A Trio of Tourettes - September come she will.

It’s been 4 years since Dave Kelly, myself and some fine Travelling Gentlemen took to the musical road. It seemed like a good idea to get back together again but in a smaller, more acoustic version. Cue: Collister, Kelly and Filleul - we’d make a fine Firm of Lawyers n’est pas?

Dave’s regularly asked me to set aside some time for another tour and I finally succumbed to his delightful request. It’s difficult to find exactly the right set of circumstances, where everyone needed is available, so we grabbed the chance to put a run of dates together this September - 2011.

After working out a long list of possible songs long-distance, we finally got together for a week’s worth of rehearsal’s at Dave’s delightful family home near Kingston, the week before the tour began. Fortunately for Dave, Pete and myself, Dave’s youngest son Homer, wasn’t due to start University until October 3rd, so we roped him in to play bass and add his rather lovely, dulcet tones to our collective harmonies. Hurrah ... our trio became a quartet, just like that.

After such a long absence it was hard to remember exactly what it was we used to do. It took ages to whittle down the old songs to a manageable bunch of 10 and we took it upon ourselves to add a further 10 new songs to the mix! Given our gathering years, we found it hard to take on board everything all at once but somehow we managed it. It took a few gigs to find our musical stride but find it we did. We also added to the mix, a few nights with guest appearances at 4 separate shows!Bursting the seams of our 4 piece Trio to five - go figure. We like a challenge.

A Tourette in the making from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We travelled down to Exeter the night before our first date in order to do a live performance and interview with the effervescent Judi Spiers on BBC Radio Devon. We sang Nancy Griffith’s Gulf Coast Highway and a passably raucous version of Chris Smither’s Love Me Like A Man ... not bad for 11.30 on a Wednesday morning - even if I say so myself.

So here they are one by one: Our first date was at the lovely St David’s Hall in South Petherton in Somerset, which someone very kindly reminded me I’ve been playing at for over 25 years! Mm thanks for that! I was in too much of a dither to even remember to Flip the audience that night, let alone any musical interludes but caught the before and after tensions momentarily:



Our next port of call was the Tivoli Theatre in beautiful Wimbourne for lovely promoter Charlie, who has supported all our tours - bless!It was a gorgeous, bright, sunny day. Perfect for enjoying the fabulous countryside thereabouts ... ah touring is a wonderful privilege. Peter Filleul and I travelled together for these first few shows and allowed ourselves a rather lovely late lunch near the theatre. Delicious on all counts.

Our first musical guest joined us for this show and we were very happy to have Richard Brunton on board. He and Pete and I go all the way back to 1986 and The Life’s and Love’s of a She-Devil! He and his lovely wife had that very day spent time with Faye Weldon no less!! She would have come to the show but for a prior family do. Wow. That would have been fabulous. The show was great fun and Richard played brilliantly on half a dozen songs. Thanks Richard - let’s do it again!



With 2 shows under our belt we were getting a little less nervous and a bit more at ease. Look out Wavendon here we come! The Stables is a favourite venue of ours and one of the 2 places our “Live” cd was recorded at, way back in 2006! It was lovely to play there once more. There were friends and family at this particular performance. Bob and I had been apart at this point for 2 weeks. He’d been out on the creative road with young Mr Knowles - who was on this side of the pond for a change, writing up a storm for his next cd, with Steve Chrisanthou. He also performed at the closing ceremonies for the Youth Commonwealth Games, held this year on the Isle of Man. I had a small part to play in co-writing the Anthem for Games with Davy. Sorry I wasn’t able to be there for the opening and closing parties but I know it was a great success. Of course it was great to see Mr Miller again too! he made sure there was some Flip taken - bless!




The next show on our first run out, was at The Mill in Banbury. Hurrah. I love it here. Our techy for the night was Carl and he did a sterling job in accommodating a 5 piece Trio! We swelled our musical ranks with Mr PJ Wright! PJ introduce Pete and I way back in 198. Thereby hangs a tale and without that meeting none of this would be possible - who’d a thunk it all those years ago eh? PJ brought along a plethora of instruments - guitars, pedal steel and harmonica ... playing up a storm on loads of tunes - thank you!




Our next gig and the last of five in a row - was at the Corn Hall in Diss. I misread the information for this show when giving the details to Christy DeHaven for my website and wrote: Diss Cornwall! Oh well my geography leaves a lot to be desired but how many of you know where Ramsey is in relation to Port St Mary? Exactly - more than I’d care to admit no doubt. Anyway ... Corn Hall in Diss - Norfolk - is a fabulous venue and a pretty picturesque place with only one coffee shop open of a Sunday ... no prizes for guessing which chain of caffeine flogging establishments that might be - costa fortune more like. We were treated royally and with great respect by the Hall’s volunteer staff and enjoyed a fairly relaxed performance - practice makes perfect. And then 2 days off to see our glorious twin grand daughters - bless and rapture (They're actually called Isabella and Chiara but Bliss and Rapture sound good too).



I’ll leave you here for now and return with 2 more installments - 4 shows apiece for your further endorsement. Thanks as ever for dropping by. Hope to see you soon.

Much love

Christine xx

Final installment from our musical shenanigans in May ...

Rob and I set sail ... well we Steam Packety boated it ... to Liverpool on Saturday May 21st and after meeting back up with Bob near the famous Liver Buildings, headed on up to the Lake District. Penny and Paul who run “The Acoustic Tearooms” in Kirkby Stephens, normally include delicious 3 course meals with their concerts but due to an unusually high volume of gigs in April and May, they’d put on a concert-only gig and hoped enough people weren’t music fatigued. With a last minute huge promotional push they managed to fill the place! Hurrah for hard working, conscientious promoters!

The Acoustic Tearooms - now held in the local Masonic Hall in Kirkby Stephen - was one of our first gigs in 2009 so we were very excited to make a return visit, not least because Penny and Paul make us all feel very welcome. We were still able to sample Penny’s delicious homemade food in the form of heart-warming soup before the show and enjoyed homemade cake after - what’s not to like?!

Kirkby Stephen Acoustic Tearooms from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

The show was great fun and everyone made us feel very loved ... believe me when I say the feeling’s mutual! The party atmosphere continued back at Penny and Paul’s delightful home above their “Antiques” shop on the High Street. Cake, wine and good company followed us into the wee small hours. Next morning after delightfully strong coffee and a quick look round the shop, Rob drove off in the direction of the Cairngorm mountains and Bob and I made for Gainsborough, Worksop and impending grandparenthood! Our next gig was in Scotland 6 days ahead.




