The Great Canadian Car Hunt

Today I thought I was going to buy a car. Not meant to be I guess. I spent $160 to have BCAA tell me that the prospective purchase was a lemon. Tomorrow morning I am going to hit the used car lots....maybe I will have more luck there. Tonight I wandered through Gas Town and up Grandville Street checking out the Halloween festivities. Seems to be a lot of cowboys, draculetts and fairies running around this year. Several creatively bandaged mummies too.

These days I write less and less about my music career. I can't wait to get on the road again and remember why I am on this tour. Keep you fingers crossed for me that I can find a car tomorrow.

Gd' Nite
Sall

4:00am Katherine Wheel

Tired...so tired! Gas Town is not a place to get a good nights sleep on Halloween Saturday night. What a ruckus! Fireworks and Katherine Wheels at 4 in the morning right outside the condo window. Would have been pretty cool if I was not sound asleep, head 4 inches from the glass windows! Could of sworn someone was shooting a revolver in the apartment. To add insult to injury I forgot about the timechange so I left for my first car viewing at 6:45 rather than 7:45. Oh well! Lots of junk on the market. I think I found a keeper though. I am going to have BCAA check it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. It is a butternut yellow, 84 Volvo 240 in mint condition. I'll post a photo if I buy it. Just got back from the pool...off for a nap. mmmmm sleep!

New World Disorder, Snow and Car Quest

A perk to staying in Nelson for one more day was an invite to see the local launch of the pro-mountain-bike-video 'New World Disorder 6 - Unchained'. Top world rider and Nelson local, Robbie Bourden is a close friend of the family I was staying with. Featured in the film, Robbie rides some pretty gnarly trail and conquers gap jumps like I have never seen before. I have seen some pretty spectacular feats on skis and boards...I have a new respect for what can be done on two wheels.

Speaking of conquering feats...my drive from Nelson to Van yesterday was 'white knuckle'. Snow! Holy S!%#! Driving through the mountains I realized that it is good I am getting rid of the V-Dub Van...I hope I can trade it in for a more skihill worthy vehicle. Today I looked at a 90 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 and tonight I am going to look at a Volvo Wagon (not really skihill material...but I have always wanted to own one). I should be in Van for the next week and then off for another couple of weeks of shows. Right now I think I am going to go for a swim.

Nelson

Oregano and Hotsprings

I am on to a new herbal remedy. I'll try anything to get rid of this cold! Oregano oil. The owner of the Nelson healthfood store swears by it. An expensive little treatment and it makes you smell like a pizza parlor (I guess there could be worse things), but it seems to be working. Coupled with a trip to the Ainsworth Hotsprings and 3 days of solid nourishment I am recovering quickly. Tomorrow I think I will leave the magic of the valley and head back to the magic of the metropolis.

Grand Forks, Fruitvale and Nelson

I am starting to feel human again. I just spent the last 45 min relaxing in one of those amazing soaker-tubs staring out the window at a beautiful Fall landscape. My spirit is beginning to be repaired, I hope in a day or two so will my body. This last few days my cold has given me a run for my money and I was starting to feel 'broke'. I arrived in Nelson this morning and plan on spending a few days to get back on my feet. There is something about this place that is soothing. Don't laugh, but it kinda reminds me of 'Rivendell' in the 'Lord of the Rings'....a safe-haven for travelers, filled with magic, minus the elves :).

With the deepest regret and frustration I had to cancel my show at the Villagers Inn last night. I spent the day sleeping in the hotel room and tried every trick in the book to convince my body/voice that I could pull off one more show. However, it was not meant to be. We are going to try to reschedule for next month, when I come back to do shows in Nelson and Cranbrook. I want to thank Mary and Len for being so understanding.

To the citizens of Grand Forks, may I say you are people after my own heart. Thank you for all of the support you showed me on Friday night. It is always a challenge to sing when sick, and you made me feel welcome and satisfied with my performance.

After my R&R here in Nelson, It's off to Vancouver again by the end of the week to pick up my new Jeep Cherokee (new to me that is!). Looks like I get to enjoy city life again.

