Coming 'round the bend of time, seven days left here in pine plains before we celebrate the residency with our closing show at the stissing house. we've been living in the old farm house next to hammertown barn. joan and gregg adopted us. wkze produced the ads. the stissing house made sure to be a perfect space to honor 21 years of independent business, hammertown happiness i call it. the farming workshop was real. it fed me from within. i was especially interested in listening to kaya talk about killing her livestock by herself. i always wanted to know that i could do that and listening to her reminded me of that. i ate a local steak the other night. it was red and good. it fed me from without. i haven't eaten meat in a long while. the new song is whole and belongs to columbia, our commuting route 70 and this small east coast town. i've been remembering my hunger for the plains lately. laura's been really keeping the ship sailing lately, with logistics of the move and the shows and so much that is worldly and necessary to reach you. tony's been making sure the web site is always new. gregg has been such a friend, an good loving host. we're planning to kidnap him and show him our love, missouri. i have a feeling he'll fly there and show me how. meanwhile, i reach for light in this moment, at the mountain cow cafe in pine plains new york. i'm wearing the yellow rag dress that baba's mama made me. it's almost time to retire the summer dress for the colder fabrics of fall. my black pants have been useful lately since my jeans ripped down the leg beyond repair. funny when i think that i bought these pants i'm wearing now so that i would look good for a record label meeting. that was back in the day when i was still trying to please the machine makers. HALLELUJAH, i lost my job. i've changed so much, i think i would be entirely unrecognizable to the vampires now. fam jim perry from new hampshire died suddenly this month. so strange to think of time's vulnerability to eternity. he was just here! we were just talking about how we'd sing the sun in to being and now he's completely gone to my world. i love it. it keeps me on my toes. i know he went where the buffalos will always roam and if i stay steady, preparing for my return, this spiraling journey through the now, maybe the Source will take me HOME too. I'll greet mama and all my goodness when i arrive. missing her is harsh lately as i close in on her birthday and spreading her ashes back to earth. "why should i see god better than this day? i see something of god each hour of the twenty four, and each moment then, in the faces of men and women, and in my own face in the glass; i find letters from god dropped in the street, and every one is signed by god's name. And i leave them where they are, for i know that others will punctually come forever and ever."-Whitman. i plan to prepare my soul daily and rise according to the rights of passage, there where i enter the trail to the planetary divide. i'll do it from the stage and sea, you and me, sept 1st in boston, sept 3rd in pine plains, sept 11th in new york city. come be with me and i promise to be true. howling to you from the holy road, X=h/m Lizzie