazing sight. We hope to have a return visit. Linda McCartney has a photo showing at the museum, I will definitely see it. John Lennon's yellow Rolls Royce painted in large flowers is in the lobby. We miss you, John, and Happy Christmas, the war is over if we want it.

We got to The Irish Times Pub Restaurant many occasions this month trying to earn a lunch on the house by gaining credit punches for visits. We did not achieve this, but had fun trying. Tim and I finally got to see Kitangus and the band is hot! The nachos and fries there are the best as are the meals.

Tony was over in Vancouver one week supervising on a Safeway roof. It was an interesting time.

Noah Kasper's CD Release party was held to honor a young man who fulfilled his dream of making a beautiful bluesy recording before he left this earth. He was the miracle 5 organ transplant recipient and lived a couple years with the new parts. Talented singer songwriter, guitar & sax player. We miss you, Noah, and congratulations on a very fine record.

Made it to a Sunday Hootenanny and Carolyn was giving away some CDs, regifting them.We got some good ones. Saw J, Carolyn, Dylan, Joey and others sing a few songs each. Fun. Neighborhood pubs such as Logans are such a treat, it's like walking into your own living room and Carolyn greeting you from across the room as you enter, "Hey Allison!" even though J is singing at the time.

Tony and I saw Boris The Hypnotist at UVic. He is from Moscow and lives in Toronto and is about to have a syndicated television show start in the UK which will make its way to North America eventually. He is amazing. Without making fun of his twenty volunteers, he provides drama, humour and irony. River rafting expedition, true love encounter, couple with baby the male was pregnant with, lying woman, petulant parrot, one hundred dollar bills acquiring, disco dancing, muscle-flexing, it's all here.

Mufaro Marima took part in a Parade of Boats in the harbour. Their host boat, Tango, a catamaran, placed 4th for beautiful Christmas lights. Tim was given the prize as he had done a lot of ground work towards the marimbas getting safely onto the boat, and is going on another whale-watching trip, this next time on a Zodiak. The Parade was magical, twinkling lights from sixteen boats circling on the water, heading out and back. Marimba music filling the air.

In November, we received news that Pat and Tim are expecting a baby in June. Our grandparenting days will be rich for sure.

Christmas Open House with a large family and friends is what it's all about. We were invited to The Maguires. Tim's highschool friend, Carmel, and her family took a trip to California when he was sixteen and Tim was invited. Disneyland and Pismo Beach camping and a visit to Uncle Art and Aunt Dawn in Carmel. Anyway, we had lost touch over the years, but ran into Carm's father Tony and sister Carolyn in the streets and were invited to the party coming up in a few weeks. It was delightful and there was a new baby there and two three year olds, and folks kept arriving, mainly family & their mates, and we all got pictures with Santa. The room was filled with Christmases past, advent calendars from the past 25 years were on the ceiling, ornaments abounding on a giant Christmas tree. This is truly what Christmas is about, the family, the love, the warmth.

Tim and I took in the many decorated Christmas trees throughout The Empress. Being in such a revered building always feels Christmasy to us.

We usually spend Christmas at home and this year it was lovely. Tim and Pat came over at two and we talked on the phone to family and opened gifts. I got headphones from them and they got a flat screen wide screen tv from us. Tony got a really cool set of Henckels knives from them. I got jewelery, clothing, music and music magazines and books. Dinner was yummy, thanks to Tony, and included squash, potatoes, stuffing, carrots, brussels, turkey, gravy, cranberries, creamed onions and pumpkin pie and whipping cream.

Christmas calls to family makes the miles melt a bit. We caught up with Margy, Grandma Lois, Lucy and William, Dad and Nancy, Uncle Art, Lesley, Doris, Tony's mum, and more. I talked to Kara in Nova Scotia this month, that was fun. Hey, Kara! Hey, Janet and 'Possum! Hey, Jain and Paul and Aunt Liz! Tony talked to his brother Alan, Dave and Deb.

Movie matinees are always fun. I saw the Johnny Cash film "Walk The Line" and loved it.Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon deserve all kinds of awards for their portraits of Johnny and June. Also, Tim and I saw King Kong, we quite enJOYed the adventure story. I have a whole new respect for dinosaurs and zombies and a big ape.

A New Year is coming, what can we ask for but PEACE and HEALTH and HAPPINESS for all.

Allison

2005 Top Ten

2005-12-22T15:27:00.000-08:00

My buddy Jeff in Winnipeg on radio asked his listeners to send in their top ten of 2005, music and otherwise, and my son Tim said I had better check out the website to see what Jeff had posted about my lists. Thanks, Jeff, I feel the same way about you.

Allison Green:
Easily the most supportive, loyal, generous listener and friend you could ask for.

top ten discs 2005:

son volt: okemah and the melody of riot
smog: a river ain't enough to love
magnolia electric co: what comes after the blues
ryan adams: cold roses
damien jurado: on my way to absence
wolf parade: apologies to the queen mary
charlie sexton: cruel and gentle things
nq arbuckle: last supper in a cheap town
leeroy stragger: beautiful house
matt mays & el torpedo: matt mays & el torpedo

top ten gigs (victoria bc) 2005:

magnolia electric co @ lucky bar
hot hot heat @ logans
leeroy stagger & the sinking hearts @ central bar & grill
xavier rudd @ open air concert centennial square
wolf parade, dante de caro & paper cranes @ lucky bar
lowest of the low @ central bar & grill
matt mays & el torpedo and the novaks @ central bar & grill
old reliable @ logans bar
the weakerthans @ sugar
rheostatics @ sugar

10 top events of 2005:

Bellows Falls, Vermont "Roots On The River" Fred Eaglesmith 4 day festival June

Visiting Great Grandma Lois in Cohoes NY and then Dad & Nancy in Cape Cod in June

July Folk Fest inner harbour, ten days & tons of worldbeat music

Seeing Tim's gumboot troupe dance & open for Ladysmith Black Mombazo at Folk Fest

Having sister Margy from Arizona visit us in Victoria a week in July

Winnipeg & environs week August, especially meeting *Jeff* & being in his radio studio

Tofino long weekend camping September & celebrating Tony's & my 33d anniversary there

LIVE music in Victoria twelve months a year & Tim's two marimba bands

Receiving & using my Christmas gift digital camera 365 days this past year

Finding out we are going to be grandparents by June 2006, Pat & Tim are expecting a baby!

*meeting Jeff & Kristi &amp; Terry & Jenna & Joey & Buddy*

Jeff can be heard twice a week: http://umfm.com Tell The Band To Go Home Sundays
and Stelbelted Free Range Radio Thursdays

Chris Whitley 1960 - 2005

2005-11-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

I am finding myself listening again and again to Chris Whitley's "Narcotic Prayer." It's like a hymn to me as I try to come to terms with this musician's passing Sunday night November 20 in Houston Texas, succumbing to lung cancer. He was 45.

It was just this past June that some of us got to see Chris at a Fred Eaglesmith festival in Bellows Falls, Vermont and I will treasure this forever. Chris did an intense set of passionate music on his National Guitar that sent chills down our spines. He seemed quiet and somewhat shy and was having trouble breathing, but the songs and playing were phenomenal.

I had a couple opportunities over the course of the weekend to chat with him and he was a sweet, soft-spoken guy with words just spilling out in cascades. You see, he had spent his teen years in Bellows Falls and had lived in a cabin with his mom and brother and sister. As we sat on a hill at The Rockingham Meeting House, overlooking a neighbouring field, Chris seemed dismayed that the farmer was on his tractor baling hay the mechanical way. Chris had done it the old-fashioned way in his youth and didnt think the modern way was right. Chris had told us in concert that he cut the firewood and it was his job to clean out the outhouse every spring. He assured us it was fodder for future songs.

Chris told me he had lost his mom this past year to cancer and he had been on tour at the time and he was trying to come to terms with it in this return visit to Vermont. He said he had taken his mom to her cancer treatments the next town over. He seemed very much in shock.

He talked lovingly of his daughter Trixie.

Told me he had been living in East Germany the past five years.

Chris told me he made his acoustic record "Dirt Floor" "down the street in less than a week." I really love this record so was pleased to hear its local history. He told me I probably wouldnt like his album "Terra Incognita" but I would later buy and love it. I would have liked to have been able to tell Chris that.

Chris mentioned a song he had wished he had done in Saturday's set, I am forgetting which one, and I said I would have loved hearing "Accordingly." Friends joined us and asked if we were bringing Chris to the afternoon hockey game. Chris said he thought he might give that a pass but come to the Farewell Soiree instead.

Chris did come to the hockey game and he raised his arm in a clenched fist salute to me from across the lawn as he was leaving. We would see him later that evening at Sunday Soiree. In a garden gazebo, Chris plugged in a tiny ghetto blaster and accompanied himself on a song from his new album, "Soft Dangerous Shores." That was amazing!

Chris, thank you for your beautiful music and sharing and baring your soul.

http://chriswhitley.com

peace & love
allison XO

First Storm

2005-11-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

Although we don't have to endure hardships such as Hurricane Wilma, Vancouver Island did get its first Autumn storm yesterday. Howling winds were up to 46 kms and hour with gusts up to 78 kms.

What do Victorians do when the blustery weather hits? We make our way down to Dallas Road waterfront to see some wave action. We stand in the waves crashing on shore that reach the upper road from the beach below. We record it in pictures. We shout "Whoo hoo!" and "Wheee!" The beach logs are adrift at sea and gulls are seeking refuge on them tossing around out there. Rain spits out a few choruses. Four surfers enJOY the wild waves at Clover Point. The outgoing waves are smashing into the incoming waves. It's all too beautiful.

