Costa Rica Chronicles🍃🌎🍌🚸

As I sit around here twiddling my thumbs still waiting to be over the whole concussion thing…I came across an interesting envelope in my desk. “Hols Costa Rica memories,” in my mother’s handwriting no less. Bless her dear heart! I wrote and played a lot while I was living up in that incredible location, on the Continental divide, Monteverde, C.R.

“I wasn’t sure if I should really mention anything…but a large ape has been coming to me out of the forest, almost nightly, and for some time now. What I like so much about him  is not having to deal with the whole Spanish thing. What is Spanish anyway? you put an ‘ito’ or an ‘a’ or an ‘o,’ or sometimes a ‘dad’ at the end of English word, and that’s Spanish,  pretty much. True there are occasional surprises, like the word “banano.” But think about it, of course a banana is male. Frank and I (he’s so wonderfully direct) often enjoy a kilo or two of bananos together, all in good fun. The locals here prefer them nice and ripe and even feed bananos to their horses.

Then there’s the pig farm down in the valley. I had to go down there to check it out. It’s actually more like a concentration camp. Barbed wire, large grey windowless buildings, dour looking men in gumboots and the cries of the damned, that’s what. I’m so glad I stopped eating bacon. I’ll occasionally get a good whiff of pig shit up here but I still tell  myself it’s paradise.”

here’s a video of a horse eating a banana

banano eating horse

First Snow on Cypress

Ok – it’s actually the second snow…but it’s SNOW! and it’s still magical and awesome…especially through the eyes of my young Mexican neighbor across the lane who saw snow for the very first time TODAY.  He is about four…I didn’t see him try and melt it on his tongue though…I’ll have to tell him about that one…and snow angels, snowballs, skiing and the whole glorious business.

Do you like my little tune?

Let me know!

🙂

Holly

 

 

 

 

 

Come to Spacious Music at the Atrium September 24!

Oh yessss…if you couldn’t make it to the June 25 Concert ~ now’s your chance…incredible new music from John Korsrud, Hugh Fraser, Bill Runge and moi! It’s a free concert in a public space…fabulous musicians…super music in the great spaciousness…

 

See you there!

 

Here’s a sneak peek at my co-write with Bill Runge, “Lagoon”, which will have its second performance on September 24.

Look UP in the night sky this weekend!

This weekend brings the peak of Summer! We’ve had the fireworks, we’ve had Pride and now the great celestial Perseid meteor show takes over…up to eighty meteors an hour and fireballs will be somehow silently whooshing over our heads this very weekend! I kid you not! So get away from the city lights if you can and enjoy the greatest show off earth…

“great fireballs of fire!” – A guide to the Perseid Meteor Shower

Actually it’s a lot more mellow than that 🙂 Here’s our tune “River of Stars” for your starry enjoyment over this beautiful Summer weekend…how I wish Summer could last forever!

 

Now for a haiku by Mike:

rainless sky for weeks

photons drizzle down in the

perseid shower

 

 

 

Progress Report and Invitation 😀

Dear Friends,

Seraphina (my flute) and I have been noticeably quieter this last year and a half as I continue to recover from my little accident. (I fell off my mother’s bed while clipping her toenails and went backwards into a chest of drawers! strange but true!) Although I’m not back to performing yet, I have been enjoying writing at the piano, very much. Bill asked me to collaborate with him on a piece for the jazz festival. It’s called “Lagoon,” and I’d love to share this new piece with you. I’ll be there in the back row probably, with my ear plugs and shades…but feeling very happy! Eventually we’ll get back to the Naturals recording we were working on. Can’t say exactly when. I certainly am learning a lot about the brain though, neuroplasticity and all that. Brains are cool 🙂

Hope to see you on next Sunday, June 25 at the Atrium at the Woodwards Building! Performance is at 5pm!

Be Well,
Holly

Birdsong🐦 & Blossoms🌸

A warbling we go! Here by Stanley Park I am surrounded by blossoms…all the shades and varieties of cherries, magnolias, and the early purple azaleas. This year, for some reason, I’m really getting the fragrance of the blossoms more than usual. Even if they are lying on the ground. But the best experience is standing under an old cherry tree with a great canopy of blossoms overhead and standing or sitting or simply *being* – and simply breathing it in – heaven on earth? And birdsong fills the air! I find myself running out to the balcony, zoom recorder in hand, trying to capture the fleeting notes.

There was a sudden bash against my window – alas a little bird had flown into it… putting my hands around it, I gave it a little qi treatment. I thought it was a goner, but amazingly twenty minutes later it flew away!

IMG_2878.JPG

According to the Stokes Guide to Birds, the orange crowned warbler is “very drab” and the Peterson Field Guide Series is equally unimpressed talking about its “lack of wing bars” and saying its song is a “weak colourless trill, dropping in energy at the end.” I wonder if we’re talking about the same bird! Bill and I have been talking about notating bird song and I’ll let you know how that goes! My ever resourceful scribe, Mike, has brought the following to my attention. Dear readers, how about you give these a try and let me know how they sound! oh…there’s a cow in there too 🙂

bird songs as musical notation.jpg

I will leave you with one last thought on birds from one of my favourite musical works (can you guess which one?):

One day, Peter goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and the duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to go swimming in a pond nearby. The duck starts arguing with a little bird.

The bird says, “what kind of bird are you if you can’t fly?”

To which the duck replies, “what kind of bird are you if you can’t swim?”

Click here to have a listen!

