We all are building a better boat!

Swimming Juno on the Pac River, she is in her happy place. This river runs along the eastern boarder of my parents property. It’s always been a serene walk on the back 40 to the peninsula among a beautiful cedar grove.

Hello Sweet Friends!

April closes it’s door and here we all are in May. Don’t blink, it will be Fall in a few breaths! As venues are opening up again to music and we are shedding masks ever so slowly there is a newness in the air. There is a bit more restoration of a thing we call HOPE and Hallelujah for that!

I am in the midst of reading Brandi Carliles memoirs, “Broken Horses” (thank you Fran!). So many things I find myself identifying with in her story! I am grateful she had this quarantine time to write and now published this book. I would have loved to do that as well but my creative juices became very stagnate during Covid. It was a time, an internal “simmer” if you will. I am an emotional writer for sure, but with so much static in the world, I found that my empathic antenna set the frequency dial to “brace yourself” mode and to create from that mode I found it, pretty impossible. I pressed hard against the current, created a couple of songs and I wrote many poems, but I have not generated what I felt deep down possible. I am just “watering many seeds” at this point in my writing process!

Part of this process is clearing out and upgrading. I know this sounds silly but the set backs to our shop (of which we want to turn into a studio) is cluttered and disheveled and it’s in a holding pattern to some degree until we can get it upgraded. I have a touch of ADD and can and have been completely dyslexic! Yes, I somehow forget this about myself until I do something stupid like yesterday. I wrote out a check for the materials and I wrote one thing in the box and another thing on the line, reversing the numbers…ugh! I also read a text and dropped an important word that reversed itself so we have another band member joining a gig we thought we would do on our own! LOL! Wow! “How did I ever get this far?”, I ask myself. And with my hearing loss…how in the HELL do I do what I do?

I think reading about Brandi’s trials and tribulations has been a way for me to step back and look at what we have achieved and what we have yet to attain. Brandi also struggles with dyslexia and makes it a point to say so…where as in my mind and my generation, I have never really labeled myself so. I have normalized it and I’m fine with that. It hasn’t set me back due to my ignorance of how much it can (and has) gotten in my way! Ha!

I am about 12 years older than Brandi and my generation did not label much. The positive is that, like a placebo, you just do the best you can not knowing you have a real handi-cap and not knowing this allows you to press forward and not make excuses. However, there have been moments that I have been hard on myself for either not being able to learn a new song, or not being able to play something a certain way with band members. Like my mind just doesn’t compute. So, I’ve certainly spent much of my precious youth shaming myself as to why I am not better!

Now I look at that with a neutral energy. Sure I can get my “stupid buttons” pushed but I also come back with “meeting myself where I am” and continue the best I can. All we can do is “build a better boat” and round off our edges by accepting the perfect flawed being that we are!

Speaking of building a better boat…that will be your download this month! I am so in love with this song. It made me cry tears of gratitude as life marches forward and we all try to be the best we can be. It says everything that I love! My only disappointment is that I didn’t write it myself (Travis Meadows & Liz Rose did)…but, ya can’t “write’m all!” :-)

Being a musician-songwriter, we traverse a fine line of being in the pocket of acceptance and pressing higher. It is a tumultuous journey. One not easy for the ego yet one I have found to be true to this heart. Much joy is brought through singing a note that somehow pierces the heart of the listeners and ourselves and opens something un-explainable inside. Where language can’t…music can! I am utterly humbled and grateful, this is my life. Full of many sacrifices, mistakes, utter vulnerability and a bit of genuine struggle, yet so rich in rewards of community, and graced now and then with the ability that slips out after so much practice! Happy this journey includes carving a new story into song, travel, adventure, unpredictability (which keeps us on our toes), Spirit singing it’s song through me…it’s all worth it.

We have not made it to that stardom like Brandi, but I sing her songs with pride and remember her -when…When she was unrecognized and KNOWING the record labels were stupid not picking her up earlier! I knew she would be discovered. As for myself and being discovered…the journey is still on. Possibilities are still there and our story isn’t over yet.

We are currently in the midst of planning our studio (the shop) and how we wish to set it up to be a very creative space. A place I can drop myself into to practice and write and thanks to Covid, the awareness to CREATE TIME to be CREATIVE! Ha! We are also in the midst of a Van conversion and making major decisions about the floor plan and fine details. I also went up to my Father’s home this last month and witnessed his 90th birthday roll on by without him.

Papa in his happy place with a good size bass! This really wasn’t that long ago. “My how the last few months have changed!”

You can say my plate is pretty full. “Now and then I let it go, I ride the waves I can’t control. I’m learning how to build a better boat!” I hope you love this song as much as I do! This take is when I FIRST learned it and I kinda love the imperfection of this take. Mo is just learning it too and is a quite little harmonizer in the back. It’s still very vulnerable and right on the edge of our tears. This was recorded from my PHONE (which always amazes me). I am actually singing it a whole step lower in this take than I decide on. I kinda like the low “Johnny Cash” of my voice here ha ha! It’s just a different voicing.

