With only two people commenting for my drawing of a Marian Call album download, the winner is Jennifer B, but knuckstermom, please email me at shala at donteatthepaste. com. I'd like to send you a little something for playing.
I'm planning my garden. There is still snow on the ground and on the mountains. I took this photo on my way home from the store where I picked up soil and pots for my starts.
I'm going to start my pumpkins tomorrow, we are growing them from seeds from our jack-o-lanterns. We are also starting our first batch of potatoes in true recycling fashion, we are lining laundry baskets with surplus burlap from a local coffee roaster, and planning to do them in stages started a month apart so we have potatoes all summer for the grill.
My teens are making seed tapes following the fantastic tutorial here. Because the carrots we picked are slow growers, they are doing radish seeds every 5th spot instead of carrots so we know that's where our carrots are.
Also planning rhubarb, but that's going to wait until spring kicks in properly and I can go to the nursery that is conveniently located within walking distance. In The Garden Nursery is always friendly and very knowledgeable about what will grow in Anchorage, and how to best care for it.
The Turnip Girl becomes The Rhubarb Girl as soon as it starts coming up in the summer. She's wild for the stuff. Rhubarb sauces for fry bread, rhubarb lemonade, rhubarb soda pop, rhubarb pie. So this year I figured it's worth putting in, I know it grows very well in Anchorage and comes back bigger and better every year.
Mike is planning on doing some smokes with the pieces of birch from a tree cut down in our backyard.
The weather may not agree, but I feel very much like spring.
I've mentioned before how much I love Marian Call. She's a local singer who tours, and performs at coffee shops, bars, house parties and comic book shops around the US.
Every so often we are lucky enough to get her back home for a few shows. Every so often we are lucky enough that she's doing all ages shows so my kids, who adore her music as well can see her play. Last night was one such night. The owner of Bosco's Comics heard her talking on the radio about shows she did on her 50 state tour, and heard her mention performing at comic book shops. He thought that was a fantastic idea. And so Bosco's hosted it's very first concert. They did a really good job. The owner, John, provided snacks and treat bags for people who donated a minimum to see the show. The treat bags had candy, a Fables comic book (Marian loves Fables!), incense, dice, trading cards and Magic cards in them.
If you live in the Anchorage area, you know about Bosco's. Maybe you've only been in there to look for special geeky presents for your son or daughter, or maybe you're like my family and spend entirely too much money there. They carry all sorts of geeky delights, comic books, games, trading cards, dice and everything you need to go with your geekdom. It's the perfect match for Marian's music.
The concert was great. One of the songs she does is about Jayne from Firefly, and she said to a crowd of comic book fans "Does everyone here know who Jayne is?" and Mike said loud enough to make people laugh "If you don't, you should leave now with your head hung in shame." Her Jayne song is usually done as a sing-a-long.
Her equipment failed, but the venue was small enough that the show went on anyway. A snug, cozy acoustic show and her voice carried beautifully.
You see, she's a geek. She did a song all about it and everything.
Her first album, Vanilla, was given to me as a Christmas present by my husband when it came out. Her style is a bit folk, a bit jazzy. The lyrics are her own, so is the honesty and humor in them.
Her second album was a commissioned project by Quantum Mechanix Inc. and it's the delight of a couple fandoms. Songs inspired by Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. The name of the album is Got to Fly.
I have both albums, which are available at all the usual places like iTunes, Amazon and her website. Instant purchase, instant download. But last night at her concert I purchased ONE digital code for a download of Got to Fly. The code comes on a plantable card. The winner of this drawing can choose between having me mail them the card so they can plant it after they download the album or just having me email them the code so they can get the album and I'll plant the card in spring (greenest option, no envelope/mail).
Winners will be drawn by random.org from the comments left on this entry. I have the comments numbered.
This contest is completely my own. Neither Bosco's or Marian Call are sponsoring it, it's just because I really love her music and will take any chance I have to promote it. How to win:
Leave a comment on this entry. (1 entry)
Go to Marian Call's website and listen to some of the songs on there. Leave a comment with the name of your favorite song on this entry (1 entry)
Tweet this giveaway with a link back to this page. (1 entry) #mariancall - leave a comment on this entry with a link to your tweet (click on the time at the bottom of your tweet for the direct link to the tweet)
The time to enter ends on March 19, 2011. EDIT: extended to March 25, 2011! I'll do the random numbers on March 20th, and announce the winner on this entry. If you win, you can email me your email address if you don't want to leave it in the comments.