Meanwhile we spent time with Bob’s sister and husband and we all made as many visits as possible to see Jo, Mike and their incubating twins. The level of excitement and anticipation was high to say the least. We even put bets on when the girls would enter the world ... which none of us got right! While we were soaking up the love of family and relishing looming big changes, Rob was lounging by the pool and enjoying quality time alone in the lap of 4 star Hilton Hotel luxury, via the generosity of our mutual friend, Paul Leitch. Paul’s been a fan of mine for many years and over that long stretch has become a dear friend who happens to be in the hotel management business. When we first met, he was manager of The Lamb hotel in Ely and then of The Sun Hotel in Hitchen - which is still home to Hitchen Folk Club, and for the last year or so has been back in his homeland Scotland, where he now runs the smallest Hilton in the world. He very kindly offered to accommodate us for the length of our Scottish tour - so called but which turned out to be 2 gigs ... it wasn’t for the want of trying; originally the plan was to do half a dozen dates but in the end after many emails and phone calls ... and stupidly thwarting circumstances ... it was whittled down to just 2 shows: Strathpeffer on May 29th and Edinburgh on the 30th ... with several days beforehand in Paul’s delightful company, hotel and breath taking countryside included. Life is good n’est pas?

Driving to the Cairngorms from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

The drive up through the borders and into the stunning Cairngorm National Park is absolutely gorgeous and even grey voluminous cloud cover and drizzling rain couldn’t dampen (pun intended!) our rising spirits the closer we got to Ballater and thesmallest Hilton on the planet. Apart from the delights of socialising with Paul and catching up on each other’s live’s, Rob, Bob and I had time to drive around and explore the delights of some local villages but our favourite experience has to be the local Royal LochnagarDistillery right next door to Balmoral Castle. Rob’s a bit of a whiskey nut and Bob hates the stuff ... I used to like a dram or 6 in my youth but haven’t drunk Scotch for many years, so we were an odd bunch to entertain however we all thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the anecdotes of our very knowledgeable guide. The best bit was the smelling test at the end, where we were asked to sniff a dram close to our noses and then again with the shot glass at chest level; we were informed we would detect the smell of apples ... WE DID! Amazing.

Before we left Paul and his 4 star friendship, Rob and I decided to do an impromtu personal performance in a cosy corner bar tucked away from the general hubub of the other hotel guests ... it’s amazing how quietly we can play when needed. Paul was delighted and we were happy to reciprocate a little and say thank you for his wonderful hospitality. Thanks Paul ... we’ll definitely be back!

Our gig in fabulous Macenzie House,home of Steve and Clancy Square Wheels House Concert production in Strathpeffer,is also home to several lovely cats, Bob couldn’t accompany us due to an allergy, so Rob and I left him watching football in another Hilton near Aviemore - bless. It was only an hour’s drive to the gig from there and we arrived in good time. Our hosts couldn’t have been more welcoming or helpful. We were joined by Rob Ellen, our PA provider for the night and the man most responsible for making anything happen this trip - I’m indebted to his diligence and enthusiasm.

It’s amazing how many people one can squeeze into what looks like a fairly small living room. The atmosphere was brilliant and we both felt very much appreciated. I hope we can make a return trip some other time and maybe string a few more shows together then.

Hello Scotland from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Our last gig of the tour was Edinburgh city centre the following day. We didn’t hold out much hope for a big audience and we weren’t disappointed! A handful of people turned up to the show despite the last minute radio interview I did just prior to sound check ... it was worth a try. Despite the low turn out it was actually a good gig and the guys who turned up were delighted ... ah bless them. Thanks Edinburgh ... we’d like the chance to try again ... please bring a friend next time huh? We said goodbye to our “favourite nephew” Rob and drove down opposite sides of the country to reach our very different destinations - Rob back to Cardiff and Bob and I to Gainsborough once more ... where we waited ... and waited ... and on June 21st at 5.58pm and 6pm respectively, Isabella Roberta 4lbs 3oz and Chiara Anna 6lbs 7oz were finally born.

Little Isabella had problems breathing on her own and after several hours supervision was brought to Leeds St James Neonatal unit with mum and Chiara in another ambulance right behind and dad following in his car behind them ... both sets of grandparents left in Worksop and Gainsborough holding our own breath and silently praying for good news. We all arrived at Jimmy’s the next day to meet our grand children! What joy! Chiara is utterly beautiful and we were given her to hold as soon as we stepped into Jo and Mike’s tiny family room. It was hard giving her back to her mum so we could meet her equally gorgeous sister Isabella in the neonatal unit 2 floors below. Oh bless her little newborn self! She was hooked up to all sorts of monitoring equipment ... poor little mite. Because of her lack of oxygen in the first moments of life, she was undergoing a relatively new medical process whereby her tiny body is kept at a very low temperature for 72 hours with the necessity of being sedated to help her deal with the discomfort;the whole procedure minimises any damage that might have occurred in those first traumatic minutes of her life.



Without going into more detail, I’m delighted to tell you that she is doing brilliantly. As I type she is now 6lb 4oz and Chiara 8lb 4oz! And we are totally besotted with our beautiful grand daughters and our new role in life. We couldn’t be more proud or in awe of Jo and Mike’s love, fortitude, delight and sheer ability in their new roles as super parents! It’s a miracle any of us are here on this planet ... life is wonderful ... it’s a wonderful life!

Since becoming grand parents we’ve also been back to the Island in between cuddles with our lovely girls. I was very happy to take part in The Garden Party as guest backing vocalist alongside Christy DeHaven (who did a fabulous set on the Friday night) and Davy Knowles for Davy Knowles, which was a wonderful and exciting experience for all concerned. At the end of his set before an inevitable encore, he was surprised with a very special presentation by the crew of one of NASA’s space shuttles! Now that was a moment.

It's What You're Made of - rehearsal from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Christy D! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Back to visit the wee ones a week later, we also used the opportunity to visit our marvelous friends Rob and Jo Selbourne at Prebendal Farm for a celebratory birthday bash in honour of their great friends Nick and Sarah ... I won't disclose the giddy heights of their combined years but it was well worth celebrating. With Helen Watson and I in the same place with a plethora of music lovers we were strong armed (OK it didn't take that much persuasion!) into singing a couple of ditties ... in between the bell ringing! Twas a very fun weekend. More birthday parties please.

Musical fun with Heleny Belleny Botson Swotson Watson from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

A couple of weekends later I performed with Rob Cross once more, at Folk in the Barn in Kingston near Canterbury. I’ve tried for a few years to coincide with their diary and this was the only date we were able to come up with unfortunately outside of our May touring schedule but it was well worth the wait. It’s a fantastic venue run by a brilliant woman with a small core of wonderful volunteers who all help to create a great atmosphere. I think I can say with some conviction - we’ll be back!

