Live Performances

Every Tuesday in September EXCEPT 9/8 (9/1, 15, 22, 29) 6-9PM solo at The Taos Inn, Taos NM

Saturday September 5 5-7 PM solo at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos NM for Monique Belitz’ art show

Sunday September 13 1030AM – 130 PM solo at Questa Farmers Market, Questa NM

Saturday September 19 5-8 PM with Lisa Joyce at Chili Line Depot, Tres Piedras NM

Sunday September 20 6-9 PM solo at The Taos Inn, Taos NM

Friday September 25 1230-130 PM solo at Aspencade Arts Festival, Red River NM

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Musings – Harvest

I’ve never been much of a gardener. When I was growing up in Albuquerque my parents planted what must have been a pretty nice garden, but my job was always pulling weeds and I hated it. To this day whenever I do pull weeds I can hear my dad admonishing me to “make sure you pull them up by the roots!”

When I lived in Portland and had my own house I tried my hand at gardening and it was moderately successful. My dad came to visit and helped me build planter boxes. He ordered some compost and dirt (and made a major math error resulting in about 20x too much… we had to dig a path to get the cars out of the driveway after it was delivered, but that’s a story for another time). I planted seeds and grew a few things, but the compost was too rich and most of the plants burned up. I think I got it more dialed in over the few years I lived in that house, but it isn’t that hard to grow things in the Pacific Northwest. After I moved from that house to a place without a yard, a friend and I shared a plot in a community garden across the street. We were enthusiastic in the beginning, but it soon became clear that the people who had our plot the year before had over-planted Swiss chard and it came back and took over our whole plot.

My husband is an excellent gardener/landscaper, but gardening where we live now is a huge challenge. The growing season is short, the soil is poor for planting, we don’t have easy access to water, and there are about 5 million chipmunks living in our yard.

We’ve had varying levels of success over the years, but this year all we planted was a single cherry tomato in a pot. I’m happy to report it’s doing well.

I’ve also been helping a friend in her garden this summer in exchange for produce. She’s put a lot of work into building up her beautiful space, and it has been a treat to go there every few days and see how much everything grew since last time I was there.

I don’t mind the weeding at all because it comes with good conversation, and sometimes when I water I get to play ball with Bella the border collie puppy.

I’ve always loved to play at farmers markets. The people watching is great and the mood is festive, especially later in the season when the harvest is in full force. Back when I used to tour I’d try to set things up so I’d play a farmers market during the day and a bar gig at night. The Arcata/Eureka market in Northern California was one of my favorites…the farmers would take up a collection for me and I’d end up with multiple paper sacks full goodies. I remember eating raw corn straight off the cob at my campsite and feeling like I was in heaven.

By the way, I’ll be playing at the Questa Farmers Market on Sunday 9/13 if you’re in the area.

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miscellaney

~ RIP Dolly…I’ve performed your song Jolene countless times and it always makes people smile and sing along

~ recent reads (and listens) – The Harder I Fight the More I Love You by Neko Case, We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez, Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home by Heather Anderson, and Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

~ Hot off the needles!!!! Audrey in Unst vest by Gudrun Johnston

Thank you for reading my ramblings, listening to my music, and being here! See you next month…