[Daryl Jones]

Lorena is one of my favorite performers/creators of incredible musical art. I have several of her works in my collection. I can’t even count the times I’ve turned the lights down and listened to Mask and Mirror alone in the dark. To hear that one of us here is conversant with her is nothing short of amazing! Sarah is also (I think) a National Treasure. I watched a documentary on Gordon Lightfoot (another of my homegrown idols musically) last night where Sarah added commentary. We actually have a wealth of Canadian talent that sometimes gets overlooked on the larger International scene. But Loreena is in a class by herself clearly. Thanks for posting this Tom!

[Daryl Jones]

Super cool shots, keep them coming. I have a drone that I have yet to fly, not licensed yet. Funny thing is, I flew commercially for quite a few years (small twin engine charters and freight runs) and owned my own single engine Cessna 172. But I can’t “legally fly my drone haha.

I think I gave some stills of our town and the river valley, I’ll see if I can find them.

[Daryl Jones]

Here’s a shot of the valley coming down from the east side of town, across the river from the boat launch, and one from the south. I thought I had more including one of the main town center but somehow they have disappeared. Our little burg is small, under 3000 souls, but it’s home. I live on an acreage in a summer village 25 km (16 miles) west, on a small lake. I much prefer the quiet of more natural surroundings. It’s funny, you don’t think of urban noise in a small town, but if you live in the country and then spend a night in town, it’s amazing the difference. I only live a km (1/2 mile) off the highway and I can hear large trucks (or the snow plow in the winter) go by, but it’s is short lived and quite sparse. We do hear the waterfowl in the spring and summer, but that is soothing and somehow comforting. But we do get visits from the local fauna: deer, moose, foxes, the occasional skunk, and once in a while black bears. Have had a couple of Yogi’s on my front deck and on the lawn, that gets a bit unnerving at times, but they usually scare off quite easily…”usually”.

[Daryl Jones]

Hi Tobias and welcome to the MLT Club! I’m still a newbie here too and I reside in the frozen wastes of Alberta (OK its not really a wasteland) and its not -40 anymore but it’s still cold. Merry Christmas to you and have fun with this wonderful place.

[Daryl Jones]

Merry Christmas Sara! Was funeral to see all those names on the attendance list yesterday. Especially those that were fortunate enough to have their surprise video clips shown!!!

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Daryl Jones.

[Daryl Jones]

Merry Christmas Jacki! Yesterday was the best Christmas gift ever! Such a fun couple hours with laughs, giggles and even some loving tears of joy mixed in. I can’t remember the last time I felt the spirit of Christmas stronger than that.

[Daryl Jones]

This will be my first “Live Stream” so it will be interesting to see if I can manage the telecast from my end. I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree with new things sometimes.

But regardless, in Irish Gaelic (I noticed this one wasn’t on your list):

Nollaig shona dhuit!

[Daryl Jones]

C’ead mille failte (Irish Gaelic welcome) Walter! There truly is no nicer place to be.

[Daryl Jones]

Nice, I like the drive in that!

[Daryl Jones]

A jamming partner mentioned Samantha a while ago and I’ve been following her ever since. I’m on a bit of a blues kick right now and I’m discovering more of myself through it. Trust me, I’m no Freddie King but I’m going down that rabbit hole ever deeper.

[Daryl Jones]

Bruce is indeed a wee bit “opinionated” I’m his messages. But still is a fabulous writer.

Canada can be a but enigmatic for musicians that wish to tour throughout the course of the year due to the great distances to travel. Of course, now is even more challenging with the foulups with airlines and airports. I’m fortunate to be in reasonable proximity to a great music city in Edmonton, we get some stupendous acts coming through that some other major cities don’t always see (Calgary included) and the concert faithful are blessed with great performances in several venues that Edmonton has available.

This summer Edmonton is hosting a 3 day blues festival with some serious blues headliners (Samantha Fish, Colin James…) that I certainly hope to take in if my m/c racing schedule permits.

On the original subject, Loreena would be very well received in Edmonton I’m sure. I know I would definitely be there if she could manage the tour arrangements.

Of course, a certain pair of gorgeous and fabulous “Twins” would be epic!

[Daryl Jones]

Daylight in the summer seems to last forever. Not wanting to start any heated discussion on the pros or cons, but I love DST. Day breaks around 4am and doesn’t hit dusk until around 11pm from mid May until late August. And the birds start their symphony well prior to sun up all summer long. Drives some people crazy but I like it. Hard to sleep sometimes when it never really gets dark all night long but you get used to it.

This is my back yard right now, lots of fresh snow and hoar frost on the trees. Was foggy all day yesterday but today the sun is shining so the frost will get burned off.

[Daryl Jones]

Very similar to here and yes, I could be “private” and restrict myself to the latitudes and usage. But I’m not built that way so ZI need the proper certification and insurance so I can do all I want with it. I haven’t even activated that darn thing yet, but it has all the bells and whistles I could ever need without going into the professional UAV realm. Auto-hover, auto-return, GPS active programable, just about everything I could ever need. I didn’t even plan on it, I received it as a complimentary gift from an Off Road Vehicle manufacturer that I used to deal with in my career as a dealer and hitting a very lofty unit sales target. Over here it sells for about $2k, made by DJI I think.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Daryl Jones.

[Daryl Jones]

Always puts a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. The happiness in their young eyes and the obvious love in their lives shines like stars in the winter night sky. Magic and the wonder of youth.

[Daryl Jones]

The pageant was supposed to be “Christmas Around the World” so we sang songs in many different languages (just the songs), other than a minimal required bit of French, we didn’t actually learn any other languages in school back then.

I spoke French at a very young age due to my maternal Grandmother being Parisian French, but she passed when I was only 8 so until high school I never kept it up. I am far from fluent any longer, but I can understand it well enough to get by in French speaking locations and I can still read it fairly well.

I do understand and speak some Japanese, kind of enough to get embarrassed in Japan when I was there. It kind of goes hand in hand with me being a karate practitioner/instructor. But I cannot read the kanji or any of the three forms of the written language at all. It is very difficult, at least for me. I always thought I would like to learn Japanese calligraphy but with no instructor available locally I didn’t get very far with it.