On the evening's news, we look at the devastation, the downed trees and power outages and are glad the trees didn't hit our house nor vehicles. Our neighbour's house was decorated with downed power lines so the electricity was shut off to fix the problem. Boats lost anchor and drifted away or into rocks. Ferries and other transportation were delayed or cancelled. Many folks lost their power early morning for hours. Downtown was powerless a while. Many streets like ours had no traffic lights working most of the day. Traffic jams and total gridlock ensued in parts of Victoria. Atleast it didn't snow but it did hail and pour rain in the evening. What a day for exciting weather and quite an adventure for many.

There is something to be said for November rain and warm homes and nesting. LIVE music too, shelter from the storm.

Happy Fall adventures to y'all!
Allison

Thanks Giving

2005-10-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeff did his Sunday Winnipeg radio show thanking family and friends for support and I was included and had music dedicated to me. Thanks, Jeff! It's my pleasure to listen to your two radio shows every week and share our love of wonderful music.

At Thanksgiving, it is a time to reflect on our blessings like family, friends, our homes, food and the daily comforts and luxuries we take for granted most of the time. Earthquakes and Tsunamis and floodings seem so far away, though Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi brought them closer to our doorstep. Thankfully when catastrophe hits, the world responds with its heartfelt support.

This weekend, Tony and I went to Tim's and Pat's for a family and friends Pot Luck dinner and it was yummy food and good people sharing laughs and stories. Thanks, everyone!

Last night, Tim and Pat came here for dinner and it was another feast. Thank you, Tony, you are an awesome chef!

September and October have had several fundraising events to support a cure for cancer and help kids who live with immense health challenges. Rappellers down the tall CIBC building, Terry Fox Run, UVic Run For The Cure and Cops For Cancer Tour de Rock. The latter had a group of bicycle riders travel on behalf of kids with cancer over Vancouver Island for thirteen rainy, windy and hilly days and come in Friday to tremendous support. We are thankful folks care about folks and give from their hearts. We only wish everyone could share equal good health.

Tim played marimba at one of the running events and the runners and walkers appreciated their music spurring them on. Thanks, Mufaro!

Tim gumboot danced at a car-free Cook Street Village event. Then, Tim, Pat and Karoon taught some small kids and a few adults to "shake their booty." It was adorable, kids are quick learners. The kids learned how to take a group bow at the end. Well done!

Mufaro played downtown's first annual street hockey car-free Saturday. Fun fund-raising event for Community Living. The streets had about ten hockey games going on at once in small "cages" all afternoon. Government Street was filled with big smiles and happy participants.

Mufaro played James Bay Luminara. Magical evening of paper lanterns, kids, families, costumed stilt people, marimba music and fire dancers. It was a joyful farewell to summer.

Fall in Victoria is settling in with some fog and rain, a good time for "nesting" with good books, internet friends, music and tv. When it's blue-sky sunshiny lovely, we go to beaches for walks. Cal was able to roll in dead seal again. We gave him his second bath, this time in the bath tub, and now he is smooth as silk. Why do animals roll in dead animals? What drives them to do this?

The Bell Blimp has been making its appearance around town again lately. Looking out our window in the pitch black and seeing a lit-up-like-Christmas hot air vehicle hovering up there is mighty impressive. It follows us around downtown during the day, too. Everybody is gazing skywards.

I had a lovely coffee meeting with friends the other day at Tim Horton's. Archie is 82, an artist and a really sweet man, and he and his wife, Betty, and my friend Pat and our friend Leone gathered for the first time as a fivesome and it was a warm fuzzy feeling afternoon. Thanks for your friendship these twenty four years, Pat!

I love my life, it makes me happy. My sister Margy once said to me "Allie, I have never seen anyone who gets more JOY out of every moment." I am thankful for everything I am blessed with. Thanksgiving just brings it home.

Peace, Allison

Fall, Y'all

2005-09-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

It's that lovely time of year again, Fall.

We celebrated it by watching folks rappell off a thirteen storey downtown building fundraising for physically-challenged kids' summer camp. A young man, out of his wheelchair, was lowered up and over and down the building early in the day. He later said he would do it again "in a heartbeat." At the end of the day, a blind teen rappelled herself down the thirteen floors. Awesome. Costumed folks like Bat Man, King Kong and a pirate and Cat Woman did the journey with flair. Media people did it. Layne Mitchell from The Zone Radio closed the day with his fearless rappell. Adam Sawatski was the first over at 830 a.m. and he seemed like I am, afraid of heights, but he completed the task nonetheless. He totally impressed me. They all did. Someone named Heidi rallied for the cause but it was not easy for her, slow and steady. I admired her greatly. Our friend Jordan did it for his office group. It was a fun and successful event and Camp Shawnigan kids will enJOY their summertime adventure due to fundraisers like this and The Spring Telethon.

The kids are back in school and the days are getting shorter. The beautiful weather and glorious sunsets continue day after day. Clouds have often been wispy and whirly in a deep blue sky. The moon, full and otherwise, has been mesmerizing.

Tim and I got up to University of Victoria three times its opening week. Twice he was performing there, once with marimba and once with a gumboot dancing exhibition to encourage new members. A few folks tried out his new djembe jamming with the marimba music and one guy even rapped half a song! Cool. We returned for Cornfest, sidewalk contests and groovy alternative music by a percussionist named Rory performing to ambient dance music and later The Paper Cranes rocking out at the Beer Garden. I went into a hoola hoop contest and won a ticket to see a movie at Cincenta there. I envy the kids returning to their studies, I remember those Ohio, Colorado, Australia and Ontario years well.

Met some lovely folks from a cruise ship at a Mufaro Marimba gig at The Museum courtyard one beautiful evening.South Carolina is their home.Music has a way of bringing folks together joyfully. Would later send them pictures from that night as sunset in the harbour was truly amazing and I had left marimba music for a moment to record the beauty.

We have been going on walks and beach trips as much as possible in these lingering days of warm wonderful weather. Cal got into rubbing his neck onto a dead seal on shore one time and Tim and I came home and gave him his first bath, a hosing down with pet herbal shampoo in the back yard. I think Cal kind of liked it and he smells sweet again and his fur is shiny as ever. Our velvet dog.

Went to a couple of readings by Rebecca Godfrey and Dave Bidini. She wrote a book on the Reena Virk Victoria true horror story and trials and he wrote his fifth book, this time on hockey for a second time. Both are brilliant and incisive writers and I look forward to reading them this Fall.

The First Annual Terry Fox Run for school children happened last Friday in the 25th year of The Terry Fox Run. It was on National Television, hosted by the city of Victoria. Terry's folks were interviewed and 3000 kids ran two loops of a waterside trek. Our national and international hero Rick Hansen was there and BC's Premier and other dignitaries were in attendance. Rob Reid, a local runner and businessman, thought a sculpture for Terry should be created and it was made, unveiled and dedicated this day. It will stand at Mile Zero, a fitting tribute to Terry Fox's amazing one-legged journey into Canada for cancer that continues to inspire us all. What a fun and emotional and life-affirming event.

It's been an exciting September so far. Folks coming and going and returning. Friends and family are doing some travelling and I am feeling content to not travel for a while. Nesting season is looking pretty good to me, as long as it involves LIVE MUSIC and this Fall is looking excellent in that department.

EnJOY your Fall, y'all, and positive thoughts go out to Texas and the South West today and this weekend and to Louisiana and Mississippi into the future.

Peace, Allison

Tofino Time

2005-09-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Tony and I celebrated our September First anniversary by taking in some Tofino Time. Tofino Time involves slowing down, not wearing watches nor looking at clocks nor newspapers nor listening to the radio. Compact discs are allowed. Gazing at sunsets and walking the beaches with Cal early mornings are mandatory. Shooting the breeze with folks from around the world. Many dog lovers on this stretch of west coast ambience. Tofino is Canada's Key West Florida without the flamboyance, only the laid-backness that living on the ocean's edge offers.

We arrived here after a six hour drive, road construction caused some delay enroute. We passed over The Malahat onto green rolling farmlands, the Cowichan Valley, through island towns like Duncan, Ladysmith and Nanaimo before heading west to Qualicum Falls, Cathedral Grove, Port Alberni and the very large Cameron Lake with mountains on both sides.

Rushing streams and creeks with potholes dotted the countryside on our final 58 kilometres.Curvy mountain roads and a portion of road construction I mentioned earlier. Slowing down process began here, slowing down to realise Tofino Time was just around the corner.

Twelve kilometres later, the pace picked up again and Ucluelet was indicated as the road to the south, and we took the road to Tofino and Long Beach, heading north. Soon warnings of watching for and not feeding wildlife appeared and we knew we were close when we reached Long Beach, stretching out before us with miles and miles of relatively untamed beaches, surfer's paradise, Canada style. We arrived at Crystal Cove Resort where our campground was situated among cedar trees, whiskeyjacks, crows and log cabins. Crystal Cove and McKenzie Beaches are sandy, tree-lined with rock island-laden vistas.

