114 posts from 2008

So guys - another whole year has passed by - unbelievable - is it my imagination or is time passing more quickly as I get older?

For me it's been an amazing 2008 - the highlights have been my first grandchild Lucia safely born, time spent with wonderful friends and family on and off line, a new relationship with a lovely new man, released my album, went to lots of wondeful live music festivals and gigs, continued to play and write music, and inevitably had to sadly say good bye to one or two people along the way.

2009 looks like being exciting with a three month trip to Africa to kick it off at the end of January and then hopefully moving to be with P full time in the countryside and lots more music to record - so watch this space and keep in touch.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

What have been your highlights this year and hopes for 2009?

I've had a lovely Christmas time with my new grandchild, my family and P! We spent Christmas in Bristol then I took the train up to meet P's son for the first time and then on to his brother's. We've now met most of each other's important relatives though there are still a few to go!

Here's P making a delicious batch of 36 Mince Pies

And here's a picture of me with baby Lucia!

I'm now in Cropredy at the van and yesterday we went to a funeral of a friend of P's which was sad as he was only a young man of 42 though the celebration of his life was very touching.

Tonight we're going to a gig at the Mill in Banbury and tomorrow a New Year's party locally. On Friday or Saturday we're off back to the boat in Belgium to deliver a load of batteries and hope to spend some more time in Brugge. Next week we're going to visit my dad.

It looks like January will be gone in a blink then we're off at the end of the month to the Gambia, probably till nearly May to organise the Kartong Festival. I'll have to start planning soon as I'll have to rent out my house and a zillion other things to make it possible. Time flies but it's exciting times!

Just a quick line to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas if you celebrate it!

I have 8 here for Christmas plus the new grand daughter which is just such a pleasure!

I'll try and get some nice photos to put up in the next few days but in the meantime have a really good holiday.

See you soon

I've not had a minute to blog this week as I've been away then back home with P and my daughter and baby grandchild staying till Christmas - I'd forgotten how time consuming new babies are! Absolutely gorgeous though!

P and I had a lovely trip over on the ferry to Belgium on the weekend and helped someone move their boat from Veurne to Brugge. They own a lovely Dutch barge which they'll use for taking people on French cruises eventually. The weather was bitterly cold but clear on the day we moved the boat and the scenery was beautiful.

There are some PHOTOS at the link.

This weekend we're having a songwriters' group re-union which should be a wonderful chance to catch up and play some music.

I really must buy some presents and plan Christmas - I always leave it to the last minute every year - doh! We did put the tree up today which is a start I suppose!

What a glorious weekend I had - it was an old friend's 50th birthday and they organised a weekend in a Youth Hostel in Torrodon on the West coast of the Scottish Highlands. I flew up to Inverness then we shared a hire car and drove the couple of hours west to Torrodon.

Snow

We went on a spectacular hill walk on the Saturday - do take the time to follow the link to the PHOTOS FROM SCOTLAND

In the evening we had real 1950's style knees up with Scottish dancing, fancy dress, party games and yummy food.

Here's a picture of me in my 50s dress!

Me in my 50s dress!

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This week I'm trying to get the spare room finished in time for Christmas as I have a lot of vistors coming...

Guess how many presents I've bought so far.........

Yes - you're right - not one! Ahhhhhh!

I've had a lovely time but no time to blog. Last weekend we did the sabar workshop in Walberswick - Suffolk - where it all began in 2005. It was wonderful going back there. Modou (our teacher) has been sick though and had to go to hospital but he's coming out today.

I'm in P's van by the canal which is frozen solid - I've never seen that before. There's no running water as the source is frozen so they've gone with some containers to get water from the village!

I'm going back to Bristol today for a couple of days then off to Scotland for someone's 50th in Inverness - it'll be bitterly cold up there so I'll have to go very well prepared - I'll be playing a set for them at the party.

I played a small gig in a local pub in Hook Norton last night - it was good to do something in this area for a start although there was hardly anyone there - which strangely made me feel more nervous than a larger crowd ha ha!

Next week I'll be off with P to see a boat he's been working on in Belgium then we'll call in to see my daughter and lovely new grandchild again.

Anyway - that's it for now.

FOUR generations of females........how wonderful!

Wow what a whirl life has been recently - my odometer tells me that I've driven well over 1,500 miles in the last 4 weeks! My drumming, my lovelife and now my new grand-daughter is making my carbon footprint very bad - I'll never be able to accuse anyone else of not being green again without being a total hypocrite!

I've just driven down with my mum to visit my daughter and new baby so she can see her while she's still tiny - she's so beautiful and my daughter and husband are doing very well - of course she's tired out as she's recovering from the Caesarian.

My gig last night went well and I really enjoyed playing - I felt confident despite not having the bass player and Paddy played really well and for the first time he did three of his songs within the set and I played flute. We finished off with one of mine. We had visuals with our set too as Ruth who did the visuals for the album launch came and did them again plus she's done a new set for Shadow Puppets which was brilliant! P came down for the gig and stayed and this coming weekend we'll be away for a long weekend in Suffolk drumming with Modou by the seaside (another very long drive!). The following weekend I'm flying to Scotland to an old friend's 50th birthday party.

Somehow in between I manage to get my various essential work and home commitments done!

Anyway - we had loads of photos taken at the gig last night so I'll try and get some decent ones posted soon.

Bye for now!

I've been fretting a bit about a gig I have on Monday. I've had a bass player and a keyboard player in my little band for some time and the bassist has let me down a couple of times recently. At the last proper gig we had he actually went off before we played and left us in the lurch - this was because we weren't exactly sure of the time we'd be on and he had to listen to some of the other music first. It was a benefit gig and the other music was mainly African stylie and a really good atmosphere. We had to play only ten minutes after he'd hoofed it and I had to re-jig the set on the spot and it was very disconcerting.

And he's missed a couple of pratices including this Wednesday evening even though we have a gig on Monday with no explanation - I've sacked him leaving just me and the keyboard man who's really good.

I feel bad about it as he's a bloody good bass player and seems a nice guy - but even if he was the best in the world he's no use to me if I can't rely on him!

Grrrrrr - life is never simple. I'll have to try and find a new bass player in the New Year but it takes ages for someone to learn all the tracks........

Well where to start  - I managed to get down to spend a few days with P thankfully then the call came from my daughter that she was in labour. Things didn't go to plan and she had to have a Caesarian in the end but the baby was delivered safely in the early hours of Sunday morning - healthy 7lbs 2oz called Lucia - she is absolutely beautiful. Here's a link to some photos..

Luciahttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...=637503707

They went home today after a few days in a lovely unit where her husband was allowed to stay while they learnt all about breast feeding etc - we're so lucky in the UK - the NHS were absolutely brilliant - she had to have a Caesarian in the end and the treatment was excellent and the aftercare good too. They get so much of a knocking but compared to other countries we are still very fortunate.

And here's one for those who haven't clicked the link above

Luciahat

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