Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Wow, it certainly has been a while since I wrote anything for the ol' blog, eh? Let me tell you what my days have been filled with the past few weeks.

Snow has fallen in Banff, and it's definitely winter here. That has brought a few changes to my routine. The biggest? I've traded by bike for hiking boots, spiffy looking North Face ones. I walk everywhere now, and even with the hiking boots I still have moments of arm-flailing terror occasionally.

The winter weather has also brought an increased dependence on hot beverages. Recently (alright, a couple hours ago) I discovered the blissful combination that is apple juice and tea. Seriously. Instead of water, boil a mixture of apple juice and water - I use an equal amount. Obviously this won't work well for every kind of tea, but I've tried it with lemon ginger, and am contemplating a chai trial next. I'll keep you posted!

The third change has been in music. I try to make a new playlist each month, and October's list was very acoustic. This is usually the case. When the weather turns cold, I'm drawn to a different sort of music than in the summer: I want jazz, acoustics, vocals. Suffice to say, I've been listening to a lot of KT Tunstall, Amy Winehouse, the Delgados, Jamie Cullum, Feist, and all the other autumn standbys. Soon I'll be breaking out the Christmas jazz, I guess.

Until next time!

Photo (cc) me

Music Monday: Glamour Puss

Alight, this one is just gonna be a quickie, I''m supposed to be writing a second research proposal right now. Huzzah for procrastination!

So, this week you're getting "Glamour Puss" by KT Tunstall. KT is one of my favourite female vocalists, right up there with Emily Haines, and her most recent album Tiger Suit is by far my favourite of her's to date. I featured another song from the album, "Uummannaq Song," in a January Music Monday post.

"Glamour Puss" feels spring-y to me, as in the season. It's starting to look rather spring-ish in the Okanagan, and I hope the trend continues. I've got my fingers crossed and a spring playlist in the wings. And that's all I have to say. Enjoy!

Music Monday: Uummannaq Song

Music Monday didn't get the jump on me this week, and in fact the most difficult part of compiling this post was figuring out which song I wanted to feature. There were a lot, trust me.

In the end, I decided to go with "Uummannaq Song" by KT Tunstall. Why? Because it's snowing again, and that makes all the difference.

The song title references the Greenlandic town of Uummannaq, and the lyrical content is much what you would expect from a song about Greenland (that's the icy one, remember. Iceland is the green one. I blame the vikings). The chorus in particular grabs me: "I could live in this town / Five cold years before I / ... / Before I head for home."

Hey! That's what I'm doing! Well, sort of. I've been living up in the Okanagan on and off since 2008, so that puts me at about four-ish years in this cold town now. And if all goes well, I'll be living here another year, bringing the count to five cold years before I head for home.

I also chose to feature this 'cause it's all around awesome. I've had a soft spot for KT Tunstall since forever, but I only just recently got my mittened hands on her 2010 album Tiger Suit. Below I've got a live video, just to prove how rad this woman is. I like the studio version a lot better, but live videos demonstrate the skill of an artist in a more pure form. That's enough out of me. Have a good week!

Fall Ramblings

I miss autumn.

I want to wear pants and sleeves, I want to put on a toque and a jacket, I want to shiver in the line for Tim Hortons coffee or hocho. The lack of a cool season here is leaving me very confused; I've been here more than three months but it still feels like summer. The weather is still warm, the beach still beckons, and the sole jacket I brought (more of a windbreaker, really) sits unused in my modest closet.

I'm trying to cope, though, to trick myself into believing that it really is fall. I've switched out playlists, swapping the club beats, remixes, mashups, and electropop anthems with more fitting musical offerings of jazz, acoustic, and stripped down vocal performances. It's not Music Monday yet, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that this new list heavily features KT Tunstall, Jamie Cullum, Melody Gardot, and Kings of Convenience. Give 'em all a look, although each will likely make an appearance in the MM posts within the next few months.

Despite my longing for autumn months back home, I'm rather disappointed that I have to leave Singapore so soon. I've only got six more weeks here, three of which will be spent travelling. There's just so much I haven't done yet that I want to fit in: the Singapore Flyer, Marina Barrage, Henderson Wave, East Coast Park, Pulau Ubin. And then there's all the travel I want to do as well. Guess I'll have to come back to Southeast Asia in a few years, eh?

images by masochismtango, blmier2, and Blakkos

on Repeat

This weekend I discovered a musician by the name of Jamie Cullum, and I've had his most recent album, The Pursuit, on repeat since, oh, Friday. It's that good.

But I need a little variety in my life. Not too much at this time, but a little, just to keep me interested. Jamie has one song called Mixtape, in which he sings, "I'll make you a mixtape that's a blueprint of my soul... It details everything that's running 'round my head."

So here's my "mixtape," courtesy of Grooveshark, and the playlist I've had on repeat the last two days. Note that it ends with Jamie, though.