Rain and more rain

Hi everyone, I haven't written for a couple of days as I have had the headache from hell, that's what happens when you allow silly things to stress you out. You would think I would know better, I'm very good at giving advice, not so good at following it!
We stayed up till the early hours and it was raining solidly and heavily for at least four hours. We were trying to watch a movie, but there is something wrong with our dvd player, so we just gave up in the end and listened to the rain instead. There's something very comforting about going to sleep to the sound of rain and you are all snuggled up and cozy inside your bed. I have always loved the energy of thunderstorms, takes me back to my childhood. It was so exciting when the sky turned black, there was always a pregnant silence accompanied by the fresh, sweet smell of the rain. The rumbling thunder would draw closer and closer and the birds would fly for cover into the trees. Suddenly thick, heavy drops of rain would fall onto the steaming ground, the heavens would open and I would run inside. I used to make myself melted cheese on toast, with a cup of milky coffee and I would get under the covers of my bed and watch the splendour of the lightning dazzle the sky. Then I would always become sleepy and drift off until later. It's making me feel drowsy just thinking about it. Well, I'm sure if you're living in middle England, the last thing you want is someone banging on about the rain. I'm sure everyone is asking themselves how much longer it's going to continue. What a difference to the hot, dry summer of last year.

Strange Dreams

Does anyone know anything about dreams, because I had such a weird one last night, I'm sure I met a wizard!
What happened was that I was at my Mum's house and at the bottom of the garden there was a pine forest. A lady appeared with a child, she allowed the child to shoot a pellet gun towards the house. I was outraged so I went down to confront her, took the pellet gun from the child and threw it on the ground.
All of a sudden a man appeared and he stood beside the woman. He started drawing symbols in the air and a silver-grey dust appeared in his hands, which he threw towards me. I realised that I must protect myself, so I started to draw Reiki symbols to counteract him. Again he drew more symbols, the dust appeared and he threw threw it at me, and once again I protected myself.
A hare suddenly appeared from nowhere, it bounded up the hill past me in big leaps and it jumped onto the roof of the house, where it turned into a silver-grey bird. It flew towards me as if it wanted to attack, I lifted my hands to protect my face and then I woke up. It was very weird indeed. Can anyone shed light on it?

Mountains

Mysterious mountains, shrouded by the secrets of the clouds. What lies beneath the swirling mists? Imagine you could fly over the water, how fast the wind would brush your face, climbing higher and higher, you would disappear into the fluffy whiteness, a speck on the horizon. The earth would draw closer and closer as you reached the summit, maybe the rain would lash your skin, or the sun would break through and you would see clearly, the whole world would stretch out before your eyes, but you would be above it , detached and free.

Peace

Something magical about the countryside, being there is like being transported back in time, there's a certain tranquility that cannot be found anywhere else. The only sounds are that of nature, how the wind blows through the trees, the birds calling out to each other, the little streams singing as they flow down the hillsides. The smell of the air, so fresh and clean, no rushing, no traffic, no pollution. The occasional field of fat sheep grazing greedily on the succulent green grass, the beauty of the wild flowers in full bloom , no wonder our souls were refreshed, so far removed from the synthetic city. At dusk, I could see the energy rising from the trees, I was looking for fairies and nature spirits, I know they were there but they eluded me, perhaps I looked too hard!

How many times can you get lost?

This photo was taken on my favourite walk of the trip. I was paddling in a stream, just before it leaped over a high precipice. We had stopped at the waterfall for lunch, this was after following the path up to it through a stunning ravine and forest. The walk is memorable as well because we got lost so many times, I think about five in total, we ended up taking about six hours to do it. To top it all, when we got about two thirds of the way round, we came to a trail that had been completely blocked by the forestry commission, they were chopping down trees and had left big signs everywhere saying that we should not proceed. We were very naughty, because we completely ignored all warnings, our only other option was to go back and it was too far and too late. It was very exciting because we didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for. After a while, we did have to clamber over some cut logs and stuff to get past, but nothing major to stop us and we felt exhilarated, like a couple of mischievous children that have done something wrong and got away with it! Did our poor feet ache by the time we got back, it was worth it though!

