Are you going?

Ahhh summer. It just wouldn't be without the PNE.

Me and the girls made a last minute decision to go check out the fair last night and we had quite a time. We ate many deep fried things and walked a lot and won some money on the money wheel and then hit the casino. All I am going to say about that is...What happens at the PNE- STAYS at the PNE.

One of my favourite parts of the fair is the barns, we saw horses and cows and pigs and bunnies and baby ducks and watched chicks pull themselves out of their eggy homes and then fall over from exhaustion. It was mesmerizing watching them so closely to see if they were alive or dead or just soooo tired. I think there was a bit of each going on there. Anyway, I enjoyed my Huevos Rancheros this morning just a little less than usual.

I am also looking forward to winning the Prize Home this year because it looks fabulous and will be plunked down on Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast, a place I wouldn't mind retiring on one day. Wouldn't that be something??

The sun is shining today and I need to figure out a way to go out there and enjoy it.

Happy Saturday everybody!!

Who's on first?

This is a sign written on the wall of the women's washroom at Nat Bailey Stadium. Cool!

I love baseball, I was brought up on it, I've played for years and I love watching it at this stadium. The Vancouver Canadians used to be a triple A farm team but now they are a single A team for Oakland Athletics. The players are younger but sometimes that makes for great baseball. They make more mistakes so the the game can be quite exciting to watch.

Last night's game was excellent! It had all the right elements including a out of the park home run, a hot box between 1st and 2nd a come from behind win for our guys.

There was also a very obnoxious chicken mascot guy that really pissed me off when he started bugging the 3rd baseman to dance and then stole his glove and threw it over the fence. I realized later that it was a whole show they were putting on and it ended up being pretty funny when he and the actual ump broke into a synchronized dance routine. Jeez, those guys put on a hell of a show.

Nat Bailey Stadium is about two blocks away from our home and it has to be one of the most beautiful venues around to watch great baseball.

I was in great company too as George and Lorna invited me to join them, we always have fun together.

It just so happened that we were the only ones watching the game in our section as there was a group sitting in front of us that consisted of little Jasper who was turning 4 and about a dozen of his little buddies ranging in age from about 4 months to 4 years. At first we were a little worried about fussy whiny kids ruining things for us but they just kept running up and down the stairs with their parents. Up and down, back and forth standing, sitting, eating, drinking. Tiring to watch. They seemed to be having fun but I gotta wonder whose idea it was to take that many kids, that late to a baseball game. I'm guessing it was the Daddy. He was suckin' down the beers pretty hard and having a good ole time.

That's why I play on Team No Babies. I got to drink beer come home and fall into bed.

Mayne Again?

It was back to Mayne Island again on Friday night to play a wedding party for Ross and Sandra on their property. This time we had our solid rhythm section along for the ride. Here's a picture of the boys on the ferry. Kinda look like monkeys in a zoo, don't you think?

We were treated to a beautiful sunset on the ferry.

We arrived at Dave's house and had a little pre-party with the rest of the band and actually made it to bed at a reasonable hour. The next morning it was off to the local pub for a yummy breakfast. It was obvious that the wedding was going to be well attended and the folks at the pub all seemed to know we were going to be the entertainment and assured us that they had a great time at our gig the week before and there was going to be a lot of people ready to party at the wedding.

This is the view from the pub patio.

After breakfast I took a drive around the island and found Dinner Bay Park. I took a little walk through the trees and down to a pretty little beach. It would have been nice to have a swim but that water was cold.

The Japanese Garden was initiated to commemorate the island’s early Japanese Canadian settlers, was created almost entirely with equipment and time donated by the community. The gig we played the week before helped raise some money for this beautiful garden.

I thought I should check it out. I ended up having the whole garden to myself.

Back to the house for a little bit and then it was time to load up the vehicles and head over to the venue.

We arrived at the property and there was no one there, they were all at the wedding so we had a chance to set up all the gear, have a sound check and even run over some tunes.

Just as we were finishing up it started to rain. A lot.

Here is a picture of the main cabin, the entire front porch will be our stage!

The property was scattered with some really cute buildings and cabins.

Here's my favourite. Another travel trailer with a cute add on.

This is an adorable little outhouse with a sign on the side that says Nature House. I did stumble down to use it after dark. It was warm, dry, non-smelly and had a bucket of lye with a sign that said "one scoop per poop".

