Is Plastic Making You Sick? Just the sight of it is making us sick - we can't stand it any more! It is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Our Plan to Kick the Plastic Habit - cause that's all it is - A Habit. We pledge to look at every THING we use every day, and if this THING involves single-use packaging which is not easily recycled (that usually means plastic, but not always), we will find an environmentally friendly replacement.
If all plastic non-recyclable products are this easily replaced - keeping our pledge is going to be EASY!
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Friends,
Through a scheduling glitch, this Saturday, 12:30-4:30pm, will be our last 2017 appearance at The Captain's Inn, the place with the sailboats and palm trees and tiki bar. It is quite poignant for us, because 2 days later, Dave's Forked River house , which he owned for 34 YEARS!, will be sold. The movers just finished unloading all of his stuff that remained in FR here at Eden Ranch. Talk about the end of an era! I fell in love with that house immediately, and with our dear neighbors, and Kippy and Cindy and John Smith and Pezman and too many wonderful people to name, and our evening walks to Caffreys (one mile door-to-door) and breakfast at the Forked River Diner (BEST Spanish omelet on earth), and RD#1 folks showing up at the door. The diner and Caffreys and the people will all still be there, but I expect it will all feel different. If you are a nostalgia buff, or if you just want a dose of love*music*happiness, or to spend the afternoon watching sailboats and palm trees sway in the breeze, join us Saturday! Friday, The Ship Inn, Exton/Malvern, us singing, 7:30-10:30. The Ship Inn is cozy, pretty, great food and drink, and lovely welcoming people, who request songs and sing along. If you are in the mood for warmth, harmony, and friendship, this is a good place to spend your Friday.
The summer is winding down - well, okay, it is over. We performed our last outside show of the year. We have a few inside shows left this year, but we are starting our hibernation process, and to us, hibernation means creating stuff. We spent Sunday afternoon in bed, filming the music video for a song I wrote, well actually more of a jingle, about insomnia. What a fun life - to be adults and be allowed to act silly in the pursuit of art (this did not happen when I was a dentist). We spent the afternoon giggling and being silly, looking sleep deprived (and depraved) in every way we could think. Dave shot all the footage we need, and now we get to have fun with the editing process. We made progress writing our song about retirement - it is taking forever because we really want this song to be perfect and fun. It is one of the few songs that we are truly writing together, and that is fun but very difficult - we have our fingers crossed for the outcome! The big dream (may not be possible) is to shoot the music video on the beach in Florida this winter, with all the retirees lined up on the beach drinking pina coladas. Maybe! Dave continues to edit his book. What a wonderful world we live in - in this case, technologically speaking. Dave published his book on Amazon, but Amazon allows you to continue to edit the book after it is published, and Amazon will continually update the ebook. The English major in me is really enjoying this process!! Dave got a new super-cool electric guitar, and we are trying to figure out 'how' or 'if' we should add a dose of electric to DaveLovesDonna. His leads are so beautiful - I hope it works out, and someone other than just me gets to hear his artistry! We have added a couple new cover songs to our repertoire, and I am working (struggling) along to add 4 more. Soon. We have so many more projects on tap and faith in the process, whatever the outcome. Support live music! Love&Peace, Donna&Dave . Saturday 11-2 -Wyebrook Farm Music Series!