Enjoy and thank you so much for all your love and support!!!

Be well!

Niccole , Mo and Juno!

Sparky is a perfect cargo van for moving some things as Juno protects our new “small home”! Squirrel? :-)

I like it here mama, but something is indeed missing! Yes, I know Juno…half my heart is someplace else…but you make my life better!

Goofy Elvis always brings the levity to most any situation! LOL!!! A wonderful time spent with friends and music!

Time to Bloom!

Juno says, “Have a well balanced Easter”!!!

Hello Beautiful Friends,!

This is Mo Mo! We hope this finds ya’ll healthy, happy, and doing well! Vaccinations are rolling out and we are very excited about the possibilities and adventures ahead with the restored health of our nation and our world! Spring in the air gives us a sense of renewed hope, joy, and optimism as we watch everything bloom, and bare witness to the astounding beauty all around us! The warmth of the Sun on these old bones reminds us of all the goodness yet to come.

Spring of last year was not a happy time, and there was much we all had to face that were our greatest challenges. Some of us are no longer on this planet because of it, but we trust they are doing their wonderful work from the other side now; they have become our guardian angels. They will help us figure out what is ours to do for humanity now since we have collectively “grown” our consciousness due to these circumstances. And speaking of growth and evolution, all of you have helped Niccole and I grow tremendously this past year.

Your playfulness and encouragement during our Love streams kept us continually looking forward to entertaining you each week! Your lovely comments, hearts, emojis, participation, interaction with each other, and supportive feedback has kept our musical act ‘in the game!’ We simply would not be able to continue playing our music if you hadn’t of supplied the demand! Consequently, we were thoughtful in making our set lists each week, we practiced hard, tried new things, learned new songs…..we found ourselves excited to share something new with you, and it put the pep back in our steps; the groovy in our booties; the slam in the shalam! Ya know what I mean?! You gave us a reason to keep going, get better, strive for more, be the best entertainers we can be….. your inspiration, support, and virtual love kept driving this engine……..not to mention your generous financial support that put the gas in that engine. We are so grateful to you for being able to continue this musical career!

So a million thanks to you folks! This month’s featured song is a recording of “The Letter” by the Box Tops. I’m singing lead on this one, which was a big push for me to “find my lead inner voice.” A bit of a challenge when you’re used to singing harmony lines. You helped me find that inner courage to try something new, and put it out there.

May you bloom this Spring into the you you’ve always dreamed of, taking the time to enjoy the simplest things! Happy Easter and many blessings to you all and take the best of care!

Much love,

Mo, Niccole & Juno

Closer...to Fine!

I’m trying to tell you something about my life, maybe give me insight between black and white. But the best thing you’ve ever done for me…is to help me take my life less seriously, it’s only life after all….. - Indigo Girls

This song echos like a long lost friend. It was one of the very first songs I learned on guitar. I taught myself this tune back in the late 80’s when the Indigo Girls showed up and drug all of our hearts through serious thought provoking lyrics, angelic harmonies and kick ass acoustic sounds and rhythms. They brought back folk with a spin of rock and sweetness of songs that SAID something. They were for a very long time, my bench mark. The place I put everything. Who I would have liked to aspire to in the world of music. They touched a part of me that woke me up inside, called me to question everything I thought was true, and they did it out loud, un-ashamed, un-apologetically, both vulnerable and strong. Such a breath of fresh air back then when most music was a genre based formulaic merry-go-round that took us on a path we were so familiar.

I love this song, and I know our awesome member Dave Wilson, loves it too! We haven’t seen him and Janet in months and they are set for their vaccine shots and hopefully will join us very soon! Yes, we ALL will be getting “closer to fine” in the next few months! Which is why I thought a recording of our version of this song would be fitting for these times.

I particularly have always like the first lines. What we try to tell each other about our lives, words fall short because there is much that slips through the” black and white”, gray can muddle and make our picture of life unclear and the BEST thing YOU (our audience and friends) have ever done for me…is to help me take my life less seriously! Indeed. Less seriously. We’ve all been hit with the “serious” bat over the last year and I know I am really wanting and needing a lot of fun! I bet I’m not the only one.

We had our Sapphire show on the 13th before Valentine’s day. 2 shows back to back and wow, it was such a sweet night. I love playing with a band and having a big sound and celebration, but something about that night, just Mo and I on stage…it put the pep in my step. There was a calmness about it. A sinking into your skin while on stage! It felt like home with all the beautiful faces in the audience. We titled that show, “Go where the love is” and it was exactly that! It was like medicine!

Picture compliments to Francine Henderson - Thanks Fran!

