and we're back in europe!

and....
like that! bam - america! bam - italy! bam - holland! i'm in a contest with myself to see if i can ever outrun myself, hopping continents hither and thither. i am sure i will win. or one of me will, in any case.

so we wrapped up our american tour with a week in texas and louisiana, and as usual we had a great time. i just love playing shows in my home state. i know i can always count on people to come out and sing along with us, and that makes me very happy. plus i played in fields of flowers, and i ate fajitas, and i took the dogs for a walk, and i saw nearly everyone on my list. all in all, a success. thanks to dustin and kim for another house concert well done, and to all the folks who always come see me at opening bell coffee...that's my favorite way to end a tour. thanks to suzanna for coming up and playing with us. thanks to the pilot who took me safely across the ocean yet again.

and here i am, across the ocean. we landed, unpacked, and got in the car two days later for a show in mantova (where romeo went to buy his poison). i was sick as a dog (the consequence of too many days without rest, i am sure) but i managed to warble my way through the concert without causing permanent damage to anyone's ears. we had another show in frosinone last night, and next week we'll do one of my favorites - a show in the courtyard of santa chiara. and then i will pack up again and fly across the alps (at least it's not an ocean) and i will land in The Netherlands, where I will promptly buy wooden clogs and commence frolicking among the tulips. Then all the locals will flog me for resurrecting old cliches, and I will be forgiven immediately, because from the Dutch interaction I've had thus far, I can safely say the Dutch people are just too nice.

I'm playing all over (thanks in large part to Alex Akela, Eva, and Marco), and should you happen to live in Amersfoort, Arnhem, Groningen, Tilburg, Heerlen, Haarlem, Utrecht, Rotterdam, or Amsterdam, I ask you to come say hi, so I will not feel that my clogging faux pas caused any long-term ill will between us.

I am starting to think about writing for the new album. It's hard. I love Little Films and I'm a little paralyzed (like always) but I am sure that with enough gelato, I could overcome my paralysis. Maybe I'll start right now. Nocciola is calling.....

Hugs and more hugs,
Vanessa