The wonderment that is Ohio never ceases to startle me. Yesterday was the first genuinely hot day of the year, and today it is too cold to step outside without a hooded sweatshirt on. The oddest thing of all is that I am on “summer” vacation now. Finals week has come and gone, and at last, all of my “I'll get that done during the summer” tasks can be put off no longer. One of the greatest of these tasks is digging a garden in the back yard of my roommates' house. There's something so spiritual about digging in the dirt, especially when preparing it for seeds to grow vegetables that we are all looking forward to enjoying in coming months. The whole process connects you with the sun and the soil and the rain and the turning of the earth and the details so easily overlooked. You notice subtleties of creation, things you wouldn't otherwise see. One day while I was out there, a bumble bee hovered around me throughout all the six hours I was outside. He would fly right up to face me, turning his body back and forth so both of his big compound eyes could take me in. At first I saw him as a threat, but soon I befriended him, watching his flight patterns and his colors and coming to recognize the pitch of his fast buzzing wings. Later he brought another bee and we all had afternoon iced tea on the porch. (Well, I had iced tea. I set out a bowl of sugar water for the bees, but they weren't interested.) The other bee was smaller and had a higher pitched buzz, and they harmonized nicely. Only by digging in the dirt does one end up enjoying ice tea in the sun with harmonizing bees.

Another of these tasks is working out the new mailing list system. For all those of you who have signed up for the mailing list and wondered over the past year “why am I not getting any emails from Robyn?” the answer is....um... because I'm afraid I'm going to do it wrong and everyone is going to get some weird email that says weird automated stuff from the mailing list server. But, if I'm going to write a line like “but I'm not one to run from fear” in a song, I guess I have to be willing to take some risks. So, if you all get some sort of odd test message from me, and then a second message from me that says “please disregard previous odd test message,” please be patient and forgive me. Soon, at long last, the mailing list will be fully operational again. Hopefully, it will happen in time for me to tell you about the show this coming weekend in Dayton....

A “Go Girls Music Presents” show takes place at the Trolley Stop down in the Oregon District in Dayton on Friday. The show is presented, appropriately enough, by gogirlsmusic.com. Admission is $3 at the door, and also performing will be Peggy Welty, a relaxing, finger-style guitarist; Arminta, front woman for an Indianapolis “progressive Celtic” band; and Rhonda Everitt's band, Pale Beneath the Blue. It should prove to be a great night of girly goodness.
This show will be the first time that the second edition of my “Six Songs” Sampler EP will be available. The EP features songs that are also available for free download on this website, placed neatly on a high quality compact disc for your portable enjoyment, for those of you who don't have the fastest internet connections, or who just really like paying artists for music. We artists always appreciate those nice people.

Beyond that, keep an eye out for more shows in Columbus throughout the “summer”.

*rlc