The fact that people showed up to a ticketed event, during a pandemic and after the snow had fallen over a foot- was a real huge testament of LOVE I would say! There is always a part of me that is just so humbled by it all. Just incredibly grateful for the gifts and the positive energy exchange with people! We try to express what we mean by it, and like the song says - give me insight between my limited words of black and white into the shades of gray where most emotions live. Words can not express.

I have found many moments where words limit my expressions these days. I have been writing a poem a day over the past 30 days. I have some that are wonderful, and some that suck and some that are just so so. Me being my own judge and then running ones that I like by Mo, who gives me her feedback.

I realize that I need a much larger vocabulary to express all that is in there. I feel like I should study vocabulary and read more so that I can write better. I think I’ve always had much inside me wanting to outlet and express, which is the reason I picked up the pen and later the guitar. Perhaps a deep need to be understood and then to express these ideas in a platform that others resonated with as well.

Don’t we all wish to connect? Isn’t that what makes us human? And this year our connections have been short-circuited due to Covid. We’ve had to reinvent how we connect and then inertia can just take over and we can think, “we don’t need to connect”, “I don’t FEEL like being social today”; and that is because, left up to our own devices, our thinking can go in a loop, and at times, that loop can become comfortable or really, complacent. Most likely, it’s just convenient. Like sitting back in the stands, humans thrive when we are IN the game, not watching it! Feeling connected and knowing that you are part of a larger picture yet vital to the whole, when do we make time to do or feel this way, with intention? Especially this last year?

The power of music binds us like no other. I have been so fortunate to witness it first hand and FEEL it come through me. I have witnessed others sing to my heart and have FELT it open. That is my “simple” black and white answer that brings me back to being closer to fine!

So I hope you can appreciate the down load, “Closer to Fine” and perhaps see the song in a different light. The character searches every where, going to the doctor, to the mountains, to the children and to the “fountain”. Looking everywhere for that inner solace, knowing that darkness is insatiable and our MINDS create most of the darkness in our lives. The more we can live simply and TRUST the way our lives roll out, the definition of life can never be summed up…so let’s just be fine and enjoy it? Right?

I’ve always loved tearing songs, poetry, and Shakespeare apart to understand it’s inner workings. I loved my Literature classes in college. I love the art of writing and I am super proud of myself for tipping into the discipline of writing each day.

It’s been challenging. A 1000 things will want to get in my way. But it’s kind of like meditation for me, you never know when you sit down in posture, where your mind will take you. When I sit down at the key board with a blank page, the mind fills it with some kind of wonderful.

So I will include all the lyrics to this song if you have it in you to dig deep into these words. Or you can simply just enjoy a song you’ve probably heard 1000 times. I will also include a poem I wrote on my 30 day challenge.

We are taking a bit of a hiatus on streaming while the shop is being worked on. Juno is doing MUCH better, she had some health issues that caused her tail not to wag for a few days but she is back to being her bouncy happy self. And we are oh so looking forward to Spring and getting Closer to Fine! Thanks for reading! Much love to you all!

Closer to Fine

I'm trying to tell you something 'bout my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
And the best thing you ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It's only life after all, yeah

Well, darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
And I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I'm crawling on your shores

And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
(The less I seek my source)
Closer I am to fine, yeah
Closer I am to fine, yeah

And I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free

And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
(The less I seek my source)
Closer I am to fine, yeah
Closer I am to fine, yeah

I stopped by the bar at 3 A.M.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
And I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
And I went in seeking clarity

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
We go to the doctor, we go to the mountains
We look to the children, we drink from the fountain
Yeah, we go to the Bible, we go through the workout
We read up on revival, we stand up for the lookout

There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
(The less I seek my source)
Closer I am to fine
Closer I am to fine
Closer I am to fine, yeah

Songwriters: E. Saliers

Day 4:   Jan. 29th 2021

 Niccole Blaze

My days are constructed of menial tasks

Some I find a drag and others a blast

Like washing a dog or running to the market

Then there is calling the vacuum seller

So I can get to work on this carpet.

Papers and pictures and stuff that piles up

Trying to make the time, get organized with my stuff.

It’s no easy job, I’ve been around over 50 years!

It’s no wonder there are messes, needed to be cleared!

What do you do with an old card from a friend?

Saver the sweetness, then through it in the can!?

And going back to my young self, and reading words she had said

While the same needs and wants, still meander in my head

A kid that needed love then, and also needs love now

But I’m not a kid any longer, yet still feel like one somehow.

I am the same but changed, with years over time

I still like to write, I still like to rhyme.

I have an older layer, but I still have that core

It’s who I came in as, and leave for heaven’s door

This is if I get to heaven, it’s all a mystery

And this life that has many lives, in these old pictures I see.

I have had many deaths, but also many births.

