July 1, 2019
Toronto Island, ON

What a beautiful Canada Day weekend it’s been in the big city. I’ve been enjoying a lazy few days of much-needed relaxation after a super busy couple of months. Despite my best intentions to stay home today and get more work done, I once again found myself myself riding the old ferry across the harbour to the shores of the Misty Isle. So close and yet so far it is from the real world – such sweet salvation for this urban adventuress who often needs to pretend she is out in the wild!

Although the lake levels are still super high on the Island, I managed to find myself a wee patch of what’s left of the beach, just big enough for me and my tiny little picnic. The tall ships are in town this weekend and I can see four of them now from where I sit… yet another illusion of time and space. I could close my eyes and open them up again in another era altogether, when this island was not even an island but a grand peninsula sweeping out into the bay. The original Indigenous inhabitants of the area once named it “Menecing” and were known to bring their sick here to recover in the healthful atmosphere. I guess that’s what I’m doing now. Even though so many things have irreversibly changed since those days long before the tall ships even sailed, perhaps at least a few things have stayed the same. I know I will leave here stronger and sounder than when I climbed aboard that boat today and for that I am truly grateful.

Now, I have a few exciting artistic updates for you all… I am so pleased to announce that my new “Trilogies” EP is well on its way! I spent a fantastic few days in the studio with producer Chris Stringer recently and the tracks are sounding so good. I play lots of guitar, of course, but am mixing it up this time with some new instrumentation. I try my hand at the button accordion, soprano and alto recorder, various kinds of percussion as well as some bass parts and fancy FX. We are on studio break this month but finish up in August with some very special session guests. I hope to have it all done by September for a fall launch. Watch this space for EP release show info and more details coming soon. Stay tuned for some fun upcoming writing and photography projects as well, it’s going to be a fruitful harvest this year!

In the meantime, I’m going to lie here by the lake and pretend it’s the ocean, with the yellow warblers singing and the warbling vireos warbling. Right now, the biggest, tallest, prettiest ship of them all seems to be getting closer and closer to shore. Perhaps my tall ship is coming in, at last.

Ahoy!

xo
K

Holy Mackerel…  More from my Instagram series here.