Day 27, Stendal, house concert...

Tragedy of all tragedies... I was a mere 8hrs short of completing my one-week vegan challenge, when I was confronted by some beautiful home-made scones. From an Irish recipe no less. And being as I was a guest for the afternoon, and knowing that the scones had been made that morning, especially for my house concert, I was swept up by an overwhelming sense of moral obligation (possibly also a love of fresh-baked scones, which became a staple when I was living in Ireland...), and the Vegan challenge was defeated. But then in a way that sort of illustrates one of the reasons I would find it difficult to be vegan. It's not so much the diet - I was more than happy with what I had eaten all week, never felt cravings for anything else, I don't really have much meat/dairy in my diet anyway - but there's a specificity to it that I would find hard to incorporate into my daily life. And there's a part of me that likes to be able to share in something - home made scones for example - that has been prepared by someone else, with love, as a gift. If I was walking past a bakery and saw/smelled the scones that afternoon, then I wouldn't have had a problem carrying on without stopping. But being a guest (the special guest in this case), it's nice to be able to eat something when I know it's been prepared for the occasion. (As with Julia's grandmother's home-made cake that I sampled later on...how could I not?!). There's a certain pride that's felt when people cook something for others, and it's nice to be able to share in that, whatever it might be. These days it seems there are so many dietary requirements flying around, and I'm aware many of them are necessary... but in some way it feels like we've forgotten that old art of being thankful for what is offered. I wouldn't rule out being vegan at some point in the future, mainly because as I said earlier it wouldn't be such a huge departure from my current diet. But there's a few hurdles I would have to overcome, and I don't feel the need to do that right now. Also I love ice cream. A lot. Normal ice cream. The creamy stuff. Gelato especially. Definitely not ready to give that up. Just look at it!! Yeeeeooowwww!!

Anyway, I'm meant to be talking about a house concert here... Sorry about that. A nice afternoon in the home of Julia's mother, Eveline, who I met for the first time when touring Germany last year. One of the more kind-spirited people you are likely to meet, she'd even prepared a hand-made invitation for the house concert, featuring a few of my lyrics scattered around the artwork. I wish I had a photo to show you... I'll try to figure that out for a future entry... A small crowd in attendance, but a nice homely feel, much the same as if I was playing music for people in my own living room. Also great to see the VondoMachine reunited for the day (Lena and Julia, pictured below). A relaxed afternoon with friends, singing songs and eating scones. Maybe there's a lyric in there somewhere. Or maybe not... Anyway a big thanks to Eveline, thanks to Nina for the scones (which I have now mentioned several times, they were damn good!), and thanks to everyone who came along to listen to a crazy Australian singing with no shoes on. It's often a source of fascination for German people this barefoot thing - I think I'll have to do it more often. Not that I like to use cheap tricks, but sometimes they help...!

We're off to the forest to find mushrooms. See you soon... x