It’s the miracle of lifetimes, being here on Earth.

So I clean and I straighten and I do the best I can.

All these little scraps, make up who I am!

Tackling massive projects..."At Last"!

Howdy Friends,

Wow, January is behind us! So fast this year already spins with newness and hope despite the volatile times we are in. Many of you are like minded friends who have had a rough 4 years watching our world get turned upside-down with politics and Covid 19! We feel you! It has been tough on human kind and the divide between us is a full blown reality, there is no denying after the mob hit the Capitol Hill on Jan .6th.

Such strange times indeed, yet here we are. I can’t help but think better days are on the horizon. Perhaps that is my “program”, pop in the cassette of positivity! On another note, speaking of “cassette”, we have so much exciting news to share in the midst of all the things going on in the world!

Last March/April when the world was “sheltering in place”, I tore apart the 2 storage sheds behind our house. It was a crazy task. Things that have been in there since we moved in 16 years ago! The space was packed and there was no true utilization happening. Boxes upon boxes came out of there, much I gave away or threw away. But many of those boxes were endless amounts of physical photographs. I whittled them down during the summer, but come the Fall, I STILL had an over abundance of pictures to sort out and go through and various other stuff, like journals and writing, old memorabilia, cards and letters from my mother. Things you just don’t know how to let go of, ya know?

A young Blaese family, Christmas of ‘67. I’m the tiny one in Mom’s arms.

Some people don’t even look in the box and just throw it away, or they say, “Oh, this is college B.S. let’s chuck it all”…but I am a sifter. I look for the “gold”. I do that when I write a song. I throw a bunch of stuff in the “colander” and shake it till a song is left in the bowl. It’s just how I roll and sometimes it can be self-torturous!

However, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process that I am on now. After months and months of moving these boxes and having them feel like chains, weighing me down…I cracked into them one by one. They are now in the SHOP and are whittled down further into pictures Categorized by; family, friends, landscapes, trips, animals, etc. Now I am going through them all again and deciding which ones to let go of. I already have thrown many of them away and now deciding, “which ones to keep”. If it sparks joy or tells a story of substance or worth for me, I keep it. If it frames in a part of my life for which I could never explain (a picture tells a thousand words) it stays. And…”How many pictures do I really want to scan?” Is the other question I ask when determining what to keep and what to toss.

A dapper little Nicc. I think this is my kindergarten picture…6 yrs. old?

So in all this nostalgia, my CD player took a dump. I was out there listening to music having a good ol’ time and poof, the CD player Dad got me years ago failed. Bummer! Well, my good friend Trudy (and awesome member) recently purchased a cool Victrola for her partner. So out there sifting through pictures and thinking of Dad I said, “why not pull the trigger on that” and off to Amazon I went! It was here 2 days later! I’ve been a 14 year old, in my bliss, ever since! The power of music! It’s so cool! And I’ve not been able to listen to these old Cassette tapes I’ve made in years! It was just so perfect. This little gadget has a record player/ CD/Cassette/ FM Radio & USB…and also has blue tooth so I can run my phone aps to it also if I want. Crazy cool contraption!

So much joy from one item! LOVE this thing!!!

Here I am, sitting in the shop, getting ready to make it into a real live studio! I need to get the old out and organized and bring in the new cameras and sequencer change the ambiance so it becomes a place of beauty and creativity. I have yearned to do this for a very long long time and finally have the time and gathering the resources to help.

The overwhelm…gulp!

At LAST! I am tackling the “corners of my life”! Clearing out the clutter, it feels like a cleanse. At Last! And speaking of “AT LAST”…it IS the month of LOVE and I thought, what better song to post for you than the Mighty Mo Kelly singing Etta Jame’s “At Last”! We hope you enjoy it!

Puppy Love, Chris Sphar and I! We matched! I wonder if our mothers planned that! He was so cute… still is!

What is your projects you have tackled this year? Is there still “cobwebs” in an area of your life you’ve been procrastinating cleaning? Just some thoughts, “How will it feel at the END of this? What one step can you do TODAY that will assist in the completion of this thing you want to get done?”

Baby Big Mouth! LOL! Yep, that’s a yo-yo and an interesting way of playing with it!

Happy month of February friends! We hope you enjoy!

There once was a time…my brother and I were close. A treasured photo!

There once was a time…I wore dresses, and believed in Fairy-tale Land! Ha! Dancing with my handsome Dad!

My parents enjoying their fairy-tale land.

On another note!

One of my favorite days…random picture for this blog, but made it me smile. This was on Maui 2015, rented a bike and took Mo around the island. I want more days like this in 2021…holding the faith folks!!!

Hey Friends,

I wanted to ADD a thought here to the last blog “Final Gifts”. I misplaced the file and reached out to my good buddy (and old high-school boyfriend) Ken David to retrieve it. The file got sucked up in the vortex of computer audio and technology. Such a wonder sometimes right?

