180 Days Later

It's been six months, 180 days since I wrote to you the last time. I can't really say what or why it has taken me so long to come back here! Maybe it's that I enjoy those personal connections, those connects that happen between real life people, the back and forth conversations between us where we can look at each other, see the nuances, the expressions, the crinkles, the colours! We can hear the textures of voice and sound around us, be inspired through what is happening in the back ground, what we are seeing, feeling,  the smells, the looks, the hustle! When I sit here, in my office (I use the term lightly though, as this room is also where I create and practice music, create and design cards, earrings, dreams and the like) up here in this old farmhouse, it isn't as much fun to ramble on about life and it's qualities/quandary's without the real life you!

Home_office_with_a_view

Alas, it is also nice to connect here and to share a bit about my life, with you, my friends, family and fans! How lucky am I to have YOU, whether in actuality or virtual reality, I am happy you are here. Over the past few months, life has been very kind. SO  many changes and SO MANY new songs!!! When I think back the to the last six months of life, it looks good... To be SURE, I am grateful... But where to start?? Switzerland, Ireland or Canada?? I've had the good fortune (desire, will, perseverance and MIGHT) to perform and travel to and within all of these countries since I last wrote...All of these places have been home to me at some point and cultivating the connections and friendships that life has afforded me between these patches of land.... My heart! Oh the people you can meet, the places you can go!

Dried_flowers_from_the_garden_make_an_excellent_gig_poster

Ireland was very much like I had remembered it. Full of small yet profound moments, enforcing my belief in magic, fairies and musical healing (and the true meaning of "The Hair of the Dog." What a spot. I even tried my hand at busking for the first time. It was the Galway Arts Festival and everyone was out on the streets, sharing their talent, the hustle was real! As I was wandering around the market, with my guitar strapped to my back, a fine guitarist asked me if I wanted his spot to play and he accompanied me for a few songs to break the ice of "my first busk." I have to admit, I was nervous. I decided, in the end, to rent a guitar for my performances, otherwise I would have had to pay double what the renting cost was to bring my (lug my) own guitar through airports, train stations and more. It was a fabulous idea, thanks to Opus 2 for the rental! 

Photo_cred_Jennifer_Higgs

Summer is ALWAYS great, everywhere but I would probably have to say that about Spring and Autumn too. I am not a HUGE Lover of Winter, but I DO enjoy the darker, shorter days (call me crazy) but candle light and cozy just go hand in hand with the type of life I aspire to (and) have! Hot drinks just taste that much better when it is freezing outside. Recently I went to a Christmas Market up on Mount Pilatus, in Switzerland. CHECK THIS VIEW OUT....

View_from_Mount_Pilatus_at_sunset

I mentioned song writing and LOTS of it. The tap seems to be very giving and new songs are coming at record speeds! This means that a new record will be imminent in 2018. Not sure how but where there is a will there is a way! Here is a favourite shot from the past Summer, singing at The Wakefield Market.... It remains to be one of my favourite gigs. Not only do I get to sing for a huge range of people, all ages, but the gift of singing in the middle of all that ART and Loveliness can not be compared....

Singing_in_colours_at_Wakefield's_Market

As we get older (I just passed another year around the sun) life starts to reveal truths. OR, rather, we start to really see them. I am sure they are there all along. It has been monumental (and slightly mental) getting older, because... WISER!!! Now I know things and am stronger with regards to things that would have tortured me in the past. It gets easier to say things like "No thank you!" and "Yes, I really DO am going to be kinder to myself!" Which leads me to sharing the BIGGEST change that I made, for myself, ever...