Colourful sunsets abounding, clouds taking them up a notch into spectacular. A fly fisherman waist-deep in its waters casting in a Zen-like way. A canoe heading out. Kids skimming boards near shore. Rock climbers exploring the tidepools. Shell collectors, dog walkers, talkers.Families, young couples, many young children and babies. Bicycles, strollers, bachi ball players and sand castle builders. Avid photographers making the few glorious moments stay with them much longer. Just another day in paradise. Life's a beach.

Breakfasts at camp are the best. Bbq dinners wonderful. Desserts in Tofino are divine, as the bakeries and coffee shoppes see to this. The Co-Op Grocery store is a gathering place, by a four corner stop intersection. The four stop signs are new to this laid-back two street town now feeling a bit of the "total gridlock" irony. The harbourfront down the street is a world-class view. Boats heading out fishing or whale-watching, kayaks, sea planes, and helicopters. The greenery of Meares Island and Clayoquot Sound beckon. A small native village can be seen across the bay.

We had a bit of rain one night and one day but it soon disappeared. The weather replacing it was warm and we went to Chesterman Beach to look for surfers and beach birds. What we learned is there are an incredible number of folks taking up surfing for the first time and many surfing schools out here. The now famous one is "Surf Sister" for females and male-friendly too. The girls and women are getting great at the sport.

Met a friend from Victoria on Chesterman Beach as the tide started to cross over between two huge beaches there and between us and Frank Island. We scurried back and exchanged news of her daughter Sarah's musical summer, she is an awesome singer and getting famous and on stages with Stacey Earle and Jane Siberry and we talked of Tony's run-in with a hot barbeque lid. Louise offered Tony aloe vera and another healing ointment. Tony's hands will not blister, luckily.

This was our anniversary, Thursday September the First. It took us till noon to realise this, as we were on Tofino Time now, obviously. We ate a pizza supper in town at a waterside park to celebrate.

The following day, Long Beach was awesome. White sands sprinkled only with a handful of morning daytrippers and surfers and a mist rising from new heat hitting cooler land. I took off my sandals and wandered the beach with Cal. Misty distance with surfers warming up with land stretches. The Pacific Ocean felt warm, surprising me. Sometimes it can feel mighty numbing. Picture-takers, surf-watchers, surfers, kids frolicking in the water near shore. It felt great. It looked incredible. Only the sound of the surf broke the silence except for a few little ones' laughter.

One thing that gets Cal in the water is searching for bullheads, tiny fish, and he did this several times at McKenzie Beach towards sunset. He also befriended a lot of people and dogs, as he always does. Cal loves camping, loves the outdoors and the beach time. We agree.

One sunshiny morning, I saw a rainbow in a cloud over a rock outcropping. Beautiful. The tides brought snail "cave drawings" in the wet sand, sea stars, sand dollars and shells. The clouds reflected wonderfully in the wet sand.

Went to Tofino where The Third of September was happening, a very groovy large new skateboard park and competition to celebrate its completion, a market and salmon bbq and musical entertainment in the village green. Later tonight, "Buckwheat Zydeco" would be shaking everyone's booty at The Legion in town. Tony and I got fish 'n' chips and ate them down at the waterside park again. A guitar-strumming singer and his harmonica and flute playing friend seemed to serenade us from a bench nearby. Tofino Time, we just loved it.

Sunday was our leaving day. Just after passing through the twelve kilometres of road construction and while listening to Neal Casal sing "All The Luck in the World," we heard a hissing truck tire and pulled over to find a stone wedged into it. It wasn't easy to change the tire nor get the new one out from under the truck where it sat but Tony managed and we felt lucky the blowout occured where it did, on a straightaway, not on the winding mountainous road we had just travelled.

We would discover later on The Malahat, that some unfortunate motor home had ended up in the ditch, delaying many of us for over an hour. We eventually realised we weren't moving anywheres for a while, while none of us knew what had happened at the time, but we began to open our vehicle doors and walk on the road and socialise, something you cannot do too often on The Malahat. By the time we were moving again, all signs of the mishap and its rescuers were gone.

We got home early afternoon, unpacked the camper, and settled in for a nice relaxing evening.

Tofino Time is an end of summer moment we will enJOY reminiscing on as Fall weather moves in and the days get shorter.

I Love Winnipeg

2005-08-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Weakerthans, led by John K Samson, hail from Winnipeg and they have a song called "One Great City." It's a tongue in cheek "I Hate Winnipeg" jab at a city they probably adore and at the same time dislike for various reasons like the wrecking ball felling old heritage buildings and hassles with the evening commute.

I went to this fair city to see for myself and mostly to see Tony. I came away loving Winnipeg. I missed the mosquitoes as they had already sprayed for West Nile Virus the month before. I missed July's humidity, it was warm but bearable for my August week's stay here in Manitoba. I missed the rain too. Just lovely sunny blue sky white puffy clouds weather while I was in town.

I got to meet a dear internet connection, Jeff, and even appear on his University of Manitoba radio station, though I remained silent, after all, it was my first time. Jeff spun a lot of tunes I wanted to hear like Neal Casal, Shannon Lyon, Mark Browning/OX, Leeroy Stagger and NQ Arbuckle with Carolyn Mark and I got to meet Terry and Kristi who co-host with him this show called "Steel Belted Free Range Radio." Check it out Thursdays: Http://umfm.com Or check out Jeff Sundays at the same location for his "Tell The Band To Go Home" radio show. Both are awesome and I tune in faithfully on the internet weekly for most shows. What a thrill to be in studio for an actual hour and a half show. I felt like I had "arrived!" Thanks, guys, for welcoming me to your great city!

Jeff introduced me to some really cool kids, Joe, Jenn and Buddy and we ate pasta with them and Kristi at Sorrento's near University of Winnipeg. Delicioso.

I took to the streets of Winnipeg and played tourist for four days ... 61 beautifully-painted "Bears on Broadway," the many tree-lined streets, The Legislature, The CN Station, The Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, the two bridges I walked over daily to get around, The funky Provencher Bridge leading to heritage St Boniface and downtown and The Norwood leading to our groovy hotel and downtown and places like Osborne Village and "Little Italy." The latter two provided nifty lunches and dinners on sidewalk patios. Corydon Avenue has the coolest candy shoppe called "Sugar Mountain." Tony and I saw sweets we hadn't seen since we were kids. Munched on some the next few days on car trips.

Checked out John K Samson's publishing place and I felt honoured and humbled being in the office he works at for his "daytime job." He was on tour with The Weakerthans at the moment in Ottawa. Busy dude.

Bought a bunch of discs in Osborne Village that are hard to find other places and I felt like a kid in a candy shop discovering and selecting them.

Checked out "The Exchange" downtown, the business section where old buildings still exist or have been re-vamped. Discovered a really cool huge record shop there on McDermot Street, a lovely arts and cultural neighbourhood.

Also visited the world-famous intersection at Portage and Main Streets which is supposed to be one of the windiest places anywheres. I made the mistake of stepping into the street there to try to go around the corner and I could feel something breathing on me that was approaching from behind me. I was running in traffic! I had to jump onto a curb barricade wall to escape it. I felt pretty foolish but trendy as well, as this was a famous intersection and I was making my mark there. I climbed over the three foot sustaining wall and discovered the only way to get to other locations from Portage and Main was to go underground.

Assiniboine Park has amazing Leo Mol sculptures and an English Garden. The park is huge and Tony and I saw only a portion of it. Leo Mol created bronze animals and humans and every one of them deserved more than a cursory glance. Beautiful detailed pieces of work. Nudes, historic men, deer, grinning pig with piglets, a bull, several series of bears and cubs and an awesome Moses. I must look Leo Mol up and study him more, he is brilliant.

Tony and I ate across the street from our Norwood Hotel a couple times at "Pasquale's Bistro" and the pasta was awesome. Allison was our server, great name! She drew us a map how to get to "Little Italy" to eat another time as this night when we had tried, we had run into too many obstacles like one-way streets and fire trucks ... we almost "hated" Winnipeg for the way-too-many one way streets. Hard city to navigate in a car, as "a newbie,"maybe it's on purpose! I must admit I really enJOYed my walking times.

At our hotel breakfast Sunday morning, we heard a small "boom." Our server told us they were imploding the Olgivy Flour Mill building off Main Street today.

Found Tim a really cool djembe drum, in a very large music store lovingly named "Mother's Place." A drummer from Ghana helped us select the right one, although he was really only there shopping for djembes of his own. His name is "Coffieman" and he teaches drums and dance in Winnipeg. Thanks, Coffieman!

Sunsets in that big Manitoba sky were huge and magnificent. I shall reflect on them often.

Tim gave me his pet mascot "David the Goat" (a few inches tall) to show around Winnipeg as David has been around the world to Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Great Britain, Scotland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and around most of Canada. David posed with the "Bears on Broadway" and in and at The Legislature and on bridges and signs, dinner tables and neighbourhoods everywheres. He was big fun for me. I posed him on a railing by some posters at University of Manitoba radio station, UMFM, and he remained there overnight accidentally. I freaked when I found out the next morning he was no longer in my purse. Thanks, Jeff, for retrieving and taking care of David for me and Tim. David would next pose for pictures in the Brandon, Manitoba countryside on Tony's and my next little journey.

After four days in Winnipeg, Tony and I went west to Brandon and to two days of outlying towns with names like Souris, Boissevain, Killarney, Roblin, Russell, Birtle and Virden.

