At long last I'm taking a break from playing - in fact my performing diary is worryingly empty over the next few months, just a few gigs here and there.  So for the next month or two I can largely concentrate on getting CDs edited, preparing editions, and planning ahead for next season.  Marie and I met this morning and looked at our upcoming projects, all of which look like a lot of fun: two tours over the next year or so, and some very interesting possible collaborations.

On Monday the fiddler Paul Anderson came down from Aberdeenshire and we played through some tunes in preparation for a concert we have in August - it's nice to be able to think ahead ... it's also great to play some of the tunes that I used to play when I was at school, old chestnuts like The Mason's Apron and Fairy Dance.  

This afternoon I've been clearing my desk and installing a new hard drive in my computer in preparation for all the editing that's about to take place (surface testing as I type). Not very glamorous, is it?