I am a bit grumpy this morning. As much as I love my kids and being a Dad I didn't sign up for missing my weekly hockey game because of a PD day/oncoming cold.

So, here I sit thinking about my pals enjoying the comradery of the dressing room and the speed, excitement and beauty of the hockey game they are about to enjoy. This all has me thinking about how and why (and if) it all works together.

Being an artist is a selfish endeavor. The trick is balancing your selfishness so that you can interact with your loved ones and the world at large. Of course my number one priority is the health and happiness of my family but that is not as simple as I make it sound. For example, if the man of the house (me) is unhappy or unhealthy then I am of no use to anyone.

In order to keep my health, sanity and happiness I try to play hockey at least twice a week. This is always tricky as it seems like I am leaving my family to "play again." The thing that makes this extra tricky is that my work often feels the same way. More often than not these days I am heading out the door with a banjo over my shoulder. (how much work could THAT be?) You might also hear me in the basement practicing the fiddle.

It seems that no matter what I do, I can never spend enough time (for me) with my kids and I never have enough hours in the week to practice and compose my music. It seems like it might be a time management issue but I think it is just a triple passion problem that gets all mixed up day in day out.

Tommorrow is Hockey Day in Canada. I hope that I can have some quality time on my instruments, quality time with my kids and quality time on my backyard rink.

tim

Shout out to all those Rochester folks that made us feel so welcome this past weekend. It is especially fun to read the blogs of folks that attended the shows. I even like reading those who didn't enjoy it! (funny that some decided that we weren't improvising since we have charts on the stage) It is nice to read some raw, negative emotion as the mildly complimentary feedback and reviews can get a bit tiring after a while.

Nugent runs a tight ship there and it seems that the local jazz fans do really appreciate how fortunate they are to have a world class festival like that.

I even had a nice random act of kindness there when I cut-off a car pretty bad when I was trying to find the highway. She pulled up, rolled down her window and asked if we were lost. She proceeded to let us follow her all the way to the onramp and pleasantly waved goodbye...so cool!