Ginseng = Insomnia

Really...this is getting ridiculous. It's 5:00am and I have not slept a wink. The buzz I have is similar to getting back from a great first date! Except, even then I can't wait to get to sleep so I can dream about the guy! Ok...maybe I should save this entry as a draft first and edit it in the morning. I feel a bit slap-happy or maybe just plain old loopy at the moment, prob sharing too many details. I look like a little hermit sitting here crosslegged at the end of the bed, hood up, in my jammies, hacking away at the keyboard. hmmmm...I have a show in 14 hrs. One sweet thing is that the coyotes are howling like crazy tonight. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up and a grin spread across my face. I don't know why they call it howling....it sometimes sounds like women crying. Eerie! Ok....maybe I feel a bit tired now....crashing....should I spell check?....I'll live on the edge. Gd Nite World

Website Dilemma

I spent the day today nursing myself back to health. I am feeling much better...gotta love that Ginseng! Between loafing on the bed, channel surfing and eating takeout soup, I have been looking at my website. I made it myself earlier this year....and I think that it is not too bad for a first attempt. I would like this Winter to give it an overhaul and maybe give it more polish. I suppose it should match my new cd image as well. Anyone have any suggestions?

4:00am

So the pharmacist suggested that I try a new product called Cold-Fx. It is a derivative of Panax quinquefolium, North American Ginseng. According to a recent study taking this product decreased the length of the average cold, I can't remember by how much, but it was significant. It is supposed to increase the activity of 'Natural Killer Cells' or macrophages (cells that consume pathogens, dead cells etc) thereby boosting the immune system. You take 3 pills, three times a day for the first day, decreasing the dose by one pill a day over three days. I'll let you know if it works. The problem is that Ginseng is traditionally taken as a stimulant, it increases endurance and stamina (supposedly...I don't know if there are studies that prove this). When I was in college we would take Ginseng tablets during exams to lengthen study times and Ginko Biloba to help our memory. Did it work? Can't really say . However, tonight I can't sleep. I start to get tired and almost drift off and within 10 min I am wide awake again. I am also taking over the counter cold and flu meds. I should be sound asleep by now. Anyhow, it's late and I feel like I have enough energy to enter all this months receipts into my books. I guess that's what I'll do. As the rest of the world sleeps...I log expenses.

Trip from Hope to Trail

Augh! I have a cold

Yesterday I drove the 500 kms from Hope to Trail. I found out this past weekend, much to my dismay, posters for my Grand Forks and Trail shows had not arrived as scheduled so.....I drove them up there myself. It was a great day sun shining, blue sky and fall colour, not a lot of traffic so I got there in good time. This morning I put posters up around Trail and then drove back to Grand Forks to put up posters here. The weather is rainy and miserable and I am getting a cold. I have learned to sing through most aliments...so unless I get too stuffed up, the shows will go on as planned. I found a hotel that has high speed internet in the room so I can get some work done and keep dry. I have been thinking a lot about January and the CD release party. Rupert has to be the location, as for the venue I am undecided. Well I am off to poster the town.

The Road to Hope

It is remarkable how quickly humans can adapt to new routines or in my case the lack of routine. I have been on the road for over a month. Different hotel rooms, towns, friends houses and couches. In the beginning, I felt that every moment of the day I was making a decision...which was fun, yet frazzling. Tonight I rolled in to a motel, was unpacked in 5 min and was oblivious to my surroundings, lost in my work in 10. My ability to orient myself has either gotten better or is not as important anymore. It has been a few weeks since I have woken up in the middle of the night wondering where I was.

I had wanted to get as far as Princeton tonight, but there was a mudslide that has closed the hwy..so I had to go the long way round to Hope. What a drive...rain pouring....two lane hwy...steady stream of large semi's on one side and a freight train on the other. I am completely tuckered out, but can't sleep. I guess I have a lot on my mind. I have 4 shows coming up and quite a bit of prep to do tomorrow. The TV is on for background noise flicking images of CSI into my subconscious. My guitar case sits open...maybe I should try to write a song. I am happy these days so my creative output is lower. Maybe I should try to write a happy song.

I made a pro-con list last night to weight out the prospective cities that I am considering moving to, once my tour is over. Right now Toronto and Vancouver are tied. I think that I might have to wait until Christmas to decide.

***time lapse 90 min***

I just got off the phone with my closest friend in Prince Rupert. I really miss her and that little town. In that conversation I decided that I will head back up there for December 1 to tie up loose ends. I can't wait to see everyone. Thinking about my pro-con list again, Vancouver is going to tip the scales...it is only one flight to TO or one flight to Rupert. It would be halfway to the two places my heart resides.
Sall

From City to City

I have made an 'executive decision' (hehehe...easy to do when I am the whole company). I am going to Seattle tomorrow morning. I am going to hop the bus and spend the weekend. I will be out of cell range until Tuesday. My next shows are GrandForks, Trail and then Cranbrook. I can't believe that it is the middle of October already! Soon it will be time to brush up on my Christmas Carols!

