All in its own time

This will be a short blog.  Better to be short than not at all.

Life is good.  Had a baby.  A beautiful girl who is now called Ella.  Although if she chooses to be known as MD Funk then I'm happy.  Whatever.  She's a lovely lassie with ever changing eyes and an incredibly expressive face.  And a smile to melt your heart.  It wasn't quite the natural birth I was aiming for, but it was an amazing experience I will hold dear for ever.  I'd plan to write to a more up to date blog more of the time, but ha! I thought I had little time when I was just me, but now I'm a mum time is flying by.  All my priorities have changed and it's okay.  All my plans are at the moment on hold, or inching by at a snail's pace and that's okay too.  I still have dreams and I still have plans.  All in its own time.  


I joined facebook recently.  It makes me wonder how it must have been before internet was in every household.  I now rely so much on hearing from pals through the computer, if I didn't have it, would I be seeing people more, or would I be lonely?  Sometimes I become a bit phone-phobic.  Why does that happen?  Emails and messages are easier to deal with - especially when things have to be dealt with at 2am when Ella's asleep.  I'm looking forward to the next couple of gigs with Karine and Annie on Saturday 30th May at Doune and Dunblane Fling and the Edinburgh Folk Club on Wednesday 3rd June.  We're going to get together on Friday for some new song work.  One particular one Karine and I worked on for a Sandy Wright compilation "Fourteen Hands" regarding a story of seven brothers living and loving working the land at Knoydart.  It's a beautiful song which I am sure the three of us will do proud.  And a few other things up our sleeves which should prove a challenge! 


Hope the sun is shining on you.  All the best
Corrina

the joy of waiting

Hello. It is the 12th March. A lovely Thursday. We have moved house, and are now living in a wee place which overlooks fields and trees. It’s a great place, and although takes a lot of getting used to, it’s a good place for us for the moment. Hobbes loves it. He’s been bringing us presents of shrews and mice, most of them alive and well, thankfully. Just wee presents to kick about the place and play with. He’s not really understanding our reactions as yet, the shrieking and commotion as we do whatever we can to remove the wee gift from the house. But I have fashioned a ‘Mouse Removal Kit’ out of a soup carton and some cardboard which has been working well, and I now plan to invent a Mousearena which will be an easy way of stopping the mouse getting anywhere else in the house. At the moment the mousearena consists of two pictures and two mirrors, all flat, which need to be whipped out quickly and positioned around wherever the mouse is, to stop its getaway. And I want to put the pictures up sometime before we move again, so the mousearena is imperative. Hobbes has also met a pheasant, who curtly escorted our cat of ‘his’ field. The pheasant was quite clear in its squawking that Hobbes was not welcome chasing after the bird’s tail. And the bird was bigger than Hobbes! It’s clear that Hobbes is loving his new place.


And the wee md funk who is wriggling about inside me is in no rush to leave. My waters broke on Friday night, Saturday morning last week through the night. Now no-one told me that that would happen… I didn’t know! I woke up on Saturday morning thinking ‘Holy cow, I am soaking with sweat… what a crap night’s sleep!’ So I got up and had a bath, and carried on the day. And as I’m sleeping on a single airbed at the moment (it’s the best way for both of us to get some proper sleep at the moment), with ‘Princess and the Pea’ style layers and layers of duvets and sheets to minimise the reality of sleeping on an airbed (you do what you have to, eh?!) by the time I got back into the airbed that night, I just thought ‘oh dear, this new house is bloody freezing at night. I need more layers on top!’ So I slept badly again, cold and damp, thinking our new house isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Hahaha blaming it on the house! I did this for one more night, and then had to do something about it. Deciding I would change the sheets, change where I was sleeping, fix things somehow, I started to unlayer the bed. One by one I took off layers until I came upon the bottom duvet. Which oddly enough had a HUGE wet stain on it which was blue!!! As blue as the airbed underneath. Which was also wet. Blue? Man oh man, it looked like a great big giant’s panty-liner… you know the ones you see in the adverts. It’s blue to remove any minging thoughts…


Anyway, there we were – not pee, (sorry – life gets very real when you’re very pregnant – there is no need to hide the fact we all have bodily fluids anymore…) and it couldn’t have been anything else really. So if I hadn’t changed the sheets, I would never have known. And would have kept blaming the cold house. Should I have told you this? Hmmm, possibly this story is too much information. Well I can always go back and delete.