Cling guide to country walking

Hi everyone, we are back after a delightful break, and just in time too, we left a little bit early to escape the vile rain that has swept across the country causing chaos, especially on the motorways. We were so lucky where we were, we had many sunny days, so gorgeous. It was a delight to explore the stunning countryside, most of our walking was done straight from our front door, as we were surrounded by forests, mountains and rivers. It actually reminded me of being somewhere like Austria, and of course having never been to Wales before I found it unusual to see everything written in Welsh. It was a joy to just let our minds relax and not really think about anything. Maybe that's why we ended up getting lost on most of our walks, trying to interpret someone else's directions is not always as straightforward as it sounds. One thing I did learn though is that when the guide book tells you to "skirt around the wet, reedy area", it is better to follow their advice or else you could end up knee deep in mud as I did. I must have looked so funny, sinking down into the sludge, we really had a good chuckle about it. I had to walk about a mile with my leg like that, until we came to a stream, where I managed to clean myself up a bit. I ended up walking barefoot down the road to where we had parked our car, at a little lay by with a lovely view. Some other people were there, having a rather civilized picnic, and I must have looked a very sorry sight, barefoot and bedraggled, soaked from the knees downwards. I could tell that they were looking a bit puzzled by my appearance. Anyway, great to be back, will tell you more about it over the next few days.....

Off on our hols

Bye bye for now, we are leaving this morning, with rain forecast all over the country, it should be an interesting journey. Think of us as we battle our way up the M6! I forgot that it was Friday 13, a very auspicious day, very lucky.
We received confirmation last night that we will be playing at The Rainbow Spirit Enlightenment Fayre on 12 August 2007 at Chepstow Racecourse, Monmouthshire. We will be playing on the alternative stage at around 4pm, my stomach is churning already.
Must go, Nyo is shrieking for me to pack her case.
Catch up with you all next week
Love CLING xx

Up the London Eye

Hi everyone, had a little break yesterday cos it was my birthday! What a fantastic day we had. Woke up and Gerald had bought me the most beautiful ring, a sparkly stone set in white gold, it is very pretty indeed. Then he went out and came back with a box of my favourite chocolates, yum yum. We decided to go into London, despite me being terrified of heights , we ended up on the London Eye. It had turned into a gorgeous afternoon with the sunshine breaking through the thick clouds. It was amazing to see just how huge London really is, and also to be so high up that people look like little ants on the ground. My favourite park in London is St James par, next to Buckingham Palace, so we went for a stroll there afterwards and sat on the grass, enjoying a delicious ice-cream. Later on , we headed back home and went to our favourite Italian restaurant which is very close to us. We ate till our stomachs wanted to burst, before coming home and crashing out. It was a lovely day, I always used to dread my birthday, but if they are going to be like that I won't mind so much in the future! tomorrow we are off to North Wales, I am looking forward to being there, but not so keen on driving as it is a long way, I'm sure once we get going we will be fine, so that's what I'll be doing today, getting ready!

It's over,we did it!

Hi there everyone, yesterday was the Ambient Picnic and we went out there and did our stuff .I will never forget it. Being our first 'real' gig, I was absolutely terrified, especially on the first number when everything sounded so completely different. After a shaky start we really started to get into it and I can't remember much else, it was like a dream. The whole experience was like going on a trip without the drugs. Tremendous excitement, followed by sheer terror and the adrenaline coursing through your veins. Then you kind of get into a space in your head when you and the music become one and it feels right and it's wonderful. Not that we were playing to an enormous crowd or anything. It was a very laid back affair and people were quite spread out, just chilling out and loving the sunshine. It was a beautiful day, very warm , and everyone that was there seemed to be having a great time. Apart from music, there were loads of interesting stalls, lovely vegetarian food and a healing area,even a meditation tent! People seemed to enjoy our performance, we had lots of compliments, so a big thank you to all of you who came to support us, we are already looking forward to our next performance! Yours exhaustedly...........

