We are at Gatwick. All is well. For a busy airport with lots of comings and goings, this one sure seems organized and efficient. I am impressed. If only other organizations looked at things that work well to serve large hordes of people. Alas. The world is ruled by the idiotic. 

Today we fly to Halifax. I have purchased some lovely things for the flight so we won't die a deadly airplane food death. I love all my little treaties actually,  I almost want to eat them all now! But that would be wrong. I won't. Of course now that I have appropriate provisions, they will likely have gorgeous food and I will be sad that I have already purchased other things. Still better to be prepared. I'm sure of it.

Such fun in the UK. I loved playing all the spots. And the maritime adventures are still to come, as yet unknown. It will be so lovely to visit all my spots, squeeze all my favourite maritime people, and then play in some great places as well! A lifetime ago it seems I lived in Regina. I do still live in Regina, but wow, doesn't it seem months since we got up that 2:30 am flight to get started on this adventure. Will they even remember us? 

We are drinking coffee in the West Jet lounge right now. Eating English biscuits and sipping hot coffee. Here is one of us. 

I suspect many adventures to follow but for now, a flight across the ocean. I wish you all a most marvellous monday in whatever march you find yourself in on this day. 

J

Oh goodness, what fun we have had in the UK. I know we have been quieter (just been busier with other things I think), but that changes today. Today from the UK we will do our live facebook experience. I think we might do 'Going Back to Halifax' as a song since we go to Halifax tomorrow! Ha. Seems appropriate. Of course there is the video to do as well. We will do that in Halifax with some folks. I am so excited about how that adventure might end up. I can only imagine. If you are in Halifax or Dartmouth and want to be part of this, you need to get on me. The more the merrier, it's going to be fun.

And we really need to do a live in the tiny tub from here as well.  Might try a Crystal Gayle song that I've heard lots of people cover called 'Ready For Times to Get Better'. I really enjoy the version that we do on our live performances, and I think it might be a good one for the tiny tub.

We are walking up Ivinghoe Beacon today, which is my favourite special place in the UK. It's part of the Chiltern hill range that people walk which is much longer - another fun thing to do when there might be more time. The beacon is the end of that range and you can see so much beautiful countryside at the top. It's not a long walk but so special, I have loved it since I started coming here. I had visions of playing a song up there, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea now that it's drizzling the way it is and promising even more rain. 

And Regina I hear is so ungodly hot! Wow. I don't think I've ever experienced a 40 degree thermometer reading before. I suspect Halifax will be more UK like when we arrive tomorrow. I'm very excited to see all my people and be in the maritimes again. I've missed it and them. 

I will probably talk to you next during an airport wait I suspect. I hope you are having a nice weekend.

J

It is early and all is quiet before the day begins here in Leighton Buzzard, England. Very soon little people will come stampeding through the day and light up the background with their enthusiastic fireworks that is their way. But before that colourful and sound-filled display, it is quiet, and I can hear the hum of something in the house, and I can hear David quietly slurping his coffee. It's kind of a magical waiting time.

Today we head off to London for some adventure or other and all will be busy and likely exciting. We have the weekend left in this lovely place before heading on to Nova Scotia for an entirely different adventure.

I hear in Regina it is so unbelievably hot and I can hardly imagine the temperature on the thermometer reaching 40 degrees Celsius. Wow. On this morning in Leighton Buzzard the sun has come out after a drizzly day yesterday and promises to heat us to about 22 degrees. I can't help wondering how all the people I have come to know and love are coping with such extreme heat. It feels weird to be away sometimes. It feels weird to consider Regina my home....Weird creatures us humans.

But the quiet invites all of this introspection that often is consumed by the happenings of the day. 

I hope your Saturday has some of that magical quiet before whatever adventures you've got planned on one of these all too rare special summer weekends.

Talk to you soon - J

The lost 5 days of no internet and no connection to the outside world for 5 whole days!

What an adventure! I have to say the teeny tiny roads of this UK island are a bit frightening for one used to North American systems. Passing a vehicle is absolutely a holding-your-breath-hoping-it-somehow-turns-out-ok experience. Yikes! The whole simple car ride turns out to be edge of your seat, white knuckle, scary suspense real-life tv show for me at least. 