Folk at the Barn from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

That’s all for now dear reader. Thanks as always for dropping by and perusing my musical musings - I really do appreciate it. Next on the musical horizon is a tour with Dave Kelly and Pete Filleul starting September 14th! There’s a fair amount of song learning to do between now and then and I’m hankering to finish my Art Songs project ... watch this space. Right ... back to more baby cuddles ... watch out girls here comes Grandma! XX

The continuing shenanigans of a springtime tour ... Bristol to the Isle of Man

When last we met dear reader, I was happily ensconced at my lovely friend Helen Watson’s delightful home in Burnham-on-Crouch. I spent a relaxing few days in her wonderful company and while packing the car ready for my journey to Bristol for the next gig, became enamoured of a brilliant display of bright poppies leaning artfully against the house next door. I couldn’t resist snapping away with my camera to try and capture their beauty, then proceeded to capture Corvax the cat as he posed for me in a warm pool of sunlight at the back of Helen’s fairytale garden, only then did I feel ready to drive westward.

Rob Cross was back in Cardiff in the mean time and met me at the Future Inn, in the centre of Bristol, scene of that night’s show. We were met by the Jazz@The Future Inn’s promoter Ian Storrer, downstairs in the performance area; light from above, screened out by a very complicated but well arranged series of black-out sheets - a weird but effective procedure! Unfortunately Ian had been told that very day, that our show could be the last at the venue due to economic circumstances and the considered opinions of a faceless accountant’s short term business projections. What a shame.

Bob came down from London with Steve Lima - hurrah - and our lovely friend Paul Dodgson - co-writer of Ashlands and author of Famous, the Radio 4 play (ooer missus!) from 2001- also made a much appreciated appearance. Unfortunately it wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had at a gig ... my daft banter didn’t really hit the mark and I felt a little off kilter with the monitoring system being off to one side ... so I didn’t hear clearly what was being projected through the PA. All excuses I know ... we forged on non-the-less and by the end of the night had a fairly excited audience response - phew! It just felt like hard work at times - hey-ho.

A Smorgasbord of Bristol bits from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We’d arranged to drive to Sandhurst after the show in order to stay with our delightful friend's Martin and Pam Drury - always a joy. In fact we were able to stay with them for the next few nights and had a wonderfully sociable time in their infectiously enthusiastic company. Despite the late hour ... Martin greeted us with open arms and a primed kettle. He and Rob stayed up a while longer chewing the cud and sharing a few wee drams of a highly sort after bottle of Scotch ... their giggling shenanigans helped us drift off to a much needed deep sleep.

The following morning, Bob and I were up earlier than we'd have liked as I’d arranged to meet Helen Watson at Jacqui McShee’s lovely home, an hour from Martin and Pam’s, for our one and only rehearsal for that night’s performance - eek! Julian Lewry, promoter and all round good egg of the Farncombe Music Club, had suggested many months before, that I might like to invite some talented pals to guest with me on a couple of songs, as it would be the last concert at St John’s Church before much needed renovations began and he loved the idea of going out with a bang. He’d already set up for the Guildford Community Vox Choir to be the support for the night and for them to also join Rob and I on our final song in the second set - all very exciting!

Bob, bless him, drove with me to Jacqui’s and then left us to our hurried practice. We were attempting to perform 2 songs we’d recorded for my Songbird album on Fledg’ling records way back in 1999: "Cornfield" - a haunting and wonderfully strange Lal Waterson song, followed by Christine McVie’s beautiful "Songbird". We’d never sung them live - and were a little apprehensive about wether we could pull it off! I think you’ll agree that we did pretty damned well in the end.

Rehearsals before Farncombe from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Bob and I left a little earlier than the girls to get to the venue in time for Rob and I to sound check. Once that was done Helen and Jacqui joined me near the Alter (!) and decided we’d like to perform without microphones ... we simply positioned the 2 vocal mics Rob and I used in order to just boost the overall sound ... so that took no time at all. Then the Guildford Vox Community Choir gathered and we all delighted in their warm-up exercises and then were blown away by the arrangement their lovely Choir Mistress Anna Tabbush had taught them. I had a lump in my throat the first time we tried out our collaboration. What a joy to sing with so many wonderful voices!

And so to the gig ... Farncombe! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

To say we had a wonderful show is a fairly ridiculous understatement ... we had a FABULOUS show and were thrilled by the Choir’s own performance at the beginning of the night and again when Jacqui and Helen joined me for our 2 songs ... everything went amazingly well ... we made a beautiful and moving sound between us and were ridiculously happy we’d pulled it off! So when the Choir took their positions at the end of the second set, immediately after Helen and Jacqui’s appearance, I was already on a high.

"Cornfield" with Jacqui McShee & Helen Watson from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

When all were in place and Rob and I began Guy Garvey’s brilliant One Day Like This ... we were more than ready. The Choir began to sing and I thought I might not be able to carry on as a huge well of tears threatened to undo me but I somehow managed to get on top of my emotional wobble. Rob and I were both fairly taken aback by the wave of euphoria that swept us up at the end of the performance. It was a truly memorable and breath taking experience. The audience went wild! Yes!!! A great BIG heart-felt thank you to the marvelous Guildford Community Vox Choir and their brilliant Choir Mistress Anna Tabbush - hurrah! More of this please.

One Performance like this from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

After our joyous goodbyes with Jacqui, Helen and Julian too, we packed up and headed for Pam and Martin’s where a delicious celebration awaited us ... fab food, chilled champagne, good company and great music made for a wonderously delightful time. Thank you guys we love you too!

I was treated to a wonderful day at Savill Gardens near Virginia Waters in the gorgeous company of Pat and Phil Chappell the following day. Pat works at the award winning Visitor’s centre and absolutely loves her job, so it was a real privilege to be escorted round the beautiful gardens by someone so passionate and knowledgeable. I took a ridiculous amount of photographs, mainly of flourishing foliage, fabulous flowers and ... some beautiful, fluffy baby ducks. Bob and Martin stayed behind to watch football - ah bless.

On Sunday the 15th we said goodbye to Pam, Martin, Phil and Pat, and Bob dropped me off once more at Helen and Clea’s tiny but perfectly formed home in Burnham. He continued north and I settled in with the girls for another sociable couple of days, including an educational visit to Helen’s lovely allotment.

Another Allotment Adventure with Heleny-Welleny-Botson-Swoton-Watson from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Our next concert would be at the Hoy at Anchor Folk Club in Leigh-on-Sea - always a great experience. I had to train it from lovely Burnham and had quite a dizzy making journey but eventually found my way to The Ship where Rob had recently parked.I learnt from the Landlady that he'd taken a walk up the hill so I in turn walked across the railway bridge, thinking I'd catch him on my way back but missed him! We eventually caught up with one another, set up, sound checked and walked the bridge again for a tasty dinner before returning for our show. We had mighty fun that night and were treated to a wonderful response from the sell out crowd. I'm sorry to say that I forgot to Flip on this occasion.

