April 21st --- How Good Is Me Life ... Jim and Fergus at the Skye

It was a beautiful day, the sun shining and I went down overlooking the valleys and mountains.

In fact it reminded me a lot of home, really beautiful.
We looked at the map together to find us a trip for the day. Phill actually had the same idea as me ;o))).
As I was sitting on the stage talking with Phill I came across the menu of a café in Dixfield.

And he recommended it again, so on the road we were. Going down to Dixfield. The café was found easily and it looked absolutely funny. So much detail in here. There was a huge Christmas landscape with little houses still on the front porch … inside lots of things to see, too. Crazy place!

A funny lady "Sammy Angel" welcomed us and we ordered the Moosehunter Breakfast.

Wow, that was a large breakfast. I loved the pancakes, sorry flapjacks … the best flapcakes … hehe … I ever had. After the breakfast and a chat with Sammy, we signed on the wall of the house at the entrance (as everybody does) and then followed the planned route.

A nice road winded through the hills, antique shops and rusty cars everywhere. On the top of the mountain we stopped at a look-off, overlooking two lakes. It was still sunny, but rain was coming in. It was brilliant watching the rain coming closer and closer.

Down at the lake the smell of the pine trees reminded me of the French Atlantic Coast, one of my favourite places in the world. It was pretty warm, but you could see some snow on one of the higher mountains … it was the Saddleback Ski Resort and of course we wanted to see it.

They were closed for season already, but I enjoyed seeing the skilifts and the snow. On the way back we took the shorter way via Blue Mountain. By the way … moose signs everywhere and somehow Maine promises you to see moose and we had that moosehunter breakfast … ok, we didn't see any moose in Maine … lol.

We arrived short after 4, right in time for the sound check, Jim and Fergus must have arrived short before us. They were on stage already and I was really glad to see them. nice to meet you Jim! ;o) Hehe...
They were doing the sound check and I went upstairs for a shower and a nap.
Jan came with some food for all of us. Phill, the sound techs, Jim and Fergus and Gabi and me.

So we had a nice little chat altogether, until we heard some fiddles from downstairs - there is always a session before the show at the Skye Theatre. We went down and Jim and Fergus played with some musicians from the audience --- what a lovely idea! There is the possibility for people to play together with artists, to play in a different environment than at home, the artists get to know some people of the audience before the show and last but not least there is a background music for the arriving guests. Great!

We got very good seats (thank you Phill for arranging everything so nicely) and Gabi got a new Bodhran stick from Mike, who checked the tickets.
Phill introduced Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne and mentioned us, too. Thanks again!

The sound in the Skye Theatre was fabulous. As Phill always says … it's like playing inside an instrument. I loved the performance, powerful as always! I especially enjoyed all the songs written by Jim, but also the traditional ones. He also played a short act. That was great! I have to go to a play in English one day, I think I would enjoy that more than a German one..

It was great to feel so at home at the venue … in the intermission I walked up to our room for a few minutes, loved that. Jim played, as promised, How Good Is Me Life for us. This time I didn't cry … hehe. I just enjoyed the song. I really appreciated that he played the song for us! Thanks a lot! And no, I wouldn't have enjoyed to meet somewhere in the Atlantic to save airfares … I just loved it at the Sky Theatre. :o)

After some chatting after the show we went upstairs again, having some brownies, coffee and shared the two beers we had with us. Fergus and Phill went to bed and … ah well Jim just didn't go to bed --- we had a nice chat and it was a pleasure to talk to him finally after 4 years writing emails. Thanks for taking the time for us.

Btw, if you are interested in buying CDs ... http://www.singsonginc.ca/bios/biojimpayne.html

April 20th 2010 - Going to Maine in the US!

I don't think I'll be able to post the whole Maine trip before we are back in Germany - that would be something for the flight back ... maybe.
Ok, let's start at least. The car was ready to go at 9.30am - early for us, eh? The rain was pouring down and although we talked about "not going" if the weather isn't nice some weeks ago, there was no question … of course.

We were both really looking forward to the trip. The car even told us to be careful about icy roads and the signs on the highway were talking about winter conditions ahead. What was that all about? We entered New Brunswick and the rain was gone. There was even some sun.

A stop at the gas station, a pizza slice and everybody was ready to go further on. We chose the Highway … Moncton, Fredericton, crossing the border near Houlton.


As we came to the border a lady took our passports and we had to come into the office. It took nearly one hour. Filling out the visa waiver, taking pictures, fingerprints and then the software wasn't working properly. Ah well …It was pretty warm outside, sunny and spring was in the air … fresh green on the trees. Lovely!

We drove down the interstate 95 to Bangor. I don't know why Mc Donald's tastes way better in the US than anywhere else in the world. Crazy … must be an illusion … lol.

We left the 95 in Newton and took the #2 in direction Dixfield. In Farmington we browsed through a supermarket. Everything seemed cheaper to me, especially alcohol.
In Canada you pay about 20 Can$ for 12 bottles/cans and in the US about 14 US$. Gas is cheaper, too … but we didn't exactly know how many litres a gallon has. The guy at the gas station had no idea either. ;O) Anyway … yes I know that all now!!! Miles, Fahrenheit, gallons, another time zone, I gotta love Maine! After a short nap during the sunset at a lake, we got closer to our destination … "just look for a road that doesn't exist, that keeps climbing to an imaginary end...and then...you you have reached the sky....or the SKYE...i mean...oh yeah...and then there's Phill.…" that was the explanation from Buddy … lol.

