Summertime Shenanigans

Welcome! Thank you for being here. How is life for you? Let us know when you’re finished reading this post (or anytime for that matter, hee hee), we’d love to hear from you.

The last two months have been chock full of activity for us as we started our Beyond The Smokey Mirror Tour via our album release party last April in Evansville, Indiana (thank you to those who helped make that such a grand fun time, it truly wouldn’t be the same without you) and carried North out on up the road to Minnesota and the surrounding states for some pretty sweet festivals and other noteworthy events. Randy and I both have had a mixture of experiences since being out and about, hanging around Atchingtan Learning Center in Finlayson, Minnesota helping where we’re needed via their permaculture grounds and rehearsing when we can. If you follow us on Instagram (mds_covert_dragon) and Facebook @ www.facebook.com/sparklefolkers , you may have seen Randy laying on the sunny beach of a big lake or me with a bunny on my back (yeah, that happened). Atchingtan has a whole slough of free-range bunnies of various sizes and friendly chickens that are comedic most of the time. Out of the 11,000 something lakes up in Minnesota, we traveled to nearby Lake Mille Lacs. It was a beautiful and sunny good feeling day. We love days like those a lot. In mid-May we journeyed to Anamoose, North Dakota to camp and play music for a three day festival. This was loads of fun, we’re always up for some good fun. We performed inside a warm and cozy packed room while the woodstove was blazing and the unexpected cold winds were howling outside. Our tent had quite a feat staying up but, bless its tent heart, she made it with minor damage. We enjoyed drumming and dancing around a roaring fire each night and even sweatin in a cedar sauna (wow, that was niiiiiice). After that, we returned to Atchingtan to gather ourselves some more and prepare for the Earth House Midsummer Gather: Standing at the Crossroads Festival in Blue Lake, Wisconsin. In that time, we enjoyed a flurry of communal activity. Here at Atchingtan, many travelers pass through upon their journeys, it’s fun to meet so many different people and share good experiences with each other. We can and do learn a lot of one another. Something I enjoy doing is cooking for the large groups of people, it’s a challenge at times because I really have to dig deep into my resources to fit everyone’s needs while maintaining a quality wholesomeness that everyone can enjoy. I’ve gained skills while being here at Atchingtan this time around, I’ve learned a little of everything I’d like to think. I’ve worked with permaculture gardening, nutritious cooking, grounds keeping, music playing (gee, who’d uh thunk?), chicken and bunny tending, business affairs, counseling, house cleaning, interpersonal communications…like I said, a little of everything, right? ;-P

We just returned yesterday from a wonderful week at the aforementioned Earth House festival where we had a highly successful show and set of fulfilling healing experiences with a intimate gathering of peoples and Momma Earth. We set up camp in our big tent, sharing the week with little critters like spiders (who were very very very friendly to us) and other beings. Festivals are great fun, especially when they’re for that length of time. It’s like the people sharing that time become a family and make it all worthwhile. I really loved waking up each day early for a morning meeting, learning about the day’s activities and watching the day unfold in a peaceful, easy way with no pressure to be anyone or anything, just you. The night was a whole different atmosphere, I love to drum around a fire with others and we had no shortage of that. I was pleased with all the musical folks that were there throughout the week like Beltana Spellsinger and her crew as well as Ariya Wyld who put on a lovely Bardic Circle. At one point we saw a big black snake and no one was really put off, instead we were all fascinated and took pictures. To really understand the wholeness of a festival, I highly recommend going to them. I don’t think there’s any way I could put all of what we experienced into words but I’ll do my best to get the point across that it was a wonderfully fulfilling and healing time – even helping other pack up the last day in the rain, it’s good to help each other. We enjoyed conversations everyday with friends new and old as well as workshops that helped to educate us in ways we were lacking. Near the end of the week, Randy and I went to Eagle Cave which is a part of the campground we were staying at. That was a great experience for us, we love caves!

I’m excited for upcoming shows and festivals, it’s gonna be a grand time. The next event we have scheduled is Open Day @ Atchingtan in Finlayson MN, we’ll be performing on June 29th then onward to Convergence in Minneapolis, MN on July 5th (yay for sci-fi cons!). Life is looking up and getting better and better, we wish the same for you and yours. If life is getting you down lately, think about at least three things you’re truly grateful for. This will help bring your spirits back up. As I write this, Randy is singing songs from his whimsical Book of Song, he loves the songs he’s written for his family and other meaningful things to him throughout the last couple decades. I have to say, I love hearing them too…