Rob and I were booked on the 3pm Liverpool boat to the Isle of Man the following day and so had a Travelodge near Birmingham booked that night to help us on our way. We arrived at 2.30am - very tired. We left at 11.30 next morning and arrived at the sea terminal for 2pm exactly on time for our journey. Having parked the car at the hotel next to the quay we trundled down the gangway with guitars, stage clothes and cds for the show, to check in for our journey. We both commented on how few cars there were ... and then that there was no boat yet ... funny that. On entering the reception area a young woman looking rather quizzical, came out from the office and asked ... “Can I help you?” ... “yes we’ve come to check in for the boat ...” (der ...) “Which boat would that be?” ... “The 3 O’clock” ( hello!) ... “There isn’t a 3 o’clock boat ” ... “What?!!!” ... “The 3 o’clock boat leaves the Isle of Man and arrives here at 5.30 ... “ “S**t!”. Ok so the internet is a marvellous thing but is a nightmare when booking travel ... I’ve made too many mistakes not to understand that but I really wish it didn’t happen so often. We paid a little extra to get on the 7pm boat to the Island and headed into town for a good meal. All is well all shall be well.

We made it to Douglas for 9.30pm. I stayed with Dave-Why-I-Armstrong and Christy DeHaven for our 3 night sojourn and enjoyed catching up on their various and exciting creative endeavours. On the day of the gig I met up with Svetlana Cameron for the first time - what a delightful woman! She was just hanging her marvellous artwork for her joint exhibition alongside Jim Duggan at the Sayle Gallery, when Christy and I turned up. We brought with us a mastered copy of my song demo inspired by her beautiful drawing “The Morning Light”, so she could have it playing during the exhibition. It was a delightful meeting and bodes well for future connections. Hurrah for extremely talented people!

Our concert at St Ninians was a very exciting affair. For one thing we were the first ever non religious performers to play in this beautiful church and for another we had professional lighting ... I mean PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING! Dave Armstrong had arranged all the technical necessities for the show and had invited a friend of his Justin, to provide good lights for the occasion. Justin took him at his word and brought a HUGE amount of gear to set the atmosphere good and proper. The place looked amazing though it had a disturbing effect on my performance ... I was just so distracted by it all. Hey ho ... the audience absolutely loved the colourful and mesmerising display.

We also had local instrumental duo Strengyn support us and they were simply marvellous. I’d asked Dave and Christy if they could film the whole show and they in turn had asked Simon Rae of Truman Falls to help them out, so we had 3 cameras trained on us and one static camera behind... no pressure there then! Unfortunately Rob and I were less than satisfied with our performance but for reasons we couldn’t fathom - apart from the lights show of course - the audience were ecstatic.

A littler look behind the cassocks at St Ninian's from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

mary rough edit from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

This seems like a good place to leave my musical musings for now but I’ll continue with the last 3 shows - Kirky Stephens, Strathpeffer and Edinburgh with a marvelous few days in Ballater thrown in - as soon as I’ve edited the Flip footage and written up my reports.

Thanks as ever for dropping by and hope to see you with the next instalment soon. I think it only fair to warn you that I’m eagerly waiting to become a Grandma in the next few weeks!! My gorgeous husband’s beautiful daughter Jo, is pregnant with twin girls and they’re due anytime now! I can’t tell you how thrilled we all are but rest assured I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings with you here :-) well maybe a few pics here and there?

Take care

Much love

Christine xx

A tour of springtime shenanigans

Hello one and all! It is a quintessentially English spring day as I tap away on the computer’s keyboard: light with a little cloud threatening to put a dampener on the day, songbirds trilling joyously, blossoms flowering abundantly and fresh green foliage bursting from every nook and cranny - absolutely gorgeous. First of all I should explain that the continuation of my Caribbean Escapades over the new year, will have to now be laid to rest some other time due to an overwhelmingly creative month in Los Angeles before the tour started. To-wit ... unusually for me I’d like to start from here and work my way back to then ... does that make any sense? Perhaps ... but fear not dear reader ... we’ll figure it out together!

So ... a short but varied tour, once again with Rob Cross, began last week on the outskirts of Sheffield at the Beehive Folk Club. This delightful place has been running many, long and successful years and is organised by a very lovely man in the shape of Peter Garrett. When we arrived and started setting up so did the nearby Campanologists! They rang their - varyingly tuned - bells for a very long time but thankfully stopped by the time Rob and I stepped up to perform.

Considering we haven’t done a gig for over 6 months it was great. We’d had several stints of rehearsals in Cardiff beforehand and re-jigged the set so as to make it more interesting for us if no one else. Rob - bless him - learnt a brand new song I wrote with Mike Slamer in Santa Clarita a few short weeks ago: “Skin and Bones” and is going down remarkably well. Plus we’ve re-learnt a couple of songs from a while back to keep us on our toes.

The Beehive audience were delightful: attentive yet rowdy in all the right places. We did have a few technical hitches entirely of our own doing ... well not entirely but there aren’t many shows where the audience accidentally unplugs the loop station before the second half! Oops. Or was it deliberate?:-) It was great to see a few friendly faces too ... especially Chris Howarth whose unmistakable laugh warms the cockles of this performers heart. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to Flip the ecstatic response at the end of the night (was that because we’d finished?) thankfully, tho' Bob used his little Flip camera to capture a few moments which I’m happy to share with you here:

Saints alive it's the Beehive! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Bob’s sister Chris who normally resides in New Zealand, is over visiting family and friends and was able to come to the show also ... an honour for me to have her there. Hurrah.

After the gig Rob stayed with Peter and his lovely wife, while Bob and I went back to Chris’s temporary place in Gainsborough a 30 minute drive away. The daft thing about all of that was that Jo and Mike - Bob’s daughter and her husband - live 5 minutes from the venue. Hey-ho.

The following day we had to drive to the Lake District - which of course is never a chore, even though it was a very grey, overcast day, the greenery and loveliness of the area could not be hidden. Though the venue itself:Water Yeat’s Village Hall Water Yeat’s Village Hall, has been around for 80 years, having concerts there is a relatively new venture. John Willis and his delightful wife Maggie certainly know how to make a travelling performer very welcome and also how to promote a gig ... given this is a new experience for them both they do a brilliant job.

They don’t sell tickets up front and the audience brings their own beverages ... many of them in wicker baskets; they’d managed to get a real buzz going about our show and when it came down to it, had to turn away 15 basket laden people. Wow ... more of this please. Obviously no one likes turning someone away but having a hall full with expectant punters is a joy.

Water Yeat Village I from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We had an exceptionally good gig with a few mishaps mostly due to my ridiculous lack of memory - the most memorable (oxymoronic pun intended) was when I completely forgot some chords and Rob - bless him - had to put my fingers in the right place before we could continue. It’s not going to get any better either I suppose? My memory that is not the shows ... A fabulous time was had by all despite my varying lapses ... we definitely would love to play here again soon. Maybe next May? We’re working on it.

