Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Day Two in the Faroe Islands: The Village of Nólsoy

Day Two in the Faroe Islands: Today I caught a ferry to the village of Nólsoy which is about 4km east of Tórshavn. It has around 200 inhabitants and some stunning views. Tonight I am staying here overnight and am very tired from the intense walk I took down a steep hill and then up another through sheep paddocks to get these photos. It was so rainy and windy for most of the walk that it kept nearly knocking me over making it extremely hard to take photos but here a couple of the good ones that I hope you like. As I sit here writing this, the wind continues to thrash about outside. Feels like I am in a ship.

Which reminds me, my favourite part of the walk today was when I was at the foot of the magnificent rock and somehow a few times I walked into a patch of stillness not affected by the wind. When this happened I took the time to stop and catch my breath and marvel at how very far away I felt from the rest of the world.

#faroeislands
#nólsoy #wild #winter #sheep #singersongwriter





Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Day One in the Faroe Islands: Recording at Studio Bloch

Day One in the Faroe Islands: Today I had the pleasure of going to Studio Bloch in the Faroe Islands where the wonderful Eivør has done some recording. It's a beautiful space and from the moment I played the piano I knew it was the best choice to come here and record my song 'Turmoil of Winter' which is about my own experience with depression. It's been raining and very windy since I arrived yesterday so the setting seemed perfect and I am pretty happy with the songs we got down today.

After the recording, Theodor the engineer and I were invited over for dinner by the owner of Studio Bloch and I had a very nice time learning about the Faroes, drinking rum and tea and jamming with the local talent. Now after a big couple of weeks and a long day of recording I am falling into my bed very tired.





#faroeislands #recording #singersongwriter

Saturday, October 29, 2016

The Saddest Polar Bear In The World



Animals don't belong in Zoos, Circuses or Aquariums.
They don't deserve to be caged in pens where they cannot turn around and never get to see sunshine or breathe fresh air. They do not deserve to be kept as slaves for our amusement nor abused, raped and killed so we can indulge ourselves.

There is nothing we can say or do to justify the way that animals are treated in our modern society. Absolutely nothing and it sickens me. My fellow human beings sicken me. I feel such despair every day when I see articles like this or pigs in a truck on the highway with such sadness in their eyes that sometimes it's so overwhelming I begin to panic. I feel absolutely helpless. I have no hope.

Nearly every day I ask myself: How can people close their eyes and heart just so that they can continue being part of a selfish cycle that's not only causing so much pain to fellow sentient beings, but also destroying the earth and lining the pockets of big corporations, giving them even more power over us and society?

How can anyone justify being part of THIS and be OK with themselves?

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-polarbear-idUSKCN12R17E















#animalrights
#animalabuse #animalwelfare #animalcruelty

Friday, July 15, 2016

A dose of nature for Mental Well Being?

Been feeling quite down lately as well as dealing with weird reoccurring illness shit. Trying to figure out what helps to lift the mood including some diet changes, upping vitamins, some exercise, walks etc but realized something. When I am in my little garden tending to the veggies and fruit some kind of peace comes over me. Today I just sat for 5 minutes while a plump bee did his rounds inspecting each yellow cucumber flower for some treats and buzzed as he moved to the next one. For 5 min I just peaceful and forgot the fog that often clouds my brain and the weight that's so heavy it makes me exhausted.

  I was diagnosed with Bipolar II in 2008 and even though I don't think I have this as my symptoms don't fit, I obviously have a life long mental illness that can pop it's head up at any moment to bite me in the ass. It affects my daily life, it affects my creativity and the ability to get as much done as I would like to. Each day is a challenge to keep moving and not let the cloud engulf me. Obviously nature is some kind of key to me coping better so I think I have to push myself out into the woods more often and see what happens. For those of you out there also fighting your own battle with mental illness. You're not alone x.
‪#‎iamnotashamed‬‪#‎nature‬‪#‎depression‬‪#‎sicknotweak‬‪#‎mentalhealth‬



Tuesday, May 31, 2016

May travels to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechstenstein

We have been gallivanting all around Europe during May playing shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a few days off in Liechtenstein: my favourite of the smaller countries.

Thanks to everyone who came out to one of the shows at the Stuttgart Vegan Street Day Festival, Widnau Switzerland, Emsiana Kulturfest in Hohenems Austria, Wasserburg Germany, Bregenz and Schwaz Austria. Also thanks go to people who put us up and fed us in Switzerland, Austria as well as in Liechtenstein. We are grateful for your hospitality.

Lowlights:

* Getting a cable car to the top of the mountain in AT and realizing we couldn't see a thing
* The lack of decent vegan food at times which meant I was often hungry
* The rude guy at the Wasserburg show
* Never having enough time to spend with everyone we liked
* The awful pain in our legs after a wet 3 hour hike down a mountain the next day
* Not so great sound on stage at a couple of locations
* Hotel breakfasts....ugh. Never any vegan options. And that reconstituted orange juice.
* Saying goodbye to the mountains....and all the cats :P

Highlights:

* The weather held out for most of the tour so we got to take some hikes and walks
* Staying with a vegan couple in Stuttgart who had rescued Chinchillas from a fur farm
* Container/dumpster diving in Switzerland with my Liechenstein friends
* Making lunch with all the rescued food the next day
* All the cool people in Hohenems Austria. You're all bonkers, in a good way. :)
* Bike riding to the Rhein in Liechstenstein
* All the cats we met along the way
* The mountains
* The care package of local beer, chocolate and marmalade from Das Ladenlokal in Widnau
* Playing a Bösendorfer piano in Schwaz
* Vegan strudel @ Strudelhof in Magdeburg
* Leaving a note about a mouldy lemon in a shop window in St Gallen Switzerland