We all have our strengths and natural aptitude. Mine is not a green thumb. I’ve a few houseplants that I constantly yank from the brink of death and many that I never could maintain or save. The three stalks of “fool-proof” bamboo I was given have even dwindled to one. I gaze out at my patio and admire my dirt/weed garden where nothing I’ve tried to cultivate has lasted, and I don’t mind.

So when I was given a bag of tulip bulbs last fall as a gift, I apologized and said goodbye to each one as I buried them in the dirt – sure I wouldn’t hear from them again, that their luck to be planted by my hands was bad luck indeed.

You’ll understand, then, that I was surprised (amazed really) to see in these past few weeks a green shoot poke through from every spot that a bulb was hidden. Especially since everywhere else in the city the tulips were already in full bloom.

But I’ve never minded a late-bloomer. You could say I identify.

The better late-than-never tulips arrived just before I left for the Spring tour I did with E.S.L. and Cris Derksen, and I took their appearance as encouragement. The short tour had us winding in and around the mountains and valleys of BC, all to towns and ears and hearts that I knew would welcome us (that was a requirement when booking the gigs that would be my first tour in over two years).

Touring alongside a band was a first for me and E.S.L. was amazing. Their music is incredible, they appreciate whiskey, and they really love each other. It soooooooo made me want to have a band! Solo-artist schmolo-artist. Who’s with me?

I debuted a few new songs on the tour – Happy, Good Bayou and Lucky Or Lost. That’s always a little nervewracking, and always exciting. Playing Lucky or Lost, being the newest of all, felt the most precipitous, but the timing was right at the gig in Ymir. There was some magic that night, for all of us, and it was special to introduce the song there. The post-show Otis Redding/90s hits dance party was pretty special too.

Here’s Marta, Cris and I outside Voodoo’s in Penticton (photo by Tess Kitchen):

Some early morning beautiful BC landscape in Cawston (photo also by Tess, much appreciated hospitality by The Mennells):

My camera refused to work for the entire trip, except to take this one photo in Greenwood (Tip: one must always stop at the Copper Eagle when driving highway 3. Always.):

And here, the last tulip in the city, but the first in my garden, to bloom:

xoc