Musings of a SETTLED Musician!?

Now that I am living in Tucson, with the intention of staying for more than a year, it is fun to do the things that "settled" folk do. Like planting a garden. Today Jimmie and I armed ourselves with old toilet paper rolls, a spoon, a sharpie (of the turquoise variety), bag of soil, and a bunch of seeds from Michigan (thanks Shell and Dougie!). A messy chunk of time later: our babies are safely tucked into their soil beds, waiting to bloom into edibles!

Another "settled-persons" thing to do when you are a musician is network and get yourself performing in the local music scene. Right away Jimmie and I (who perform as "Old Grove") jumped into the open mic calendar here, creating great fiends and fellow performers. We have also started to work ourselves into the planned gig circuit. We have been rewarded for our diligence...

OLD GROVE performing at Project Noise on January 28th @ 7:00pm.
www.projectnoiseaz.com

Don't worry though, I won't let my pack get too dusty;)

Tucson, AZ - The Year Flies By

I think I can safely claim to have abandoned my blog last year. I vow that 2011 will be the year to at least keep an update once or twice a month. Or at least when interesting things happen...

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Last year:

- Met a fellow wandering soul, who goes by the name of Jimmie.
- Shoved my life into a pack, yet again. Set out with new-found wandering partner to discover more of the West Coast by way of Sacramento, Grass Valley/Nevada City, Tahoe, Klamath Falls, Eugene, and Portland. All amazing, as to be expected.
- Officially moved (via long, drawn out, oh my goodness long, and did I say LONG? trip by train) back to the dream that is Leelanau County.
- Farmed and sold cider all summer, soaking up family time and Michigan miracles.
- Biked for three days through Michigan, prior to a week of silent meditation. Anyone interested? Check out a Vipassana course - www.dhamma.org!
- Moved (via Longer, holy-cow-I-didn't-know-what-long-meant-before-now, and once more for good measure, LONG bus ride) to Tucson, AZ.
- I am officially a desert girl for the time being.

Updates of Life in Tucson, to be embellished through upcoming posts, I'm sure:
- Maggie takes guitar lessons, writes/performs music with Jimmie as much as possible.
- Maggie dedicates herself to the yoga teacher training course... soon to be a CERTIFIED YOGA INSTRUCTOR!
- Jimmie spins fire professionally with Elemental Artistry (fire arts troupe)
- Scrambles, hikes, rides, music galore!

The Southwest is a crazy place. I am a crazy gal. I do believe we will get along.

Berkeley, CA - Welcome Distractions

The days run away with themselves... and so a quick overview of the joys of the Bay Area and how they have distracted me from this electronic world of journaling:

- The Seaward-
I met Captain Emerson on suggestion of a good friend. He captains the 82' schooner The Seaward out of Sausalito. They run educational programs on the ship (they being his crazy crew) as well as chartered cruises around the bay. What an incredible way to check out the area from the water. He took me out all day and I was able to get the most amazing views of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and all of the surrounding city areas:)

- Yoga To The People -
I found myself the most amazing yoga studio. They are located right downtown Berkeley, are donation based, and offer killer classes. It is always packed and sweaty but all the people there create a warm, inviting community to practice in.

- Red Obsession -
Daniel, Jacqueline and I painted the entire kitchen bright "obsession" red. It was a gloriously messy night of color.

- Capoeira -
Another new "friend of a friend" here, Scott, convinced me (wasn't that difficult, trust me) to try taking a Capoeira (Brazilian dance/martial art) class here. It was so much fun. The music is lively and pulses through you and the moves, so far, are very intuitive. Looks like I've been hooked... watch out!

- Brownies From Scratch -
Did you know those are locations? Apparently, they are... we wanted to make brownies (the dessert) from scratch. So I texted google (its like having the internet on your phone for free!) "Brownies from scratch" and this was the response:

Directions:
Distance: 121 mi (about 2 hours 45 mins) 25 steps.
Sorry, the requested route is too long. You may want to get it online at http://maps.google.com

So, if you are curious the steps to making brownies from scratch, apparently it requires some travel. Good luck.

The world continues to surprise and amuse me - and it's great to realize that one doesn't always have to travel far to find those lovely moments that make places special.

Berkeley, CA - Park(ing) Day!

