Right now, I am having time to process some of the ground-shifting experiences I have had this year... 50 solo concerts across the continent, from the deep south to the far north and to the coast and throughout the Prairies... recitals with Guy, concerti with different orchestras and my first life-changing concerts with the beautiful Valdy and Karel. I have been a deer-in-the-headlights but so happy. Other big changes are on the way, having sold my beautiful Toronto house but with time for one more art show before I move.
Lots to tell in the days to come...
Meanwhile, here are some images... I met so many inspiring musicians this summer... here is the inimitable Jane Siberry... she asked me to sit in her band at the first Kingsville Folk Festival and I almost fainted... bumped into her later in the summer at my favourite Toronto gym! I was actually wearing the T shirt that had her name on the back (I didn't tell her). So much more to tell you about my first folk festivals (Kingsville and Summerfolk)...
With Valdy and Karel before our first show at Kingsville Folk Festival... first time out for my pink pants too! Anyway, best summer ever, playing with these crazily musical men and meeting so many passionate musicians.
Met the songwriter, mad genius Graham Shaw... Valdy and Karel and I had dinner at his lakeside home and Graham insisted on giving me his fabulous paper hat after we had all jumped in the lake...
Had my first art show in 4 years on Sept 13/14... called it "ZOOM - near + far" and sold about a dozen of the 40 new works... including this one, the newest oil painting, called "Sunfall"
Touring with Valdy and Karel was a dream come true... here we are standing in front of Blueberry, his Merc touring van with our wonderful new friends from Burns Lake, B. C.,
Karen Cyr and Sandra Barth... so much more to tell about this tour!
Our really fancy tour T-shirts did not sell well in northern B. C. (our CDs did, thank goodness)... we now have work-out gear for the rest of our lives (not really)
please write to me if you want one... they are fantastic quality, really.
We each got commemorative paddles from the
Chief Louie Paddle Company in Burns Lake and I clutched mine for the rest of the tour and it is on my dresser in my bedroom and makes me happy whenever I look at it
This is me after the Summerfolk Festival in Owen Sound, teaching two days later at the Brooke Valley Bassoon Days... this was a helluva summer for me...
Then on to the deep south, here at the University of Southern Mississippi with Dr Kim Wooly and her lovely student before our recital on August 27... I took Graham Shaw's hat to the deep south with me... it survived and I did too
Two of my favourite musicians of my life... Guy + Valdy, both wearing almost the same shirt!
And so impressed with Lecolion Washington, bassoon professor at University of Memphis, here getting ready for Bassoon-a-Palooza with 23 young players
Rehearsing with Lecolion Washington before our recital on August 30 at the Univ of Memphis
Guy and I flew to Eugene, Oregon on October 15 to attend Arts Northwest Showcase with one of our managers, Allison Bent.
Fun and crazy... met amazing musicians, might get a U.S. tour out of this for 2016
Anyway, we were pretending that our tour bus was parked outside the Hilton.
My Valdy tour took me straight back to my home territory for the first time ion my whole career... and while I was gone, they made the whole area into one territory! Saw Nadina Mountain (my namesake) (it means "mountain that stands alone" because it does) from 50 miles away... gotta go back soon
Wild drive down the Fraser Canyon with Valdy whipping that pony through the mountains from Quesnel to the coast to catch the last ferry to Pender Island for our last concert on the B. C. leg of tour...
So much more to tell.
But for now,
it has been a great year.
The future is open.
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