Manitoba has miles and miles of golden hay bales, cornfields, sunflowers, fields of lavender, canola and grain, dotted with occasional green oases where farmhouses, barns and outbuildings lie. Crop circles and row patterns abound. Grain elevators here and there. Combines and other "Mad Max" working machines in the fields kicking up dust. Trucks trailing dust on the back roads stretching off into endless horizons. The song by The Who "I Can See For Miles (and Miles and Miles)" had new meaning for us on this Prairie road trip. Trains, so many trains, miles and miles of trains. "I Like Trains" as Fred Eaglesmith sings. No wonder Clive Holden did a book and recorded a disc about "Trains of Winnipeg." Amazing countryside. "Wide loads" coming down the highway toward us on lonely stretches of road made us inch over towards the shoulder occasionally, what a curious sight and with no accompanying vehicle telling us of the oversized unit.

Animals we viewed, alive and dead ... porcupines, raccoons, deer and snakes were roadkills, and living ... gophers, small ducks in those beautiful dark blue ponds, geese, crow, heron, hawk, red-winged blackbirds, kingfishers. Lots of cows, horses, sheep grazing by the roadside fences or sitting down in the sun. The occasional baby animal nursing from its mother cow or horse.

Saw several decaying old barns and outbuildings, shacks. I wish I could have pulled over and taken their last picture.

The small towns were small. Each had a tourist attraction like Souris and its historic suspension bridge over the river. Boissevain with its giant turtle sculpted to greet you and fields of fluttering white butterflies like in a Disney movie. Killarney's old stores and beautiful lake. Roblin's drive-in which filled at noon with all the town's workers and amazingly all got served within minutes of their arrival. I discovered and rescued a huge green caterpillar from a sidewalk in Russell and placed him in some greenery, happy eating, big fella! He was the exact replica of the cover of the kids' storybook "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Birtle had a grain elevator on top of a high hill in the distance, commanding view. Each town had a funky old theatre, one was called "The Avalon."

Never saw "downtown" Brandon, but stayed there two nights in a motel by Canada 1 Highway. I swam in the warm pool and checked emails on the room's computer and caught "Rock Star: INXS" one night and voted online for my favorite ... go, Marty, go! You ROCK! Truckers pulled in for a few hours shut-eye in their cabs behind the gas station and 24 hour restaurant across the street from us. We could see them arriving and leaving as we ate wonderful meals at "Albert's Bistro," owned by a dude whose other restaurant had burned down, so he rebuilt. Doing famously nowadays for sure. Tony got ribs and beef (Alberta must love him) and I got chicken pasta and prawns.

Came home yesterday. The Winnipeg flight was delayed one and half hours as we sat in the plane on the tarmac with a "red alert" strobe light telling us noone takes off till the sudden thunderstorm stops.

I met interesting travelling companions each trip heading east and west. It made the plane rides short and fun. I hardly had time for my book nor tunes, chatting was happening instead. Hey to Anne the actress in the new series "Falcon Beach," Cindy a fellow alt country music aficionado, Micheline the young mother on a solo business trip, the family of six from South West Australia and a heli-logger from Grand Prairie, Alberta who works on the northern tip of Vancouver Island every second week.

Missed my Calgary connection, retrieved Tim's djembe and my bag and checked in again for a later flight. Ate sizzling shrimp at Montana's and sipped a yummy strawberry Margarita.

Passed some time reading another wonderful Maria Flook book.

Eventually got on a plane to Vancouver and enJOYed its welcoming city lights. Soon was on a plane home to Victoria. Tim picked me up 'round midnight, that was two a.m. Winnipeg time.

Came home to greet a delighted Cal and Tim opened the beautiful-sounding djembe.

Home, sweet home. I loved Winnipeg. Now it's awesome to be home again.

Hope you all are enJOYing the last week of August, hope summer lasts into October this year ...

Allison

Tourist Time

2005-08-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

I love being a tourist in Victoria, I have been one for twenty nine years here so far. The gentle climate, the friendly atmosphere, the smalltown vibe, the west coast beauty, the unrushed pace, it's all lovely.

My sister Margy from Arizona came to town last week for a week and we were tourists to the max, we really picked up the pace. It was 117 degrees when she left her town, so Victoria was a pleasant and comfortable change in the mid-eighties.

Margy got to see Tim perform evenings with one of his marimba bands, Mufaro, in the streets of Victoria and also in Sidney at Thursday Night Market and saw his gumboot dancers, Pamwe, in Centennial Square doing a television news dance interview. That night, I saw Pamwe teach dance steps to an audience as part of a summer in the square open air program.

We went up-island to Little Qualicum Falls, Cathedral Grove and Coombs County Market.

We went to Butchart Gardens and were thrilled with the dazzling colourful flowers and had fun chatting with tourists from around the world. Cal loves the gardens and the attention he receives while sniffing the blooms.

We ate pizza late night a couple times and coffee icecream downtown one afternoon and went for special coffees mornings a couple times. We shopped a bit.

Discovered a picture of mine had made it into trendy Monday Magazine. It was Tim as Toilet Regatta champ rowing to victory! Tim's gumboot troupe, Pamwe, had a big article in the Victoria News. It was a good week for press for Tim and friends.

Bought Gareth's new book, 100 more days of animated journal entries called Magicteeth Dailies. He has completed his first year on this, congratulations, Gareth!

Went to Pagliacci's for yummy pasta and music. Went back another time for lunch with a friend. Ran into Howie both times, the restaurant's beloved and hip owner. It's a treat when you catch Howie's eye and he runs downstairs to greet you and expresses the wish that we could join his party at a tiny upstairs table. We declined but felt honoured for the invite.

Checked out 40000 folks in the harbour for Symphony Splash Sunday. Victoria Symphony delighted the large audience sitting on lawns of The Legislature and The Empress and spilling onto the harbour wharves, the sidewalks above and in boats in front of the musical barge. What a beautiful affair. A profusion of pink puffy clouds was enhancing a lovely sunset.

Margy and we talked and talked, and we walked Cal up the cairn and along Dallas Road beach.
We laughed and giggled from dawn to dusk. It was such fun.

Saw the cruise ships lit up at night at Ogden Point and The Legislature aglow from top to bottom in tiny lights that outline the two buildings.

Caught a chick flick, Must Love Dogs. John Cusak and Diane Lane and her family were fun to watch in action.

Breakfasts and tea and coffee at home were relaxing times.

Tony made us yummy bbq one night.

Tim spent a lot of time here with Margy. They got to know eachother better and Margy was thrilled to see and hear his music and dance. Cal loves Margy and slept near her bed nights.

Margy returned home to Arizona Friday and Tony, Cal and I went camping on Gabriola Island.

Sunsets were amazing. We made our usual stops at Saturday Farmer's Market, the free store, Folk Life Expo '86 shopping centre, and we enJOYed yummy breakfasts and bbqs. Relaxing weekend with many deer sightings. We were in a large new campsite bordering on a green pasture and the forested hills behind us were deer country. The two bays featured high green waters evenings, and eagles and seals flew overhead or swam nearby.

I began and finished a good book by a fun storyteller Maria Flook.

Margy was promised a camping trip and we will make sure next visit we are able to do one with her. The slower camping pace makes one not have to take a vacation when one gets back from a vacation. Rest up, Margy, and enJOY your dogs and tortoise!

Allie Sunday evening

Illuminations, Celebrations

2005-07-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

Outdoors music just goes great with full moons. Buck 65 and Xavier Rudd came to town this week and the nights were jumping.

Nova Scotian hip hop rapper Buck 65 laid a most amusing and theatrical trip on us and we loved it. Three turntables for scratching and a tiny notebook for reference. Sometimes he shared the spotlight with his Parisienne fiancee Claire and the two did some talkin' blues for us. He was resplendent in a wrinkled white shirt, a medallion, short pants revealing striped socks and desert boots and a small jacket and captain's cap. What a character!

Bare-footed Aussie Xavier Rudd thrilled us another night with didge, drums, voice and slide guitar. A sea of motion and emotion surged in waves between performer and audience and back again. You could feel the love. A warm smile and a sparkle in Xav's eyes embraced us. The colourful backdrop was two giant tie-dyed fabrics and an Aboriginal flag. Xavier sings about the earth and its oldest peoples and the need for us all to harmonize and be gentle to eachother and kind to the environment. Afterwards and fittingly, an impromptu salsa band with fire dancers entertained us in the courtyard as we were leaving. The brilliant round moon over the harbour and black waters of Juan de Fuca Strait was mesemerizing. As Van Morrison would sing What a Lovely Night for a Moon Dance!

This weekend has been busy.

Saturday, the first annual toilet bowl races to advertise the need for not dumping our raw sewage into the strait took place in the inner harbour with six boats and Tim won it in three minutes seven seconds of paddling. His aluminum boat with pink toilet was called L'il Ship Disturber. The boat that won the people's hearts, however, called Floatette, was home-made from plywood, inner tubes and two by fours with two toilets and two teenage crew. It nearly didnt make the start line and one of its occupants swam at the back of the boat to the finish line as it was slowly sinking. Hurray!

Saturday night was Luminara at St Ann's and Beacon Hill Park. In daylight, Mufaro played marimba to the delight of many costumed dancers and merry makers primed for viewing ten thousand paper lanterns in the park. Later, Tim gumboot danced with Pamwe surrounded by paper lanterns. Musicians, dancers, animated and illuminated crowd, it was beautiful and magical. Fairies, angels, Pirates of the Carribean, painted faces, stilt people, satin and lace and crinolins, exotic costumes, it was all there. The pathways, ponds and trees were lined with lanterns in the form of faces, animals, vehicles, abstract concoctions. Many folks had paper lanterns to light their way as the evening grew darker.

