After Virden, we forged on to Pinawa, and then to Manitou. in Pinawa, we stayed in the comfortable, clean, welcoming Pinetree Lodge. Actually, it’s closer to Seven Sisters Falls, on Dorothy Lake. Pinawa lost its hotel to a fire last year.

Manitou has the great fortune of having a population that worked to save the old Opera House, and what a worthwhile venture. Beautiful.

We were blessed with good weather throughout our tour and even found a few good meals. I like those western provinces – very much.

Big thanks to James Logan for being such a boon companion to us. Good player, good man.

Back in two weeks, when I’ll post some photos. Stay healthy.

Sunday took us to Medicine Hat for a show at the Medalta Clayworks Museum. More on that later. For now, let me tell you that it was a very cool place and I encourage you to look it up. Medalta is a chunk of Canadian history. When I find the link (and am not typing on an iPad) I’ll send it along.

Next day we drove back to Calgary, flew to Winnipeg, rented a van and drove to Forget, Saskatchewan. Stopped in Brandon for a crazy meal, the highlight of which was ordering off of the senior menu (55 Plus Super Saver). We all ordered the pickerel, I paid $5.00 less for a slightly smaller portion. None of us could really eat it. So I threw away less on my meal than the others. Talk about being self satisfied in my meal dissatisfaction. I was pretty smug all the way to the van, I can tell you.

And then there was Forget. There is no place on earth as welcoming, no people as interesting and interested. There is nothing that compares. Shannon and Don Shakotko have created a world of art, food, music, books, bees, honey, good sleep….all earthly comfort for the body, intangibles for the soul. There is nothing -nothing- that causes a minute of discomfort. Hank and Gyda Nickels, Shannon’s folks, have the liveliest open hearts and minds I’ve encountered. The Inn of the Seven Sisters, The Happy Nun, St. Ambrose Apiaries – the heart of Forget. Go there. We were lucky in that we got to spend two nights there…well needed comfort in the middle of our tour.

Last night, Virden, Manitoba. Beautiful little theatre with a full house. Good sound, good audience….now if only I could shake the cold. Thank god Raylene and Cindy can sing.

Off to Pinawa at 11:00…five hour drive, but no show tonight. I see a nice long dinner in our future(s).

Thanks for checking in. By the way, our guitarist, James Logan, has been stellar.

The air here is so arid that the few bits of laundry i washed out yesterday dried during soundcheck..not kidding. Hung them up at 3:45, they were dry by 5:00. Crazy dry.

On the way to Medicine Hat….will check in tomorrow.

Oh, and if you’re looking for Raylene’s cd, I’ll have all the info on the website in a few weeks. It’s called “All The Diamonds”.

Back to Calgary tonight for the Bow Valley Folk Club show. Should be another beautiful drive.

Oh, I watched a great TED talk this morning. Gem of truth? Over-sharing is not to be mistaken for honesty.

Ain’t that the truth?

Oh, and James Logan, our guitarist…great job.

Sold out in Edmonton tonight, and Calgary tomorrow. Always good to know that going in.

Now I’m here in the Best Western having a cup of “coffee”. Don’t you love a good styrofoam cup?

Happy Birthday Boxing Day to dear friend Katherine Wheatley….50 and phab.

See ya.

What I can do is recollect the past year. My calendar – a tiny nutshell of dates and events – is a handy tool in remembering some things, but most of the day-to-day is lost to time bled away.

So, the year looked (sort of) like this:

a few good tours with Cindy and Raylene – fun, work, fun work;

a solo show at the Carleton which I was grateful to sell out, despite the no-show of every Facebook friend who accepted my invitation – an invitation so carelessly extended via mass-email gets the response it deserves;

a show in Kitchener with Cindy and the great Gwen Swick;

a solo show at C’est What in Toronto for an audience of 14 people, 12 of them friends;

another songwriting camp at the Road to Stanfest – four days of a sharp red pencil and JP Cormier, Dave Carroll and Clary Croft working on, in and around some really good songs and some really bad songs;

a trip to London and Paris with my partner and help-meet – very,very good;

three days and one show in Forget, Saskatchewan, home of Ananda Art House, Inn of the Seven Sister, The Happy Nun, St. Ambrose Apiary, all created and run by beloved friends Shannon and Don Shakotko with the help of Hank and Gyda Nickles – go there and see how to live and create something bigger than yourself;

a quick few days in New York to see the lights.

In and around these events there was plenty of company, dear friends, lots of family, illness and hope, sadness to varying degrees and seized times of joy.

Oh, and baby-sitting of babies, child-caring of children and dog-sitting of dogs. Everyone needs a willing spinster aunt, even if  they do like a martini once or twice a day.

I do have hopes for next year. I hope to return to a great love: beekeeping.  I hope my hair continues to turn white. I hope I get some work. Above all, I hope my family stays well and has happiness.

That last one, I hope for you, too, and to all those you love.