Cherrio

Leaving the City

Well, today is my last day in Vancouver. I wish I had done more...seen more. I did make it to the Vancouver Art Gallery, although only two floors were open. I missed the Rodin collection by a week and will miss the opening of the Picasso collection by a day. There was a floor of Emily Carr's work that I found interesting. I love her later works...the abstract forest scenes mesmerize me. I think I can appreciate her work much more now that I have lived in BC and have visited some of the places she has painted. The other open floor was a collection of various artists works. My favorite was a photographic collection by Kelly Wood titled "Toronto Garbage at Night". Really it is just a bunch of photos of bags of garbage....but the story it tells about the consumer, disposable practices of today is chilling. I have walked most of the area around Gas Town, visited the YMCA (not really a tourist attraction) checked out the waterfront and sat staring out the window drinking coffee looking at the city at my feet. Last night I had dinner at the Trap and Gill. My kinda place with pitchers of draft beer, table slapping celtic music, long tables and benches crammed with people, everyone having a good time. Today I have to make some choices. What to do about my van, ICBC tells me it is a write off....but that has to be another journal entry, and decide what other areas of BC I want to add to my tour. I also need to start mulling over some bigger decisions, like where am I going to live after Christmas..... can I afford to travel to Europe.....am I ready to shop my cd out to industry. Its a good thing decisions make me feel alive.

Missing Vancouver already.

Sall

Where do we belong?

I was struck deeply today, with the realization that I am, for the first time in my life living with 'no fixed address'. What made the moment even more troubling was the realization that I feel happy, light, and whole for the first time in many, many years. How can it be that with no ties, I feel my strongest? With no roots, I feel my happiest? With no predictable future I feel empowered? Am I deluding myself? Don't we all function more effectively with routine, with a base of constant knowns to build on? Maybe this has been the missing element in my life all along? Maybe I just hit my head on the window harder than I thought :) Troubling though, this realization. For if this is the case how do I hold down a relationship, get married, have children when I am most satisfied traveling? Questions, Questions, Questions.....I guess they are not for me to answer.

Happy, Strong and Empowered
Sall

A new Beginning

A few days ago I received an email that made me look at my life and this journal in a new light. I was reminded gently in the email, that keeping a journal is a great tool for self expression, and can keep friends, family and fans in touch with the stages of my tour, career and life. However, the email also pointed out that I might be naively providing too much information about my sleeping locations....and seeing that I am sleeping in a van, it might allow the 'less desirables' of the world easy access to me. So...being a rational individual, I took this advice at face value...mulled it over for a day or two and came to the conclusion that, yes I am putting too much out there. So this friends, family, fans and incidental readers who have stumbled across my site, is the beginning of a new type of journal. A safety conscious blog about a girl living her dream. I hope you all still find it entertaining.

Cheers,
Sall

Limbo Land

Today I feel a little spaced-out. I think it is withdrawal from the red wine. I am sure that I drank at least 2 bottles of wine to myself over the last week and I am not much of a drinker. I didn't make it to Seattle to visit J-9. I still might after I get the van assessed on Thursday. I am exploring Vancouver. Tonight I think I am going to stay in an RV Park. I am feeling the urge to sleep in the van again. It's funny how I thought that I would resent having to live out of a van...but I am really enjoying it. Sometimes I don't think that I give myself enough credit. When I consider all of the things that I have done in my lifetime....All of the adventures I have had in Canada...Really living in a van for 3 months pales in comparison. The only drawback is that everything is rumpled from being shoved in totes and it's hard to get the slightly sour wet carpet and engine smell out of my clothes. It looks like my schedule is shaping up for the rest of the month. I have to get some work done on the month of November or I will be forced to sleep in the Van everynight! Lets see.....what else is new...hmmmm. I finally had to break down and buy new hiking boots. I went to the MEC in North Van today and bought some gortex boots. On my old leather ones the sole finally broke through today and the grommets for the laces are falling off. I did get 3 years out of them. blah blah blah. This is kind of a boring post. I am off to find adventure (and a Post Office) so I have something more interesting to wite about.