It was dark and the town … ok village … ok small village after that we would have had to turn right had no sign … ah well … I said to Gabi, that we might have missed the road as we were going down again … and so it was. We turned around in the next village and drove back … more carefully watching signs in the dark. The Skye Theatre … there was the right sign … yeah. We followed the unpaved road and came to a huge blue building. Wow that was actually big. We sneaked in … the stage looked just great. :o)))

Then we went down to say Hi to Jan … having a tea and chatting. As we were very tired she showed us our room and Phill came for a visit after returning from another Jim Payne concert. Phill showed us around and we really loved his project … still a lot to do, but already a lot of great work done! Good to be here!!!

April 19th 2010 --- Skype Monday

Another lazy day. Lots of connecting with Germany via Skype. Just relaxing to be fit for the long drive tomorrow.
Some shopping, cooking TV and Goodnight.
Gabi's sister asked us what we are looking forward to the most, when get back to Germany.
My promt, one and only answer was: my GUITAR! I don't have the feeling that I really miss something here ... and I could buy a guitar here easily, that wouldn't be a problem at all.

April 18th 2010 --- It's Raining (ehhhh Snowing) On Sunday ...

... "We'll hide under the covers all afternoon" ... the day actually started with rain and we went for some shopping and looking around. I don't know if I'll ever get used to shops being closed on a Sunday in Germany again.

It started snowing and as we were back home in Waverley everything was white.
Nice.
Watching the Junos on TV - a lazy evening!

April 17th 2010 --- Grand Pré and Songwriters Circle with Mike Aubé

Although the weather wasn't the best, we went via Sackville to the 101 and then North. A coffee at "Just Us" coffee shop and museum. Further on to Grand Pré ... ok, there was nobody, but us ... the large parking indicates, that it could be pretty busy here in the summer season. We walked around the site and after that we went to the beach. Strange these German visitors, who have to walk on the beach in April with freezing cold water and water and mud inside the Crocs afterwards ... lol. There's nothing better than experience nature.

In Windsor we were looking for a place to eat - The Spitfire Arms seemed good to us ... very busy there - a British Pub. http://www.spitfirearms.com/
The food was good, live music started later than they expected it .. lol .. Hal Bruce was sitting there in the window playing to himself ... during the time we were there. Most likely he started at 8pm. ;o) We wanted to leave anyway.

We went to the church in St.Croix --- Songwriters Circle with the Hupman Brothers, Mike Aubé and Caleb Miles. 10$ at the door. I actually hadn't heard any of them live nor did I know any of their songs, but (!) enjoyed them all! Great athmosphere in the church. They played more than 2 hours - really enjoyable! Espcially the way they all played together - "just" jamming along.

April 16th 2010 --- Prospect and Dave Gunning House concert!

A sunnny day ... and according to the weather forecast one of the last days of sunshine for next time.
At once Peggy's Cove came up in our minds what we would like to do today. We decided to go to Prospect first - ok after getting a caramel macchiato for me :o). I just love that little village "Prospect", except the fact that you get the feeling that you are not really welcome here ;o). You just can't park your car anywhere. No way. Huge "No Parking" signs everywhere, even the church tells you not to leave your car here. Hm ... we parked our car next to a playground at the side of the road. I don't think that was allowed, but anyway. It seems they get flooded with cars in tourist season - and yes they don't really have space.
We walked a small trail to the ocean and it was more than beautiful there. Behind the rocks in the sun it was warm, too. We followed the road to Peggy's Cove then - really hungry in the meantime.
So we had a seafood chowder (they just add haddock and lobster), which was delicious ... with view to the lighthouse. I would have loved to stay for the sundown, but we had to leave to be right in time for the Dave Gunning concert.

Jim and Heather met us at our place and we went together with our car to Fall River.
It was a huge house, but with kinda small rooms. And there were more than 50 people.
Saying Hi to Dave, Jamie and Wendy. We took place in the last row (8th) and the room was just packed. I didn't like the opening act. I don't remember when I said ... Uhhh ... what's that?
After the support had finished after 100 songs ... ok it felt like that ... after maybe five songs, Dave started. I really loved his performance and also think that the sound wasn't bad ... Jamie did a great job, too. The first set was finished after Dave played 4 songs ... a little bit disapointing. As we sat in the last row, we had the seats directly at the windows and because of having that many people in the room we were asked to open the window --- about zero degrees and wind outside. Ok, that wasn't funny.
A short chat with Dave and Jamie in the intermission.

The second set was longer ;o) and I have to say it again: I loved the performance of Dave and Jamie, but I don't think this was a house concert.
The magic of a house concert for me is ... having no sound system, listening to a concert from a sofa, having an intimate performance ...

Anyway, it's just my thought!

The more you experience, the more you compare and then you are more critical in the end :o))))).

April 15th 2010 --- Another Shopping Day and "Last Song"

We went shopping again, spent a long time in a "home living shop" - luckily all the things I wanted to buy were way to large to carry them with us.
We discovered Michaels and went out with a few stamps, even without being "scrapbooking" - addicted. ;o)
We went to the engraving-booth at the Shopping Center ... to have my necklace engraved.

Yeah, I love that!

Although I've just read the book "The Last Song", I really enjoyed the movie.