Water Yeat Village Hall take 2 from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

I’m now in Burnham-on-Crouch once more, with gorgeous Helen Watson for a couple of days R&R. We also need to brush up on a couple accappella songs we recorded in 1999 with Jacqui McShee, as all three of us are attempting to perform them live (something we’ve never done!) on Friday - May 13th Gulp. It will be wonderful I’m sure. Flip footage guaranteed!

So as promised, I’ll now regale you with tales of my recent visit to Santa Monica ... well I’ll try to explain why I was feeling so creative at the very least. Before I left the Isle of Man I had a very interesting conversation with local, talented artist Juan Moore about an idea he had last year. He explained to me that he decided to approach the local Arts Council for a grant and knew he had to have an original idea to get their attention. He came up with creating art pieces for various unusual exhibition sites: the first was at a wonderful Fish Restaurant “Tanrogan” and all his works included images of fish. The second was in a pub ... all artwork drink related and the third he called a “Gighibition”. He invited 5 local singer songwriters to submit 4 or 5 of their songs and then Juan painted original pieces inspired by each writer’s work. Then ... he exhibited the paintings while the bands/performers performed the songs in the same space ... a “Gighibition” .What a fab idea huh?

So I decided to reverse the idea and look at artworks by artists living or coming from the Isle of Man and writing songs inspired by their images. There are 2 websites I used for this purpose: The Sayle Gallery and Artworkx of Mann .Each has a plethora of very talented visual artists and I was VERY inspired! Who knew? Given the visual focus, I found myself tuning into a very rich seam of lyrical and musical ideas. I used my trusty program Logic on the computer to create musical landscapes and draped my intuited lyrics across the sounds. I do of course see the the irony of doing all this while thousands of miles away in sunny California.

The very first song I attempted was using Svetlana Cameron’s brilliant drawing “The Morning Light” which is now in an exhibition at the Sayle Gallery till the end of May. I emailed Svetlana to explain what I’d done and on hearing the song she immediately suggested using the demo I’d created, alongside the original drawing at the exhibition. I can’t tell you how utterly thrilled I am at this sudden and unexpected collaboration with this extremely talented young artist; in fact we’re both very happy about it. As illustration to what I'm trying to explain here is Svetlana's beautiful drawing and the song I was inspired to write:



Morning light - new mix by cc.sings

I’ve so far written 7 songs using 7 different artist’s work and had positive feedback from all of them. I’d like to have another stint at writing more and then perhaps selecting the best of the crop and putting them together - possibly with images of each piece? - on a cd and then one day touring the whole thing complete with projections of the artwork so I can talk about the artist and how I came to the songs? It’s an idea ... I’ve certainly enjoyed the process and learning more about art in general. Hurrah for motivating ideas and the courage to have a go!

I also finished writing 2 songs with Mike Slamer this time round, one of which Rob and I are now performing on tour. It’s always a joy to work with Mike. I did one other strange little musical piece inspired by an email from Mike’s wife Susan. She’s a music supervisor at Sony TV in Los Angeles and has suggested my songs on occasion for various tv shows ... as yet no takers but you never know. Anyway she emailed to ask if I had a song that would work for one of her shows. She described the scene which included the main character losing everything, including 2 of her sons dying and being found out by the police for murdering a man for stealing some of her drugs! Sue said ... I’m sure you’ve got something that would work ...? Er ... not that I could think of but I did no more than create something then and there. I had no idea I could be so responsively creative. As far as I’m aware my experiment isn’t being used but I’m so glad I had the opportunity to have a go ... who knows what else might show up?

We met and socialised with many of our lovely friends in LA and I indulged in as many Kia Miller Yoga sessions as I could fit in while I was there. Her style and enthusiastic teaching are so inspiring ... I’m now yoga-ing daily and loving the feeling it brings. I highly recommend it!

I'll leave it here for now and hope to up date with more gigs and touring adventures very soon. Thanks as ever for stopping by ... if you manage to make it to a show please do come and say hello.

Take care ... much love

Christine xx :-)

Caribbean cruising ... part II: All at sea ...

Christmas day was spent gently sailing further away from Bonaire and on toward Jamaica, with nothing but sunshine and silky sea water in between. We booked ourselves a rather strange and wonderful 9am Christmas Day treat ... a Rasul steam. I won’t go into any great detail but needless to say it was hot, sweaty and yet ... sweet smelling and thoroughly delightful. It ended with us clinking fully charged champagne glasses .. chin-chin.

I’ve not mentioned the overwhelming culinary options on board Ventura but will endeavour to give you a flavour (pun intended!) of what was on offer. We were designated a dining room: The Saffron Restaurant, for dinner each night at the early sitting of 6.30pm and discovered this entailed sitting down to eat with 6 complete strangers - apparently it’s part of the “cruise experience”. When Bob found out what the scoop was, he was heard to say… “ I’ve been talking to strangers all bloody year I don’t want to have do that on holiday as well!” ... fair enough. So we marched over to the - very pleasant and endlessly patient - Maitre’d and requested a table for 2. After a little negotiation (we played the Honeymoon card) we were reassigned to a small table in The Bay tree Restaurant at the back of the ship on the deck 7. Phew.

We loved our little corner of the restaurant. We were sat right at the back near the deep-set bow windows and took it in turns to look out at the twinkling lights of passing Islands or into the restaurant itself. People watching is always fascinating of course. Though we had our own little table, we were sat very close to a lovely Caribbean couple who now live in London. They more often than not ate elsewhere but always showed up on the formal nights dressed beautifully. Along from them was a larger round table with 4 couples plonked together in a random cruise style ... 2 of them jumped table the very first night. Oh the intrigue! Of the remaining six, two were widowed sisters from the Wirral and one of them was VERY deaf ... I SAID DEAF! Bless her but she had no idea just how LOUD she was SHOUTING ... though fairly annoying at times - it was hard to hear ourselves think - after a while it was just funny ... she was also highly opinionated which made for some fabulously raised eyebrows around the listening catchment area ... most of the restaurant it seemed.

A snippet of Montego Bay from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Our next port of call - on Boxing Day - was Montego Bay, Jamaica. Now Bob’s been to Jamaica many times: BC (before Christine) and has lots of fabulous family memories from those visits so we didn’t have any urgency to get off and explore. The Ship was docked a fair way out of town and there was nothing of note at the port side (we checked it out ... there really was nothing) so we continued to unwind onboard and make the most of a relatively empty vessel. It was heavenly warm this day and whileing away several hours on the top deck, basking in the delicious warm sunshine, reading books and playing cards was all we wanted to do - so that's what we did - simples. Setting sail that evening was wonderful ... the sky a bright, deep gold and black canvas.