 

Haciendas in the sun and the Power of Quiet

Thoughts of sunny haciendas and social media-ocrity sweep through my mind…

Hey aspirational! Hey blookup! Hey all you dog gone great followers and fans! Let’s Face-book it:

Oh yes, this is a truly virtual blog now! I talked to Mike.Brown and he creates the post. These are my words coming through him! Thanks, Mike. (You’re welcome! 😜 )

When I’m out with my love dove, Bill, we frequently have to contend with the horrors of corporate background music. Last night we endured two hours of repellant looped robotic music that only drinking could improve. Oh I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?

Hey, come on… We’re human beings… We want to feel! To be touched… To imagine! It’s sinister how corporate decides which satellite (sat-elite?) channel will hold sway over the diners and the rest of us can just lump it. While it’s true I’m extra sensitive and still recovering from my head bonking last December, I think I’ve always been sensitive. Silence – you know, the space between the notes – can be powerful. Then, I want to put in a video clip of oh no nonononononononono leave it it’s wonderful. We will find this on YouTube…

Can’t wait to play with my Naturals again! And also check out Randall’s splash cymbal on “We are Golden”! My camera did something cool and unusual.

Weird Photo 1.JPG

The late Canadian composer Harry Freedman said it best:

Are you an informed listener? Do you take the trouble to protect your ears and your musical appetite? Do you cancel your order and leave a restaurant if the manager does not turn down the Muzak?

It’s a Beautiful Day

Did you know that we have one hundred billion neurons in our brains? As many as the stars above us. What does this have to do with sumac? I went to Bill’s gig at Kay Meek last weekend – it was Steve Dawson’s tribute to David Bowie – there were about twelve people on stage and the sound just got more and more massive! I found myself slinking down in my seat and putting my head down and my fingers in my ears in crash position and then I just excused myself and slunk out to the lobby… and who did I see but Dave Watson, the amazing emerg. doc. whose daughter I taught years ago! When Dave heard my concussion story he whipped out his phone and said, “look, I want you to go see this guy.” It turns out that both Dave and Brian Hunt are mountain medical emergency doctors. I saw Brian today and he was very encouraging. He advised me to meditate four times a day, avoid all screens, and reduce obvious stressors like driving in Vancouver! I have a lot to be thankful this Thanksgiving and I am wishing you all a tasty, yummy, colourful Thanksgiving. Best wishes to all!

Flames of Sumac

The fall brushed air swirls around my face and ruffles my hair

I see runes written in the moss that grows

Along the old stonewall by the lagoon.

There are dandelions still standing

Stretching themselves as long as they can

Toward the falling green and gold light.

Flames of sumac

Be inside it

We welcome the change

And the wind lifts these pages

Holly Burke, September 2015

image002.png

Bloggity Blog

I think I’m getting better! I spent 12 hours yesterday on the set of “Wonder”, a film with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, among others. I had the great pleasure of chatting with Owen and meeting his radiant mother. This was the highlight of my triumphant return (lol) to “union film background” 😉 I made a new friend. A 79 year old woman named Elizabeth who was recovering from a stroke and was out for a day of work. She was a spritely spirit who could only speak a few words. We had wonderful conversations savouring these words. The word of the day was “beauuuutiful”. I noticed her difficulty with pronouncing “crazy” – her crazy came out as “crouuzy”. My inner ESL teacher came out and I was able to help her with her pronunciation so she could enjoy saying “crazy”. We put those two words together so that we could go around saying “crazy beauuuutiful.” It really was tremendous fun. I wanted to stay in touch with her but she was wrapped before me and vanished!

This is an interesting mixture of seasons… Isn’t it?

White morning glories popping out of tangled vines with red blackberries tumbling over a blue spruce. 

I am here
in my spot

thanking the sun for warming my back
a humming bird drops by to check up on me.

Damsel flies – a low hovering wasp
and dried grasses all around me
you can feel the fall this summer.

The young girl who borrowed her father’s oil paints and walked out into a field to become a painter one summer day is all grown up now and still enthralled by nature. I didn’t become a painter but I did become an artist!

Scan 22zoom2_small.jpg
Here’s dad doing two things he loved – sailing and singing.

And here’s my tune, Seraphina, named after my flute. Let’s all enjoy this last part of summer! 🌞

Art in the Garden, Dino DiNicolo and the Rare Gangetic Dolphin

I am so fortunate to live on Stanley Park in the spring when the trees leaf they seem to rise up and surround my balcony like a canopy filled with bird song. Zephyrs of wind move through the trees and I can sometimes hear the little children at the Pooh Corner Daycare playing capriciously and singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of their lungs!

What could be more inspiring than playing with Dino DiNicolo in a beautiful garden surrounded by trees, flowers, and art? Dino and I have done this tour for years, sometimes in the rain, which has its own special atmosphere, but we expect nothing but sunny skies. The flowers are getting ready for their great performance! Art in the Garden is a tour of 16 gardens in West Vancouver and North Vancouver with a very reasonable charge of one dollar for each garden, each one unique featuring a visual artist, a musical duo, and of course the beautiful plants and flowers that have been nurtured all year.

Dino and I are scheduled to perform:

Saturday May 28th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Garden #14: 2820 Marine Drive, West Vancouver

Sunday May 29th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Garden #12: 5570 Woodpecker Place.

Come and smell the roses… and everything else!
AIG 16 Website Banner 1.jpg

And let’s not forget..

rare_gangetic_dolphin

The rare, and uniquely beautiful, Ganges River Dolphin. (Just look at that smile!)