Related Show

• Artist: Rankin, Church, & Crowe
• Tour: Rankin, Church and Crowe Fall 2011
• Date: Tuesday, October 18th 2011
• Time: 7:30pm
• City: Rankin, Church, & Crowe in Forget, SK
• Venue: Happy Nun
• Address: Forget, SK
• Venue phone: 306-457-2560
• Country: CA
• Box office: 306-457-2560
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

• Artist: Rankin, Church, & Crowe
• Tour: Rankin, Church and Crowe Fall 2011
• Date: Tuesday, October 18th 2011
• Time: 7:30pm
• City: Rankin, Church, & Crowe in Forget, SK
• Venue: Happy Nun
• Address: Forget, SK
• Venue phone: 306-457-2560
• Country: CA
• Box office: 306-457-2560
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

I scrub on my hands and knees because I don’t think one can really clean a floor with a mop, unless one is not wearing their glasses. Without glasses, the kitchen floor looks pure and holy, like the only weight it has borne is dappled sunlight at 4:00 in the afternoon. Like no cat has ever walked on it let along coughed up a mole-sized hair ball. Like the fridge, stove and dishwasher are holding their breath lest they sully its bright broadness with a crumb or a drop of water.

Some things are better without glasses. Sleeping – better without glasses. Early morning glances in the mirror – better without glasses.

A year or so ago, while on stage with Cindy and Raylene and in a state of dreamy repose (forgetting, momentarily why I was there) I noticed neither of them were wearing glasses. It came to me in a shocking instant that they were wearing contact lenses! It was a hard moment. They were clear, bright, beautiful. There was nothing between them and the audience. Well, except for the microphone, several cords, little  pedals, monitors, the lip of the stage and approximately 15 feet.

There I sat, stunned with the self awareness that I was wearing glasses on stage. Glasses. Sweaty , smudged, back and forth slipping up and down glasses. It occurred to me that I had wasted a lot of make-up that night – and many nights before – because  no one could actually see me. It was in that invisible state that I decided I would get contact lenses. I, too, would be clear, bright and beautiful. There would no longer be anything between me and my audience. Except for: see above.

My helpful optometrist fitted me out with handfuls of little gel packs, some labeled R, some L.  In each, there was a lens. After repeated scoops of a pudgy finger in a little gel pack, I retrieved a tiny sliver of something that seemed like a cross between teardrop and a tiny blob of egg white. I balanced it on my right index finger, used my middle finger to pull down my lower lid and popped the little thing on to my right eyeball. Like wise the left eyeball. Miraculously, immediately, I could see quite a distance. I left the office thrilled with a new reality.

When I entered the car, I realized that I could not read the instrumentation panel. I was able to drive home despite the blur, still chuffed with my new status-  a person unburdened by glasses.

I denied the little nuisances that forced me to go out and buy drugstore reading glasses so that I could read, work at the computer and recognize whether I had an orange or a yellow pepper on my plate. I thought it was kind of fun that I had to get new non-prescription sunglasses because my prescription sunglasses were useless – dangerous even – when I wore the lenses.

It all went to hell the first time I played guitar. Lo and not behold, I could not see the frets. I needed my drugstore readers to see where my fingers were landing, thereby defeating the original purpose for getting the lenses in the first place.

I now own: prescription glasses, prescription readers, prescription sunglasses, non-prescription readers, non-prescription sunglasses and a little box full of R and L contact lenses.

So I wear my glasses on stage and take them off when perspiration causes them to slide down my…er…rather insignificant…nose. Sometimes I see, sometimes I don’t.

But for a day or so after I scrub the floor, I never wear them. Better without glasses.

October 19th @ the Carleton. Last time we were there, we did two great nights and we really glad to see so many people. The Carleton is about the greatest little listening rooms I’ve played. And you can eat and drink. Well, I can’t (guitar in the way) but you can. Fabulous sound there, by the way.

October 21st @ The Marigold Theatre in Truro. There last May, sold out and had a really great time. The Aeolian Singers were in town that night, so quite the rendezvous at the hotel afterwards.

October 22nd @ King’s Theatre in Annapolis Royal. Cindy and I played there last fall, and were pleased to see so many people who drove from some of the smaller communities to see the show.  and – bonus – the next day my Karsdale neighbour told me that I looked very nice the previous evening. He’s fussy, so I was quiet pleased.

October 23rd @ The Chester Playhouse. Haven’t been there for a along time, and never with Raylene. Should be good.

After that, I head out west, and Raylene sets out on a Rankin Family tour. I call them RanFam, just to sound cool.

Cindy? Well, she’ll just have finished her new album, and will be heading out with it.  I’ve heard some tracks, and I think it’s the best I’ve heard her singing. Ever. So you know that has to be pretty darn good. Great even, although don’t tell her I said that.

So, more nudging later, but if you could pencil in the date closest to you….well, we’d really appreciate it. Even more if you came to a show….