New things growing...

I have no real excuses for the long distance between posts.  I could say we had 7 weeks of school holidays which always seem to end up so BUSY, with to-ing and fro-ing between the deep south and the big smoke and in other parts in-between, and visitors of various kinds...and Christmas of course...and birthdays, that I end up longing for the quiet days of term.  Or that worldly issues (global and local) have kept my mind occupied (which they have).  But the truth is I just haven't got around to it.  So here is a bit of what's happening in my neck of the woods, and what I'm working on.

Firstly, Fergus, who, although he IS a new thing, he's NOT growing (thankfully!) But I'm sure those of you who are 'dog-people' will want to know how he is.  Fergus has fit into this family like an old sock into an old shoe.  He is the teenage son I've never had.  He takes up way too much space, lies around in the way for most of the day (always wherever you want to walk or stand), his hygiene standards are basic (that's being very generous), he tracks in so much sand that I feel like I'm living at the beach, he is always hungry and has his head in the fridge whenever he can manage it, and he sheds so much fur (in lieu of shoes/shirts/jackets/socks of the hypothetical teenage son) I swear I could knit a new dog (if, indeed, I could knit!)  His farting is silent but deadly.  He also steals unripe tomatoes out of the vegetable patch (I'm not quite sure that's teenage son behaviour though).

Me - Fergus, why is your face green?
Fergus - (innocent look) Gosh mummy, I have no idea!
Me - Fergus (stern look), have you been pinching the tomatoes?
Fergus - (shocked look) NO mummy, I would never, ev...oh, THOSE tomatoes........

Or, at least that's how I imagine his side of the conversation going...he certainly has the innocent/shocked looks perfected!

But he wins over every single person he meets, he hasn't not got a mean bone in his great, long, lanky body, and he is just so completely gorgeous he gets away with everything.  He makes me smile when I'm feeling down, his love in unconditional, he just adores hanging out with his family (definitely a 'people' dog), he puts his head in your lap and looks up at you with those big golden eyes, and you melt into a puddle of jelly on the floor.  He's rather like a cat actually (I'm not a cat person, but I've heard cats do this), because when I'm working at the computer, he will come up and shove his head under my 'mouse' hand, and flip it up over and over to get my attention, and a pat.

But that's probably enough about Fergus...although I could go on...and on...and on...but here's a few pics anyway, of the Boy with Debby-Zebby-Zebra, his Tip Shop toy.

I also have another new addition to my musical 'family'.  Quite by accident really.   I blame Terri Windling :) it's all her fault, really!  Every Monday she posts gorgeous music on her beautiful blog, and I can't count the number of marvellous musicians and singers that I've discovered through Terri's posts.  A couple of weeks ago, Terri posted a video of Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, marvellous folk duo, and I became intrigued by the instrument James was playing.  Looked like a guitar, but 4 double strings, not 6 single strings...what on earth is it?!  A little while later, after some 'surfing' on the net, I discovered an instrument I'd never heard of before.  The Irish Bouzouki.  That was Tuesday.  And that's when the universe intervened.  Just out of vague curiosity, I did a search for this strange new instrument on 'Gumtree', the Australian online classified ad site.  And I actually found someone selling an Irish Bouzouki in my nearby 'big smoke'.  It's difficult to express the unlikeliness of this to people who don't live here, that's why I'm sure the universe stepped in!  So, I drove to Albany to have a look.  It was lovely.  And cheap.  And so, by Wednesday afternoon, I was the proud, though somewhat surprised, owner of said instrument.  I was saving to buy a good steel string guitar...oh well!

But onto other things.  I have two projects currently 'in development' (that sounds far more fancy and professional than it actually is).  The ongoing expansion of The Wolf Bride into a visual exhibition/installation/set (I'm still not sure what yet) in time for the 25th anniversary of 'Brave New Works' in November, and a new show for this year's 'Festival of Voice', in June, called Fables.  It will be another storytelling show, but this time is several shorter stories as well as original and traditional songs, built around a very basic (and deliberately vague, because I didn't have a clue when I applied!) theme of strange and uncanny folklore/legends.  So I have begun new journals for each, and am in the 'gathering' stage, which I love best, of collecting material; quotes, artwork, essays, articles, as well as my own scribbles and thoughts and random ideas, and anything and everything that seems relevant.  The 'culling' stage (which I don't enjoy half as much) of having to make decisions about what stays and what is discarded, comes later.  So, a few pics from my new journals.

The Wolf Bride

Fables

More to come...I promise!