Success! We have finally managed to record a song for this newest album with sounds that we like! It isn't finished, what with all the fiddling, mastering hoohaw that will need to happen, but it is still a big success. We had been unhappy with the recording sounds we were getting up to this point and not sure why it wasn't coming together like in our heads. And the song that we find this success? The Modern Day Pirate Song. It's sounding just lovely.

One of the things that I think worked is that we had a live video recording of the song already. I felt like we already had an idea with how the sounds should come together from this recording. We didn't want our album to sound completely different to our live performance, but we did want to give folks a little bit more than a live performance for listening.

So now, can you see where I want to go with this? Now I want to do a live performance video for more songs to try this initial approach in getting those initial thoughts for song recording. I have this idea already for 'Fly by Venus and Mars'. It's a love song and I thought we could do something  playing the song under a canopy with a night sky backdrop. I have to figure out how to make a canopy, yes, that's one problem. There are a few others, like maybe we should be in romantic type of clothing of some sort, and maybe David needs a haircut....or a hat. Things to ponder.

All in all good problems to have in this renewed day of lovely. Yes, Saskatchewan, sometimes you surprise me in good ways and yesterday with +21 degrees was a very good surprise. I love that. Keep it up. Today looks almost equally as lovely.

Happy Thursday :)

J

Well, here we are. As everyone knows, International Hagfish day. How will you be celebrating? Unsure? Can't remember why we celebrate? Let me remind. Of course, the hagfish is the somewhat disgusting sea eel type of creature that eats already dead things in the ocean. Ah, how unpleasant right? But, apparently, the hagfish does the ocean a great service by cleaning up these unpleasant carcasses that litter the ocean floor. Ugh...unpleasant upon unpleasant....

I know, so nice to remember these icky poo little guys. So, how to celebrate you ask? Well the whole point is to celebrate the less than beautiful but important things in life. One way would be to pick all the ugliest flowers into a bouquet and let those guys shine their little hearts out. But there are plenty of ugly things that don't get the recognition they deserve. All the beautiful things take all the credit, all the adoration, and get most of the attention of the world.

I'm thinking about the awkward uncomfortable child that doesn't speak very well... although maybe less charismatic than some, may have some amazing and worthwhile thoughts to add to a discussion. They just may take a little longer to understand, and are worth the effort. Maybe these are the children that will grow to think of solutions to world problems; certainly not unimportant in whatever their thoughts and feelings are.

What about the ugly tomatoes that have little imperfections but have no less nutritional value, and taste just as nice or better than the pretty ones.

What about the people with jobs we'd rather not think about, but do such an important service to our communities. Garbage collectors, funeral directors, morticians, yes even lab technologists all have less than glamorous positions, but are an important piece of society. They are hagfish. Unsung heroes if you will. 

Hagfish are everywhere, unnoticed and contributing to society without getting adoration of the millions. I say, give a hagfish a hug today. Yes, a little slimy, but important, special even, and worthy of love.

Go forth, if you've ever identified with the plight of the hagfish, love your fellow hagfish...it's the day.

J

Do you ever have a dream and you are just so upset by it that it stays with you even after you wake up? Poor David. I had one such dream last night, and he ended up feeling my upset. Without boring you all with too many details of my crazy dream, it involved us being separated at a restaurant, my table floating out to sea, and then trying to find David who had left the restaurant because he'd fallen in a hole and dirtied his clothes.

When I did find David, he was dressed in a very uncharacteristic sequinned yellow and purple pant suit (this is all he could find to change into?) and he kept hiding from me and being all jokey. Reeling from my trauma of riding a table in from the sea, and worried about him falling in a hole, I didn't like his new attitude. So when we woke up suddenly to a chipper little dog barking, I was feeling somewhat miffed.

Of course, poor David is just waking up to having someone kind of pissed off at him. I'm not sure if he's had this sort of dream experience controlling your morning emotions because he really wasn't as understanding as one might think. But in his defence, he is also just waking up and possibly not fully awake and alert. Poor David.

Oh well. I have decided to forgive David, and he has decided to not be angry at me for being so weird. Dreams really can have an effect on your day.

Sorry for that whole thing.... now I must go and run some errands - deliver some donations to Value Village, maybe swing by the library, and whatever else I might think of that needs doing.

Cheerio my sweets

J

As we put together a new album, at some point we will have to name said album. Oh the agony of decision.... There are a few contenders, but it isn't as easy said as done it would seem. And there are a few ways to do it that I've seen...here are a few ideas to go about this process.