The following day we were to anchor off the shores of Gran Cayman and be shuttled to the shore by tender, however ... the weather had changed a fair bit over night and the sea was simply too choppy for the little sea craft ready to tender us across to the Island and so we had to turn around and go slooow towards Cozumel Mexico and my birthday!

Yes dear reader it was my 49th birthday on December 28th 2010 and I found myself alongside Cozumel Island. We were anchored alongside several other large cruise ships from various countries all of us marvelling at the bright sparkling turquoise waters and sharing an intermittent Mexican sun. I went ashore alone ... as is my want sometimes and let Bob gorge on a glut of sky sports football - bless him! Actually he said he had a headache but I knew what was really going on.

The little port-side retail therapy village was actually very pleasant and I had a lovely time sauntering around soaking up the colourful atmosphere. I bumped into 2 other passengers we’d talked to at gatwick when we thought we might be stranded ... Mike and Sven ... who insisted on buying me a birthday drink - I had a Mexican beer, they had margaritas. We shared a platter of nibbles and laughed raucously at our collective flamboyant natures. Twas fun. They wanted more margaritas than this 49 year old can even contemplate, so I left them to their 3rd (!) and I wended my way back to my footie-mad husband. When I got back to our little cabin, a card and a plate of chocolates awaited me... from the Captain no less! Ooer missus ...

Birthday meandering in Cozumel - Mexico from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

That evening instead of dining at Bay Tree we booked ourselves into The White Room - a Marco Pierre White restaurant no less. Ooh la-la ... tres posh nosh. This up-market eatery cost an extra £20 each (plus drinks) and was actually worth it. I’m sure it would have cost an arm and a leg at a similar land-locked extablishment. When they found out it was my birthday (I told them) they brought me a large peice of chocolate cake ... unfortunately we’d already ordered our sweet and so the cake went uneaten ... it lay in our fridge a few days, before being unceremoniously binned. What a waste ...

It took 2 days to get to our next port ... the marvelous, the wonderful, the unforgettable ... New Orleans! We sailed up the majestic Mississippi river in the dark, on December 29th and docked early morning on the 30th. It took till 4pm before we cleared immigration and customs - argh! The whole thing was a mess. We were given numbers and called in groups and stood in line and bla, bla, bla ... in the end the authorities ran out of time and staff, so that when we went through to get our passports stamped, they’d dispensed with finger prints and photos, making a mockery of the entire sorry process! Hey ho. We wandered into the French Quarter and forgot about the stupid charade and soaked up the fog and steam of this marvelous city. Deep breaths everyone and - ahh.

We had the luxury of several days here and wandered back that first evening when our land legs refused to carry us any further. We were aboard by 7pm and in bed by 10pm - poor ickle pooped-out cruisers that we were. Bright and early next day we were up and off as soon as could be. This was also a turn around day for some of our fellow passengers. 300 new sailing compatriots boarded the ship replacing 400 out going holiday sailors. It was funny to see gaggles of newbies looking lost and confused at every deck level. Smugness is not a state I'm that familiar with - I'm unsure about most things a lot of the time - but the taste was sweet the few moments it lasted.

Bob and I have both been to New Orleans many times before but that didn’t detract from the palpable excitement of this delightful place.We’ve always been there in spring or summer when the climate can be stiflingly hot and muggy and the resultant street smells overwhelming to say the least. So being here in the middle of winter was a treat. It was grey and overcast but strangely warm.

We both love Cafe Du Monde which is situated slap bang in the middle of the French Quarter. We made our way through the crowded streets for their famous cafe au lait and beignets - a deep-fried doughnut mixture that comes in curled up squares and covered in icing sugar ... delicious! By the time we got to the cafe there was a huge line of people patiently waiting their turn to squeeze into the place. Not wanting to be static for too long, we walked on whistfully and passed them all and with it, the chance to savour the sweet, crispy delights of a well cooked batter mix. However ... Bob noticed a few people exiting the small side room onto the street several feet away from the main entrance, leaving the door wide open and a table in the corner empty! Before I could act on my embarrassment, he was in like flinn and there we were sitting inside and almost instantly being served by a sweet older Korean woman who just lurved our accent. When in doubt? Go with the flow I say.

New Orleans I from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We spent the next few hours walking the beignets off and luxuriating in the wonderful street entertainment, churches, shops and bars. It was a fabulous way to end the year.

New Orleans take II from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We decided to stay on board for the evening festivities as we didn’t relish the thought of being squashed in the revelling, no doubt, drunken, heaving, crowds ... even on the delightful and inspiring streets of New Orleans. Perhaps it’s simply an age thing. We had fun on board, dressing up for the occasion. I even wore a white feather boa, bought from the French Quarter Market that day - hurrah. Somehow, despite our wanting to see the fireworks over the Mississippi river at midnight, we fell asleep before the bewitching hour and missed the whole thing. C’est la vie. Happy new year everyone!

This is as good a lace as any to end this episode. Thanks as ever for stopping by to peruse my cruise notes ... there are possibly 2 more instalments yet - hang on in there!

I hope to see you here again in a couple of weeks, by which time I'll be ensconced once more in the heart of Santa Monica, Los Angeles - never a dull moment n'est pas?

Take care till then.

Much love

Christine XX ;-)

Blogging for Christmas

In December, 2010, Bob and I had the fortunate task of choosing where we would spend Christmas which also served as our official Honeymoon. We each had criterion to stick to ... absolutely no cruises (me) and definitely no longer than 16 days (Bob). So that’ll be a 28 day Caribbean Cruise then! I won’t bore you with the details of how this came about but will say in our defense, that we know a bargain when we see one.

First of all though, we had to leave the Isle of Man, visit Jo and Mike for a pre Christmas hug and also beat the snow storms blitzing the UK the week we flew out to our cruise starting point, Barbados.

Boxing clever - or so we thought - we drove very carefully down to Gatwick airport, 24 hours before we needed to, in order to beat the first blizzard sent to try us. That done and feeling rather smug, we endeavoured to deliver our car to the long stay parking lot of our choice, the day before our flight, as originally intended. What should have been a quick and simple 20 minute trip, turned into a 4 and a half hour snow-filled saga!

Having felt the chilling wrath of the snow Gods once, we decided to circumvent another icy trial, by leaving our hotel valiantly early the morning of our flight. It actually took no time at all to arrive at the departure level at North Terminal, though the ground was severely iced over. Our intrepid taxi driver crept and crunched along the eerily quiet roads to drop us off at 5.30am - our flight wasn’t due to leave till 10.30am! We really didn’t want to take any chances.