The weather here has been superb. Hoping it is kinder and gentler to some other places soon.

Happy continuing summertime adventures!

Peace, Allison

Farewell Folk Fest

2005-07-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

I feel inspired, not tired, kind of wired. Folk Fest in the harbour just ended its ten days and nights of wonderful world music and tonight Ladysmith Black Mombazo brought us HOME.
One of the encores was "Homeless" and we felt very grounded as it embaced us.

Our son Tim's gumboot dance troupe, Pamwe, had the slot before Ladysmith and the crowd gathered was huge. It was awesome to see eight to sixteen dancers slapping their boots, dancing their dances, doing their shouts, talking their talk, with big smiles on their radiant faces. A sea of shining faces smiled back at them and applauded and hooted appreciatively.

As we left the Folk Fest site, after Ladysmith Black Mombazo, folks were gathered around tent boutiques that hadn't quite closed down yet and an instrument tent had a jam happening, a fitting farewell to a lovely and fun Folk Fest. The sunset over the tent tops was amazing in the puffy clouds. The Attessa, looking like an eight million dollar yacht, complete with a helicopter on its top deck, was garnering attention from the Sunday night crowd in the harbour. Buskers were playing their music and jugglers were playing with fire for the many onlookers on a warm Victoria evening.

I had a tourist take my picture wearing my gumboot shirt, I am a proud gumboot mama you know.

Heading to my car, I couldn't help but stop in at the sound of swirling celtic music that was spilling into the street and sidewalks from The Irish Times. Dan Lapp and about ten others were blazing away on fiddles and other instruments in the round in the corner of the large festive restaurant pub. Sunday night Victoria, you have to love the ambience. I sure do.

Peace
Allison

Summer Salute

2005-06-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer!

We kickstarted ours two weeks ago by a trip to Vermont for a Fred Eaglesmith music festival followed by a week in Cape Cod with Dad and Nancy.

It was all too beautiful.

Bellows Falls, Vermont was hot and humid and we were all dripping day and night, but the four days of awesome music and friends, old and new, were the best, and it's a forever memory for me.

Cape Cod with its amazing duned beaches and pine trees and cedar shake homes and friendly folks would be our idea of retirement paradise if only Tony and I could afford such luxury. We just love that place.

Coming HOME cross country with continuous sunsets and a stunning and brilliant full moon and the patchwork-quilted prairies and snow-capped Rockies crystal clear and finally the lights of the west coast cities was quite the dazzler.

Like I said, it was all too beautiful.

Summer is upon us and with it the Victoria Tall Ships Festival, Jazz Festival and Folk Festival begin. This promises to be quite the summer. Throw in some camping and a visit from Margy, let the good times roll!

EnJOY yours.
Allison

Victoria Day Weekend

2005-05-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Queen Victoria, for giving us this long weekend!

Tim's marimba friends and he are in Monday's big Victoria Day parade playing marimba on a float. The parade is one of the largest in Canada and big fun and will last about three hours. Lots of American high school marching bands are here for it and the streets of Victoria are lively this weekend.

Last night we were in the harbour when a couple of teenage boys stripped to their bare bums (kept ties on) and ran the length of the harbour's upper sidewalk to an awaiting car. It gave new meaning to the phrase "The Strip" for the causeway. Haven't seen a streaker in years and then it was on tv during the Oscars or something. Last night's hundred yard dash made for a sidewalk full of smiles.

One of Tim's marimba bands will busk tonight in the streets. Should create a large happy crowd of onlookers and dancers. Everyone loves the JOYful music. Our Cal certainly does and we will be there.

Looks like mixed weather this weekend, a little of everything. Sudden showers, warm sunshine, white puffy clouds replaced by Nimbus ones, changing every five minutes. This past week has been wet, dry, cool, warm, dark, light, a potpourri.

Last year's drought and this spring's rain and warmth created the lushest foliage we have ever seen. Trees, plants, flowers, bushes, moss and grasses are most vivid, intense and voluminous.

Our cairn park behind us is rich with blue camas, bachelor buttons, yellow buttercups, green moss and wild roses. Butchart Gardens spring flowers and trees are abloom with beautiful irises, tulips, poppies and rhododendrons. Everyone's gardens are beautiful.

I am not taking for granted this spring gift from nature as I know that soon enough a dry summer will make the grasses brown and plants thristy. It's just a lovely time of year right now as it has been for the past few months. We are blessed in the west and we appreciate it.

A baby bird is chirping as I type. Its house is right by a window here. Actually there is a chorus of singing going on out there. Our backyard is full of birds and squirrels, who feed at our feeder or underneath it. The nuts were most bountiful from the trees last Fall, so the squirrels are happily still unearthing their caches.

The weekend is upon us, enJOY yours!

Allison

Gone Camping

2005-05-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend, Tony, Cal, Tim, Pat and me. Pulled the trailer up island over The Malahat to Nanaimo, then a quick ferry trip over to Gabriola Island, twenty minutes away.

What is it about a small island off a big island that immediately instills such a faraway feeling in you while being so physically close to the place you just left? I guess you enter a different comfort and time zone without the bells and whistles. Communing with nature in the great outdoors.

Parked the trailer in the tall trees and the kids set up a tent at the neighboring campsite. We had the place to ourselves. Spring camping has its serene rewards.

Set on two small bays, the forested and pastured campsite features ebbing and flowing waters of the deepest green. Eagles nesting and screeching especially at the beginning and ending of the day as they feed their young. Nearby farms have squaking peacocks and braying donkeys. Birds calling out from the trees and bushes. A big deer bounding in front of Cal and me on a night's walk. Fun barbeque dinners and wonderful campstove breakfasts. Campfires. The Point for sunset a daily tradition. A seal bobbing its head up, diving and reappearing with a mouthful of fish, geese and gulls loitering. A tall heron near the rocky shore feeding on fish. Small rowboat heading out to check for crabs in a trap. Fiery reds and oranges and pinks lighting up the water and sky. Just another day in Paradise.

April turned into May overnight and Sunday, so we ate a hardy breakfast and headed home. Soon we will set out again, weekends await us.

Peaceful Earth, Full Moon

2005-04-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

A FULL MOON must be around, Friday night downtown was crazy fun, lots going on this warm summery evening.

People filling the streets and harbour, a floating boat show (I most certainly hope so!), a 1966 blue and white Austin Healey sighting, a bicyclist teasing a shouting swearing truck driver behind him, weaving around in front of him but refusing to move for him. The irate driver got out at a pedestrian stop but resisted fisty cuffs with the biking dude, thankfully. Music pouring out onto Government Street from The Irish Times, fiery fiddles and guitars, I was making a mental note to myself to get into that fun place more often. Inner harbour troubadours, crafts and fire-jugglers. Spotted a big fat white moon in the blue sky over the museum followed by an awesome orange and pink sunset over the harbour. Ah, LotusLand, we love thee!

Saturday marked The Earth Walk, an around the world celebration to remind us to take good care of this planet and treat it as peacefully as we know how to. We took to the streets with banners and signs and smiles led by a spirited samba percussion. Our walk ended on the Legislature grounds where speakers, musicians and info booths awaited us. Near the end of the afternoon, a highlight for many of us was Oliver Swain performing a rousing "Halleleujah." Amen, brother!

Early Sunday morning saw twelve thousand participants doing a 10K RUN and I was a spectator on Dallas Road in Beacon Hill Park. Mufaro Marimba Ensemble cheered the runners on musically as they were heading out and returning to the city. The weather was beautiful and you could see the steam rising from the runners. Out on Juan de Fuca Strait, a two storey house was drifting by pulled by a small fishing boat. Overhead, a blimp was floating by and hovering, advertising a telephone company. We don't see too many dirigibles. A sea of shining faces smiling and running by is inspirational, maybe I will join in next year, stay tuned!

Hoping elusive SPRING comes everyone's way soon and stays a while. EnJOY!

Summer will soon follow.

Peace, Allison

April Afterall

2005-04-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

As parts of the country seem to be getting their final farewell of snow, we have settled into a bit of spring rain which is a good thing because it has not been around much this past winter.

Up island, Mount Washington did get two feet of snow just now which revived its end of season skiing and snowboarding.

Locally, Butchart Gardens is blooming beautifully with pinks and purples and other spring colours. The gardens allows pets and Cal loves visiting there so we will probably go this weekend.

Today happens to be a sunny day, time to think on heading camping again soon. It is April afterall. Other events this month ... friends continue their travels and tours ~ a Caribbean cruise, Las Vegas, the US eastern seaboard ~ and family and friends are having birthdays, offspring are getting married and great music is coming to town.

Next week, we see Blue Rodeo with Matt Mays & El Torpedo opening which is an exciting double bill. It is happening in our brand new state of the art Memorial Centre Arena so that will be big fun to check out for a first time. We will be happily seated in the 14 th row main floor centre in a room that seats 7000. The Weakerthans hit town the end of the month and we can't wait.

Music, Spring, camping and birthday celebrations, April is looking mighty fine.

EnJOY yours.