The pit-bull with wings

This is Nyo everyone, my lovely little shrieking ball of feathers. She is climbing on her dressing gown which I have to hang over the door,she actually makes nests in the sleeves and the pockets, and she would quite happily stay in there all the time. Whenever we are at home we let her out of her cage, she flies over to her gown and that's where she rules the household from. She demands games and attention a lot of the time and I must admit that I have thoroughly spoilt her. Her favourite game at the moment is to fly down and sit on my knee, proceed with an elaborate preening ritual and then fluff up her feathers and go off to sleep with her head tucked under her wing. Then you feel guilty about chasing her off because she looks so sweet, most of the time I end up snoozing with her for about half an hour, it 's like a kind of enforced relaxation. There would have been a time, when she was younger, that she would have lulled me into a false sense of security and then suddenly given me an almighty nip on the stomach or something! Her worst habit? Incessantly shrieking the same note whilst you are trying to concentrate really hard on something!

Lucky charms

Good news is that supposedly the weather is going to be great over the weekend. Yesterday I had some bad moments where everything went wrong for me during rehearsals. I was getting a bit touchy, I suppose it's natural, one wants to be good on the day. Can't let negativity take over, I started asking myself what I would need to do a good performance. At first I had a long list of all this complicated criteria, and then I realised I was making things really hard for myself. The only thing I need to do is enjoy myself and be happy that I'm up there singing. The rest should fall into place, it's not as if we haven't rehearsed. I had to smile to myself later as well , I was reading about sports celebrities and their superstitions. Serena Williams believes she lost a match because she didn't tie her shoelaces properly, amongst other things! I myself have a little bag of charms and my favourite crystals which I take everywhere with me, and I must admit that I don't like being without it. Whenever I travel, I wear a St Christopher pendant as well. My sister in America thinks it's the biggest load of rubbish ever, I suppose to a certain extent it is all in the mind, but if people's little idiosyncrasies make them happy, so what?

Still working hard

It's been a hectic few days, still rehearsing like crazy, sometimes I am overcome with excitement and feel physically sick, other times I just feel exhausted. In order to achieve anything, you have to work hard, so I don't mind. This time next week, it will all be over, but we do have a couple of other things in the pipeline already.
Well it is my birthday next week and for a long time I have wanted to get some imperfections in my teeth sorted out. I am reluctant to go for veneers because they are only a short term solution, so today I went to see an orthodontist who says he can help me, so that is my present to myself. I can remember my Mum asking me when I was about 10 if I wanted to wear braces, obviously I said no, so she just left it at that! She was probably relieved that she wouldn't have to shell out for it!
There's only been a couple of showers of rain today, I hope the weekend will be sunny, people will be in the mood to be outside after all this wet weather.
When we were driving home today, the police had sealed off a road, there was an abandoned security van that had obviously been hijacked or something and there was also a police car that had gone into a lamppost. Terrible drivers, must have been some chase, there's always something going on around here, never a dull moment.
Gerald has designed some wicked Sonic Spells T-shirts, his energy to create is incredible. They came out so well that we are going to be selling a few shortly, so will keep you posted. Have to go and rehearse again, bye for now.

We did it!

Hi everyone, just to let you all know that it went went well yesterday, considering it is the first time we've ever played out together, no major disasters and I really enjoyed it! The only thing was the damn rain chased everyone away! As I was singing my little heart out, I looked outside and it was coming down buckets and the whole area became deserted. Apparently it is going to clear up towards next weekend, I really hope so. And this week we have to practice even harder to make sure we get it right, it would be easy to become complacent and just chill out, but that's dangerous.
When we came back home I was so knackered that I just collapsed into bed for a siesta and woke up to the news that Glasgow airport had come under attack by some maniacs who'd tried to ram a burning car with petrol bombs into the terminal building. These idiots will stop at nothing, I'm so glad that the police got them. It just seems that we are at war with an invisible enemy within, but the British people won't stand for it for much longer, good always overcomes evil in the end anyway. Maybe the government should consider bringing back capital punishment for treason.