Btw, since the bed change – I have had amazing sleep – warm, comfy, and lovely. I had no idea the house was so warm and cosy…


But the hospital want to induce me now. So I’ve been seeing a wonderful woman Susana, for acupuncture to see if we can speed it along naturally. And I have just been told (David just got a text from Colin Steele) ‘a hot bath, a hot curry and hot sex’ is the way to go to move things along. Or there is the unusual technique of jumping up and down on a mini trampoline until labour starts. Hahaha. Md funk is a chilled character, I can tell. Everything in its own time. And I am blessed that this wee character has chosen us as parents. It’s a good choice. I will not be a disappointment.


No concerts for the month, but some lovely ones coming up in April with the Harp Festival in Edinburgh, and some Grace, Hewat, Polwart shows in the coming months. I’m taking it step by step – aiming for a band, a tour, a recording, new songs, writing songs, a new book of harp music, lots and lots. And I have some harp pupils who are exceptional, and I’ve been neglecting them of late. I hope they are working towards our next lessons – I’m looking forward to hearing their progress!


And it will all happen. I’m excited about it all. But first, baby coming. I’ve had two contractions since writing this. We’re close.


All the best to you. Good times ahead!
Corrina

Connections

Hi there
Just back from Coventry! I was teaching and performing at The Herbert – a funky museum worth a visit, if you’re in the area. It is full of wonderful information, visual and aural spaces, touchy-feely bits, extremely moving and poignant spaces (especially the collection of Auschwitz shoes in the cellar). I recommend it to everyone as a great way to spend the day.

http://www.theherbert.org/index.php/image/697/home/whats-on/harpnotize-the-herbert-1-2

The day was organised by Jack Shuttleworth (an ideas man if ever there was one!) who came up with the idea to ‘explore the space’ and work on creating music within the space in response to the surroundings. Harpotunities is the name of the project dedicated to bringing small harps to Coventry. I commend them for their efforts, enthusiasm and energy! It was a great day.
*And a special thanks to Heather and Nick, who put David and I up the night before, and introduced us to their ‘Raclette’ (a talking point which we were individually able to cook our own dinner on while all sitting round the table!!) and their chill-out room with a myriad of gadgets to explore.

http://www.harpotunities.co.uk/harpingon.html

I have just been emailed a link to gather.com where Kerry Dexter, who I met last year at Celtic Connections, has written an article. I hadn’t come across this virtual meeting place before, so am posting the link here.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977558236

And so now back to working on the Opening Concert for Celtic Connections this year on Thursday 15th January in the Main Auditorium at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall! It’s the Cape Breton Connection, exploring the links between Scotland and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia! And what a line up of artists!

Ashley MacIsaac
Wendy MacIsaac
Mary Jane Lamond
Chris Corrigan
JP Cormier
Darren McMullen
The Barra MacNeils (Lucy, Kyle, Sheumas, Stewart, Boyd, Ryan, plus Jamie Gatti)
Kimberley Fraser
Andrea Boyd
Jerry Holland
Ross Kennedy
Margaret Bennett
Phamie Gow
Norrie MacIver
Sineag MacIntyre
David Milligan
Corrina Hewat


If you can make it, I look forward to seeing you!

The link to the gig is http://www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/79142

cheers

Corrina x

Mum’s the word

Well here we are in 2009. Life is racing on as usual, with Celtic Connections fast approaching, and all the surprises it brings! And David and I are going to move house too, soon. It's a good move, closer to pals "Head of the Path' and family and gives us a little more usable space to be ourselves in. Which we are sooooo happy about. But it's all going on around Celtic Connections and the Unusual Suspects Luxembourg date, so we will need all the wits we can muster! And I know we will manage just fine.

And finally I feel I can let the world know that I am pregnant! Indeed 7 months pregnant!! Due around the beginning of March. Woohoo who would have imagined? David and I being parents… it's something we had never ever considered. We're just about to celebrate our 18th anniversary together which is amazing in itself – and now to have a wee one on the way, well my head is mince! But we're both so happy. So so happy.

And I realise just how good our friends are, that we have supporting us and sharing in the madness that is life. And how amazing our families are and what they've gone through to get this far in life and still smiling broadly. Jeezo, I am excited and scared and tired a lot, and a blithering wreck quite a bit of the time, and loving David more and more each day. And loving Hobbes as he pads my bump for the umpteenth time today.

And here's to you all too! May this year be a very special one, full of hope, harmony and happiness, love and peace, parties and long chats with good friends, songs and music which inspire you and smiles from strangers which light up a wee moment.

All the best
Corrina