March

2005-03-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

March is half full already, and everyone seems to be going places, sort of a Spring Break thing I guess. Wish I were travelling too, but I kind of daydream along with the lucky folks on their adventures in Texas and New York City and Cuba and Mexico and The UK. St Paddys Day has come and gone and it was such fun, an afternoon in an Irish pub on a Thursday, with celtic fiddle blazing and shiny happy people celebrating, you have to love it! The weather has been gentle, some days quite summery and some days filled with yellow daffodils and pink blossoms and breezy spring temperatures with tons of sunshine. Hang gliders and paragliders and sailboarders are enJOYing the winds over Dallas Road cliffs and Juan de Fuca waters. Victoria, I shall always be your tourist, your scenery never ceases to amaze me. I was filming Tim and Sharx and the other gumboot dancers at UVic this week where they practise by the fountain outdoors year 'round. Help stop racism is a world-wide March theme and the group performed Friday night to much enthusiasm. They seem to be getting quite a few gigs like Tim's marimba bands. JOYful endeavours, this dance and this music. Love being a "gumboot mom!"

PEACE and happy travels to us all, of the inward and outward kind ... enJOY Spring!

February

2005-02-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

I love February, Spring has sprung. White snowdrops and purple and yellow crocuses are up and pink blossoms are on the trees and everything is budding. Birds are singing. Grass is green and has been since September. Moss is abundant. Sun is shining. Sky is blue. Pink and orange sunrises, longer days and lovely sunsets. Hummingbird hovering a hello at the sundeck window a few days ago and another day a Bard Owl. The latter sat in a backyard tree for an hour and then flew up to land on the sundeck eight feet from us. The birds had all vanished. Usually they feed from the feeders all day. The owl took flight as our dog was getting a close look at him through the sliding glass door. Majestic creature. February is fun because it's my birthday. I like to celebrate for about one month. Valentine's Day, too. Big month, my month. Friends, family, food, fun music, fabulous February. Tonight, we dance to marimba music.

Snow Moon

2005-01-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

I am a full moon freak, I love full moons, but until my universe today newletter informed me we were experiencing The Snow Moon this month, January, I had not known its beautiful name.
NE Native Americans tracked their seasons by the light of the full moon and applied the name for the month. Farmer's Almanac shares the information with us:

Full Wolf Moon/Old Moon/Moon After Yule/Snow Moon: January
Full Snow Moon/Hunger Moon: February
Full Worm Moon/Crow Moon/Crust Moon/Sap Moon: March
Full Pink Moon/Sprouting Grass Moon/Egg Moon/Fish Moon: April
Full Flower Moon/Corn Planting Moon/Milk Moon: May
Full Strawberry Moon/Rose Moon: June
Full Buck Moon/Thunder Moon/Hay Moon: July
Full Sturgeon Moon/Red Moon/Green Corn Moon/Grain Moon: July
Full Fruit or Barley Moon: August
Full Harvest Moon: September
Full Hunter's Moon/Harvest Moon: October
Full Beaver Moon/Frosty Moon: November
Full Cold Moon/Long Nights Moon/Moon Before Yule: December

Now when I hear somebody singing about the Blue Moon over Kentucky and Nick Drake singing about Pink Moon, I may have a more seasonal moonscape in mind. I am not sure why two sets of July full moons are mentioned, but I guess we all would like two months of July in our lives.

Peace Moon, Allison

Snow Moment

2005-01-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

Victoria sees snow rarely. We got a dusting New Year's Day which vanished quickly. A few days later, snow began to fall in earnest in the night and would continue all day. Early morning, I was gazing at the falling flakes in our back yard and saw an owl with a huge wing span swoop through looking for birds or squirrels. I knew it would be a magical day.

I took a bus downtown and my camera was busy as I walked around in the white beauty. Trees' cherry blossoms and flowers in the harbour were covered. Totem poles looked more real than ever blanketed in snow. Palm trees looked surprised by it. Whimsical snowmen appeared on lawns, even at The Empress. Sledders took to the one slope at Beacon Hill Park on anything they could ... rubber dinghies, plastic mattresses, cardboard pieces, inner tubes, flying carpets, sleds and the occasional snowboard. Soon the slope was getting patchy, grass showing through, but that didn't dampen the tobogganers' enthusiasm. When we stopped indoors for a hot chocolate, it was then I noticed my frostbitten cheeks.

On the evening's news, we heard of all the vehicular ditchings and accidents, Victorians are not known for their driving skills in a bit of snow and they don't know to slow down either.

The next day, we went to Beaver Lake to throw snowballs. Sunday, we went to Goldstream Park where we discovered two feet of snow on the tree-tossed trails. Wished we were wearing snoeshoes or bear claws. We made deep bootprints and snow angels instead. The dog was having big fun running around tummy-deep in snow and sniffing everything. Tiny animals must have been under the snow in safe hideaways. The tall cedars and firs were majestic wearing their white robes. Serene silence. The next day, Goldstream again, a different trail which led us to waterfalls, giant icicles and later a walk on the curving snowy railroad tracks.

That night we learned the island train wasn't running that day due to a gentle derailing the day before. Ice and tree branches had littered the tracks and needed a clearing.

We probably shall return again today and take a different trail. More snow may fall. If it does, some of us will be happy. Meanwhile, the sun has come out for a fourth day in a row and perhaps our winter wonderland will soon disappear. Our snow moment was enJOYed, we were here now.

Peaceful Place

2005-01-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes getting away to a peaceful place is a good thing.

A friend emailed me asking what the message was on a sunset picture in our kitchen and I told her that Tim had made me a picture one Christmas featuring our favorite getaway place, Dionisio Point of the north end of Galiano Island, where we had camped summers for many years, and underneath the picture, Tim described it with some wonderful words.

May we all find some places as tranquil as this one in the new year ... Allison

Enjoyed by the Greens, the Hunters, the Ouelettes, the Mitchells, the Telfers, the different Dougs, the Phillips and many friends and families, Coon Bay has withstood time. A quiet sunset like this one could be seen from many spots, including the often popular Dionisio Point, where one could be seen hauling in giant Springs in the days, with children by their side, casting stick and string rods. People fishing from their aluminum boats, trolling and jigging from nearby kelp beds. After the sun sets, the people would leave the point and join in a community pull to get the boat people's boats high up on the logs for the night and look at the night's catches. They then manouvered their ways up the dark, windy paths, often with no light, to their propane-lit lantern campsites. In the day, the beach became full of dogs and kids that searched for needlehead fish and bullheads in the tidepools and ran circles on the sandbars. Sunbathers filled the logs and nooks and crannies along the points and some sat at their campsites observing all the action. Campsites lined the edge of points, some who dangered to fight steep hills and "shoot the cliff" and some who drove through sand to park near the beach. The point also housed beautiful sandstone overhangs and the diving rock was always a must at high tides. Whales were scarce but appreciated muchly when they passed. This used to be a fishing village, then our summer getaway, now park.

Tim

Rock 'n' Roll

2004-12-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

The first time I heard Buddy Holly on my little transistor radio, I fell in love with rock 'n' roll music. I started to collect 45's and 78's and kept a radio close to me most of the time. When Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens died on a small plane, a piece of us died with them. "That'll Be The Day," "Chantilly Lace" and "La Bamba" would never sound quite as joyful again.

We kept heart with The Platters and The Everly Brothers and Conway Twitty. "Heavenly shades of night are falling, it's Twilight Time," "Bye Bye Love" and "It's Only Make Believe."

The sixties came and with it, The Beatles and The British Invasion in music, movies and magazines. We were amazed by what we were hearing on the radio by bands like The Kinks, The Small Faces, The Pretty things, The Yardbirds, The Who and The Zombies. I bought a lot of vinyl records.

Somehow my two sisters and I managed to get seats on the floor close to the stage of Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens for The Beatles, The Stones, Dave Clark Five, Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Beach Boys. Actually, I think Mom went down and lined up for some of the tickets while we attended school. Thanks, Mom! I know Dad went with us to The Dave Clark 5. Dad and my sisters and I were vexed that Bobby Curtola was the opener and seemed to take more than his alotted time. I think those were the days Dave Clark really didn't play the drums but we were none the wiser. The Beach Boys had Glen Campbell filling in for Brian Wilson. Dennis Wilson was still with the band.

When I was sixteen, I had a date with a formal fellow who called me "Miss Allison" to see Peter, Paul and Mary.

Our local rock heroes were The Last Words from Clarkson Ontario. The band had three cross-Canada hits between 1965-7. Bass player Brad Campbell later joined the Full Tilt Boogie Band and toured with Janis Joplin before she left this earth.

I went off to university in Ohio and saw The Animals and The Kingsmen. "Louie Louie," WOW! The Animals were two hours late and we were sitting in uncomfortable seats for the long wait, "We Gotta Get Outta This Place," but hey, it's only rock 'n' roll!

Summertime, I ran into Canada's biggest band, The Stitch in Tyme, the day before our family moved to Australia. There was a big outdoors concert featuring The Byrds as well as quite a few Toronto bands. I befriended the Stitch in Tyme's drummer, Victor Dauvin, aka Pinky, as he and his bandmates sat in the bleachers like the rest of us before they took to the stage. I knew they had to be in a band as the five of them were wearing shades of green, brown and gold corduroy suits. Victor and I would become letter-writing friends while I was away across the sea for a year and would date the summer I returned. "Gotta Get You Into My Life," the band's big covers hit, held new meaning for me.

In Sydney Australia, my sisters and I saw Roy Orbison open for The Walker Brothers. We giggled and screamed from our front row seats and Roy blushed the brightest red. The Walker Brothers, with Scott Walker doing the lead singing, drove us into a frenzy. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." AMAZING!