This little red rowboat was tucked into the corner of the yard and the swing was a lot of fun too. They also had horseshoe pits and three propane bonfires scattered around the area. A really nice set up. But.... it was really starting to rain hard when we left to go back to Dave's. We had a few hours to kill so we ate, drank, napped and showered and generally got prettied up.

Once again I seem to have packed my suitcase with my eyes closed, I sure didn't pack for a rainy, chilly show so I really ended up not having a clue what I was going to wear. I had to do some quick improvisation with a dress and a pair of scissors, I do that a lot. I managed to put together what turned out to be a cute outfit and it was time to go.

Here's a shot from the bottom of the property looking up towards the cabin/stage.

We arrived at the party in the rain and the first song was played for the bride and groom. I must say, it was my first time meeting Ross and Sandra and they were lovely people, really nice. I also couldn't help noticing that they were both extremely good looking!

And that's when the party really started!!!

The full band was Me and Rupert, Janice, Jessie, Dave, Dan and Kelly.

Here's a shot of me and Superman doing our favourite duet Jackson a-la Johnny and June.

We all put on a great show, mostly because the crowd was so incredibly into it. The rain stopped and the people danced and cheered and drank and just gave us so much fun energy that it brought our show to a new level. A real win win situation. The people of Mayne Island are pretty special. They are so friendly and welcoming and man can they party!

I just had a blast!

All good things must come to an end, we packed up sometime around 2am and loaded up the gear, back to the house and fell into bed around 3:30. Up by 10 loaded up the car with the rest of the gear and hit the ferry lineup.

Here is a picture from the car. Three ferries in this shot. They don't call it Active Pass for nothing.

Mayne Island

Wow, that was a pretty fun weekend. Mayne Island was amazing, chock full of super nice people and so pretty. The gig went off really well and we had a great time staying at Dave's beautiful house. All in all it was a great and exhausting weekend. Can't wait to go back next weekend when we will be performing at a wedding of some local folks. Those Mayners sure know how to party and have fun!

Here are some photos...

Me and Superman in the ferry line up.

We left real early because we figured there would be tons of traffic being the Friday evening of a long weekend. Turns out there was no traffic at all and we got there super early and had a pretty long wait and the ferry was late so we got to Mayne Island it was already dark.

We pulled up to Dave's house and there was a party/practice going on.We had some catching up to do. All the gear was set up in his living room so we had a full band sound, lots of songs to go over because there were several players who hadn't played together and we needed to bone up on each others stuff.

The next morning I had a chance to see the island and the property in the light of day. So beautiful and a fantastic, homey, comfy house. Imagine my surprise when I saw this...

So sweet!

We went to the pub for a yummy lunch and ran into some friends from Vancouver, small world. Here is the view from the pub patio.

After lunch we went back to Dave's and I found this on his property. I just wanted to clean it up and move in. Why am I so obsessed with travel trailers. This one could be so sweet though.

Here is a shot from the back of Dave's house looking at the sheep barn up the hill.

By now it was time to pack up all the gear and take it to the Community Centre for set up and sound check. What a beautiful venue. It's brand new and just set in a gorgeous clearing surrounded by trees. We set the band up in the adjoining tent. The walls opened up to the elements, nice for setting up in the heat.

After sound check it was back to Dave's to purdy up and de-stinkify and then it was back to the venue for the dance. When we got back to the house Superman surprised this guy just outside the back door. We later discovered he had been in the kitchen and ate through our cloth shopping bag to get to the peanut butter cookies I had brought. He also ate a bowl of Jr. Mints.

Little bugger.

People don't lock their doors on Mayne Island, they also leave their keys in the ignition of their vehicles. I talked to a guy who said when he bought his house it didn't come with keys. I think closing the doors would have been a good idea though. I think the raccoon might have been trying on some of my clothes and messing around with my makeup. Little bugger.

The place was filling up fast when we got there and the crowd was eager to hit the dance floor. Everybody was so nice and friendly and they were really digging the music so it was a lot of fun for the musicians. There was a great mix of musicians from the Mayne and some from Vancouver. I got to sing back up with everybody and did a little Boomchix mini set with Janice and some honky-tonk duets with Superman. Super fun! Here are some more pics...