Anyway, I re-listened to it and a BIG SMILE came across my face! This is huge! Some of you may not particularly care for Ken’s version of this song , but I absolutely LOVE the creative place he took this song, so different than my version.

More reasons I love it: There is no bigger compliment than someone taking an interest in your song and re-creating it, giving it different colored wings to fly! I am jazzed that Ken David, a boy I knew since 7th grade, who is an extremely TALENTED musician, took an interest in my song and then did such a cool COMMERCIAL job with it!

This is more radio ready than the original and I love that. I’m not a commercial writer…but what if there are OTHER songs that I have, put into the hands of amazing musicians? Perhaps they could be put out there to the masses simply because they change a few things?! Heck, I’ll take that! Sure! Think John Prine right? He was genius and has so many songs that are fantastic. Look how many folks cover his tunes!

Maybe people will love a commercial version of “Life is Beautiful” or “Only the Lucky” and then they will be tripping along and find my original version? That would be so cool too!

Part of the Joy of music is sharing it. I don’t need to be territorial about my creations. I want to do the opposite and put it out there any way I can, and this is part of it. And YOU ALL get to see and hear this new creation of the “same baby” right? Soooo coool!

What if it went BIG!? Wouldn’t that be so cool!? I just love the idea that I don’t need to be the “motor” that runs the song all the time. Music is much bigger than we are! It transcends even OUR plans for it!

If you asked me 5 years ago where I thought a song would be now, in someone else’s creative process…I would have never been able to tell you Ken David picked up MY song and ran with it, and that Sundae & Mr. Goessl took MY song (“I love my baby better'“) and made it their own and are now playing it all over and put it on their album! That is just thrilling for me!

You may be “married” to the original, and “Yay! You’re my favorite fan, I have a liking to my original as well!”, but the possibilities are endless! This means all the work I do may not die when I die…right? It’s not all for not. That is a truly good feeling.

Give Ken’s version a chance and hear it on the radio…it could be the coolest break-though…or just another lost file! Ha ha!!! The Universe is awesome! Where will the NEXT 5 years take us? Be well friends!

Final Gifts

Sweet Friends,

Another year comes to a close and a new one begins! January 1st is like walking through a door, a marker so to speak. Even though it’s just another month like yesterday was another day, yesterday is sub-categorized into last year and today starts the beginning of a new journey. And many of us are ready for a new journey!

We’ve been through massive loss, grief and stress this year haven’t we? And yet here we are, thankfully healthy and still breathing. Some of us have not been so fortunate. It makes us all think of our priorities and how we spend our time? It makes us ask ourselves, “How much more time do we have left?” It also makes us think about those we’ve lost.

There have been “Silver Linings” to these times indeed. And now a new year is breaking through and hopefully an end or at least a drastic slowing of this hellacious virus. We’ve missed your hugs, your smiles unmasked, we miss feeling like a United country. There is much to miss and much to mourn.

But the dawn of a new day is breaking…indeed! We must hold on, “here comes a strong wind, and it’s looking for a fight… keep facing the Sunshine, with all your might”. I know for myself this last month, I’ve been trimming down my News watching habit, and my time on social media. I’ve been asking myself “who I want to be” when the world opens back up again. “Who do I want to be now?” In the face of still being in this crises.

I want to be kind, to myself and others. I want to show kindness. I wish to spread JOY and BE more Joyful. I want to have fun, love hard, cry hard when I have to…make it ok for others to emote and be who they are! I want to travel the world eventually.

As solstice was on it’s way, we got a call from a venue interested in booking us. The venue is about 2 hours East of here. They told us all about their Covid safety and how they believe they are being safe. We looked at each other and ran the math and risks in our heads. Gas + Hotel (which may not be safe) = 100.00 less than what we would make going. Sigh. The risk was not worth any of it, yet we longed to play, in a new venue of waggy tails.

Before my Dad passed he wanted me to get a new car. I drive a Mercury Mountaineer. It has collapsed on me a few times on the road. The last time was while we headed up to North Idaho to see my Dad. We told you all about it in our July/Aug. blog.

Ironically, when we left my Dad’s after him passing, we went to the ocean. Just to sit, to cry, to process, to grieve. We were 3 hours from our destination and the gas gauge went whacky. What I mean to say is, it registered full, then empty, then full, then empty. And I was like, “Dad! Quit messing with me! Ok Ok, I will shop around for a new vehicle!”

When the new venue called and was unwilling to put us up in a hotel and we were a bit skeptic of staying in a hotel, that added to this “new vehicle” train of thought. I was in the laundry room and for whatever reason, I think of my Dad in there because I tinker with tools and “Dad things”. I thought, “what ride have musicians used to stream line to and from gigs for decades?” - knowing the answer I called out to Mo that very same question.

