Blogpost No7 July 2022
Where to begin? I had a gig … that's a good place to start. On Saturday July 2nd Christine Collister & Friends took to the Erin Arts Centre stage. We were given the honour of closing The Manannan Festival which ran for a whole week. What a fabulous occasion it was. We set up at midday and before the PA was ready, myself, Christy DeHaven and Jo Callister took the opportunity to dip in Port Erin’s gorgeous bay. It was glorious. I then did the sound check in my dad’s Terry towelling robe! There’s pictorial evidence somewhere on FB if you know where to look.
The show itself was a delight. My first in person live performance … in a year! We may do another before too long … fingers crossed but there are a lot of diaries to co-ordinate for that to happen.
Mum was sat on the front row with my brother Colin and his wife Rachel and Aaron (my favourite nephew! I’m allowed to stay that:-). When Pip the promoter (great title for a kids tv show;) was introducing me, mum piped up: “That’s my daughter!” … ripple of laughter from appreciative audience and then … “Is she here?” … made me laugh out loud. She was very much a part of the show and when thanking everyone at the end of the night she said … “What about me?” … to which I replied:”Without you there’d be nothing!” It’s true too.
In other musical news I still haven’t written my last song for “Children Of The Sea” though there are a few ideas bubbling away in the background however song number 7, a collaboration with Michael Fix in Australia, is developing nicely and song No 8 was played on Manx Radio 3 times on the run up to the gig! In keeping with my “sharing songs in development” with you, here’s a snippet of song No5: “One Way Back”. I decided to give you the middle of the song so you get the second verse, a chorus and the middle 8 … no particular reason. The song tells the tale of Timmy who was the smallest moonbeam polisher that ever was … who, in his excitement to try his brother’s much larger moon beam … fell off and found himself on the Isle of Man. I won’t give the whole tale away but I think it’s a sweet and delightful story and I love the way the song’s turned out. Have a listen:
My endeavours with growing veg are really paying off now. Potatoes are ready and absolutely delicious and we’ve enjoyed courgettes, carrots (not a one of them straight!) salad leaves and even a few French beans. The most exciting pick so far was my first cucumber … what a delight that was and totally unexpected. One day there were sweet little yellow flowers and almost overnight a fabulous ridged cucumber which had a wonderful crunch to it and there are plenty more where that came from. There’s still a ways to go before the tomatoes are ready to eat but there are many of them hiding behind a plethora of fabulous smelling greenery. The flowers are also outdoing themselves at the moment and even the calendulas, which I planted ages ago, have finally decided to show themselves. Patience has its visual rewards.
My walks with Sweep continue to amuse me. Recently we’ve been walking half way up Peel Hill at 6.15am and then I dip with friends at Fenella. This morning, after coming out of the sea we spotted this huge Jelly Fish! Note to self … be extra vigilant this month while the Jellies are out in force!
I’ll sign off for this month and hope to have more musical news to share in August, and of course … regale you with the continuing delights of the veg patch.
Till then take very good care of yourselves and remember … keep rising above the turbulence!
Much love
Christine x
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