Lovely_deliciousness_from_our_garden

Around six months ago, I watched the documentary "What The Health" and decided to eat a plant based diet. It was on a whim and I NEVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE thought I would do it or even wanted to do it. Ever. I thought, maybe two weeks might teach me something. Well, it taught many somethings. Some of which I would never share with anyone, because it is not my duty to try and change you. So I will not pontificate. I will say, that I have never felt better in my life and no longer live with chronic pain. I am not one for labels (plus I can't label myself as the DREADED V word because we have chickens here who, when they feel like it, give us eggs!) It is a very sticky topic, FOOD. So do what you will, but know that eliminating animal products from your life will change you for the better. Maybe one day, when I am feeling stronger about this discussion (you have NO IDEA how many people hate on folks who want to change -or have changed- their diet to plant based, all of a sudden EVERYONE cares where I get my protein) I will elaborate in another full on blog about the subject. It has become VERY interesting to me, now that I feel so different!!!! Anyhooooo.....

In January, I am playing a VERY special concert. It will be recorded LIVE and I hope to get a few songs down for a Lindsay Live record! It has been something I have wanted to do for quite some time, and it is FINALLY happening, thanks to Peter Finc. If you want to be in the audience and you live in or near Bern, please save the date JANUARY 20th, Werkhof 102.

A_gardenhouse_a_sunflower_and_a_rainbow

So I will leave you now and I will not let another 180 days go by with SO MUCH WEBSITE SILENCE! Life is a gift and I am privileged to be able to share with you little tidbits about the things I learn, the world I get to know. In the meantime, I will keep crafting words into songs and hope that you will keep listening.

Lots of Love,

Lindsay 

Ten Easy Kitchen/Food Hacks

A_painting_celebrating_our_wedding_day_hangs_on_our_kitchen_wall

For many years, the only thing I could cook was breakfast. I could make an excellent wrap and the odd time I would try really hard to replicate my grandmothers chili and/or spaghetti sauce. Pretty much, that was it. I never even brewed my own coffee. I worked as a server most days, so I could count on something delicious at least ONCE a day. I told myself that I would cook when it was for more than just myself and that perhaps if I ever found my one true Love, I would then start fixing up dishes. Therein lies a BIG problem, I mean WHAT is the problem for cooking for one? Upon looking back, I KNOW it was pure laziness and that, I too, was caught up in the fast food world.

There_is_always_time_for_a_poutine

I know, sometimes you don't have the time to prepare a meal and/or the inspiration to do so. I totally get it. When that is the case, I usually pull out a pre-made pizza with only cheese and tomato sauce on it, then I add whatever toppings I have. You would be surprised at what one can find to decorate a pizza with; any left-overs will do! My favourite adds are olives, artichoke hearts, onion slices, tomato slices, mushrooms and MORE cheese (to your taste of course but it is SURE to be delicious, it's pizza after all.) A super easy meal, and not quite fast food but almost. I try to have a pizza "shell" in my freezer just in case! Making your own dough is always a fun experiment. Mine never comes out quite as good as anybody else's but I will keep trying....

So fast forward through the years, and I finally met someone worthy of my cooking skills! Hahaa... Actually, I surprise myself with how good some of the stuff is that I create... I must have been learning through Osmosis all those years standing beside the chefs I worked with, asking them of their secrets (on the slow days!)  But now (when I am not feeling lazy or uninspired) I Love to cook! My husband LOVES to eat and is always complimentary on what I place in front of him. Except for potatoes. For some darn reason, I can't cook them to perfection, EVER! Never! I swear, they are always too hard, even when I think to leave them in longer, they never work out.  Alas, one day, I am sure to make them right!

Okay, so here I will list my top ten favourite things to have in the kitchen!

1) A pre-made frozen (or thawed) pizza crust with cheese & tomato sauce. (details explained earlier!)

2) Sharp knives. There is no bigger pain in the butt then trying to slice food (onions & tomatoes come to mind) with a dull knife. Thankfully my babe has sharpening tools and if I ask nicely, he will get to it! Click here to see a really easy way on HOW TO SHARPEN YOUR KNIVES!