I didn't get any shots of Superman or me because I was busy singing. duh. This is Janice and Dave and Jessie. That's Ned on the drums. Ned is super cute!

Check out this cool shot I got of Ned through the back of the tent.

Here are some cute young gals who were having a great time dancing the night away.

After the show we packed it all up and went back to Dave's for nightcaps and munchies. I fell into bed around 4:30 am plum tuckered out.

We were up and out by 11:30 am and back in the ferry line up desperate for a coffee. The ferry snack bar had the nerve to charge us $2 a cup for a tiny tepid, weak cup of shitty coffee. They asked if we wanted cream and sugar, we said yes and were handed 3/4 of a tiny cup of coffee. Lame.

Here are some pics from the ferry home. It was so beautiful we sat out on the deck all the way back to Tsawwassen, tired, hung over and happy.

Happy BC Day!!

Will you do your Civic Duty?

August 2, 2008
Mayne Island Community Centre Presents a
‘Hootenanny’
Community Dance Hosted By: Spank the Kitty
Featured Performers are" Spank The KittyFeaturing guest performers from:The Burrs, Boomchix,Wichita Trip & Mayne IslandSaturday, August 2 ~ 8:00 PM ~
Advance ticket: $10 / At The Door: $12 / Teens: $5Children under 12: Free
Tickets available at:Happy Tides Health Food, Tree Frog Gallery & The Trading Post

We are off to Mayne Island tonight to play this show on Saturday night.!
We've never been to Mayne Island so I am really looking forward to it. One of the organisers lives here in Vancouver but has a house over there so we will be comfortable and well looked after. Good thing because right now it's raining very, very hard. It is supposed to clear up by tomorrow, I predict it will stop raining by dinner time. Apparently Mayne Island gets a lot less rain than we do on the mainland. We won't be tenting so I'm not too worried. I am hoping to go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow and definitely want to try to get some swimming and beach time in. We are scheduled to go back again next weekend to play at a wedding. That should be fun too!
The great thing is, the people we are going over with to play both shows are the friends that we usually hang out with on the weekends. It's rare when you can get out of town with a whole group of folks that you like and get along with. Fun!
I will update with stories and lots of pictures when I get back on Sunday.

Monday is a holiday here in Canada, I just realized I don't know why. I looked it up and I found this on a government website:

August 4th,

Civic Holiday in Canada. The intent of the Civic Holiday is to "not work". So please don't work on Civic Holiday! In Canada Civic Holiday is in most cases the first Monday of August.

Ha! That's enough reason for me.

Happy Civic Holiday fellow Canuckers.

I love this country!

Hitting the road?

So.... I am obsessed. I get like this sometimes. Fixated on one thing. I spend hours and hours thinking about it and looking at it on the internet. I fantasize about it and imagine it is real and figure out how to make it happen and if it's the least bit possible. I dreamt about it last night again. I now know what it is I want and have narrowed it down to the exact thing.
What I want is one of these...

This one belongs to my friends Joe and Shannon and I must admit I am coveting this little puppy. It's a BOLER trailer and it is distinctly Canadian. They were only manufactured in Canada from 1968-1971 it is estimated that there were only 7,000 to 10,000 units made.

A lot of these babies have been sitting under tarps in peoples yards or garages for many years and need a lot of TLC to make them pretty again. I think That would be a pretty fun project.

Boler trailers are made of fiberglass and the insides are made with something called Ensolite, this product had been developed by Uniroyal and was being used in the cockpits of airplanes at the time. They are only 13 feet long, extremely lightweight and don't require a truck to pull them. I have seen pictures from the seventies with one being towed by a VW Beatle. They were designed for a small family but I think they would be perfect for a couple.

Isn't it just perfect?

I love this little trailer and I will figure out a way to have one by next summer. I figure at the end of every summer there are a lot of hard decisions made about keeping the old camping trailer or getting rid of it and upgrading. I'm not quite ready to get one yet but the wheels have started turning.

I must have it. But how???

Where's the party?

