Okay, here’s my stab at getting back to blogging. It’s early morning and it’s Mulan’s first day of second grade today. She is nervous and excited about it. I am not nervous, but REALLY EXCITED. Oh, this was a long summer. Oh, I really know now what parents feel like when school starts. Oh, oh, oh, do I need school to start. Yes, yes, I do. It will be hard not to go buy a bottle of champagne on the way home.

We went away on vacation for over a month – nearly five weeks. It was fun, it was interesting, it was somewhat educational and enlightening for Mulan, and it wiped me out like never before. What was I thinking? How did I think this trip was going to be restful? But, in any case, it had great moments and now I am remembering those more than I am remembering all the waiting in airports and the whining and all of that. We went to the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington, Seattle, Spokane, N. Idaho to a lake cabin with my family, then to England – to Manchester and then London – and then to Morocco, to Marrakesh, Essaouira (the best part of the trip was there, in my opinion) and in the Atlas mountains for a few nights at a little hotel made for adults to rest and chill and I had a child who wanted to do cartwheels and jump in the pool and do it all with me every minute non-stop.

I think the best part of the trip, for me, was the last five days since we’ve been back in the country. We headed to Chicago first, where my fiancé lives (wow, it’s still so weird to say that) and since we were on European time we were up and wandering around his house at four in the morning. So we all drove to the beach on Lake Michigan and watched the sun come up. Then, Mulan and I headed back here to L.A. and we have been getting up every morning around five fifteen and going to Runyon Canyon while it’s still dark and there are stars out, and then watching the city light up as we ascend the hill. Our dog, Arden, is in heaven with this turn of events. In fact, right now, since it is the very time we have been doing these sojourns, he is sitting at my feet, whimpering and gazing out the door, because he must think it’s time to go, go, go to Runyon Canyon.

But I let Mulan sleep this morning since it’s the first day of school. Oh! The first day of school! Oh Dear Lord In Heaven Who Isn’t There: Thank you! Thank You! I bow down before you in praise and thanks for Sept. 5th to arrive! I sing glad tidings and offer gifts of thanks that the time this time of the year has come!!!

So. I drop Mulan off at school today and immediately go the post-production house to watch the final-final cut of the movie. Before I left we basically finished everything but the end credits. And now we are watching the whole movie. And then, it is DONE.

I don’t know what the future of the movie will be. We are submitting it to Sundance, and in the meantime we will be conferring with representatives and so forth about what is possible to do. I will keep you posted.

Also, at some point today or tomorrow, I will post the performances I have scheduled for the fall. I’m in Chicago in October, Bothell, Washington in October, and New Jersey and Connecticut in November. Also, Jill Sobule and I are doing shows here in L.A. at Largo in November, and we are going to put our song on our websites soon, very soon.

So, even though this isn’t much of a post, I thought I would start the SCHOOL YEAR OFF, with a blog/forum entry. Oh! It’s so lovely to write that: The School Year Begins! Oh! Oh! Oh!