April 19, 2020
Toronto, ON

Greetings from the strange new world that is downtown Toronto these days. I’m sitting on my beautiful couch (which thankfully I love) high above the once-busy street. I still hear the familiar, soothing sounds of the streetcars passing every few minutes and I look out curiously to see if there’s any one on them… Just one dude this time, in the back, with a mask. The businesses downstairs are boarded up, the park is barricaded with yellow tape -scene of the crime- and all the street folks have moved right in pitching their tents on the grass near the overpass, congregating like social distance was never a thing.

It’s now been a month into the lockdown. Or has it? I’ve lost track and can’t even really remember anymore. I’ve gotten used to my new normal of trekking home with a week’s load of groceries, washing, repackaging and sanitizing it all. I then try earnestly to recreate at home those pleasures I so miss from the real world. Oysters. French fries. Pad thai. Sigh. However, amidst all the anxieties of the pandemic I admit I had only one major personal concern which plagued me, so to speak: How was I going to maintain my fancy acrylic guitar nails without going to the salon?

Quite aware that if a terrible manicure was the worst thing that befell me through all this I was the luckiest person in the world, I still grieved my loss of choice in the matter. I thought longingly of my last trip to the spa to see Henry, my brilliant, talented nail artist. How would I have ever known that might be last time I’d see him? I also remembered my ride home on the streetcar that day when the woman sitting next to me leaned over and said, “Your nails look amazing. I love that colour!” I replied, “Oh my gosh I know I was just texting my friend a photo of them to say when I picked the colour I had no idea it was called Toronto.” I also had no idea that Toronto blue would become my official quarantine colour. That every time I looked down I would see these nails, once perfectly formed and shellacked, looking a little more Laura Palmer fresh-out-of-the-river everyday. I couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to take the matter into my own hands. Two weeks and a reasonable amount of dollars later, my professional nail design supplies arrived from Amazon. The most thrilling component was my brand new high-powered salon-grade electric nail drill in lavender purple. Game changer!

My mind was blown. For a good decade I had been dreading breaking a nail on the road somewhere far away from the skillful hands of my man, Henry. It had never occurred to me that I might be able to do this on my own. My one major stumbling block remained that doing acrylic nails on my right hand with only the use of my left hand would be… challenging. It took focus, precision and much forcibly acquired skill, but five hours later I had some pretty fabulous looking claws once more. The most exhilarating part of all of this being, I was free. No more trying to find nail salons while on tour in tiny little towns across the prairies, no more worrying about whether I’ll ever be able to go see Henry again. Although, I admit I was somewhat sad to say goodbye to Toronto blue. My new colour “Center of the Youniverse” seemed somewhat appropriately named and matches beautifully the black of my couch, as I sit here in one position or another all day long, day after day…

In other news, I’m still awfully excited for the upcoming launch of my new EP, Trilogies, Part 2 on Friday, May 1, 2020. I do regret that there won’t be any in-person album release events at this time, but I’m still really looking forward to sharing these beautiful new songs with you all. Stay tuned for pre-order details, download/streaming links and even more exciting announcements pertaining to the launch coming soon!

Hope you are all doing ok out there. Sending lots of love.

xo
Kristin

Black-capped chickadee and Toronto Blue.
More from my Instagram series here.