Wyebrook Farm is one of the coolest spots around, and we are so happy to be singing there on Saturday. Circa 1700's, Wyebrook is nationally known thanks to owner, Dean Carlson. Dean was a very successful bond trader in NY, until one day he read The Omnivore's Dilemma, which changed his life forever. He decided his mission was to start a sustainable farm where people would know their farmer and see for themselves where their food comes from. He purchased these gorgeous 350 acres in 2010, and through his vision and commitment, has turned it into a hub of the Phila. food and music communities. All kinds of organic veggies and meats are grown and sold. They use and demonstrate unique methods of farming in order to grow foods organically. They have a popular restaurant, where they provide gourmet dishes prepared with just-picked food. They encourage visitors to wander the farm (and even the kitchen) - they are serious about connecting people to the land. AND they provide unique, interesting music on Saturdays and at music festivals. This place is worth a ride in the country. Interesting Saturday Facts You Should Know:
THE PAST: We want to thank everyone who came out to see The Boxcar Lilies. What a pleasure it is to be in a room with their harmonies! It was also quite a pleasure to get to sing our quiet songs (what I call girl songs, but Dave calls introspective), in a quiet setting, where people could listen and let the songs sink in. We are hoping that when our CD gets done, we will have more such opportunities. THE FUTURE: We sing next Thursday, Oct. 15 at The Captain's Inn, Forked River, NJ and next Saturday, Oct. 22 near my old Trappe stomping grounds at the Fall Festival at Foy Park, more or less at the foot of Spring Mountain. Peace&Love, Donna&Dave Friday - The Ship Inn - This place really is a bit like Cheers - great food, drinks, and most especially - PEOPLE! Warm, welcoming regulars ~ lots of friends appear ~ people sing along ~ making magic happen. We invite you to join us 7:30-10:30, Exton/Malvern near Rts. 100, 30 and 202, south of the turnpike. We recommend you reserve a table "near the music", so you can be a part of the fun.
The Boxcar Lilies - I can now announce the venue of our upcoming show with the Boxcar Lilies, Friday, Oct. 7th at 7:30pm: Beams School of Music, 480 Lancaster Ave in Malvern (http://www.beamsmusic.com/). Beams hosts a series of folk concerts, and we will be one of them. Dave and I love these original shows - we get to sing original songs we don't usually play. Call ahead for to reserve your spot: 610 647 3647. BYOB $15 If you have never heard the Lilies (and that would be a very sad thing, they are like angels with spark), here is a link to their website: www.boxcarlilies.com/. Love&Peace, Donna&Dave ps What's Next: Next Saturday afternoon, we sing at the Chester County Airshow @ the Chester County Airport - lots of cool planes and aeronautics, and us singing over gigundo loudspeakers. There is a raindate/winddate of the following Saturday, so if the weather is iffy, check before you go. Saturday Oct. 15, we sing at Wyebrook Farm, 11am-1pm, accompanied by Ted the Fiddler. Friday, The Ship Inn, Exton/Malvern, 7:30-10:30
Saturday afternoon, The Inn at St. Peters Village, 2-5pm This week, we get to sing at two of our very fav spots, and we are hoping you will join us, because we can't create love*music*happiness without you! Our last date this summer at The Inn at St. Peters Village, singing over the cliffs, boulders, waterfalls, trees - hiking, dogs, babies, goats, antique pinball, winery, most excellent bakery, ghosts: St. Peters has it all. Don't let summer slip away without a visit to this unique vacation destination close to home. The Ship Inn - Cozy, friendly, music-loving, song-requesting-singalong folks - really great food and drink. Reservations "near the music" are recommended. And now, back to the studio. We are trying really hard to finish the recording/video of Lullabies and Fairytales, our song about a mother's mixed feelings of joy and sorrow as her child leaves for college. How we wish it to be finished this week. If you feel like it, sending some helpful thoughts our way would be appreciated! Hoping a pennywhistle arrives from Amazon tomorrow. It seems like a good addition to the song. Love&Peace, Donna&Dave Saturday, 2-5pm, the Inn at St. Peters Village, our favorite place to be in the summer, on the deck over the rocks and rushing water and trees; the waterfalls, the scantily clad diving teenagers, the goats on leashes, Horseshoe Trail hiking, yep - that St. Peters. Worth the drive from anywhere, feels like you went far away to reach a unique vacation spot. There is word of a three-day-long party next door at the Culture Den - the owner is turning the ripe old age of 30, so be prepared for lots of young hipsters hanging on the rocks and many kinds of healers and musicians wandering around. The bakery is tops, there is an antique pinball parlor, as well as a winery. The inn is a bed and breakfast - so you can stay overnight if you are having too much fun to leave, and if you don't mind ghosts, or especially if you LIKE ghosts.