3) Lemons! (Limes will do too.) I LOVE my lemons. They add SO much to SO many different things. Salad dressings, Sauces, Smoked Salmon (or fish of any kind!) I also start my day off with squeezing the juice from half a lemon into a large glass of room temperature water, it's a great thing to sip on after a strong cup of coffee! The health benefits of adding lemon into your diet (daily!) are really amazing. Check it out here!! 

4) Sea Salt ... Salt adds flavour to your food. It brings out the flavour. Seasoned food is the only way. Some chefs will say "let them add salt to their food if they want it" but I rather like it when the food I prepare is delicious as is, not bland. Unsalted food is bland. Email me with complaints if you must! I can take it!

5) Whole pepper... My husband could twist a tonne all over his food. He adores the spice it brings. I don't need it as much, but still a few twists over eggs, in salad dressings etc are definitely an asset. Notice I said WHOLE pepper as opposed to the powdery stuff. Buy a pepper mill, it's worth it!

6) A coffee pot. NOT the ones that pre-make coffee from pods. No way! Buy your own beans, pulverize them yourself and brew up some hot black gold! (some folks out there are tea drinkers, totally fine! I prefer coffee, to each their own) A pod coffee machine will never produce the same rich delicious and FRESH coffee as a Moka Pot or whatever you choose to use. We have an old fashioned hand-turning-wooden coffee mill. It has become a ritual for me, my morning coffee ritual... While we are at it, buy a favourite mug!! Support one of your local pottery makers (not CHINA!!) These will always come in handy. Thank you JOVIC POTTERY for our beautiful mugs!!

7) Cucumber. Okay, some of you may hate it! That is okay, but try to get it into you. See, cucumbers are rich in nutrients and vitamins. Most green things are, but cucumbers are SUPER easy to eat! Just grab one, wash it, slice it and eat it. You are getting goodness into your bodies and that is ALL THAT MATTERS!!! They are alkaline forming and in a world full of acidic food, this (as well as lemons) can balance you out a bit. 

8) Butter!!! Never margarine!! Ew! Margarine?? What is that stuff??  (I don't really have to go into detail about the PLUS SIDE of butter.) Butter makes Beautiful.

9) Coconut Oil... Oh my goodness this is simply the BEST thing ever. I can use it to cook with, I can use it to condition my hair AND skin with. I even make cream with coconut oil. I should have put this one way up at the top. Oh my goodness really I can not say enough about Coconut Oil.

10) Coconut Milk... this stuff turns sauces, soups and curries into small miracles. Do you always use cream for your soups?? Try a can of coconut milk. Do you always use yogurt for your smoothies? Try coconut milk. So delicious and SO FULL OF GREATNESS. Trust me, I promise!

The_biggest_cinnamon_sticks_ever

This Bird's Eye View of Switzerland

Once upon a time, I was looking for Love. I looked and looked and looked and got sooooooo close, but it wasn't until I stopped looking when I found it. I always had a faith in Love and knew deep down that I would, one day, find him. What I didn't know was that I would have to leave my home and native land of Canada to find a new life in Switzerland. 

Swiss_Flag_meets_Canadian_Flag

We have been traveling back and forth between the two countries since we met in Canada, in 2010. It has been hard to decide where to ultimately settle down and I suppose we will have to eventually come to a decision, but living in Canada is great for so many reasons and living in Switzerland also has many wonderful reasons to stay. Both places have their similarities but there are vast differences, of course!

Lindsay_drinking_wine_on_a_bus

Let's start with WINE! Well, you can go to the local grocery store (here it is called COOP - pronounced coh-ope) and you can purchase a tasty bottle of Chardonnay for three Swiss Francs. My favourite is the Rioja, and it is eight Swiss Francs a bottle (or chf for short, that's right, there is no money symbol like we have in Canada $) In any case, wine is NOT expensive and it IS delicious. There's no such thing as "Dep" wine or Depanneure wine, the stuff you can buy at the corner store in Quebec does not exist here (PHEW!) AND you can drink wherever you want, on the bus, on the train, you can even drink in the car. Yes, open bottles are allowed in a moving vehicle. Even the driver is allowed to drink ONE beer, should he or she desire it to be so.