She shot back with…”A van I guess!” “Exactly!” I said. It was like a lightening bolt. “If we could get a van, something that we can live in, something that we could be incognito, in and out of cities, towns, drive directly TO the gig, have plenty of storage for our equipment, have a place to crash, eat, sleep and even go to the bathroom or take a shower in…wouldn’t THAT be cool!???” We would be stream-lined! We wouldn’t have to worry about dropping a trailer somewhere and could even used it in the winter season.

My wheels were turning. I can’t help but think that was my Dad’s intervention. I pulled back and WATCHED this manifestation. It was so fun! I got a SPARK that said…”look into this…look into this now!”

I spent hours grooming through different websites and you tubes on how to convert a van. I spoke with Mo more in depth about it. We went to a local place and got sticker shocked. Yet I kept my eye on the prize. I didn’t let price sway me…I felt there was something out there waiting for me, and Dad was gonna help from the other side.

I found one in Phoenix AZ. It was a STEAL! 2019 36K miles on it, ALREADY converted and the price was drastically UNDER what I would pay for a pre-owned SUV!!! OMG! It lit a fire! I ran this by the van guy I had met in Boise. He said I could flip it for $10K more AS is if I wanted! I ran it by my brother (the skeptic) my sister, a few other folks that have been elbow deep in van conversion research but have not pulled the trigger on purchasing one. I ran it by my sweet friend Kim Carrington, and asked her, “Do you want to go on a road trip and take a look at this thing? How healthy have you been?” Ha ha!

Then we were off! Like a lightening bolt! All systems GO, I saw the green light and figured, if we got down there and it was too good to be true, at least Kim and I would have a fun adventure. We had both. My sister released some funds from my Papa to purchase this little gem!

It’s a Ford Transit, complete with a bed, refrigerator, 2 solar panels, 4 Jackery Boxes, a compost toilet AND shower! It has a 350e motor! Plenty of power to fight a head wind, which we did leaving Las Vegas, and STILL able to pass a semi-truck going up hill! It gets MUCH better gas mileage than my Mercury AND I can take a nap (or take a pee) WHILE Mo drives! Yippie!!! It even has a smart TV installed in it!

It drives like a dream! So fun! You have this big wind-shield in front of you and it seems like you never get tired of driving. Kim and I had to fight for the steering wheel! She was such a sweet friend to join me on this wild ride.

It’s funny, every time I think I might “hang it up”, I always lean a little bit harder into this thing called music. We invested a little nugget, but it’s sensible and will allow us to go visit and play for people, see the country, get to the gig on time and play for those folks that haven’t ever seen us.

Some local friends might be worried that we will just be on the road all the time. Not to worry, we will ALWAYS come back home, and now we have live streaming to sooth our musical hearts!

I am blown away every time I look out back and see “Sparky” sitting in the driveway, waiting for an adventure. I named her Sparky because she’s given me a SPARK and a pep in my step. I keep watching you tubes to see how I want to re-create this floor plan just for us. Mo is a wonderful cook. These people did most of their cooking outside. We want to put a kitchen in it. We are looking forward to the creative process and all the places this mobile will take us!

It’s truly a dream come true that I would never have been able to do if it weren’t for my Papa! We have been wanting to travel all 50 states (well, maybe leave a few of them off the list ha ha) and now we have the tool to do it! I was just about to give up on that dream. The trailer is great, but it drags…literally and slowly. It’s wonderful for camping in, but the van will be stream line! Plus it’s the perfect business write off! I can finally separate all my accounting properly with this ride, instead of the confusion of personal use with the SUV/trailer set up.

It’s a smart way to go and I am going to love driving everywhere! When the people handed over the keys, I knew it was bitter-sweet for them. They guy was a musician in his youth and now had a son with downs syndrome. He and his wife loved it, but the son wasn’t all that crazy about the van trips. They also got called back to work at the office instead of working remotely, so…they used it and unloaded it to us.

I think it’s pretty cool that the guy was a musician. He opened for Stone Temple Pilots when he was in his 20’s so he must have been pretty good! He said he had long hair, and we all laughed cause now in his 40’s he’s completely bald. He told a short story of doing showcases for years and years and when he hit his 30’s he said, he just needed to get a “real job”. Whew! I didn’t really START music as a career until my 30’s.

I had the “real job” first. I think I’ve always looked back and wished I majored in music or started younger, but something tells me, I got my foundation and did other things…now, it’s time for music. All thing happen and roll out the way it’s meant to be. It’s time for touring and bringing joy. It’s time to meet some of these folks who join our live streams. It’s time to meet many of you who don’t live locally. It’s time to FLY!

