Fun Stuff

Last day off was spent climbing Castle Rock and performing at the Coffee House—pretty ideal.  It was a balmy 30 degrees with little wind, and I hiked with two other hearty girls up the groomed, gradually sloping path.  There are little emergency shelters along the way and we stopped to read some previous visitors random thoughts in the log books.  They’re painted bright red, are pretty comfy when the sun shines in the windows, and have sleeping bags and snacks should you actually need to hole up there for a while.

The climb up only takes about ten minutes, but it looks really dramatic.  From the top you can see smoking Mt. Erebus, an active but relaxed volcano (don’t worry, we’re not going to get blown up), the open water past the edge of the ice shelf, edges of calving glacier mouths, and on that day a cool patchwork pattern of sunlight through the thin clouds.

I’ve been lucky enough to rehearse and play with some great guys here—acoustic guitar, fiddle, and sax.  They indulged me by playing along to the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves,” and I overcame my horror and actually enjoy singing backup for a few country songs (“When the Stars Come Out” and “Fire Away” by Chris Stapleton; possibly a “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and “West Virginia, My Home”).  We’re planning some fun things for the coming week of Christmas parties and the rest of the season, including possibly the best country song ever written, “Piss Up a Rope.”  Check it out if you don’t know it…

My week continued pretty good from there: a solid night of rehearsal, a moderately riotous galley Christmas party, a showing of one of my favorite movies (“True Stories” with David Byrne and The Talking Heads), and a classy bottle-of-wine-and-philosophy-discussion evening.  Plus, dramatic banks of fog rolling into town:

As far as work, I have three words for this week in food: Hot Dog Buffet.  I’m looking forward to making food for Christmas.