8:00 am

There is a myriad of birds outside on the wires and in the trees singing loudly. Twitter-pated kind after kind, little birds after bothersome big birds whiz by my screen door like a quick breeze and chase each other around the corner of the house toward the back yard. The air is clean, like on Easter morning and I'm waking up at just the right pace.

Do you ever feel like that? Like you're waking up at just the right rate? Occasionally, when you have the time to take a day slowly and have gotten just the right amount of sleep, you're sitting on the couch, or still lying in bed and (to me) it feels like a great, white fog is slowly letting go of its sticky grip on my house or street or a personal mountain and its just floating away. I breathe easier and have peace in my heart. And then I make a cup of coffee. The perfect followup.

My brother Sean is moving from a house he’s lived in for over six years. We’ve done a whole lot of recording in the garage at that little house. He recorded much of his Fiction Family record there, we wrote a lot of the last Nickel Creek record there, feasted on oranges of the tree in the back yard after good surfs and had many a camp fire in the front yard. I will miss that house.

Yesterday I got one more day in that garage studio when I went over to record a John Prine song for record that’s being put together. It was really fun, and came out sounding pretty good!

Everyday, my record release date gets closer. I hope to be touring a lot this year and the plans are coming together day by day. Right now I’m headed to LA to do some work before heading to the Little Room at Largo.
Hope you’re doing well, Sara

All I recall about the incident is I was cooking in our tiny kitchen, there was some sort of collision involving my thumb, and I remember thinking - that’s probably going to hurt later. I’m not sure if it was squished between two pans, or somehow slammed in the oven door, but the darn thumb has been bruised for five days now and its sensitivity is showing me exactly how hard I typically am on my hands.

I’m in the process of importing all my CD’s into my home computer. This process began a long, long time ago but as it requires lots of my prolonged attention, it remains unfinished. My goal is to have all the music stored on one computer, and have it all backed up on an external hard.

I was asked to open for The Old Crow Medicine Show’s, Friday night and Saturday night stand at the Fillmore, up in San Francisco. I love that venue and the Old Crow boys are great so, naturally, I was stoked.  About a week and a half before gig, my brother Sean told me our friend Benmont, on a whim, was thinking of taking a road trip up to the bay area that same weekend, and Sean told him “Hey! My sister’s playing up there that was thinking of going along! I cancelled my flight up there, and we all piled into my brother’s car, along with our friend Jess, and the four of us hit the road.

After opening for Donavon Frankenreiter for a month (performing solo, for the most part) I was extremely happy to have friends up there with me, and Sean and Ben, no less.
 It was also fun to see Benmont in a venue he practically lived in for a month in 1997, when Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers played a 20 show residency at the Fillmore.

Thanks to the Old Crow Medicine Show for having us up there with you, the four of us had a great time.

I forget how easy the drive is from LA to SF - only six hours, really . . .  if you time it right.

It took me a good three or four days to settle into being home again after being away all last month, but I’m now deep into home mode, and am as happy as ever about it.  The only trip I have planned before Christmas is this three show mini-tour to Dallas, Austin and Houston Texas with Sean and Glen Phillips.  That should be fun, maybe Red Volkart will be playing somewhere in Austin that night . . .

Men in reflective neon vests, working for the great city of Minneapolis use a long pole with a hook on the end to hang white Christmas lights in the trees here on 10th Ave, where it crosses 4th Street. Some trees are bare, some still sport a luxurious layer of golden leaves. I wonder if Minneapolis waits until Thanksgiving night to light everything up.

I like to think so.

This photo is Chris, the utility crew guy on tour.

This morning, Pete Winders, the guitar player in Donavon's band, and I walked down a block or two from where the bus is parked to Espresso Royale for some morning coffee. Then we went our separate ways forsome grub.

I'm so happy to have walked into Al's Breakfast. Its a shotgun shaped restaurant that reminded me of The Village Pub back home. Seating is only at the bar, there's one cook, and two others behind the counter. I ordered my favorite: 2 poached eggs on top of a (perfect) pancake - plus they added a generous helping of apple sauce. I wish there was an breaky place like this in Carlsbad. I'd have a hard time not going every morning.

The day before yesterday we were in Ann Arbor - a stop I'd been looking forward to since the tour began. A day in Ann Arbor means a lunchtime visit to Zingerman's Deli. I ordered #73 with a traditional pickle, a side of heavenly roasted squash with rose-merry, and a bag of gingersnap cookies for the bus.

Thank you Zingerman's. You never disappoint.

We spent our day off yesterday in Buffalo, NY and are now on Queen Elizabeth Way, en-route to Toronto, Canada. Getting through the border crossing in a tour bus can be an arduous task, but this afternoon it was no sweat. Not six or seven minutes after stopping, we were back on the road, with a white-capping, stormy Lake Erie on our right.

There has been a lot of cake on this tour - more cake, I’d wager, than I’ve ever seen in a three and a half week time period. First we got two cakes in Knoxville from the guitar player Pete’s aunt, for his birthday. Then we got a vegan cake for the tour manager Tito’s birthday. Jenny Lynn brought us an apple cake in DC, and in New York, a baker brought Donavon a huge cake, on top of which, Donny’s likeness was raised up as if it were embossed.

I’m guessing these desserts are not helping the outcome of my record cover photo shoot scheduled in early November.

I only have five more shows on the Donavon Frankenreiter tour. It’s been so much fun. Almost every night a few of the guys from the band join me on stage for two or 3 songs.

We’re pulling into Toronto now. The sky is grey and everyone on the street is bundled up in puffy winter coats. Looks like i should get some warmer things from out of my suitcase under the bus.

I switched my phone off for duration of my stay in Canada, so i’ll just have to check in back home tomorrow morning.

It has been quite a ride so far, on tour with Donavon Frankenreiter and his band. They have graciously given me an opening slot and a bunk in their bus! I joined them in a very rainy Atlanta at the Variety Playhouse, a venue I have enjoyed playing many times.