The next 12 hours (yes that’s right - 12!) were a veritable roller coaster of nail biting excitement, the sort we can all do without. Part of the high drama was due to an enormous amount of snow enveloping Gatwick in a relatively short amount of time which left a heavy, white, sparkly blanket over the entire airport and surrounding area. Easy-jet and BA immediately cancelled all flights for the next 48 hours. Our Thompson charter flight, transporting only P&O cruise goers, held out till the very last possible moment . We were finally called to board the plane at 3.30pm. Our captain kindly informed us that the crew were nearing their legal limit of the maximum hours they could work. He also told us that they are allowed a discretionary extra, unspecified, extension which they had all agreed to use. A loud spontaneous "Hurrah!" went up from the packed plane. He then told us the absolute maximum time remaining would take us to 4.30 - it was then 4pm. We went very quiet for the next ... little while. After being doused in industrial quantities of deicer (the plane ... not us personally) we pulled away from our Gate on the 6th attempt and finally came free of the frozen stand and took to the still snow-clouded skies. And in real, by now hysterical excitement, headed for Barbados and all things Caribbean. The time? 5.10pm! Eek.

Blizzards to blistering Barbados from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Our first glimpse of Ventura, the ship that would become our floating living quarters for the next 4 weeks, was utterly jaw dropping. Towering above everything around it, for what seemed like miles, Ventura dominated the skyline of Bridgetown, capital and well worn cruise port of Barbados. Checking in to board the ship, was a chaotic, cheerful and mercifully quick affair. After finding our stateroom at the back, port side of the ship on the top accommodation deck, we marveled at the heat of the night and our new temporary home. Exhausted but relieved and happy to be there at all ...we fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

At one point in the middle of the night, now in full sailing motion en route to St Lucia, I woke to the gentle sway of our moving colossus and couldn’t resist a peek out over the balcony. Still warm and muggy, the black night was studded with twinkling stars and the calm sea looked glossy and inviting in the moonlight - a beautiful dream-like experience. Sigh.

The following morning however was definitely not the most fun we’ve ever had. There were apparently 3498 other passengers aboard Ventura as well as 1500 or so staff; one of my negative assumptions about cruising was simply that - too many people in a confined space with no way to escape! I think everyone tried to have breakfast at the same time and in the same place that first morning - that’s what it felt like. We had to elbow past people - they started it! - in order to get to the self-serve buffet and fight to find a seat. I was NOT happy. The thought of being on a floating Butlin’s style holiday camp did not thrill me ... I know what I’m talking about ... I used to be a Red Coat!

Our breakfast ordeal over and safe and alone in our little haven of a cabin once more, we began to relax. Still feeling somewhat discombobulated by our journey there, we decided to spend the day onboard and forgo the pleasures of St Lucia - it was grey and drizzling which helped cement the decision. So while most of our fellow cruise goers left the comfort and safety of the ship, we were free to roam and investigate it’s many and varied rooms, decks and facilities.

We made our way to the gym area on the top deck overlooking the lush green cruise port of St Lucia. We don’t normally go in for gym-like regimens but for some reason, probably the wonderful views, we managed to spend time there every day - exercising and everything. We also found the Thermal suite - Lordy! - which housed a beautiful mosaic-tiled steam room complete with fountain and cold water sinks, plus a dry heat room where the tiled seating, perfectly sculpted to a reclining position, were wonderfully heated to a high degree - sweating obligatory. Then ... outside the hot rooms were a line of, once again, tiled beds mildly heated for a fabulously relaxing lie-down. What’s not to like? This became our daily ritual ... 40 minutes in the gym followed by an hour in the Thermal suite ... ah yes cruising is delightful!

Happy Island Hopping from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

After St Lucia we stopped in Antigua which has a rather vibrant, colourful and smelly port town, an unprepossessing introduction to the Caribbean for me. The people however were warm and friendly with beautiful bright smiles. Tortola was our next Island call and showed us a sweeter smelling and calmer side to a Caribbean cruise port. Hilly, lush and tranquil with far fewer people in the town centre then we expected, our short saunter was most enjoyable. Our great friends Diane and Bryan Ansell, used to live here. So Bob text to let them know we were on their old stomping ground and offered to pay off any outstanding bar bills they may have left! Diane text back straight away to say she’d love some curry powder from the Sunny Caribbee Herb & Spice Co, though she doubted we’d be able to find it. As he stopped to read her reply ... we were stood right outside!

Toodleloo to tiny Tortola from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We had fun in Aruba, chatting to a delightful woman visiting family for Christmas; she now lives on nearby sister Dutch Antilles Island Bonaire, our next stop and told us about the famous flamingos and beautiful lakes there, she insisted we go see. The busy cruise port is basically in shopping over-drive which we managed to dodge quite well apart from the Bob-the-Fish swimming shorts ... Bob couldn’t resist! It was also stiflingly hot!

Adorable Aruba from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Bonaire is a quiet, rural, diver’s paradise where flamingos and lizards abound. We took a $10 taxi ride with 8 other passengers around the Island which took all of 90 minutes. Our driver, a lovely local woman originally from Holland, gave us great value for money with her many witty and informative comments. Due to the heavy rainfall of late, the lake that usually holds the majority of flamingos, was closed to the public. Most of the roadways were water-logged; she drove us to 2 alternative lakes to see the beautiful sight but the flaming red birds were far, far away (think Father Ted!) and not easy to spot.

Beautiful Bonaire from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Each morning about 7am we woke in a new port and every evening around 6pm we pushed off from wherever we’d anchored for the day, to sail the gentle night waves, ever onward to our next exotic Caribbean Island. It became an hypnotic, mesmerizing routine - which we got used to it frighteningly quickly.

We spent Christmas day "at sea" ... out on the open waves gently rocking from side to side ... it was delightful. I trust you all enjoyed your Christmas wherever you were. I'll leave it here for now and come back in a week or so with a little more.

Thanks as ever for stopping by to read my muddled meanderings ... it's very much appreciated.

Take care ... see you soon.

Much love

Christine xx

Summer shennanigans! A late blog of sorts …

I wrote this Blog in September in the vain hope I'd have something online before I went on tour with Rob Cross ... obviously the phrase to emphasise here is "in vain"! So these musings on my summer sojourn in sunny California lay dormant in my virtual draft drawer. Not wanting to waste my efforts and to give me a little breathing time before organising my flip and thoughts on our recent Caribbean Christmas cruise, I thought I'd publish what I have here and add a few extra bits to keep you satisfied. I can dream can't I?

Here's what I wrote way back then - hope you enjoy:

Before I set off for all things of a touring nature, I thought it prudent to put a short summer blog together and to perhaps whet your appetitie for what's to come over the next few months? I will of course be blogging the length and breadth of the tour with footage of our stange and wonderful travels as well as documenting each gig. If you manage to make it to a show (Oct 13^th – Nov 21st) – and I sincerely hope you do! - I may ask you to be a cameraman/woman for the duration of at least one song … it's an idea I'm working on! (All published now and here for your perusal below this Blog).

