May 20, 2008

1:01 p.m.

3:00am Arrival

Friday: traveled all day, arrived at hotel in Dallas around 8pm (9pm eastern, as far as our bodies were concerned). After some confusion, figured out where to check in for the festival and find some food they provided. Went back and slept at hotel.

Saturday: breakfasted at hotel, went to festival site (we played in an arts center) and loaded in our gear backstage for 4:00 set. Missed provided lunch, so found some food at one of the street vendors. Played our set, about which each of us felt differently; I was pretty happy, though looking at all the young, up and coming songwriters, felt slightly envious that they're not jaded yet; Chris was happy enough with the set but keenly aware of how much the weekend was costing us; Carol was unhappy with the flow of the set and a problem she had with her keyboard, and kept wondering what the soloists were making. They had a songwriting competition and each of the 4 top winners got $500. That was more than each of us made for flying from Connecticut and playing a whole set. It's crazy that way.

We didn't sell much, though there were plenty of people there. After our set we had to pack up and drive almost 5 hours to San Antonio, where we stayed with some folks who stayed up late to let us in. After not enough sleep we rose early Sunday --

Sunday: -- to play two church services at the Unity church there. It's a wonderful, loving group, but Carol says it's always a pain to organize the gig there because they want us to lead hymns and play incidental music (which we don't usually do) and they didn't even get that material to her until Saturday, where she picked it up on email at the hotel and had no way to print out anything. She was immensely stressed by it all on Sunday, everything being thrown together at the last minute and she was learning piano parts twenty minutes before having to play them, and she and Chris almost KILLED each other over something and it was their anniversary. Add to that that she's in menopause and anything can happen emotionally anyway, and it was just a terrible morning!! When the services were all over and everyone had left the sanctuary, she was just standing there fighting back tears, and I went up to her and threw my arms around her and said, "Mmmm-WAH! Mmmmm-WAH!" rocking her and fake-kissing her and dipping her, and Chris came up and hugged us both and we were all laughing and she was sobbing, and I sang a very silly "Happy Anniversary to you" song and then we went to the lunch their Green Team provided for us so that we could talk to them about our recycling program.

The lunch was a Godsend -- beautiful baked salmon, black beans all blenderized and with chunky tomatoes and some cilantro dressing thing mixed in, a huge fresh salad. We ended up having to go to Arbee's for dinner later so it was great that we had one good meal. Then, sound check and a half hour back to our lodging for a nap, before coming back for the evening concert.

I was very allergic at the house but my bed was comfortable enough. After an hour I dragged myself out of it, got myself back together and dressed and packed.

The show was lovely... as people were filing out, one man came up to me slowly, took my hand, gazed into my eyes, and said, "You touched my soul." I thanked him and he looked as though he might possibly say something else, but his eyes filled up and he left without another word.

Between the gig and the services we sold enough to be satisfactory.

Then over 200 miles to Austin, where we stayed at Calvin and Jonnie's house, though Jonnie is on walkabout somewhere between Portland and Arches National Park. One quick night -- it was hard to sleep for some reason -- breakfast in the morning at our favorite cafe, a quick stop at the Herb Bar for me to replace a bowl I broke last week -- I cried copiously over that bowl, and here I am suddenly with replacements, amazing -- and then off to the airport in Dallas again.

We arrived very early and had plenty of time to navigate the huge airport. We sat and did Sudoku, or wandered for food. A gate change put us on the Skylink system to another part of the terminal. Our flight was delayed over half an hour. I knew I was developing a sinus headache before we took off, but it wasn't too bad until I got home, really. Happy arrival in little Hartford BDL, to Bloomfield to retrieve my car, and another hour home.

To quote a veteran singer songwriter I know, "I feel beat to shit."

So, today, headache management, grocery store, and I have to clean up the kitchen and breakfast nook, which are a disaster. I can't put anything else on the plate today. Just repeated cups of hot beverage, soothing meditation music and a cloudy sky outside -- maybe some rain soon. It has to be enough for now. I breathe, practice gratitude.