I sat on the beach, wind hitting my back, staring at the ocean. “My Dad is gone now. The world as we know it suddenly changed. What dreams do I have left to make come true? If not now, then when?” The little voice inside churned these questions for the past couple months. “You may not have as much time as you think, if you have the dream, do it!” So here we are. A new (used) vehicle acquired, an open calendar and an open road. 2021 is FULL of possibilities!

What will be possible for YOU this year? What does YOUR “Little Voice” say? If not now…then when? What is left for you to feel, do, experience? Have you asked yourselves? Is how you are spending time, the way you WISH to spend time?

I believe we are ALL able to manifest. When I slowed the “clock of consciousness” down to study HOW I was manifesting this Van to come true, I noticed 2 things.

1. I WANTED it badly, I felt it in my heart 100% and got excited!

2. I BELIEVED I could have it! In my head it all made perfect sense, it was written in the stars!

This is one of my Father’s final gifts. I would never have it if it weren’t for him. I would rather have him, of course. But I know he will be watching over us as we progress on this new journey with Sparky! I know this makes him smile and he would be glad I listened to that inner voice. That voice that can be so small sometimes. That “Little Voice” inside.

So…I have a very special song, called “Little Voice”. I know you may know it, but this month your MP3 will be “Little Voice” by my high-school buddies Ken David and Scott Lippincott. They took my song and put a completely different spin on it and I LOVE when other artist do this. I think they did a great job with it. Check it out!

I hope you are excited for us and also excited for yourselves for a brand new year of manifesting some dreams to come true! Stay healthy! We aren’t out of the “woods” yet! Keep Facing the Sun and know we couldn’t do this without you, your love and support! Thank you so much!

Niccole, Mo and Juno

An excited Nicci as we finish up at the DMV in AZ!

Introducing “Sparky” perfectly staged here and ready to roll!

A spacious bed that will most likely be reconfigured to allow a bigger “garage” underneath to fit our equipment. It will work now, but we have plans!

Kim brought along a good luck charm as we drive through the desert!

This might come in handy! Ha! With no bathroom in the trailer we will be going first class!

Life is ALWAYS better with Friends! Thank you Kim for your big smile, love and support!

It's time to go slow

36 degrees, keeping the hands and toes warm with warmers from our good friend Trudy! Thank you Trudy! You keep our hearts warm too with all your love!!!

Hello Friends,

Well, I am making an effort to get back to my first of the month entries with you all. The last few weeks we’ve had the RARE opportunity to play in the freezing cold! Ha! It is amazing how clever we all have become during this time of Covid.

The Riverside Hotel asked if we would be interested in playing OUTSIDE at their “Sandbar” venue that overlooks the Boise River. We normally play once or twice in the spring/summer season. But last weekend between 5-8 pm it was 34 degrees when we started and dropped a few more degrees to freezing by the time we finished! Holy cow! The Sun set within the first half hour of our first set and we had frost on our CD’s when we wrapped up but it was EXHILARATING!!!

Honestly, it was such a unique show! They brought out the heat lamps and had almost one heater for every table, then as it got cold (and dark) they pulled the drapes to keep the heat more “localized”. So we were all spacial distanced, outside (roof off) but walls up…as they unfolded like a curtain. The feeling was like we were all in our teens again, making forts and sitting by the fire. Being able to be “naughty” by being outside together when no one really does that now. It was super fun!

It put the pep back in my step for sure. I know I have mentioned during this time of grief, I just have not been able to get my “mo-jo” going. But there are little advancements here and there. I have restarted the practice of writing down 3 gratitude’s each day. In fact, now they have an AP for that! Do you believe it?! It’s called “The 5 minute journal”. Check it out at the AP store if you would like. You can take a picture to remember the day and list 3 gratitude’s and some other things. It’s a great way to track your days.

Also, we are going to turn our attention back to LIVE STREAMING this Saturday. Yes, it will be the first Face Book live stream since Oct. before my world got rocked. I am hopeful to “see” many of you and as we hunker down and go further into “lock-down hibernation mode”…I think it will be helpful for all of us to “sit around a comfy campfire” of music. Music is good for the soul indeed!

Music restores so much, gives me a sense of hope and community, I think we can all use that right now. I have been writing too. I’ve attempted songs but none that have flourished into anything special. And that is ok, you have to make many attempts before you get a “jewel”…keep digging keep digging, and there are days when picking up the “shovel” is an accomplishment. I haven’t moved much “gravel”.

Here is a little excerpt I wrote during a zoom class called “The Write Path”. I have been taking this class for the past 4 weeks and I am so glad to just be open to the writing process regardless of whether it lends itself to music or not. It’s important to just keep expressing in times like this. Here’s the excerpt…we only had 5 minutes to do it:

“Try as best you can, not to let the wire brush of doubt scrape from your heart, all sense of yourself” (This is a line I chose from a poem by Irish poet John O’Donohue. Ironically, we stood at his grave site when we went to Ireland and took a picture of his tombstone.)

