Catching my breath~

Hey Ho Mischievites!

I wanted to have a minute to sit down and catch you all up about our trip so far, but really haven't had a chance till now. It's 7am and I will have my first cup of coffee soon. I'm sitting in the lovely living room of Dre & Max Rousseau on a huge wrap around couch filled with other morning people having their coffee. Dre, Max, their son Aidan, Abby Michaels  and Harry are next to me, Donna Davenport across from me. We are having conversations about our dreams and catching up on our weekend.

When I left you last we had played a gig at The Celtic Ray Irish Pub. It was great! The next night we played at The Fort Myers Unitarian Universalist Church and had dinner with them and we were able to play a lot of music of an eclectic spiritual bent and I enjoyed it very much!  They enjoyed us as well. One of the absolute best things about this particular church is the social element of it. The space they have there is beautiful, for sure. They have great spaces for sitting, meditating, and for worship and also for friendship. I gave myself a most wonderful moment last night. As Harry was setting up the sound system at the Fort Myers UU Church in anticipation of our music set, I took the time to go check out the church. I wandered around the outside veranda and quad where there were rooms all around the garden in the center. There was one room where a fiddle lesson was going on with a teacher and a couple of young students learning to play a jig. The next room contained a men's study group who were all older men gathered and chatting friendly and intently. The next room was full of folks commenting on a seeming board meeting. There also seemed to be a Pastor's meeting going on in another....a women's group in another. All was wonderful to see this active alive social place on a Tuesday night! Our UU is very small for a congregation, but this made me very happy to see this beautiful large space so alive and fun and connected. The last stop for me before I went to work to sing was to find the sanctuary. The door was open. I went in and just sat in one of the pews and check out the space and meditated. A man came in and smiled at me, got something he was looking for and left. He said hi and I said, "what a beautiful sanctuary." He said, "yes it is indeed" and he left me to my thoughts.
It's good to take a moment for yourself and to ground before you give to others. 

Here is one of the church's spaces here....with fans and an open air meeting place.

 I love this space for a program too! How awesome is THIS????

 A very comfy place under the sky for a service, methinks!

 They even have a fire pit for some circle work!

 There is a garden in the quad that is in the center of the property that is completely wild and wonderful...

 Abby and I watched this little gekko for awhile....see him on the rock?

Some of these daytime pics are of the following day when we went back with Jay and Abby and found the labyrinth that the church had made in the wild wood lot on the church's property. It was a lovely meditative time together.

Orb. :)

 Deep breath. RELAAAAAXXXX....

 Walking in the woods together...

 Exploring the grounds....

 Enjoying my best buddy on a beautiful day

 Cuties....

 Loving this day together....so enjoyable and a break from stress in the sunshine...

And let's have some pics of the buddy boys, Harry and Jay now....

 A little mischief.... :)

OK, maybe a LOT of Mischief :)

I made a major lasagna pan and also some Caramel Pretzel Bark (which I have named "crack"...and with good reason....) MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....it was so nice of Dre to let me take over her kitchen for awhile!

The weekend at the faire was wonderful! Harry and I played with lots of other musicians: Will the Fiddler, Jason of "Jig to the Milestone", Darien of Empty Hats, Jay and Abby of The Harper & The Minstrel, The Harpies. We also played extra for a Medieval Feast on Saturday night.

 It was such a lovely fair, faire day.....

Look at that BLUE SKY!
Palm trees!
So gorgeous!

 A nice candid shot of my handsome friends Braze and Jay,,,

 And I asked Harry to take a pic of my new necklace and earrings set.

But he didn't get my earrings in the pic for some reason. :)

 It was also a real treat to have our northern Mischievites Lorie & Chris Finger come down for the faire! It felt like home with a rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar" with her and Ravyn and also an impromptu Garbaholics meeting!

Purple ladies! :)

 Purple stripey socks!

 Purples!

 Whiskey in the Jar!

 Mischievite Wenches!

Some more faire pics

We played THE MOST AMAZING version of "Our Mother the Mountain" with Jay & Abby for our finale for the pubsing. It was the best one EVER.

Here is a LINK for one of the versions we played, (thank you Max for catching it!)
Would you like to hear us?

CLICK HERE to hear "Our Mother the Mountain" with Merry Mischief and The Harper & The Minstrel

Home back at our home away from home here in Cape Coral we ate, drank and were merry and enjoy the folks here on our last evening, snuggling, laughing and chatting.
Here's a pic that just makes me happy. It's Dre and Max's backyard.

I'm very proud of the work that Harry & I did these last few weeks here and I am very blessed to have such happy, fun, and kind, loving friends here!
We are so happy to work for this faire. They have done so well in the community here, and they have top shelf entertainment and are damn nice to work for!

The Florida area has been fabulous and a real treat and a tonic to me a sun craving Central New Yorker.
 This weather is like a TONIC to me!
What a relief to get away from the freezing cold and dreary skies of my homeland right now.

We will be packing up the jingles, garb and the Suburu to start heading back north today. I will be sad to leave the sunshine and all my dear friends but am very grateful for the work...

and I miss my doggy Joe....so Wagons Ho!