My pants fell off today.

Which kind of surprised me, I mean, they had been getting looser, but falling off was a new one.

Well, well, I thought. And went to my next size down, without much hope they were going to FIT. Sure did. Not only that, but they weren't SNUG. Baggy.

I've been questing on this getting FIT for a while, and trying different things, but it finally hit me about 8 weeks ago:

Would I serve this to my Boss?

I cook for him when he is home, and he likes to eat right. Breakfast is porridge, or eggs surrounded by veggies. Fruit and yogurt. A snack in the afternoon might be a couple of brown rice cakes, lightly spread with cream cheese, with tomato or cucumber on top. Dinner, which I generally leave for him, is a huge salad, with some sort of protein either cooked or ready to be. Unless I make up a pot of soup, or Indian.

Nothing processed. Whole grains. Healthy meat. No sweat on FORBIDDEN, or portions, except in a general, sensible way.

And every time he is home, he looses weight.

So for the past 8 weeks or so, when I eat, I try and remember to ask myself:

Would I serve this to my Boss?

Darned if it doesn't seem to be working.

Am I perfect at it? No. Can I tell you how much I have lost, in how long? No. I don't want to know. No scales. No keeping track. No sweating if I fail and have pizza. I don't go to the gym. I walk the dogs and ride my horse. The best drink is water.

(Knowing you are going to meet a dozen or so Roller Derby Girls who have plans to kidnap you and take you skating in the fall is a good motivator as well, if you can manage it.)

But the best one is: my pants fell off today, and the next size down fit more than perfectly.

And I want them to fall off again.

Hope you are there.

Love and FIT,
Lorraine

A Cabal update for you, not very fun, but we are hoping for a good outcome.

He has a growth of some sort, not likely a tumor, pressing on his spine. This compression is causing neurological problems. He can't tell where his feet are exactly. They are hoping to remove it, and things will work properly.

It's risky, working on the spine, they tell me. He will have to be there some days after surgery, recovering. He goes in for the surgery on Tuesday.

The lesser operation is for his ACL tendon, the same he had on his other leg a year ago. It's fairly straight forward, and won't be any worse from waiting to see if the first surgery works. He'll have that when his Doctors deem he is ready for it.

I feel for him, poor guy. The neck and spine issues are likely from being chained to a barn on a choke chain for the first three years of his life. The tendon, no knowing, it wasn't sudden, so could also have happened anytime, on any run.

I feel so too, for people who this happens to who don't have Doggie Health Insurance, and can't afford what it would cost to care for him now. My Boss can, and will do whatever it takes.

Cabal is our first Dog. And he's taught us so much.

Love and Cabal,
Lorraine

A late night post from a rather tired me, but it's certainly time for one, and I seem to be still awake, so here you go...

Great couple of nights of shows, despite the new Plan (not mine) of switching between playing outdoors on the patio, and then moving in. Lot more work, but I do have to admit the outside is kind of fun. It's very like having to play two gigs in the same night, different crowds and very different shows. It may work. But it is truly a lot of work.

Still tho, playing and making it work, and making people happy is so very far the best thing ever, that I do maintain, it is well worth it. Paid back. In Spades.



First off, since I wanted a picture of Cabal tonight, him being the main focus of this post, here you go. There's the Boss, with Jason Webley last winter, and out Hero, Cabal. It seemed appropriate this being the last night of the EvelynEvelyn tour and me having a bit of EvelynEvelyn withdrawal and missing everyone on the tour..

Moving on, as the Boss has not done any sort of detailed post, him being involved in writing and nothing but lately, I will fill you in on the Cabal situation. He's been limping, and not moving well, which has gotten worse over the last couple of weeks.

Last year he had a torn ACL tendon, on one of his back legs, and he now seems to have done the same to his other back leg. NO idea HOW. He's a dog, these things happen. The remedy for this is surgery, once again. It isn't fun, but he will recover from it. (Doggie Health Insurance has WAY paid off here)

He'll be pretty restricted for the next six to eight weeks. He goes to the U of MN vet clinic on Wednesday and it is then we find out exactly what the schedule, timeline and prognosis will be. I will keep you posted.

For those of you confused, on the Twitter feed, the Hummingbird in the house is a very much error and NOT an idea we have had to improve the ambience.

I wanted to write more and tell you about meeting amazing photographer Ben Zvan today, and him bringing me a canvas print of the coolest picture ever, (me and Amanda Palmer on stage together) and also a pretty darn cool photo of the Boss from that same show for her, but I am fading fast. Much Rock was happened.