Adventures in Van-Land

I am sitting on the floor of a hotel laundry room listening to the soothing rotation of the rinse cycle and the rumble of the dryer. I could almost fall asleep except the carpet is a bit damp and the room smells slightly moldy. Well I guess I should cut to the chase...at the corner of Main and East Hastings, probably the most notorious intersection in Vancouver, I was involved in a car accident. I am ok...for the most part..... and so is the van. I got (I believe the term is) 'T-Boned' as someone ran a red light. I cracked my head pretty hard on the side window and don't remember much of the subsequent 10 minutes. It was a full fanfare accident with fire ambulance and police, full lights and sirens (I was pretty embarrassed). The other driver is fine...Minimal damage to her truck and none to her. I was pretty shaken up for the next few days. After the accident I had to decide if I could still make it to the show. It was either that or sit at the apartment alone. I have to thank Tim Marr for pushing the coffee and muffin into my hands when I got there. I truly believe that the simple act of drinking and eating calmed me down. The show was great. Sold a bunch of cd's....and saw a number of familiar faces in the crowd. Thanks to all of my friends who surprised me that night. You all don't know how that helped me get through the shock of the accident. The next day was the show at Lugz Coffee, it was a small but supportive crowd and we drew some people off of the street. Saturday night at the Purple Crab was one of our best performances yet. Gary and I are starting to develop a new comfort level on stage. I discovered that the owner of the Purple Crab, Brian is an ex-Rupertite and has ties to the fishing industry. It really is a small world! Sunday brought a chance to sleep in followed by one of the most unique Thanksgiving dinners I have ever had. Its always nice spending Holidays with new people. This week I have scheduled some much needed planning time and a trip to ICBC to have my van assessed. I might head into Seattle to visit my cousin. Then it is off to Osoyoos for a show on Sunday. Life is good.

VIEW FROM APARTMENT IN VANC

VIEW FROM JENS APARTMENT IN VANC
Originally uploaded by sall.

Check out the view of GasTown and the Harbour. If you look closely you can see a film crew shooting a TV show in the alleyway below. Does anyone want to buy me a condo in GasTown....I wouldn't mind...Really!! :)

PLAYING WITH CORBIN KEEP AT THE DUNCAN SHOWROOM

Not the greatest photo...........

NURSE LOG IN VICTORIA

Spectacular example of a Nurse Log.

TOFINO

TOFINO
Originally uploaded by sall.

Sunset from Crystal Cove in Tofino

TOFINO

TOFINO
Originally uploaded by sall.

Crystal Cove in Tofino

Tofino, Port Alberni, Campbell River, Nanaimo, Vancouver

Ok....I have been totally slack about the blog thing. So be prepared for a long entry. The Tofino show at the RainCoast Cafe was well attended and an overall great night/ experience. Dinner was on the house and I had a fabulous Tom Yumm Soup and organic greens salad. It is the type of restaurants where the presentation is as much the experience as the food is delicious. The next day I mucked around the area, hiking out to the ocean and exploring Ucluelet. It really is quite a neat place to visit. My show in Port Alberni ended up getting cancelled....Really it was my decision...There were several factors that swayed the decision. I will tell you about it later. I spent the evening with Steves cousins in Nanaimo.The next day I picked Gary up at the Airport and headed to Duncan to open for Corbin Keep at the Duncan Garage Showroom. Again the night was well attended and a good show. The Duncan Showroom is on the upperfloor of a old historic building and it has a retro-urban-coffeehouse charm. Saturday we drove up to Campbell River where we played at the United Church Hall. A group called 'Inclusion' opened up for us, then Grant and Jim did a set, with Gary accompanying on the drum. Then it was our turn. We sold a bunch of cd's that night and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. Sunday we had a birthday breakfast for Grant at the house and then I taxied Gary 'down-island' to Nanaimo to catch the plane home. Finally, to finish out the weekend I stayed again with Steve's cousin Lori and her husband Glen. They took me out for dinner to a great sushi restaurant called ACME.

Monday morning I boarded the ferry to Horseshoe Bay. It was a relaxing way to start my day. Oh I forgot to mention....the pickup in my guitar decided to pack it in after only 7 months...so after arriving in Vancouver I headed to Long and McQuade to beg for help. Marco who is the guitar tech for the Granville store deserves a public thank you. He fixed my guitar on the spot ($150 later) and my guitar was ready to play with in an hour. I then met Jen outside her condo down in GasTown where she thankfully made arrangements for me to park my van in the secured underground parking lot. She has an amazing place.....the size of a shoebox mind you....but the world is at her doorstep. I will post a picture of the view. We went out for dinner and drinks at a place called the Irish Heather, just across the street and then I was off to play at the Media Club. Tuesday night brought the gig at the Naam Restaurant. I love that place the food is delicious. Wednesday I had the day off and I got a lot of work done. I made Jen dinner at the apartment and we took her beagle Oi for a walk through the streets for an evening stroll. Tonight I have the show at Music and More on Main Street. I promise I will write again more frequently.

Miss you all

Sall