If all that isn't enough fun - we are debuting some new songs. I have been working on Shiny Happy People for FOUR YEARS, and we think it is ready for prime time! It isn't the easiest song for Dave either, but it is ready! More or less. We are also definitely ready with Dave's newest blues original - Sweet Water - plus a DaveLovesDonna version of Louise, and we have a couple more almosts - like Fleetwood Mac's Dreams, Karla Bonoff's Home, Me and Bobby McGee. Thanks to all who made last Friday @ The Ship Inn fulfill all of the hopes and dreams we hold for our shows. It is hard to express the joy we feel as we watch strangers become friends before our eyes, as we see connections being made, people singing, people hugging. Magic. Shiny Happy People! For anyone following our saga, I wrote last time about our struggle to recover from over-busyness and get back to the business of creativity. In the past week, we have written and rewritten our Mission Statement, prioritized our daily tasks, and instituted morning band meetings - fashioned after the ones on Flight of the Concorde (yes, we take roll call) - as we feel our way through this life on Planet Earth. The outcome feels really good. Healthy Lifestyle remains Priority #1, and we are scoring high marks here - lots of aerobics (running for me & the dogs and mowing for Dave), lots of yoga, great nutrition straight out of the garden, meditation, sleep and mindful alcohol consumption. The rest of the priorities got rearranged - thankfully, as our priority list last week reflected how we were actually spending time, not how we want to be spending time, with business and chores on top and creativity at the bottom. With clear vision, we yanked creativity out of Spot #7 and put it in its rightful place - #2, and we now are consciously spending time and energy on writing, recording, and video BEFORE we do chores. A close #3, kind of 2a, is skill development, because if we don't constantly improve our musical, writing, recording and video skills, the stuff we create will just stay in our heads and not create peace on earth - our ultimate goal. The mundane has been dragged down to the bottom - farm and business chores. This was a big letting go for us - because we love our farm stuff, but by putting creativity ahead, if we don't have time for a chore, we either have to let it go (smaller gardens?) or hire someone else to do it. Most importantly, by consciously lifting creativity to the top of our priority list, we are giving our muse notice that we are ready, willing and able to receive and work on whatever projects are out there for us (this makes more sense if you have read Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic). We have focused our attention in a happy place. What ensued from all this introspection was a STELLAR week. Several new cover songs are in the works, our songlist has been revamped, but more importantly, work has been done on our newest originals and towards the recording of the new CD and even on our screenplay. We are back on track! Thanks for following along! See you on Saturday! Love&Peace, Donna&Dave This Friday, The Ship Inn, 7:30-10:30pm, Exton/Malvern Cozy and friendly, great food and drink, lots of folks singing along - we play inside, so it is nice and cool. A little quieter here in the summer, but we still recommend that you call ahead to reserve a table where you can hear the music. Close to everywhere, near the intersections of Rts. 202, 30, 100(& just S of the turnpike).
And that is the only gig this week, folks! Summer is a wonderful time in a performer's world - lots of opportunities to perform. Too late, as our summer bobsled was careening out of control downhill, we noticed that performing a few times a week had COMPLETELY stopped our creative process. No time at all for writing or recording, or even for learning new cover songs, as all available energy stores were used on preparing for our shows and performing. We both grabbed the brake handle and pulled back, and now our ship has righted itself, and our mission is to put a goodly measure of our energy into the creative process, as well as back into health and well-being. Balance - sometimes you have to fight for it. We live in a world with so very many enticing options - choosing is the tough part. This morning, to guide us in making those difficult choices about time and energy expenditures, we made a chart of our stuff-of-life priorities. Our only goal is to add to Universal love, peace and happiness. To accomplish this at all effectively, we decided to rank our daily activities in order of necessity and importance. We put health at the top of the list, with the subcategories of yoga, aerobic exercise, weights, nutrition, meditation, sleep, and mindful alcohol consumption. Second is business - caring for and growing the business and our finances; third is farm management. Those things gotta get done. Fourth on our list is caring for the environment, both through my job with the land trust and through managing our woods and meadow and developing educational programs here. Fifth is skill development: practicing and learning new things in music and video. Keep in mind, our main goal was to make creativity a priority, and now here it is - coming in ranked at a lowly #6. It seems impossible, since it feels like our main priority, our calling, but the reality is, these other things HAVE to be done. We are hoping the trick is managing these other areas in such an efficient way that we get to #6 quickly each day. Ending up the list at #7 is fun & social events (these got a huge demotion), and we forgot to add in rest, which I guess will come in at #8. If any of you have a better plan, we would appreciate the advice! We are trying to feel our way through this life the best we can. It sure is fun, though, all the time, in all of our activities, to share love*music*happiness with all you dear, shining souls. We often feel like our hearts will burst, but they don't, they just grow. Peace&Love, Donna&Dave It is suddenly summer, and like the songbirds returning from their winter retreat, we are singing all over the place.
