HOW PUNK CAN YOU BE AT 6AM ?

Good morning. Here in Vermont it’s misty and clingy grey. I love it. I was just watching the tiny birds scooting along the branches of one of the apple trees (“Shiva the Destroyer” is her name :) en masse, eating bugs and keeping the tree groomed. What a beautiful relationship. Shiva is never at a loss for birds. 

Downstairs Paul Rigby is asleep on my couch with one of ManFriendJeff’s guitars. I felt like I was walking in on something when I went down to make coffee! Chet was also involved. He is usually mirroring Paul’s repose pose on a cushion nearby. 

Today is day two of playing through songs we are recording for a new record for the first time before we meet up with our comrades tomorrow in Chicago. We are figuring out transitions, and bass notes and new melodies. It’s exhausting because I’m not used to it yet. I am at the spot where I feel overwhelmed and I don’t feel like I accomplish much in a day which means: Normal. I can’t really hear the songs as songs yet, but I’ve been here many times and I know that’s ok. It’s a good thing and a bizarre thing to know you can safely just dangle in the air for a moment.

It’s the first hint of fall here but I’m not yet in long pants. I love the sensory differences from what I’ve become accustomed to with summer. (not that we’ve had a normal one) Yesterday I went to get something out of the car and a warm breeze wrapped around my calves as I stepped into the daylight from the studio. It tickled the hair on my legs and I felt an insect feeling, like my antennae were trying to tell me something was coming. Some kind of curtain floating toward me, gently brushing everything with its hem as it passes over. While I know the answer is “fall,” the call to notice given in the sensations plucks at ancient instinct and trills me to my core. It’s good spooky.

What is your favorite thing about this time of year where you live?

Fall makes me want to draw!