Architecture_in_the_city_of_Luzern

Every where you look, it just looks different. Even in the forest, it is different. Sometimes if I am in the deep woods, I can imagine that I am in British Columbia, but you know you are not in Canada. The houses are different, the landscape, the architecture is really incredible. If you look up when you are wandering around in a city in Switzerland you will be amazed. They (in some cases) paint designs under the lip of of the roof. I sang at a house concert the other day in a house that was built in 1552, initially as a tanning house, where they would take care of skins and leather. There were still iron hooks coming out of the ceiling and there was a tower at the top of the house, which you had to enter via the skinniest (sketchiest) staircase I had ever climbed. I guess I could never play in a place like that in Canada. 

Local_area_mountian_range_Nünenen_and_Gantrisch

Yes, the view here is much different. I was raised in the County, big sky and flat! You can literally ski down our back yard here, or toboggan! The mountains in this photo are our local area peaks, this view is about a ten minute drive from where I live. We live in a valley so you can't see any peaks from our windows. It's okay though, the hills are alive around here!  In the Spring, the farmer brings his Sheep to graze on the grasses around us. They wear bells, so there is always harmony of sound outside. It's quite pretty! The cows also wear bells but the sound is MUCH much lower, as the Cow bells are much bigger than the Sheep bells! At the end of each Summer, when the farmers bring their cows down from the mountain tops (in some areas, they graze in the Summer a way up high in the mountains) it is a big and beautiful celebration. All the cows are honoured and dressed up with flower tiaras. It is a very loud and beautiful display!

Decorated_cows

An Easter tradition here is also a little different. Where WE paint and colour eggs -in my Canadian family, anyway- They decorate eggs here too, but instead of blowing out the insides (for pancakes and waffles!!) they are hard-boiled and eaten later. They make a game of it actually, to see who has the strongest egg, they are knocked together and the one that smashes last, wins. They are boiled in tea/coffee/onion skin and/or beet water but only after they have been decorated with leaves and flowers (held on with the help of a nylon stocking, while being boiled. Yes, the eggs are wrapped up and boiled in tights!) My sister-in-law (or Schwager Schwester as they say here) bakes Zöpf, a delicious braided bread and displays the egg on this. Very beautiful AND delicious! 

Dyed_and_decorated_Easter_eggs

 I guess this blog could go on forever. There are many things about living in Switzerland that are new to me, a Canadian. Perhaps I will dedicate another patch of writing to what is happening over here in the 'Land of Chocolate 'N Cheese!' But for now I will leave you with this: things are definitely more organized here. People seem to "follow the rules" too. As an example when you are going up or down the escalators, if you don't want to walk, you stand to the right, if you want to walk, you walk up to the left. It is rare to see any people blocking the way. Also, when you are on the train and you want to put your feet up on the seat across from you, you take off your shoes or if you don't want to take off your shoes,  you place a newspaper on the seat and the transit system runs pretty smoothly at a reasonable price (when you have a 'half-tax card!) The streets are clean,  it is rare to see litter and at a certain time of year, when there are decorations out and about (giant glass balls on trees, candleabras in restaurant window ledges etc) they don't get stolen! There really is a safer feeling to the cities.  Oh, and the cheese is just out of this world. At any given time, I have at LEAST five types in my fridge. YumMy!!

Sweet_Cheesus_Fondue

The people of Switzerland are kind people. They get a bad reputation for being reserved but really, they are just respectful of your privacy and in some cases, shy. In most cases though (as there is ALWAYS an exception to every rule) the Swiss people (I have in my life) are loyal and interested in living! There is a healthier mindset here, and outdoor activities prevail over indoor activities.

But to be sure, Canada, I am coming home!!! Soon...

Love,

Lindsay xo