My kids were here for two weeks. This week, I took them back to their home in Smithers. 

​I drove up on Monday:

I slept in a tent in a backyard.

We did a few things together, but the kids were mainly happy to be home. It''s good to see them so happy with their lives.

​I drove back yesterday.

Now I'm pretty-much broke for the summer. I had to do some car repairs and the trips to Victoria and Smithers, so I expect to spend most of the rest of the summer in Agassiz. 

But it was good, so good, to see the kidlets.

My daughter accompanied me to the Party in the Park in Chilliwack on Friday night. She made some fan art for my busking set at the Triple Play.

Last night, Saturday July 13, I played again at the Hot Spring Villa in Harrison Hot Springs, 6-9pm. Come on out to any of the other nights I'll do for the rest of the summer there!

I will be continuing playing at the Hot Spring Villa in Harrison Hot Springs, BC, throughout the summer, 6-9pm every Saturday night. I'll try to post it here if I'm going to miss a week, but I'm hoping to be there for every single Saturday.

This week, the Harrison Festival of the Arts is on, filled with local artisans and international musicians. It's a stellar tradition here in the Upper Fraser Valley and I encourage any art-loving folks to come on out and enjoy it. And... if you come out on Saturday, July 14, you can unwind with some food at the Hot Spring Villa Restaurant, where I will be the antidote for all the setlist-ready, agent-having, lyric-remembering, professional musicians you'll hear at the Festival.

​And you might even enjoy every minute of it.

The Party in the Park is a long-running summer tradition in Chilliwack. Each Friday evening in July, they block off Wellington and Mill, fill it with booths and food trucks, and have a big stage with local music groups. Loads and loads of people show up each night. 

I'm not playing on the big stage. Instead, I get to drop in at the busking stage at the Triple Play, hosted by Paul Barrell and Ron Johnson. Ron invited me out a few weeks ago when I'd shown up to his open mic Tuesdays at the Triple Play.

My daughter was also present on Friday night. She insisted on filming me from the sideline, just outside the beer garden where she wasn't allowed to go. Here's a little of what she filmed:

I hope to make it out to a few more of the Party in the Park nights for the rest of July.

And perhaps the big shows will inspire me to start up a band of my own. It's about time I put something together, really.

The next Party in the Park is slated for July 13, according to the Facebook page. Whether or not I get to play, come on out!

Summer's here, thank goodness.

This school year has been tough. Workwise, I don't think I was an effective teacher. I was playing catch-up from the very first day; at the end of each day, I procrastinated, and then I didn't give myself the time to catch up the next morning. I couldn't seem to think creatively and struggled to keep up with most of the bureaucratic tasks that make teaching work. I hope I learned some of my lessons. Needless to say, the antidepressants, over the last month, have helped.

I've been running and working out. I live above a gym and I've started with a bit of a weight routine. I've also been running intermittently, and I hope to make that more consistent soon. I've been injuring myself more frequently though, so I've had to admit that I'm getting older.

I acted in a play in the Fall. Although I was overbusy during that period, I'm glad I did it. I met quite a few good people and felt successful in it overall. It exhausted me enough that I didn't audition for a play in the Spring. I'm extremely glad that I got to have this experience and that I got to meet so many good people through it.

And I've been getting back into my music again. Almost every Saturday evening, I've played covers at the Hot Spring Villa Restaurant in Harrison Hot Springs. This has helped to rebuild my musical confidence that had truly waned over the last five years or so. I've even recently started willingly going to open mics and jams, even when I feel out of my element. This is good.

So summer's begun and I have my kids with me for a few weeks. I hope to get some more musical connections around Chilliwack and around the Lower Mainland. I hope that I can get a bit more music happening in the Fall. I've already made a few connections and hope to expand my gigging beyond the restaurant in Harrison Hot Springs. And maybe I can put a band together and get a couple of the songs finished that I started so many years ago. 

And lordy, I'm looking forward to waking up without an alarm.