• Do you name an album as a general theme that represents the ideas of the songs on the album?
• Do you pick one song title that stands out as a way to name the album...?
• Do you name an album as a memorial to someone or something.
• What about place names, like the name of the place where songs were written as a way to name an album?

Initially, a friend had suggested a clever suggestion as a follow up to our last album 'Society of Good Intentions' be 'Society of Bad Inventions'. I loved that idea and I still do, but I'm not sure it fits completely what's happening in the album. Plus David thinks it is too close to the last album name and would people be confused. So, I am thinking of other names for this album.

• Society of Bad Inventions - still a contender to think about...
• Things that happened on the way to work
• Insoles
• Montague St.

That's the list so far. 'Things that happened on the way to work' sort of represents a fair bit of song inspiration as we both leave science careers. 'Insoles' represent the inside of people's shoes and the experiences that the inside of people's shoes might have had as reflected by some of the songs. 'Montague St' is our street. Almost all of these songs for the album were written here, and we may be leaving, so it might be a nice way to remember this place.

So that's the list of ideas so far but I am still thinking. There are some really lovely songs that I don't want to do an injustice to by picking a name that doesn't quite fit. Feel free to weigh in if you have a thought. 

Happy Monday. See how I am embracing Monday and deliberately not complaining...? Good right?

J

We have begun the video for the song 'Spiderwebs'. It looks like it is going to be a video exclusively shot in castles in the UK. I love what David has done so far. The song is about family and misunderstood communication that lead to bad feelings and resentment. Then pride that seems to prevent further communication and continued hurt feelings of people you love. It's like spiderwebs cover your ears and mouth stopping you from saying the things you really need to say and hearing what the other person is really meaning to say.

Just imagine the spiderwebs and memories in some of these ancient castles. Imagine all the families and people that may have gotten their wires crossed and hurt each other when they really love each other. Probably a lot. It seems to be a thing that happens in families sometimes. Ancient castles could have had generations of people with their different versions of history and their loves and losses. And hurt feelings. Probably lots of real spiderwebs too.

It's kind of a sad song. But I think it's a topic worth thinking about. We are all so fragile with our feelings and our egos, it seems we can be so easily damaged but yet such effort is required to recover and make things right again with people.

No solutions, sorry. I've got plenty of problems with no solutions which is one of the reasons some of these songs happen. But today I do wish you a beautiful Sunday with kind and clear communication with your people.

J

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan

He grew whiskers on his chinnegan

Along came the wind and blew them in again

Poor old Michael Finnegan begin again

Remember Michael Finnegan? I have no idea who he was or what ever story this song is actually about, but I have loved it my whole life. It's so much fun with all the rhyming 'Finnegan' words. And how possibly do whiskers get blown inwards. If it didn't worry me somewhat with ingrown hairs, and that sort of pain and infection... I would be trying to remove unwanted hair this way... I have a few on my chinnegan sometimes.  

The weekend begins! Full of unknown surprises and fun. I love the beginning of the weekend with wondering what sorts of things we might all get up to. Sipping on coffee thinking of the possibilities. 

Do you picture Michael Finnegan as a crusty old fisherman? With a weathered leathery face and whiskers of course. Although I have never been able to imagine the picture of him with his whiskers blown in. I bet he has a surprised kind of pinched look on his face after something like that.

I'm sorry. I am way to full of silliness today. I wish you every success in your serious ventures. but if you do find any insights into who this Michael Finnegan really was, please share. I am thinking of him today. 

Love you - happy weekend

J

TGIF all! It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood I think. I am so happy today because I am in love with some of our new songs and there is a whole weekend ahead with beautiful weekend goodness.

And why not be optimistic. If life is for the living and we are all alive and doing things (even the things we aren't too keen on) then there is much to be happy about, even celebrate. Yes, let's celebrate. I think we all deserve it. For absolutely no reason except we are all alive and life is about living. That seems like a fantastic reason to me. 

Sometimes I even get a little choked up thinking about how deliriously lucky I am just for the things I have. I'd say we all are lucky for some reason or other. I'm sure there are unlucky things, but there are always lucky things too. I feel so especially lucky that I have some people that I just love in my life. I feel also very lucky that I have all of my parts in pretty good working order. Everything else is either gravy or else it doesn't really matter that much.