The Bay Area is doing all it can to keep me completely and totally enamored. And it is most definitely succeeding. I met up with a good friend Rachel on the University of California, Berkeley campus and together we bussed over to San Francisco to cruise Chinatown:) After becoming all but overwhelmed by the amount of energy and general stuff available, we needed a break. Poof! Free tea tasting! Perfectly timed, we sat down and filled up on various lovely, hot, fragrant tea before heading back to Berkeley.

After parting ways, I thought I would just be heading home to sit in for a quiet evening. Silly me;) As I wandered down Shattuck Ave a man gestured to me from a park bench. I smiled. He waved and said, "Come on now, you can't just walk on by. You need to take a moment to sit and enjoy the evening." (All of you cynics out there are holding your breath right now, I know. Just trust me for a moment, people are so fabulous.) So I joined this man, Olvan, and had a lovely conversation about his travels through life, what he does now, how we both happen to love being where we are right now... then a group of people came and performed a movement/dance piece to the sound of the city streets, right in front of us... enormous white flowers wafted in the breeze... small children smiled, giggled, teased one another... a woman handed out packets of wildflower seeds...

Park(ing) Day.
Basically, once a year, people gather together and "rent out" a section of metered parking spots. They then build a park there for the day. September 18th happened to be Park(ing) Day. The park I had stumbled upon had enormous flowers created from old plastic bags. It is an effort to remind people that we should cherish the beauty of parks, whether permanent or transient:)

And the fun doesn't end there! Life is made of "old friends I still gotta meet" (ahem, if you don't know that quote, go listen to some Rachael Davis... she's good for the soul) and I met one of them this evening back in San Francisco. Emerson is a charismatic captain. Literally (more on that later, I promise). We downed some yummy local beer and I, yet again, showed how terrible I am at playing pool. The fun's in playing, not winning... says the loser...

Berkeley, CA - Red Carpet Welcome

I am now the lone rider once again - I have returned the beast! The drive down to Portola Valley was relatively quick and the last car adventure to make. It took me into San Francisco briefly. What a beautiful city - the buildings are all cream, yellow, shell pink - so full of light and seashore personality. Karen and I had a nice catch up conversation in their (gorgeous!) home before heading back into the city. Time to really get to know the housemate... what better way than meeting up for beers and garlic naan at PUB (Yes, Pub. Not A pub. Just a bar called Pub...)!

Not even ten hours later...
My first real stroll through the streets of Berkeley welcomed me in a gracious fashion, by quite literally rolling out the red carpet. As I entered the downtown area, already loving the vibe, I noticed a large crowd of people around the public transportation-station (The Bay Area Rapid Transit - BART! Haha, it has a person name. Oh I love this place.) so I wandered over to find out what the excitement was all about. This group of rowdy hooligans had placed red carpet at the entrance/exit to the station and were applauding/whistling/cheering every time a person came or went. How hilariously fantastic. The look on the unsuspectingly famous "randoms" was priceless. This to be followed by yet another bonding evening: new friend Liz, Jacqueline, and I made dinner and spent an entire evening in gossipy, giggly girl bliss. (To be immediately followed by introductions to THE SPIDER. There is basically a mouse with eight legs living on the lightbulb directly outside the apartment door. We have yet to make friends. Really anticipating this one to not end well for either of us).

Redwood National Park, CA to Berkeley, CA

The "final" trek to Berkeley had more than its share of moments highlighting Maggie's inability to stick to any sort of schedule, or implement any kind of logical awareness of time and location. But produced more fantastic memories and stories! So I got that going for me...

Donna woke me up to invite me to the mouth of the Klamath River to watch the salmon run. We were joined by Paul, from the Philippines by way of southern California, and Boris, from Germany. Let me take a moment to set the stage for this mornings antics: Boris met us at 8:00am with a Budweiser in his hand because it was his last and he figured he should use it up soon. Oh Boris. At the beach, we encountered dozens of sea otters, hundreds of beach birds, and several barking sea lions. Between the barking "Aaaarpp!" of the sea lions, Boris's heavy metal lyrics (and constant response to any question with "YOP!") I laughed pretty solidly for most of the day. However, salmon remained elusive. So we got food and then returned at low tide to find the river mouth lined with fishermen. And THEN we saw some fish. Salmon are enormous. Trust me, I picked one up (ohhhh the slime!). Finally, we were fished out and headed back to the hostel. My intention had been to head south by 12:30. It was now 3:45. Oh well, I guess I can roll with the... fishing rods?

