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A note
from Christine:
My kitty on the desk next to me, a cold rain falling, a long
list of things to do, finally home after many days in LA the last
few weeks, anticipating my mother and sister coming for Christmas, a
Swan Songs meeting tonight, our internet is down, no Christmas
decorations up, no gifts purchased, no cards mailed...just another
day on the planet and all is right with the world.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my
gratitude for all the support this year. It was a tough one,
in many ways - but also rich with emotion, clarification of what's
important, recognition of the blessing that is my family, and the
arrival of Brody - who is a shining light in our hearts.
There wasn't much time for creating new music in 2011,
but I intend to remedy that in the coming months. We are
making some changes to lessen my administrative chores and allow
more space to create - songs, books, articles, blogs. There is
an inner writer knocking from somewhere deep inside me. She
wants to get up in the morning, put on a big sweater and slippers,
make a pot of tea and write for 6 hours a day. I've been
shorting her about 5 hours and 45 minutes.
On the way back from LA last week I got stuck in the
tiny lavatory on the plane. The door wouldn't open and I was
pounding and kicking to get someone's attention to free me. I
really had a panic attack in there, afraid I'd be trapped without a
seat belt and the plane would go down. Perhaps it was a
metaphor for the creative wave that's pounding against the locked
door of my very demanding schedule, my spiritual survival at stake.
How's that for Jungian self analysis?
Onward to 2012. Wishing you all a peaceful
season.
Love, Christine
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And
a blurb from Chris:
I get into Christmas. I guess
it's still the excitement of waking up in the morning and having to
wait for the folks to get up before I'd be allowed to run down the
stairs and see what old St. Nick had left under the tree for me.
My musical career really started under the Christmas tree...my first
tape recorder, my first electric guitar, a spinet piano, Elvis and
Beatles records....great stuff. Don't tell Brody (6 months
old), but I found him the perfect little piano that can sit right on
the floor with him.
We lived right across the street from a large field in Pierre,
South Dakota, and when it was starting to get cold enough the fire
department would pull a truck up and fill it with water, creating a
miracle of a skating rink. Hockey, crack the whip, tag,
capture the flag, it was all great fun and a social experience that
you couldn't get anywhere else...flirting, bullying...a playground
on ice. I've still got skates, but haven't laced them up in
many years. Being so close, we could just keep an eye on the porch
light across Jackson Ave. and head for home when we saw that Mom was
flashing the light. With luck, we'd get home to find grilled
Velveeta sandwiches and hot Campbell's tomato soup.
The garden is in...I splurged and bought a bunch of
cedar 2 by 12's and made new raised beds this year. The
onions, lettuce and snap peas are ecstatic that the drought has
ended and the air is cool.
I started cooking for the holidays last night. I
slow roasted pork shoulder all day and added it to some spicy green
chile. It'll hit the freezer and when folks are going to be
dropping by I'll get it out and add potatoes and onions. Green
Chile Stew makes our kids happy when we force them into helping us
make a quadruple triple batch of cranberry biscotti.
Happy Holidays to you and yours. See you at the gig.
Chris
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