Much great excitement here recently, and all of it of the most mundane variety, nothing romantic to report. But I have to admit to being solidly in the human, physical realm, and I can get tickled pink, as my Mom used to say, about the most mundane things.
I suppose I could start with the one that might concern you, my reader: Rose, my illustrious webmaster, set up Paypal links on my website (see recordings page) so you can now order my CDs, tapes and poetry chapbook securely, right off my website! Here’s where I feel a little silly, I get so psyched when Rose puts cool new buttons on my site. Of course you can still print out an order form and mail it in with a check, and you can still call my 800 number to order over the phone – and if you have questions about any of the recordings, that probably is the way to go. But for those of you who prefer the simplicity of shopping on the web, go for it!
And the second, ta da! (trumpet fanfare) I have bought a new car! Well, not new exactly, but new to me, and a couple of years and a couple of hundred thousand miles newer than my old car. I was shooting for 300,000 miles, but after I got stranded twice this summer, I started thinking I might need to adjust my expectations. Even at 254,000 miles, that old Subaru was running great, so it was hard to part with it. But I did the next best thing to keeping it going – I traded it in on an almost identical car, another Subaru Legacy wagon. The only real difference is the color: this one’s white. At first I balked at the color, I haven’t had – or wanted – a white car since the old Kharmann Ghia I had in my twenties. But I’m getting used to it already, and I love the fact that it doesn’t show the dirt like my dark green car – especially these dry end-of-summer days when the dust flies up from my dirt driveway. And yes, I did think of going with a smaller car – I mean, Bob Franke bought himself a Cougar, after all, and I sure did enjoy driving it when we were on tour together – but I had to consider hauling around all my instruments, and camping trips with my kids, so I stuck with the trusty wagon.
Speaking of camping trips with my kids, here’s something a bit less mundane, though still earthly, that I can tell you about. In August, we packed that trusty wagon full of tent and sleeping bags and backpacking stove, cookpots, and food enough to have lasted us three weeks (okay, that’s an exaggeration), and headed up to southern Vermont, to the Jamaica State Park for a few days. It had been recommended to us as one of the most beautiful parks in Vermont, and it lived up to its reputation. It’s situated on the West River, and the swimming hole, Salmon Hole, had plenty of cool deep water for swimming even with this year’s drought. We spent the perfect sunny days lazing about at our campsite, swimming, walking to town for ice cream, and doing the simple chores that make camping so relaxing. Gathering kindling, fire building, hauling water, preparing food outdoors. And we spent our evenings sitting by the fire, roasting marshmallows, talking, or reading from The Education of Little Tree. One day we hiked three miles up to the gorgeous Hamilton Falls, with its deep potholes where you can see all the way down through the clear cold water to the pebbles at the bottom. That was a reward well worth the effort of the hike! All in all a delicious and much-needed vacation.
And now I’m having to face the reality of end of summer – good thing I enjoy fall so much. Soon I’ll be back in the pleasant routine of stacking wood in my woodshed between concert tours. I’m looking forward to a festival in New Haven this coming weekend, along with a quick trip to Pennsylvania afterwards. In October I’ll be back at the wonderfully intimate Folk Project Fall Festival in rural northwestern New Jersey. Later in the month, I’ll spend several days in Vermont, with midweek elementary and pre-school concerts plus an evening coffeehouse all in Franklin County, sandwiched between concerts in Montpelier and Bellows Falls. And I’ll be out in Washington and Oregon in November for my annual Pacific Northwest tour. See Musi-Cal for complete information on these dates and more. [Sorry – Musi-Cal is no longer available.]
Thanks for stopping by to read my Musings. Please visit my guestbook and drop me a line [sorry…no longer available], I enjoy hearing from you. I look forward to seeing you out there on the road.
Warmly, Lui