Happy Birthday Erin!
I have decided to use more names in my blog. I even find it confusing to say BFF all the time without being able to say who is who. I don't really think it matters but I wanted to ease into this thing a little with anonymity to start and maybe more details about my life as it feels comfortable. This way I can promote their businesses, talents, blogs and websites too.
We had a lovely time on Thursday night at Erin and Paul's place, the first yard/bbq party of the summer and it had all the elements. Great weather, lots of yummy food, good friends we haven't seen in a long time, new people to meet and of course the loveliest of birthday girls. All good! Thanks guys!
This weekend is the big Pemberton Music Festival. There was a time when I would be all over this kind of event but there is no way in hell you could get me up there at this stage of my life. I don't need to be in a remote area with over 40, 000 people, nothing to do my business in but a blue plastic pissy/poopy hotbox and a 10'x 10' camping area to call home. Are you fucking kidding me?? There are so many restrictions at this event, you can't bring in your own booze you have to buy on sight, not a bad idea I guess but I imagine it would be an expensive little outing when you tally it all up. The weather report is calling for rain tomorrow. If I went it would rain for sure. I am convinced that global warming really started in earnest when I threw away my tent. I had about an 80% chance of rain whenever I set it up. It was uncanny. It got to the point that whenever there were freak rain storms in the middle of summer my mother would call me after and ask if I was camping. Why else would it rain for no reason. The last time we camped, we went to sleep in the warm summer night and woke up to a torrential rainforest downpour. We had to pack everything up and into the car to catch a ferry. I was drying out the tent in the living room of our apartment for a week. That's when I decided I was done. I would love some sort of camping house, how about that little trailer in my header?? That would be perfect. I think I would make a good RVer too. Maybe one day. Until then it's staying at friends houses or motel/hotels. I've earned it.
Tonight we are going to a rockin' house party. Some of Vancouver's legendary Rockabilly, Roots musicians will be there and these parties are always interesting and fun. I'll tell you all about it on Sunday.
Yup, summer is in full swing! I hope my liver can stand a little more.
Cheers Ya'll!!!

How is it?

Aw summer. It's been a good one so far. Just a quick post before we head out to friends place to do some singin' and playin' and drinkin'. That's right we don't need the letter "g" to have fun!

Footloose is on right now and Kevin Bacon is just about to go to the town council meeting. Superman thinks they will dance and change every ones mind.

Whenever anybody kisses on TV Superman yells "SMOOCHIE!" at the screen in a slightly odd way. It can be unsettling. Sometimes I think I am marrying an eight year old. But other times...

We had a nice day today. We drove down to Commercial Drive and went to our favourite music store Bone Rattle. Of course we both found expensive things we wanted to buy. We managed to control our urges and went to a nice little restaurant called TIMBRE and had Greyhounds and yummy sandwiches.

Well my friends, off to do some jamming. Talk to you tomorrow and have fun out there.

How's the water?

Spent Friday at Bunsen Lake with some lovely friends and a couple of their kids. It was very nice and the water? Cccccccold. But I swam in that sucker. Glacier fed. Refreshing. The picture above almost shows how truly beautiful the view is at this lake. If I turned to the right you would see that the small beach was littered with rug rats screaming and digging in the sand and generally having lots of summer fun.

I don't have kids so there are certain things that can't help but illustrate how different things are than when we were kids.

Sunscreen, OMG I saw kids running around with thick, white layers of sunscreen over every bit of exposed skin, not that there is much of that to be seen with long sleeved swim suits and all. I understand why. It amazes me how kids will just come to their moms stand in front of them and allow themselves to be smothered in the stuff, no fussing, no questions, it's their normal.

At one point, around the time that everybody seemed to decide it was lunchtime, including us, I saw something that cracked me up. Three boys around 10 or 11 were sitting by us on the beach in a big round blow up floaty thing eating their sandwiches and generally goofing off. One of their Moms decided to get a picture and while she was focusing in the kid in the middle told the kid next to him that his sandwich was stinky. They all started cutting up and the kid with the stinky sandwich looked confused and took a whiff of his sandwich and said, "What, it's prosciutto??"

I don't know why I thought it was so funny but I'm pretty sure that I never even heard the word prosciutto until I was in my late 20's. Later I saw the prosciutto kid swimming in the lake with a silver swim cap on his head. I didn't see anybody trying to beat him up either.

Oh yes, times have changed.

We stopped for an ice cream at a little store just outside the park gates. They actually had Tiger Stripe ice cream! That's orange with licorice stripes and I probably haven't had it since I was a little kid. Man, it was good.

Some things never change.