ah, the Midwest

I am back home , here in the Midwest after the very best week of all in California. Many thanks to Christy for driving thru the SNOWSTORM to get me from the airport, and many thanks to Northwest Airlines for the upgrade to First Class. If one HAS to leave, that would be the way to do it.

Just heard from our friend Kitty, who did the most wonderful photo shoot with us yesterday , on top of a mountain in a park. We haven't seen the shots yet, but it would not suprise me at all to find they are the most magic , lovely , fey photos anyone has ever taken of us. And we have had some rather wonderful ones so far. I never felt so relaxed during a shoot as I did yesterday. Malena of course, has modeled for years and is amazing at it, and we have worked out the best way to make me look like something other than a stick of nerves, hee-hee, but this shoot with Kitty was the easiest , and funnest thing ever, like playing. Kitty is so very much fun and we adore her SO, she made me feel like the slinky-est coolest thing ever. I can't wait to see what we look like thru her eyes.

Next time I go back we will get Mimi Ko, another California girl, in on the action, that girl is going places with a camera!

Malena and I spent the rest of yesterday working on practice tapes to give to Adam Stemple, who is playing with us at the Garrison Keillor gig in two weeks. Adam ought to enjoy figuring out the songs quite a bit ( good thing he is Amazingly talented ) as for some reason my mic did not not pick up my vocals and the only thing that came thru on the tapes, for the most part, is Malena's harmonies. I have to learn how to use this 4-track thing, Really!

(I ought to mention that a tape with only Malena's harmonies is miles ahead of many things I have heard in their entirety. Oh yes. And yes, just as soon as we have something good enough, we will be putting up MP3's on the website.)

I am missing California , and my bandmate , quite a bit just now, but glad to be home with all the cats, who actually seemed to have missed me. Christy has been laughing at me for talking to my tomato seedlings , but they did quite a bit of growing these past five days and I thought they deserved a little praise. Perhpas it was the fact I adressed them as " Dudes" that did it....

Love and snow and hopes of a Garden here,

Lorraine