We ended up having this lovely camping experience with stars and sunsets and fires and silly types of hijinks. I didn't reallly realize being cut off from the world would be just exactly what it turned out to be, but it ended up having some interesting twists. And mix it up with day trips to the beach and lovely cottage lunches and it comes out like I feel I've been away for a month and a half.I was pretty happy to get back to a full on shower experience I have to say. And my dear mandolin that wasn't able to make the trip - 5 days is a lot for us to be apart and I think we both felt it. In any case we are together again, and we have internet, connection to the world, hot soapy water, and an electric kettle for easy coffee making. Thank you Isle of Wight, you were amazing, but I am also grateful for my other things. We now will spend a couple of more days with family in Leighton Buzzard before we make our way to Halifax, Nova Scotia for the next leg of the Good Intention Tour. I hope you are having a wonderful Friday in whatever world you find yourself in. Happy Day :) - J

Last night we played in Chesham. It was such a beautiful evening. They had this gorgeous outside stage setup that although it seemed a bit precarious, it worked pretty well. I absolutely love summer evenings where you can be outside in summer and feel completely comfortable. It was just perfect to drink beer and listen to music. So thats what we did.

We started the night with a local craft beer, which always pleases me, and always helps with the nerves. And I didn't even realize we were getting a beautiful vegetable curry with the night as well. How lovely.

We did a set of almost all new songs for a lovely crowd of family, friends, and new folks we hadn't met yet. It was a special evening to share the music and the heartfelt stories that go with them, with such folks.

Then we were able to sit back and enjoy another group who had some beautiful music for us as well, a band called '91 Nights'. It was such a lovely thing to just be outside with people, sipping on a drink, and listening to nice music.

I would do it again Chesham. Thank you to the Drawing Room for a great night. I loved it from beginning to end. And today we venture on to the Isle of White. I hope you all are having a nice weekend or holiday with whatever you are getting up to. 

I thought I might tell you the story of something that happened involving our song 'The Wedding' when we were in Wales two days ago.

The song is the story of a wedding, but it has sort of dark implications and a bit of a sinister feel to it. We only played it publicly for the first time in Newcastle. I'm not sure why we hadn't played it before. As it turned out the people there really liked it and wanted to buy the recorded version of it even, which of course we don't have, since it isn't recorded yet.  The song has a sinister sun in it that peeps in through the stained glass windows.

And then we decided to drive through Wales a little bit as a bit of a treat for us. What did we find in Wales but a beautiful old and quaint looking church, with the coolest stained glass windows. It had an ancient old graveyard with it, and apparently sheep (which we didn't see). We wandered inside and out and decided it was an absolutely enchanting sort of place.

It seemed like a good idea to go get our instruments and play the song 'The Wedding' on the little bench at the front of the church. This always ends up somewhat embarrassing as we get our instruments and haul them up to some unexpected place. We decided to try a recording as well, although I'm not sure how well it can be heard over the traffic noises. Just as we began the church bell started ringing as well, which was kind of surprising for us. It did seem a bit magical to play this song in such a special place though, whether we end up using the recording or not. A little more than halfway through there was a group of teenagers that kind of threw us off a bit as well. They were fine, and I'm not even sure they noticed us, but it just sort of broke the spell of the moment.

However, the church was amazing. Playing the song there was special. Bonus that there may be footage that can be used for a video if we get that organized down the road.

In any case, these experiences are the ones that make travelling an interesting veer from the routine. I do miss our Saturday routine of guitar shop and coffee with friends, but it's kind of cool to make some new beautiful memories as well. Happy Saturday.

J

Because today there is no theme, the idea is randomness. Here you go for 5 random things that happened.

1. Spotted and spoke to five signet swans and there mommy in the canal
2. Played a pink left-handed guitar
3. Braided someone's hair into a french braid
4. Found myself wondering what type of maintenance one has to do to keep up with a thatched roof on your house
5. Ate beans on toast

There you are, some are boring, some are somewhat interesting and might have you wondering what sort of holiday is happening, but that is that for today. Tomorrow we have a gig in Chesham and will likely meet up with more folks that we know and some we likely don't. I did have a list of driving songs that I would like to post as well, but I have been somewhat waylaid in many of my efforts it seems.