Leaving at 4:30 meant that I did not get in any quality time with the prehistoric mammoth tree-beasts in the Park. But its strange, the feeling even driving through those things urges silence and has a palpable feeling of awe. The air is thick, the ferns are from a different time. A time when cameras did not exist, I am willing to bet, based on the fact that photographing one is OUT of the question. I tried. They are too much for the camera. And I don't think it is just their size, its more than that. It is the fact that you cannot capture the feeling. Yet another unexplainable experience - those trees are more alive than any other tree I have ever come across; and they demand your attention, command your respect. And I willingly gave it. So much so that I didn't take the time to consider the fact that I am in California now, where the fog rolls in right around evening and coats EVERYTHING. So I decided that driving down Hwy 1 would be great way to see the sunset along the coast. HAH. Good joke, right? Let me describe the following hours going to Berkeley:

The road is like a snake, weaving back and forth unendingly. In order to not careen off the road on each curve, my speed never tops 20mph. This means that a "quick" 25 mile drive to the coast does not get you there by sunset. On the contrary, it assures that you are driving in thick darkness, with even thicker fog, and mammoth trees. I SINCERELY believed I would see a dinosaur around each and every corner. And though I did not see any, I probably didn't give it a fair shot. Three hours of driving 15-20mph sent me scuttling back to US 101 in order to reach my host Jacqueline at least by 1:00am. Aye.

Moment of reverence for my new housemate:
Jacqueline is a woman of fantastic energy. Beautiful, quick-witted, and unbelievably kind; she welcomed me graciously with open arms and we giggled our way into a quick friendship. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Eugene, OR to Redwood National Park, CA

I made it to California! And the most entertaining way to do so, in my opinion, is by way of a good ole "produce check" at the state border. Especially when it is a thorough investigation. Let me demonstrate just how in depth the experience was:

Produce Checker: "Hello ma'am, how are you?"
Me: "Great thanks! You?"
PC: "Good. Have any produce with you?"
Me: "Nope."
PC: "Okay, have a nice day."

Certified produce-free me meandered into the state and then the trees just began to grow. And grow. I made it to the Redwoods Youth Hostel in a relatively uneventful manner and figured my evening would simply consist of a little uke jam on the beach (oh, the soft sand out here is amazing) to sing the sun to sleep. And while some of that happened... my evening was far from uneventful;)

I met a woman who has been biking for about six months, started in South Carolina, and was staying at the hostel (albeit in a little more acceptable way - I am nearing the "no money" section of this trip so for me staying in the hostel is more like sleeping in the hostel parking lot). She was fascinating to talk to and luckily I found out she has a blog (crazyguyonabike.com search for Reclaiming Blue America by Beth Kodluboy). I say luckily because while I adore listening to other people's adventures, I understand the process of having to answer the same questions over and over. So I sucked up as much conversation with her as I felt was fair and then gave her some beach time to herself. Not moments later, I met Jerome - crazy hippie boy from Colorado - who was headed down the beach with his mom Donna to check out a dead sea lion. Count me in! Jerome issued a quick warning, "So.... hope it doesn't freak you out. My mom is bringing some knives and might try to take some of the hide or teeth...." And while the stench of the massive dead animal was oh so less-than-pleasant, Donna snagged herself a prize lion tooth;) Not to be outdone, the livelier animals in the area decided to try for some attention (not necessarily Dental attention, more like photographic appreciation). As the sun sank, a troupe of feisty, ambling sea otters danced across the shoreline.

Back at the hostel, another woman biking down the coast pulled out a guitar and played around for a while. Turns out this hostel has a whole nice collection of instruments. Including the winner of all instruments: a driftwood didgeridoo!! It was ENORMOUS but undaunted, I tried to play it... pseudo-successfully. Apparently some people give massages with didges. And who doesn't love a good massage? So a few of us tried it out. Next time someone offers you an opportunity to receive a didgeridoo massage, please accept. It is hilariously awesome. Massaged into exhaustion, I headed to the outdoors for some sleep.