Hello there everyone! Long time no see. Well my global meanderings have stopped for a short time and I thought I'd better let you know how life's been since we last communicated. I think the best way by far is to let my photographs speak for me with little explanations where necessary. That's the idea anyway. Let's see what happens...

Way back in July Corinne played the Live Earth concert at Wembley. Bob's daughter Jo and her husband Mike enjoyed the day with us up in the Royal Box, along with Diane and Bryan Ansell. It was a great day.

Above l-r: CC and BTBF at Live Earth; Corinne performing on Live Earth stage at Wembley; The Wembley Crowd; Below, l-r: Bob's daughter Jo and her husband Mike; Diane Ansell enjoying the Royal Box at Wembley; long-lost Miller relatives

A few days later we flew out to California and spent a week near Redondo beach, acclimatising. Towards the end of July we flew up to Toronto ostensibly to see our Boys Back Door Slam but we took the opportunity to meet some of Bob's long lost Miller relatives.

A selection of images from Redondo Beach ...

From Toronto we drove down the east coast to New York and after driving through Connecticut to Buffalo for another BDS gig, did a wonderfully tourist thing and experienced Niagra Falls and got drenched on Maid of the Mist! Wonderful.

A couple of days in Boulder Colorado had me wanting to live there; it's a fabulous place at the foot of the Rocky mountains where, they say, the sun shines 340 days a year – yes please. Then off to New Orleans for 4 days before returning to California.

Above: Niagra Falls - it's a bit wet! Below middle and right - Boulder Colorado, with brave folk climbing the 'boulder'!

Back in LA I finally did a little work. I had a fun day in the studio with 4 great musicians but no definite results ... we're still trying, honest! The plot thickens ... perhaps a change of direction? Nothing is ever as simple as it first seems ... well not for me at any rate.

A long weekend up in Washington state to see our lovely friends Bill and Lois at Blix Street HeadQuarters in Gig Harbour near Seattle. Lois grows her very own, sweet tasting tomatoes – delicious!

Bill and Bob the Kitchen Men!		Fabulous artwork on the walls of Blix HQ		Lois's delicious tomatoes!

Back to LA for the last time this trip, culminating with a great BDS gig at the infamous Troubadour.

Back Door Slam at the Troubadour		The Troubadour crowd		Adam, Davy & Ross after a gig well played

Bob and I then spent an amazing few days with our friends the Neben's and Slammers at San Antonio Lake California, mid-way between LA and San Francisco. It was a hot weekend reaching 102 on Saturday afternoon ... phew what a scorcher! I foolishly tried to water ski after watching Mike and Nicole Slammer do it with such aplomb ... it' s not as easy as it looks!!!!

Selection of images from San Antonio Lake,with the Neben's and the Slammers

Our drive round the top of the Lake and out to the coast and Big Sur, brought us through an Armyzone ... scary! Once on the coast it was a race to find fuel...running on fumes alone we just made it passed Nepenthe and ... thankfully, a Gas station! Hurrah. Despite our panic, the scenery stole our hears!

Landscape leaving the Lake		Passing traffic in the army zone...		Beautiful Big Sur
Above: images from the West Coast drive

A great gig in San Francisco on September 1st with BDS was shared with our delightful friends Dave Armstrong and Christy DeHaven from the Island, and surprise, surprise Phil and Pat Cappell who'd just arrived in town for a 2 week holiday exploring the Yosemite Wilderness ... the Band were pretty wild that night! It was great to see so many familiar faces.

Pam in San Fran! thanks to Phil for the pic		Over the golden gate bridge		Back Door Slam move up the Coast

Over the Golden gate bridge the following day and up to Mendocino, stopping briefly to sample some organic wine and gaze at mighty Redwoods ... awe inspiring.

Can't see the tops!!		Bob the boyf, tree hugger ;0)		Mighty mighty Redwoods

We met up with Dave and Christy again in Seattle where Ross Doyle, BDS' drummer celebrated his 21st birthday ... ah, so young! We then drove up to Vancouver BC and had a marvelous time visiting friends old and new. I met up with my dear friend Angela Hryniuk for the first time in 8 years ...it was truly wonderful to spend time in her radiant company again. Then a glorious day and night spent with new friends Steve and Caroline macklam at their breath-taking home over looking lion's Bay. Steve also took us out into the Bay with his young son Connor and his friend Ryland to see the islands and seals at close hand ... beautiful. We'll be back!

Out on the bay with the Macklams - Vancouver BC

Another quick visit with Bill and Lois on the way back down the country before setting off on an amazing adventure through the wilds of Oregon, where we happened across the most incredible place we've ever seen: Crater Lake is an astonishing 5 mile wide circular lake of the bluest, blue water I've ever witnessed. Created 7,700 years ago when the then volcanic mountain erupted; the water now filling the enormous crater is purely from rain and snow-melt over time.

The incredible Crater Lake, Oregon with Wizard's Isle - and an example of the wildlife!

From rim to water's edge is 1000 feet and the water at it's deepest is nearly 2000 feet! There's a small island named Wizard's Isle, just off-set from the side of the crater, itself a smaller volcanic eruption at onetime. The whole effect is magic. We were truly awestruck.

				We stayed in Klamath Falls that night ... guess what? There are no Falls! Next day was spent driving to and then through Lassen Volcanic Park another amazing, huge wilderness, complete with steaming, sulphur works ... very eggy.
Images from Lassen Volcanic Park

Our final drive was to San Francisco where we flew onto Austin Texas and BDS' last gig of a 48 date tour. They played the prestigious Austin City Limits on September 5th at 1.35pm. It was a momentous day ... many a jaw dropped at the band's authentic Blues Rock sound and Davy's gob-smacking guitar playing, not to mention his growing prowess vocally ... I'm very proud of his singing ability it's developed so much in the last year – no mean feat. Way-to-go boys!

Davy, Ross and Adam pre ACL gig		Awesome guitar skills...		A Manx flag in the crowd!
An impressed press pack		...and great vocal prowess		The autograph tent

We flew back to Blighty on September 6th arriving on the 7th ... and 3 days later were off to Malawi! But that's another tale and one I want to go into with much more detail ... to be continued!

Thanks for stopping by I really appreciate it. I'm still working my way through a whole host of songs to record and hope to have news about live work for next year very soon. Hurrah. I'll be posting my thoughts on the Malawi trip in the next few weeks ... if you're on the emailing list I'll let you know when. If you're not on the emailing list ... get on it now!

Take care ... see you out there.

Much love Christine XX

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