Donn's Depot July 11 (Second Wednesday this month)
The French Legation in Austin on Bastille Day - July 14th!      French musique!!

Hey and howdy, friends and neighbors, salutations from the MoonHouse in beautiful Austin, Texas,

Bouncing along in the truck trying to create this newsletter as we outrun storms that are marching across the Texas panhandle.  8 more hours to go before we reach home, at last.  We drove up to South Dakota for Darleen's memorial 11 days ago, then down to the mountains of Colorado to spend time with family and play a couple of gigs. The stress of the last month caught up with us so we've been keeping Halls and Nyquil in business throughout our journey.  Tears and closure, grief and gladness, moonlit miles and sleepless dawns.

Tomorrow we dive back into our life with several studio projects, some gigs, a Christine visit with her mom, some Jerry Jeff fly dates for Chris, planning a Swan Songs fall fundraiser and trying to keep the garden alive through the dog days of a Texas summer. New songs are emerging and we're looking for days we can book our own studio...get in line, Albert and Gage.

The Alpine Adventure is happening with a small group of folks that we already know and are about to get to know even better!  Christine's mother and two sisters will be visiting their Swiss family so they may even get to come to a show or two.  October in the Alps...yes.

Thank you Leonard Cohen, Eva Cassidy, CSN, Jackson Browne and Eliza Gilkyson for serenading us on this trip.  Chris took all these photos along the way last week.

Thank you all for your support and kindness these last few weeks,
Chris and Christine

A note from Christine:     
      We arrived home from our South Dakota/Colorado trip at 4;30 AM.  The house is full of suitcases, gig bags, piles of dirty laundry, bags of Dakota Style potato chips for the kids...it always takes some time to reabsorb into our life so today is just going to have to be transition day. 
     Two more friends passed on since our last newsletter.  That makes four friends, Chris's uncle and his mom since late May.  I have been writing quite a bit - my way of processing all of this.  The next CD may have a theme of loss; but loss (hopefully) leads to appreciation for what you have and embracing the moments and loved ones who are still here.  So, perhaps it won't be as depressing as it sounds!
     Time to unpack.  Sorry for the short letter this month - a Virgo can't think very clearly with too much disarray around her.  Gotta go "make some right angles", as Chris says.
     Love, Christine