I know you put up with me when I am all doom and gloom, but today I am all sunshine and roses. If my father was alive, he would be saying 'Oh no....' He always was suspicious of my really happy good moods. Thought I was going to walk off the edge of a cliff or something. It's ok Dad, I'm ok. I always get back up anyways.

Love you guys, TGIF - go celebrate!

J

Oh gracious. I have a story today. It stems from the night before. As you might imagine, David and I often sleep at night. Well, during one of these bouts of sleep, we both found ourselves awake for different reasons. David it seems pondering various things that were stressing him, and me this bizarro-world dream. 

This particular dream involved a fellow who wrote this monumental song. He was driven to write this song, but in the playing of it, three women in the house he was living in died. His mother, his mother's sister, and his grandmother. In no way did he want them to die, but the force of this song seems to have killed his mother when he played it for her. His mother's sister, minding her own business in the next room knitting, died when she was shocked by the most sudden death of her sister. The grandmother was having a nap and it just seems it was her time without her having heard the song at all. 

All the while this crazy drama is unfolding in my head, I am singing this song that keeps repeating itself over and over. So at 1:00 am, being awake, and with David also awake, we decided to put this to paper. Poor David, he may not have been ready for this crazy story, but it certainly took his mind of whatever was stressing him out! I'm not sure if the world is ready for this craziness either, but it is now a song. I think it will be called 'Eugene, he wrote him a song'.

In other news it seems to now be Thursday without us paying too much attention, and that is well on it's way to the weekend. Although I am trying not to wish days away anymore. I'd hate to find myself short of days because I wished some away. No more of that.

Happy day

J

I am very excited to tell you that we have a new song. It's my current one to be enamoured with. I have no idea how it happened. It seemed to come out of nowhere while I was plunking along on the bouzouki, and then before I knew it, there was most of a song there! Then David came home and he added the perfect perfection to it and now it is almost a thing of beauty!

It's called Frankenstein. It's about that elusive spark of life that Dr Frankenstein was chasing when he created his monster as well as that element of being misunderstood. I really enjoy it. Like the thing many of us humans are often chasing, elusive and often misunderstood.

Sadly, at present David is off doing science-y things when we could be working out this song. Very sad for Frankenstein. 

I am also working on minimalism. I love the idea and have been working toward living this way for a while. Now I am in a challenge to find things to pare down over the next 15 days. Today is day 10 so I have to find 10 things to say goodbye to in one way or another. I have 7 so far. Need 3 more. Wish me luck. I'm sure there are 3 things I can lose...just need to find them and kill them.

And so happy Wednesday to you, it is a short week, so that's kind of good, provided the week doesn't do that trick where you think it's a short week and then it somehow stretches out and morphs into feeling like ages and ages. I hope it doesn't do that. Although it occurs to me that we shouldn't probably be wishing time away whether it be a weekday or not. I must ponder this new thought. 
 

Happy Wednesday then...

J

Sometimes I need a little cheering up. It happens. Maybe you've had a great weekend and reality hits on Tuesday like a random anvil from the sky. Today when David left me to go to his science job he said 'why don't you listen to some music, it'll cheer you up'. He never says that. He rarely gives me advice for the day except to be careful (Mr. Careful...). Then when I thought about it I wasn't sure if he said listen to some music or play some music. And playing music could be me plunking along on something or playing some listening device to hear music.

I decided I would play a listening device and see what it had for me. I fired up Spotify and decided on my Release Radar list to see what Spotify thought I might like. I am not sure exactly what I expected, but I got more than I expected I can tell you. Some of the songs really drew me in and definitely changed me around for the better. Now I am engaged to listen to this whole list that Spotify somehow knew I might like to listen to.

I can share a couple of my favourites if you like. The one that really got me singing along (even though I had no idea what it was) was a song called  Here's Looking at You Kid - Brett Dennen. I also found myself smiling while I listened to the song '1990' by Johnny Payne. Then the Hush Kids sucked me in with their beautiful song 'Goodbye Rain'.  And one last one I will tell you I really had fun with is I Wrote Mr Tambourine Man - Live by John Craigie and Jack Johnson. They are just all lovely and fun.

And now I feel better. Maybe I will not conquer the world but I do feel better with my little piece of it today. 

Happy day you guys. I know we all have different musical tastes so if mine aren't yours, I would invite you to listen to something and see if it doesn't pull you along if you happen to be hanging a little too close to the edge.

J