As I am typing this I have been worried about Mim nipping down to pee on me, as she has been. Well she hasn't, but Magic just BIT MY FOOT!

Excuse my language, but WTF?????

Ah. Good to be home.

Love and All Furry Friends,
Lorraine

I wanted to do a horse blog today, as we haven't much talked about Dim lately. Yes, I do know that is not a horse. That's a Bengal. F2 Bengal, King Lear the Huge in fact, but I know how you are about pictures and I knew you would be yowling for some of Dim, but I haven't any.

This picture of King Lear the Huge is meant to distract you from the lack of horsie pictures.

I am working with a new trainer as of today. Teacher might be a better word, as that's what she does for me. I think I wrote on her once and called her "She Who Owns It All", or Poetry for short, as that what she and whatever horse she is on look like when they ride.

There is nothing, mind you, wrong with Hoursetrainer Mel, we are still BFF's and still ride and work together, but she is very busy right now, and hasn't the time to work with me as much as I need, if I am going to be able to ride Dim. I don't know enough, or rather, I know enough to KNOW I don't know enough.

And the reason you haven't pictures of my lesson today is there is not time for pictures in a lesson like this. I am listening. Every second. In fact, I don't even think of you during a lesson. Or work. Or anything. Except what she tells me, what I am doing, and the horse.

It's pretty darn cool.

To say I learned a lot doesn't even begin to cover it.

I can't tell you WHAT exactly. It doesn't come out well on paper. (Or my screen, I guess we say now.)

To say: "Well now, I stood behind her while my horse went in circles, and she talked to him and sometimes to me, then she rode him and then I spent 10 minutes on his back walking mostly and trotting a couple times, while she told me things."

Would be like describing my Irish show as: "Well now, Paul and I play some songs and sometimes we speak to you and you wave your arms about, or yell: Right up your Kilt"

See? Doesn't work. Loses something in the translation.

I can tell you, now, that riding is art, the same way music, dance, painting or writing is art.

It's communication, it's ideas, it's subtle, it's physical. It's thinking on ten things at once, and missing twenty of them. It's learning one brilliant idea at a time, that makes so much sense you want to scream it to the world.

It's new and different and changing and frustrating and worth every second of every bit of sweat you put into it. Like all good art.

And like all great art, you do it because there is something in you that HAS to.

I want this. I have to.

And I am very happy.

Love and Riding,
Lorraine

I feel kind of bad about that last Tweet saying I was the poster child for YOU DON'T WANT ONE OF THESE CATS! So I thought I ought to take some pictures and talk about how wonderful they are for a bit.

Because they really are. As long as you understand what you are getting.


Mim is having Pee Issues. Only it seems, on ME now, tho. I don't know what's up. I am the expert. She's not sick, been to the vet. We go for leash walks, she has a cat wheel we play on, LOTS of toys. It started pre-Magic being out, tho it does happen MORE now. Daily in fact.


She seems ok with him. She likes her food. She gets as much as she wants to eat. She has access to SEVEN litter boxes in different parts of her territory. All cleaned daily, with unscented litter. I hide little balls of tin foil all over and buy her Mousies. I give her attention.

And love.


I have Feliway diffusers and spray. Anti-icky-poo to clean up the pee. She's peeing on me every night. Beyond me. There is a calming collar one can get, which works like the Feliway, mimicking the pheromones of a Happy Contented Kitty. May try it. She has two Screamed Porches now, and a fountain. Six Cat Trees. And curtains to climb.

And I really love her.


I love them all, even if five Bengals is too many. The Royals have come so far, I haven't done as many pics with them, mostly as they are harder to shoot. King Lear the Huge comes up in the bed with me for what are nearly cuddles now, and both of them LOVE when I take baths. Queen Mab is so shy, and so sweet, but braver than Lear.

I do kind of wish they had their OWN person, and if the right person came along, I would let them go. Be hard, but if they had their ONE who loved them like I do, it would be worth it.

They have so much love to give.


Bengals are really smart. They are highly active. They are beyond funny. And they communicate at almost an eerie level. I think Mim is trying to tell me something. I don't get it yet tho. I know she wants out, and am building an outdoor cat area for her.

They have hearts that will bond with YOU, and only you.

There is nothing like having one trust you, especially one that's never trusted before.

You've never known that love, maybe.


And so ends another episode of Living With Leopards.