Doolin Ireland 2019 - Clare Co.

My free write:

I roll off the hamster wheel of my busy life into the saw dust, looking onward through the glass of my cage…to a life outside this “box of pain”. But I know it’s mine to do. To sift through these wooden chips of memories and pull myself back together again - in time.

I remain “off the wheel” for a while and hopefully never to get back on! Slowing my pace to a moderate clip for which I can feel joy yet once again. “It is time to go slow”, to think of holding his hand and remembering who he was as we watched the golden clouds roll by 3 days before his passing.

He knows I loved him, he still does. And it will be mine to do when the time comes, to move beyond this glass box on to the “fresh pastures of promise”.

Green Pastures where O’Donahue’s tombstone lies.

I hope you know how super special you are and how grateful we are to have you in our world. I hope you also allow yourself “time to go slow” through all this change we’ve seen this past year. I hope we can sing you back to “fresh pastures of promise”. Thank you so much! We selected Mo’s version of “Kind & Generous” for your mp3 download this months. We hope you like it.

You can’t “rush art” I’ve always been told, and have known this. I am not a song factory. Sometimes they come, and most times they are fleeting. I try to catch them when they come and share what I do catch. I hope this beautiful cover satisfies your thirsty heart and reminds you how much appreciation and gratitude we hold for each of you! And how grateful we can be on this journey together, through this time! One day we will celebrate in person, but meanwhile…stay safe, stay healthy and “go slow”.

Much love!

Niccole, Mo and Juno

Contagious Joy

Our hands are the same. I can look in the mirror and see him. He will always be staring right back at me.

Hello beautiful people!

From the last blog entry to now seems like a whole other world ago.  I let you all know what was happening in my world with my Dad’s sudden diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and knowing his inevitable death was near.  Something, no matter how you know it, how hard you try to wrap your head around it or try to “brace” yourself for…it’s simply impossible to know beforehand a world without the one you love in it!  One can never truly predict the processes and “rides” you go on after they leave.

This has been my predicament lately.  Getting me to this page seems like a small battle has been won to a degree.  When I am in my grief I have noticed I am certainly not as sharp. I also tend to procrastinate and for that I apologize for being late with this blog.  YOU all have been wonderful while I have been on this ride.

I figured I didn’t really have anything positive to write or share, what’s the point, right? Why depress other people with a sad blog?  Well, the sun cracked on Sunday (how appropriate).   We played at CSL and then at Bar 365 and many of you showed up. 

The smiles and love of the audience really soothed this soul and I know it’s true for Mo too.  We were kinda dragging our feet to the gig.  And then music starts happening and there is this thing inside, like a deep breath of life and possibility that raises to the surface…joy.  I was able to feel joy again!  It’s a contagious thing.  The audiences interaction with us, our interaction with the audience…we raised each other.  It was so beautiful.   In this pain, with my memory burned of his last days, I managed to feel joy among you all.  How incredible.  What a gift music is.  It’s also, “going where the love is”.  Which is our MP3 for you this month. 

Go where the love is…why go anywhere else?  I cannot believe we didn’t have it posted for you already, but I guess it all unfolds as needed.  This song is so true and I love it.  It’s one of my favorites. 

A happy tune, and a reminder to seek out the good.  The good that came to me in the last month:

I got to hold my Dad in my arms during his last days, and in this world now with Covid, this is truly lucky! 

He and I watched the clouds go by, held hands and were silent together.  The power of that I will never forget.

I got to have him for a Dad, so so lucky!

He showed me how much he loved me, and I believe it. Again, very lucky.

Many of you sent love and prayers for us, and we could feel it!

We watched the leaves turn before our eyes during the time we were at Dad’s and the symbolism of it all was so profound.

He shows up in my dreams, and I know he is having a great time with Mom again.

I got to sit at the ocean for a week and cry my eyes out.

I have a partner who allows me to be, exactly how I am!

I got to come back home and “Go where the love is”, in the fold of music.  I feel super lucky for you all and for this journey.

No, I’m not 100%.  But there is hope on the horizon.  As a being, as a nation and as a world too! We will come together again!  And I look forward to the days I can hug hard and long those people that I love.

I hope you all stay safe and healthy out there. I hope you all know how much we appreciate each and every one of you!  Thank you for this time, thank you for your understanding, love, and care! 

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Much love,

Nicc, Mo and Juno

A very happy Juno, waggy tails are contagious!

My Dad had a smooth voice like Frank Sinatra! No lie! He could have done this for a living, but it was just for fun. Imagine his surprise when I gave up my day job to be a musician, I did it “My Way” too Pops!

A kind, gentle soul. I just love this picture. His eyes are full of love.

Oh, how I wish I had…another 100 years with you! As the sun runs across the sky, another day of gratitude!