Greetings from the Banff Centre

Hi Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good one. I brought in the New Year with my best friend Conor at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Elliott Brood rocked the house as always and I had a blast performing as Mystery Flute Girl with The Sadies. One of the best New Year's I have ever experienced. Think this year's going to be an exciting one.

I am writing to you from the Banff Centre for the Arts, my new home for the next three months. Does it ever feel great to be here. You can check out the Banff Centre website: www.banffcentre.ca

This place is more magical than words can express. I have a wonderful music studio in the woods and have been practicing lots, writing two new tunes in the past few days. My first performance here happens next week and I'm getting really excited about it already. I am meeting the most talented and inspiring people here from all over the world and am learning so much. There's lots to take in. In the next few days, I will post some pictures that I have taken with my new digital camera (which I absolutely love) so that you can all experience the beauty for yourself.

Today I saw three elk searching for food right outside our dining room window. Such beautiful animals. And tonight, as I was walking home from my music studio, the winds were so powerful and the moon was shining bright above the Rocky Mountains. I was wondering what the winds were telling me as the energy felt quite strange. My friend Greg told me that the strong winds are from a Chinook. That means that we will be having much warmer weather tomorrow. You gotta love that about the mountains...

On that note, I got to get to bed. I'm still adjusting to the new altitude. Lots of us have been sick this week from altitude sickness. Sore throats, headaches and nausea are some of the lovely side effects. For myself, I have been feeling quite out of breath and very tired which is apparently very normal. You'll hear no complaints from me though as I love it here already.

I'll write more soon,

Love Rozalind