Love and Mim's Pee,
Lorraine

Venus was sort of the Star of this morning, so I tried to get either a Cool or a Cute picture of her. She took off after Stray Kitty, while I was feeding him. (He has a lot of names, they just change all the time) Down the road, thru backyards, she was chasing that evil interloper AWAY. And down I went after them, thru the backyards, down the road, in my nightie, with Magic and Mim screaming like a flock of Banshees.

Interesting way to start the day.

At any rate. No cute pictures of this, tho had someone done video, I'd be a YouTube STAR, so here's a picture of her washing her Butt, with Mim looking on.


It's been a pretty wild ten days, with Evelyn Evelyn tour coming thru, and then the Wootstock folks, delightful people all of them, hope they come back in any combo SOON! I did get a bit behind on things tho, and so am now playing Catch The Heck Up at work. Close, very close...


Our Friend Beez is going to come and help me in my Garden. I think I have finally and effectively explained my gardening style to her, and she has let go of some ideas she was coming into this project with. Likewise, I have learned a little about her Style, and we have met in the middle.

We have reduced it to: NO PLAN Gardens, meets She Who Buys Too Much.

The result ought to be REALLY cool. Or, interesting. Fine line. But I will have a Garden. Like the rest of the people on my block. Who all saw me half naked this morning.


For those of you wanting an update on F1 Magic, who is now OUT of his room full time, he's doing great. That's him with my bra. He goes NUTS for it. Or anything I have worn. He chews, rolls with it, rubs himself on it. It's weird. And funny. Mim loves the shoes. Venus could care less.

And finally: I have a new computer, for traveling. A Dell Notebook. Yes, Windows, PC all of it. SO far it's getting the best of me, but it's only been a day and I feel confident that, in time, we shall be great friends.

As soon as I learn to Obey it without question.

Love and Good Morning,
Lorraine

Some AMAZING photos from Ben Zvan from the Minneapolis Evelyn Evelyn Show the other night! Did I mention I'd played in that? That I rocked? (so they say) Too true! I think I told you, must have.

Loving looking at the pictures. Haven't been to a concert that perfect and good in so long, and sitting in for the encore, was truly, the icing on that cake. Actually, the icing was already there. Let's call it the CANDLES on the cake.

Burning on...

Thank you Ben for sharing with us!



















Love and Rock,
Lorraine

I got to play last night with Amanda, Jason Webley and Sxip Shirley. (Nice calm statement that, which hardly expresses the joy I felt doing it)

Here's a few picks from the show, and I am sure more will come in. These are from @teffan and many thanks!

Except for the last one, which was taken (And directed) by My Boss.


Pretty amazing experience, I have to say, playing with them. We jammed some the night before, around midnight, (when all the best jams happen), after a 16 hour day and very little sleep. I have such a huge respect for the three of them as artists, and I admit when Sxip said he wanted a fiddle fix and wanted it now and Jason pulled out his accordion, and Amanda sat down at the piano, and the three of them looked at me and said "Take it, we'll follow"(you wouldn't believe it but I'm pretty shy. Not on stage mind you, but in person. And these guys are GOOD) my brain did equal bits of "OH SHIT" and "HELL YES!"


Mostly HELL YES!

On the way to the show, the next day, my Boss called me, as I had not left yet, finishing up all the Assistant bits you know, and said two things: "Jason wants his red shirt and can you bring it and they want you to play a song with them tonight, can you bring your violin."

That would be a very HELL YES moment.

They play my kind of music, with my kind of heart. The song we played was Jason's Drinking Song, which is even more my kind of music, being Irish as well.

This was the encore, if you were there, you know how wonderful, amazing, rocking, jaw dropping cool the show was UP to that point. If you've seen them before, you know how it went. If you weren't there, and haven't seen them, you need to fix that. As soon as you can.


Very cool rock happened.

But I have to say, for the coolness factor of the evening, the people who came to the Evelyn Evelyn show were my kind of people. The same people who come to the pub to hear Paul and I, and they participate the same way people who come to see me, do. And they love Amanda, Jason and Sxip the same way people at my shows love Paul and I.

And I think they loved me too, last night.

As cool as playing was (And it was pretty damm cool) even cooler was getting to meet and talk to (And hug, as I recall) so many new, and really wonderful people afterwords. I love you! Adore you! (Yes, I am speaking to YOU!) THAT would be the best bit, and the entire reason for playing any show.

I think Amanda, Jason and Sxip would agree.

YOU are the show, at any gig, at anytime, and it happens because of you. You make the magic.

You did last night, for me. And I thank you.

Come see me again, I would hug you all anytime.

Love and Music,
Lorraine

PS Yeah. LOVE that last photo.