We said goodbye in a television theatre to The BeeGees who were off to seek fame and fortune in England. We saw Australia's biggest band, The Easybeats, at the Sydney Arena for one dollar and twenty five cents ~ what concerts cost in those days ~ for a rousing farewell performance before they departed to make Britain a new home. The Easybeats would surface around the world with their hit "Friday On My Mind" which David Bowie would later sing as well.

Our family living near Sydney was a really good thing, besides the really fine beaches, there were so many cool Aussie bands like The Masters Apprentices to keep us in rock 'n' roll Heaven. We thought nothing of taking a train into town and venturing into the roughest club to see our band. Once, a fight broke out between two guys right beside us and The Masters Apprentices looked shocked but hardly missed a beat!

A year later, I was back in Ontario in the summer and went into Yorkville, The Village, to see my friends The Stitch in Tyme. It was the days when band members couldn't sit with their girlfriends at breaks as the fans would not like it. The Village music scene was vibrant.

Schooling in Denver Colorado was next ... one mile high and beautiful blue sky. The Family Dog was our home and we saw many psychedelic bands of the sixties there ... Canned Heat, Frank Zappa/ Mothers of Invention, and Chicago's blues-burning machine Siegel Schwall. I wish I could remember the others.

One night, we saw Jimi Hendrix in a high school auditorium, rocking out maniacally, caressing and finally burning his guitar. Later, Jimi treated us to an all night jam at The Family Dog. WOW!

The Doors played our university auditorium and Jim Morrison said "I want you all to get up and dance" but we just sat there on the floor because we were cool. "People Are Strange" and "Light My Fire" echoed far beyond the venue's walls finding a place in infinity no doubt. Infinity has unlimited dancers.

Back home in Ontario, Toronto's Electric Circus and The Rockpile brought us many psychedelic rockers ... Poco, Country Joe and The Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Marshall Tucker Band, Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, Robin Trower, Moby Grape and The Barbarians, from Provincetown Massachusetts, famous for the song "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl?" The drummer had an arm missing and played ferociously.

Theatres brought us John Prine and Crosby, Stills and Nash and Arlo Guthrie. Quite a few folks enthusiastically rushed the stage during a sensitive Guthrie piano moment, and Arlo, visibly shaken, said "Jesus Christ!"

Saw Richie Havens in a suburban high school gymnasium and also in The Village. What a class act humble talented guy. "Freedom ..." how incredible was that song?!

Yorkville had some groovy coffee houses like The Riverboat, and we saw Luke and The Apostles, Jack London and The Sparrows (whose members would later go on to form Steppenwolf), The Paupers, Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, The Ugly Ducklings, Edward Bear, Myles and Lenny, Melanie, Kensington Market, Howlin' Wolf and folkies like Tim Hardin, Jesse Winchester, Biff Rose and Tom Paxton.

My friend, Victor, who had been in The Stitch in Tyme, became the lead singer in Lighthouse for a while, at the time the biggest group in Canada. Skip Procup from The Paupers was the dynamo drummer. We checked them out and Bruce Cockburn and many more.

Mariposa Folk Festival was always a groove. Procul Harem in a park was amazing. I remember we were all asked by the radio deejay to chant "OM" before the band came on. The Good Brothers, whom we saw in Toronto's High Park in the seventies, would spawn a couple of awesome alt twangers, The Sadies, their sons, Travis and Dallas Good, whom we have been enjoying these past years.

The sixties and seventies rocked! Cool Toronto bars like The Gasworks and El Mocombo brought tons of LIVE music ... went to blues clubs in the country ... might have checked out Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins once or twice.

One of my fave yearly events was Carlisle Bluegrass festival with big campsite and parking lot jam sessions, workshops and main stages with acts like Bill Monroe and Seldom Scene. I will always remember the nightly wanderings back to find our campsites without flashlights, kind of a magical mystery tour for hundreds of us!

In New York City, my Dad and I saw the debut of Broadway's HAIR! Definitely the dawning of the age of Aquarius!

A move across country and the west coast has always delivered a most excellent music scene, especially Canadian bands ... The Skydiggers, Blue Rodeo, Jack de Keyzer, The Blue Shadows, Ashley MacIsaac, The Grapes of Wrath, Ginger, The Paperboys, Spirit of the West, Rheostatics, Fred Eaglesmith, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, The Watchmen, Odds, Pursuit of Happiness, Captain Tractor, 54.40, Great Big Sea, Robert Michaels, Kim Mitchell, Tom Cochrane, Corey Hart, Barenaked Ladies, Sloan, Moxy Fruvous and The Kings. Who in Canada will ever forget hometown heroes from Oakville Ontario, The Kings, with their mega hit "Switchin' To Glide."

World acts came here to an amazing club called Harpo's ... Alejandro Escovedo, The Wailers, Burning Spear, Thomas Mapfumo, Youssou N'Dour, The Beat Farmers, Queen Ida, Koko Taylor, Zachary Richard, Wayne Toups, Paul Kelly, John Hammond, Amos Garret, Doug Sahm & The Texas Tornadoes, David Lindley, John Lee Hooker, B B King, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Toots and the Maytals, Buckwheat Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, Beausoleil, Junkhouse, Gowan, Weeping Tile, Crash Vegas and The Paladins.

A big blues woman, Koko Taylor, started up the tiny stage steps and they broke under her weight and she was cursing mad for her edgy showtime. Somehow another rock 'n' roll moment.

Harpo's also hosted Seattle's best ... The Posies, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Heats, The Allies and The Young Fresh Fellows. I wasn't there in 1991 when Eddie Vedder, on Pearl Jam's first tour outside Seattle, was annoyed by the club's effusive drunks, so he disconnected a twelve foot mike stand and tossed it above the crowd's heads and it crashed into a back bar wall, a legendary rock 'n' roll moment.

Harpo's had many magical musical moments. I remember evangelically following the lead singer from Burning Spear around the room with a trail of folks behind us as the band performed a rousing song in the audience. I recall Country Dick of The Beat Farmers inviting us to sit for some campfire tunes on the floor in a circle. That we did. Thanks, Gary and Marcus, for booking so many wonderful nights and years of music. Harpo's brought us the best music in an intimate venue for over twenty years and I still miss it.

I will never forget two stellar bands at the old Memorial Arena ... Dire Straits with its Brothers In Arms Tour and Midnight Oil. The place had awful acoustics, the big barn on Blanshard, but those two nights the sound was excellent. Saw Melissa Etheridge there also. Melissa has always been Victoria's sweetheart and she has come here often and has always put on a first class show. We have a new arena replacing the barn now and hopefully its 7000 seats will see some big acts in future. We are counting on it.

An Australian band called Things of Stone and Wood played to a sparse crowd at a big unsuccessful musical event in The Armory but the music was phenomenal. I sometimes wonder whatever happened to this band, though I recently heard it is still rocking with many albums in Australia.

I am in awe of another Australian musician who has taken the world by storm, Xavier Rudd. I have seen his exciting multi-instrumental (sometimes playing four instruments at once, one being the didgeridoo) performances at festivals and clubs several times.

Folkies like Garnet Rogers, Bruce Cockburn and Stephen Fearing come to Victoria once a year. Theatres have brought us Steve Earle, Energy Orchard (Ireland), Crowded House, Robert Cray Band, Lyle Lovett, Tragically Hip, B B King, Concrete Blonde, Black Umfolosi, Hugh Masakela, Miriam Makeba, The Rankins, Rufus Wainwright, Sarah Harmer, Josh Ritter, Jann Arden and Sarah McLachlan.

Summer Jazzfest year after year has brought the greats like Ellis Marsalis, Winton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Frank Morgan and George Cables, Charles Lloyd, The Subdudes, T S Monk, John McLaughlin, NRBQ, Jon Cleary, Marcus Roberts, Saleif Keita, King Sunny Ade, The Philosopher Kings, NRBQ, Punjabi By Nature, Bass Is Base, Li'l Charlie and the Nightcats, Duke Robillard, Keb' Mo', Robin Nolan Band, Lunasa and Calexico. Thanks, Daryl!

Howie Siegel, owner of Pagliacci's Restaurant, throws big blues bashes on big anniversaries. In Beacon Hill Park, it was Etta James who floored us with "I Go Blind." On a Broad Street party by Howie's restaurant, we saw Tracy Nelson, a take-no-prisoners blues woman. Big fun! Can't wait for future anniversary bashes. Yay, Howie!

Legends nightclub's earlier days brought The Bodeans, The Hooters, Webb Wilder and The Georgia Satellites. Barnstorming hoedowns! Favourite gigs there more recently were Jim Cuddy Band, The Paperboys, Spirit of the West, Blue Rodeo and Broken Social Scene/Raising The Fawn/The Stills.

UVic's Vertigo nightclub brought in some of the best bands this town ever saw, lots of the Canadian bands I have already mentioned like The Weakerthans, Lowest of the Low, Rheostatics, 54.40, The Skydiggers, Spirit of the West and The Paperboys. Unfortunately, the club had financial concerns and closed its doors. Other campus locations have treated us to Roots Roundup, Pressure Cooker, Rattled Roosters and more.

Victoria Harbour Festival brought us Stan Rogers the week before he tragically died. David Go Go and The Persuaders rocked a barge in the harbour another year. The McGarrigles were wonderful "under the big top" red and white striped tent in the harbour one summer.