Tuesday, 6-9pm: The King George Inn, Bristol, PA. Beautiful, historic inn in a park on the Delaware River, sailboats glide by, great music-loving people, great food, Tuesday specials like buy one dinner, get one free & great happy hour deals. The quinoa-stuffed pepper would turn almost anyone into a vegetarian, we are guessing. Saturday noon-1:30: Prout's Jollyview Farm Strawberry Festival, Oley, PA. Lovely people own this farm - hard-working farmers who love people and love the land - & it promises to be a great day in the Oley Valley countryside with everything strawberry and an amazing lineup of music. We kick of the festivities at noon, bands all day! The flyer is attached, if you would like more info. Saturday, 4:30-7:30pm: Kreidersville Covered Bridge Festival, It's a covered bridge and a festival! And a chance to see our Allentown area friends! www.kreidersvillecoveredbridge.org. Sunday, 2-6pm: THE INN AT ST. PETERS VILLAGE!*!*!*!*! BIG BIG summer fun - huge rocks, rushing water, waterfalls, dogs, babies, cats on leashes, bikini-clad teenagers illegally diving from cliffs, me&SweetiePie singing in the middle of all of it, watching the world go by, providing the sound track on the huge covered deck. When it is hot, there is always a breeze; it is even lovely in the rain - raindrops pattering on the tent roof, water rushing, trees swaying. We only sing there once a month, so make sure you don't miss it. We better go and rest up! It's gonna be a busy week. Love&Peace, Donna&Dave Lots-of-Fun Fun Alert!
Every Tuesday: King George Inn, Bristol 6-9pm How we love our Tuesdays! We get to see our old friends from Bucks County & Cherry Hill and our new friends - the lovely people who seem to use the King George as a neighborhood club for the recently retired. Great food & drink, Tuesday Senior Citizen Specials and 2-for-1 dinners, warm welcoming people who request songs, sing along, dance and generally have fun on TUESDAY. And we get to sing and watch sailboats glide past! Friday: The Ship Inn, Exton/Malvern 7:30-10:30 How we love The Ship Inn! We get to see our Chester County friends, plus the folks who come to The Ship Inn for the music, to sing along or just listen with old friends and new ones just met. Great food and drink here, too! Saturday: Broad Run Golfers Club, West Chester 7-10pm Gorgeous place, sweeping views, inside cozy, outside stunning - hoping for warm weather so we can go outside on the flagstone terrace with the twinkly lights. Next Saturday, June 4th, noon, Prout's Jollyview Farm Strawberry Festival, Oley, PA - we kick off a day of great music and everything strawberry Next Saturday, June 4th, 4:30-7:30, Kreidersville Covered Bridge Festival, up Allentown way Next Sunday, June 5th, 2-6pm, The Inn at St. Peters Village YAYAYAY!!! Our first summer date of 2016 out on the deck with the boulders and waterfalls and babies and puppies and cats on leashes - they have it all. Great way to spend a summer afternoon - if you haven't been here, we highly recommend making the drive. It is a vacation in an afternoon. As always, we can't do it without you. Hope to see you at a show. Let us know if you find yourself coming alone and you would like someone to sit with. Love & Peace, Donna & Dave love*music*happiness |
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September 2019
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