Tish’s busy summer

Hola to All,

Just a (hopefully) little mid-summer note of salutation. As usual, time just seems to be flying. July was a record heat month this year, just as this year’s winter was a record cold one in Germany. I was in the U.S. in May and June. A smart thing to plan road dates that miss the heat of high summer. My brief but wonderful tour and visit to the States was great. I am really glad that everything went well and all the shows were nicely attended and lots of fun. One of the highlights for me was a side trip my husband and I took to Bald Head Island, North Carolina, to visit a long-time friend of mine. She was one of my main influences in learning to play the guitar when we were both freshmen in high school. It was so nostalgic and fun to sing old Simon & Garfunkel songs and Spanish ballads we used to sing together way back when. Bald Head Island is a beautiful place, we had some great beach and bicycle time too.

Looking out at the peaceful ocean from there made me think of Texas and the sad event of the oil spill that was occurring there at the same time. What a great loss. Besides the terrible loss of the lives that happened with the explosion, there is the ongoing ordeal for everyone involved and of the gulf waters, land, and wildlife that will suffer for years to come. One more wake up call to us all that we can’t go on and on continuing to enslave ourselves to fossil fuel and oil companies. It would be great to have a world free of oil problems and oil politics, especially when there seem to be so many healthier and safer alternatives out there. I know it’s happening, but hopefully the pace will quicken for these things.

My son is visiting us in Hamburg this summer. We took a trip to Berlin recently, where he was going to meet up with some friends. I went to meet up with my friend, poet and writer Naomi Shihab Nye, who was there on a writers residence program for a few weeks. I have known her and loved her work for many years. It was wonderful to visit. We had a nice dinner at her little hotel tucked away in an artsy part of town. (I love my GPS!) It is great catching up with friends that, even if you don’t see each other all the time, you feel a comfort and camaraderie with. Same goes for my North Carolina friend Becky.

This month, I am doing something interesting. I booked myself for four friday night shows at my favorite Mexican cafe in Hamburg – The Cafe Mexico. It is not my usual thing to play four times in a row at the same place, but because it is summer and my August was open, it seems like a nice and fun thing to do. Isidoro Fuentes, the owner, is from Mexico and cooks up some great authentic enchiladas, guacamole and serves Mexican beer! Well, I know one could argue that there’s better beers in Germany, but with Mexican food? Anyway, I will be accompanied by Uli Rademacher and may have some nice guests dropping by too. I wish everyone could be in Hamburg for this!

Ok, all for now. I hope you are having a good summer wherever you are. I will post another note as soon as I can.

Take care,

Tish