Commonwealth Games 1994 celebrations brought us Black Umfolosi, Mahatolla Queens, Colin James, Big Sugar, Crash Test Dummies and many more over ten nights on the lawn of The Legislature. 40 000 people a night would show up in outstanding summer weather, embraced by a communal vibe, ambience and musical excitement.

First Night, December 31st in the harbour, for a couple of great years, brought us Alpha Ya Ya Diallo, The Paperboys and Dave Go Go.

July Inner Harbour Folkfest ... Tony Bird, Muzuva, Xavier Rudd, Vusi Mahlasela, Tegan and Sara, Lhasa, Dan Bern, Tom Wilson, Jesse Cook, The Bill Hillys, Leeroy Stagger & The Sinking Hearts, The Bombasts and many worldbeat bands and dancers. Our son's band, Mufaro, joyfully played to the delight of one thousand dancers on a sunshiny Saturday night.

The awesome three years of Victoria Rootsfest ... Alejandro Escovedo, Billy Bragg, Australia's kilted rockers Brother, Blind Boys of Alabama, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Guy Clark, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart, The Bill Hilly Band, Allen Dobb, Archie Fisher, Andy White, Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men, Los Lobos, Andy White, Bill Bourne, Puentes Brothers, Daniel Lapp, Eliza Gilkyson, Tom Rush, Willie & Lobo and Third World.

In the late seventies and early eighties, we used to go over to Vancouver Folk Festival. The highlight for us was the workshops by Stan and Garnet Rogers and friends. Belting out Barrett's Privateers along with the band was always magic, rain or shine! A Seattle man, Bryan Bowers, blew us away with his autoharp skills. Our celtic musical friends from Seattle, No Comhaille, also played. Frank Ferrell and Bertram Levy, Washingtonians too, fiddle and button accordian. Odetta and Buffy Sainte-Marie, Madagascar Slim, D'Gary and much more.

The Curling Rink has seen some amazing Roots acts like Ben Harper, Ashley MacIsaac and Clinton Fearon and lots more reggae, thanks to Gary and Atomique!

The indie/alternative/roots acts in small and large clubs have been amazing ... Shooglenifty, The Weakerthans, The Fembots, Matt Mays & El Torpedo, Sam Roberts, Lowest of the Low, The Inbreds, The Unicorns, French Kicks, Raising The Fawn, Broken Social Scene, The Stars, Two Minute Miracles, Royal City, The Stills, Pedro The Lion, The Pernice Brothers, Luther Wright & the Wrongs, OX/Mark Browning, Radiogram, P:ano, Be Good Tanyas, The Guthries, Town Pants, Po' Girl, Buck 65, Scruj MacDuhk/The Duhks, Neko Case,The Sadies, Cuff The Duke, By Divine Right, Brundlefly, Bodega, The Waltons, Sharkskin ~ Doug Elliot and Craig Northey from Odds, Zubot & Dawson and A Midwinter Night's Dream.

The singer songwriters ... Ron Sexsmith, Danny Michel, Kathleen Edwards, Mae Moore & Lester Quitzau, Annie Gallup, Veda Hille, Ford Pier, Lawrence Gowan, The Cash Brothers, David Francey, Kevin Welch, Keiran Kane, Fats Kaplin, Harry Manx, Josh Rouse, Peter Case, Warren Zanes, Hawksley Workman, Hayden, Jim Cuddy, Martin Tielli, John Mann, Geoff Berner, Corb Lund, Mike Plume, Jim Bryson, Jason Collett, Nathan Wiley, Gord Downie, Julie Doiron, Sarah Slean, Emm Gryner, Ana Egge, Joel Plaskett, Mike O'Neill, Kevin Kane, Tom Hooper, Andy Stochansky, Jim Guthrie, Nathan Lawr, Dale Murray, Ruth Minnikin, Kate Maki, Ryan Bishops, Lindy, Chris Whitley, Courtney Wing, Bobby Wiseman, Colin Hay (Men At Work), Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) and Figgy Duff.

Zimbabwean marimba festivals, Zimfest, brought us many North American and international marimba and m'bira musicians like Dumi Maraire and Chris Berry from South Africa and New Mexico.

Ska Festivals with acts like Pietasters, Planet Smashers, Chris Murray, Pressure Cooker, The Kingpins, Los Furios, The Kiltlifters, General Rudie, One Drop and Dubfreque. Thank you, Dane!

Blues Festivals have showcased David Go Go, Michael Kaeshammer, Bill Johnson Band, Gene Grooms, Jack Connolly, David Jacobs-Strain and Big Band Trio.

Over in Vancouver, Another Roadside Attraction brought us The Tragically Hip, Wilco, Ziggy Marley, Rheostatics, Inbreds, Eric's Trip, Ron Sexsmith, Sheryl Crow, Spirit of the West, Ashley MacIsaac and The Muttonbirds (New Zealand).

Visiting back east in Toronto, I was able to catch a couple of legendary Rheostatics festivals, March's Green Sprouts Music Appreciation Week and November's Fall Nationals and Ron Sexsmith's Blue Boy Tour debut.

In Bellows Falls Vermont, in June, I attend a yearly Fred Eaglesmith Roots on the River Festival where I have seen Jon Dee Graham, Slaid Cleaves, Chris Knight, Hayes Carll, Gandalf Murphy, Resophonics, Brian Webb, Blood Oranges, The Greencards, Fats Kaplin, Kasey Chamber's dad, Bill Chambers, with Audrey Auld, Mary Gauthier, Oh Susanna, Adam Carroll, Jeremy Wallace and Jimmy and David Lee Kaiser, The Kaiser Brothers. Fred Eaglesmith and his incredible band, Willie P Bennett, Roger Marin, Darcy Yates, Dan Walsh, and occasionally Washboard Hank, anchor the Friday and Saturday evenings' and Sunday morning's festivities. Thanks, Charlie Hunter!

Tom Landa has brought memorable celtic festivals to Victoria with acts like The Paperboys, Spirit of the West, Squish, Be Good Tanyas, Po' Girl, The Waifs, Old Blind Dogs and Lunasa. Thanks, Tom! Other celtic mayhem-makers have been The Clumsy Lovers, Mad Pudding, Town Pants and The Real McKenzies.

Looks like Nels at the new Irish Times pub restaurant will be treating us to some great celtic music like The Mahones who rocked the place the other night. Big fun!

Summers are far more exciting lately with the music concerts in Centennial Square. We have been treated to Steve Earle solo acoustic, Harry Manx, Great Big Sea, Gord Downie & The Woodchoppers, Billy Bragg, 54.40, Ron Sexsmith, Rheostatics, Veda Hille and much more.

The annual Earth, Peace and Justice Walk in April is always a highlight for me and some of the joyful music it has offered like Marima Muzuva, Solstix Marimba, Pressure Cooker, Be Good Tanyas, Harry Manx, Mae Moore, Colleen Eccleston, The BillHillys, Dan Lapp, Bob Bossin, The Cultivators, Gone Clear and Jambo Salama.

Victoria has plenty of its own musical heroes ... Daniel Lapp, Mae Moore, Rick May, Doug Cox, Travels With Charley, Loose Gypsies, Loose, Joose, Marc Atkinson Trio, Carolyn Mark, The Corn Sisters (Carolyn with Neko Case), Hot Hot Heat, Leeroy Stagger & The Sinking Hearts, Dan Weisenburger & The Beautiful Losers, Chet, David P Smith, David Chenery, Hank 'n' Lily, The Noisies, Tolan McNeil, Diona Davies, Jeremy Walsh, The Bombasts, Pressure Cooker, Bum, The Puentes Brothers, Julio Cabrera, Cumbia, Elmore's Bar & Grill, Allen Dobb, John Go Go, The Bills/The Bill Hillys, The McGillicuddys, The Gruff, Squish, the incredible Dan Lapp Fiddle Orchestra, The Ecclestons, Shillelagh, Fishead Stew via The Yukon, Harry Manx from SaltSpring Island, The Cultivators, Jambo Salama, Kanatan Aski via Ecuador, Noah Becker, Josh Dixon, Sean Drabbit, Matt Pease, Kelby Macnayr and Brooke Maxwell/The Gnu Standards, Danuel Tate, Jesse Cahill, Jules Verne, Noah Kasper/Young Guns, Out Of Nowhere, Velvet led by Kuba, Ollie Swain, Chris Frye, Walter Bodega Band, Skanik Boom, Wassabi Collective, Sara Marreiros, Sean Hogan, Northern Junk, Lindy, and Muzuva, Solstix, Mufaro and Jambanja for JOYous Zimbabwean marimba music dances.

My musical wish list ... Greg Brown, Neal Casal and Ryan Adams ...

Yes, it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it! Long may it reign!

Allison

December Half Full

2004-12-16T14:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, December is half full already!
We have had a Noah's Arc full of rain lately.
Amazing sunrise this morning but now we are back to dark skies and the look of rain. Some of us think this is the winter Victoria might see SNOW ... the big one was in '96 and some of us are waxing nostalgic over it ... the quiet white serenity that embraced us for three days ... until we turn on the evening news and see what winter is beginning to look like in other parts of the country, then we smile smugly at our gentle raindrops and become more careful of what we wish for ...

November First 2004

2004-11-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

Tim helped me set this up, Thanks Tim, and now I am stumped as to where to begin except for it's rainy outside so I am inside nesting on this computer (where else?) and wondering, as are we all, about the most historic day happening tomorrow in USA. Positive Vibes and Peace to us all.