Anyway … this summer … August 1st 2010 to be precise … I landed in Los Angeles once again and was met by my fabulous friend and co-writer Mike Slamer. I stayed with him and Susan – his equally fabulous wife - for the first few nights of my 7 week stay, ostensibly getting over the long-haul flight and readying myself for a week of relaxation with them and several other mutual friends, at Lake Mead near Las Vegas!

It's Ok … I know I'm ridiculously lucky … really I do! They and another family: Jeff and Nelly Neben and their 3 gorgeous children – Jake, Hannah and Danni … had invited me on one of their annual summer jaunts … they took pity on me knowing I'd be on my own for a couple of weeks before Bob turned up in California. Bless! They're all deligthful human beings and I love everyone of them!

Unfortunately for Sue, due to some silly work shennanigans … she had to forgoe the first couple of days of her vacation, which meant Mike and I had to drive from their home in Santa Clartia to the Lake shore in Nevada … just less than 300 miles! … without her … :-(

The trip itself was relatively easy … for me ... Mike however drove the whole way … towing a 30 foot boat! Didn't seem to bother him … until maybe 20 miles short of our destination when he realised he'd left the boat keys back in Santa Clarita! Doh! We drove up to the lake – which is stunning btw … and went in search of possible spare key options, which turned out to be quite simple and easy to recitfy. Hurrah.

The next part of the plan was going great too … Mike positioned the trailer, truck and boat in alignment and asked me to back everything into the water … while he got onto the boat, ready to ride her round to the slip. I managed to back into the water no problem but … Mike couldn't turn the engine over … the battery, much to his surprise, was absolutely flat. So he gesticulated for me to pull forward … which I did … eventually.

Turns out that … when I kindly offered to clean the boat, before we left … in my eagerness to do a good job ... I'd managed to push EVERY switch possible to the ON position and drained the whole system! OMG! I felt such an idiot. Mike, bless him, was a complete gentleman about it and simply drove out to buy a new (expensive!) battery and … an hour later … we were back in the same position but this time everything went as it should and we were out on the lake in no time at all heading to meet our friends who'd arrived the day before.

This was my first time in this stunning location and I was blown away by the stark beauty of the landscape and the incredible heat – it was 107F when we turned up! Jeff and Nelly along with their great friends and neighbours, Marcello and Lola … had found a beach to anchor for the evening and were intent on having a barbque when we rolled up to join them. I was quite speechless … the light, warmth, deligthful company and delicious food were all amazing … and I so wanted to share it all … with Bob – ah. Maybe next time?

The next few days rolled by with lightening speed. Sue flew into Las vegas a couple of nights later and joined us for the weekend which was just wonderful.

They've all been here before and had perfect weather for boating … flat calm, glass-like waters … but this time, there were some mighty blustery winds which made for some bumpy rides. This only added to the excitement for me but I neither had to steer a boat nor keep children happy and content. It was also blisteringly hot on a couple of days; I loved being able to just drop into the cool waters of the lake. We even swam near the great Hoover Dam!

One particularly blustery day we decided to give the lake a miss and drove nto the local town – Boulder City, to check out other boats and keep out of the wind for a few hours but once we'd seen all there was to see and figured the worst was over, we thought we'd all go out together on Mike and Sue's boat for a little ride. On our way back from said ride, Mike noticed a funny noise coming from his engine, so he steered towards the nearest marina and just as we nudged inside the tyre barrier, the engine conked out completely! There was a moment of silence followed by a few minutes of hilarious laughter … followed by many more minutes of trying to call for help via the radio set onboard … but no one would answer us!

Lake Mead I from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Eventually a lovely couple on their way back from a day on the lake, sailed up to help us and towed the boat – with us all still onboard - to the petrol pump which by this time was closed! What followed was a 4 hour farce of great fun and frollicks which left myself, Sue, Nelly and her 2 delightful daughters, Hanah and Danni, playing silly games on board our stranded boat, while Mike and Jeff endeavoured to get back to a car, drive to the marina we were starnded at and bring us all back to the hotel! Turned out we'd simply run out of petrol and Mike and Jeff returned to get Mike's boat very early the following morning … filled up and came back to home port so-to-speak ready for our last day of fun on the lake. Never a dull moment!

Lake Mead II from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

And that was only the beginning of my trip! We drove back to Santa Clarita on Aug 9^th and on August 10^th Sue dropped me off at the apartment Bob and I had rented for the summer, in Santa Monica. I loved this little flat in it's perfect location.

There were many more adventures over the summer but briefly here's what it consisted of: meeting friends from far off times, going to Yogaworks on Main Street to get thoroughly immersed in Kundalni Yoga with Kia Miller (she's simply amazing!), meeting up with new babys who are now my surrogate nephews – well only one baby and his name is Avery Richmond Pleeter and he is absolutely gorgeous! Having various repastes with such luminaries as: Tracy Strann, Sam Epstein, Gary stewart, Helene Muddiman, Kelly Ann Ford, Richard Thompson and Nigel Rush … walking along the beach between Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach and … driving back up to Las vegas to be with Bob and to catch a couple of CBR shows this time in a double bill with Nora Jones no less. Experiencing the absolutely amazing Cirque De Soleil Beatles show “Love” wow … and erm ... writing several songs along the way … mostly on my own but on occasion in the company of Mike Slamer or Helen Muddiman this time round ... plus a couple of days out in the desert at Palm Springs with Bob for a little R&R after the CBR tour ... Phew! I feel quite dizzy just thinking about it.

Palm Springs and things to celebrate from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

At the very end of our trip we drove up to the Sonoma Valley wine region to be with our lovely friends Jon and Diane who had THE most gorgeous wedding at the prestious BR Cohn Vineyard. It was a truly inspiring event and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend. We stayed at a wonderfully eccentric B&B –Relais Du Soleil - complete with fabulous wild artwork by sort after artist Bryan Tedrick. We made fast friends with our delightful host Tim who was endlessly kind and generous and made us several delicious breakfasts … we'll definitely be back in fact I want to do a gig there … it's a magical place!

This is where my original Blog attempt ended but there's one other little event I'd like to share with you here and that's Dave Armstrong's 50th birthday celebrations. Lucky for us it all took place a week after the tour and so we were on the Island to make the most of the weekend. Dave - bless him, hadn't a clue! Christy D did an absolutely brilliant job of organising it all and amazingly kept it from Dave ... her advice to anyone thinking of having a surprise party for someone? DON'T DO IT! It was a weekend of wonderful friendship, frivolity and fun ... when can we do it again?!

Dave's BIG day! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

My Caribbean adventures will be Blogged over the next few weeks/months ... I'll try to keep them to bite-sized, easily digestible and tasty morsels. I can but try.

Take care and thanks as ever for stopping by to peruse my musings.

Much love

Christine XX ;-)