4 days off and a gig in montreal marked the official turn around. as of today, we are homeward bound. amazing that we took over four weeks to get to our most eastern point, and in 8 days we’ll be back in vancouver.

at the moment i’m in sault st. marie. coming into the sault had us literally driving off into the sunset. a beautiful pink sunset. of course, the image of a cowboy and denouement has never indicated how hard it is to see the road with the sun in your eyes. but we arrived safely. i’m looking forward to sleeping on a surface i can fully extend my legs on. it’s the little things, you see, especially for little legs…

when last you and i met, it was hot summer days in ol’ t-dot. since then, the air has cooled and we’ve played in wakefield, ottawa, st. hyacinthe, hamilton and montreal.

wakefield may have been one of the best shows yet! what a beautiful location and wonderful room. james lamb and miss emily brown, co-east coast touring artists, were on the bill too so we performed in the round for the time saving sake of set changes. i am always soothed and inspired by james’ music. it was the first time i’d heard emily, and she too was lovely with graceful and smart tunes. the crowd was candle lit and reflected the warmth right back at us.

staying with french speaking friends in ottawa, i practiced some sentences for our gig in st. hyacinthe, kicking at the long untouched information stored in my brain from 10 years of french classes in school. turns out it needs more than a good kick to unpack the knowledge, but a few words did find me on the stage at cafe zaricot in the sweet french town. unfortunatley, my practiced lines – “meme si mon nom Couture est francais, je parle juste un petit peut” – only got me through the first few song intros, and i reverted to mostly english for the rest of the night. but they were patient and kind ears there. it was SO hot. the people sat outside until the first note of the first set, then shuffled in to listen. at the break they all headed promptly outside again and i wondered if they’d gone for good. but a quick pull on a guitar string and they were back inside, intent. i liked it there, or rather, j’aime st. hyacinthe, but i really hope the zaricot gets air conditioning for next time!

hm, so many mentions of the weather! its effect is inescapable this summer month i guess… or i’m just prone to whinge.

bob and aj, and friends, from the bob and aj show came to the montreal gig. they get a special mention because it was a number of years ago they first played a song of mine on their podcast, and we’ve somehow just been in and out of touch since then. it was fantastic to put faces to voices and it seemed we chatted like old friends. they’re funny people. j’aime funny people.

the few days before this homeward bound journey have been mostly spent with dear toronto friends. spending time with such bon amis make we want to live in toronto. sartre said hell is other people, but heaven is other people too, non? i’m sad to be leaving. i wish for a smaller world in the people sense. i want all my dearests within reach. sigh. that said, i am also looking forward to my bed in vancouver. “home, where my love lies waiting silently for me”. not sure about the silent bit.

but before i curl around my favorite pillow back in east van, we’ve got to cross the prairies and play a few shows. i’m looking forward to each of them – especially edmonton! it’s home too, or was for many years. i am fond of edmonton for that, its part in my formative years. there are bits of concrete, sidewalk corners, trees, backyards, hospital wards and high school bathrooms there that store secrets, stories like photographs from my life, age 4-18…

so it feels somehow suiting that the last gig of this tour, 34 of 34 or whatever it’s been, will be at a place that was my starting point. but before that ride into that sunset, tonight’s sleep in sault.

there is more that i would like to tell you about these past couple weeks, but i’m tired! check out the photos, there are a few more stories in them.

bon nuit*

christa