Camp styling

Yesterday we had no power all day. It was out when I woke up, and only came back on as I was heading to bed last night. And now, I'd like to say a brief prayer.

God bless the woodfire stove
God bless the woodfire stove
amen.

It's still windy as Kansas out there, but nothing like yesterday. If this is just high wind, I don't even want to imagine a hurricane. It was unnerving to have all those giant firs bending over and thrashing around us. But it was great - such a deep silence, such an immediacy of the howling wind and scuttle of leaves. No internet, no humming fridge, no microwave or washing machine.
Spent a lot of my day crafting around with papers, and doing small things. But mainly it was just all about the wood stove. Lentils were stewed in a big pot on the stove. Bread was toasted on the stove. Coffee was brewed on the stove. Books were read, in cozy chairs, around the stove. God bless the woodfire stove, giver of life.

Some stunning sights these last few days:

Walking down to the ferry in thick whirls of snow. Huge flock of coots making wide black banners in the icy water. (I saw a picture of a coot recently- so I think they were coots, but I don't really know.) Coming across a stag on a trail - huge steaming body just yards away from me - seeing the same one out back of the house, violently grating some branches of a lilac tree with his antlers.

Last Wednesday's gig went well, by the way. The crowd was not large, but who cares, they were attentive and responsive. I played my tunes from memory and we carried it off with really connected energy. Our band chemistry feels damn good. What I noticed most was that old familiar feeling of crossing over an abyss... the only thing that keeps you from falling is to suspend disbelief that there's no ground beneath you. Don't allow yourself the split second of doubt, cause that's when you fall. Trust your body to do what you've trained it to do - your brain is babbling freaked-out jibberish, and you ignore it and distract it by thinking things like, "Where is my breath?" "What do the drums sound like?" and other childishly simple questions. That just seems to be the trick. I was high man, high high high after the show. There IS no better feeling.

Now I have 10 days to book tour gigs and write a huge grant application, and get press kits and posters out. It's time to get busy.

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