A practice is scheduled for us, with a banjo player coming in to play with us on the song Rural Abyss. How fun does that sound?

Anyway, I believe it is friday in the world, which is usually my happy day, so do enjoy what great things that Friday has in store.

Lots of love

J

Boy, I have learned a lot of good travel things! I thought I would share. Admittedly, some of the things have been because I did some somewhat stupid things, but see if you like them or can use any.

1. Do - visit a grocery store and fill your car with snacks and meals. Although not too many things. Unless of course you have a cooler type of situation. Must remember that you should only get what you can eat before it all goes off.
2. Don't - get things that you need to heat up. It's really hard to heat stuff up. My best effort was boiling water and putting it in the hotel ice bucket and then putting containers in until they get slightly lukewarm. Probably best to get things that work cold.
3. Do - take travel mugs. You can take hotel coffee with you on the road for free, and do a bit for the planet at every coffee stop. Great idea. But take plastic ones so they don't take them from you at the airport.
4. Don't - forget some way to wipe your hands. You are going to maybe think about baby wipes, or even napkins. Don't be full of sticky yucky bits and realize you didn't take anything like this. Trust me.
5. Do - take something to eat on the plane in a container you can eat out of later. The plane might have horrible food, you might be glad you have food, and then later that container is going to be amazing to put other food in.
6. Don't forget utensils. Yeah, it's a pain to buy utensils because you didn't think of that. oops.
7. Do - your research with rental cars and insurance so you don't get caught with a huge bill. Yeah....
8. Don't - miss your exit and end up going down a 2 mile tunnel that has a toll booth at the end. That ends quite stressfully and should be avoided if possible. Just ask David.
9. Do - enjoy every little bit you can! Even the times that you feel all jet-laggy, or cranky because of weird complications you didn't anticipate. There is stuff to appreciate every minute if you look around and just relax into the moment. You're travelling, experiencing life, and meeting folks! Soak it up, because in the end, the bad crazy times make the best memories. Truth.

That's all I have for now. The rest I either haven't thought of yet, or haven't screwed up yet. 

Happy day you guys.

J

First - Rural Abyss is released! We are so pleased with this song, and the video is an absolute hoot. I invite you to watch it and see if you don't agree. What fun we had with this video with some really awesome people that we know.

This one - a great driving song with a touch of sass. The A&R Factory people really liked it. They said it had ‘Grindingly beautiful guitar licks and Americana Country Folk vocals that bowl you over’. That was very nice Amelia Vandergast, thank you!! So, you can find it on youtube, our facebook, twitter, our this website under videos and I'll probably put it on the home page too. 

The song is meant to represent that odd sort of quirkiness that might exist in a truly isolated area with the idea that maybe you've fallen into this abyss, where time has perhaps stood still - except it's also a little like platform 11 and 3/4 like in Harry Potter where in this case, if you blink, you've missed the whole place. Like a hidden crevasse that you could fall into a new dimension. 

I grew up in a very rural place and I love it so much. I think there are rural areas everywhere that have their own sort of unique type of culture. This song is meant to celebrate that sort of unexpected find, but with a little humour about it all.

We are driving through Wales and then into the Cotswolds to find our friends' place today. And I love a driving adventure, so we shall see what we get up to with this. 

Have a great day you guys, thanks for being out there.

J

Well, what an interesting thing is the monday night event that happens at the Cavern Club Pub. So much fantastic original music that we got to be part of. Some very talented and beautiful musicians. That was an incredible experience. I'm very thankful that we got do do that.

However, it's possible there was a bit excess of beer in the whole experience, which has left me feeling somewhat sub-optimal. That's ok. Today is going to be a reset day I think. More practice, more exercise, and more of the things that end up making me a better person to be around.I think my favourite thing is meeting the interesting and so so varied people that we have met so far. Some of the other musicians were such a treat to meet. And listening to their original music is certainly a way to glean an intimate perspective of a person. It's like, if someone performs a song for you that they have written, you get a fast track of knowledge about that person that might equal 10 deep philosophical conversations or more. And people are so interesting aren't they? I love that we are all different and have different songs to sing.

It is a Tuesday I believe. And a great opportunity to reset and recalibrate to move forward. That's my idea today. I hope you have a Tuesday plan that you like too.

J