Sooooo, I finally have time for an update! I am taking the morning off today! I think things will finally be slowing down just a little. I have had many projects on the go and some of them are in the wrap-up stage.

This week I worked on a recording project with the students at École-sur-mer in Summerside. They made a Christmas CD to raise funds to buy instruments for the school! It was an exciting project for the kids and lots of people contributed time and goods to make it all happen. All the profits will go right back to the students.

A major project for me has been the editing of a book of original Acadian fiddle tunes due for release very soon! It is almost ready to go to the publishing stage!! It features 34 different Acadian composers from PEI and includes 148 new fiddle tunes. Each composer has their own section with a biography, photo and stories about the inspiration for each of their tunes. You will see an example in the photos attached here. I am really excited for this project and I hope it will be a useful tool in the promotion of our Acadian culture and music.

Of course, I am also still working on the recording of my own CD. Troy MacGillivray has agreed to do the recording and production which is a thrill for me! He is one of my favorite players and I have enormous respect for his production abilities. I was attempting to get the recording done this fall but as often seems the case, these things take longer than expected. It is still in the works and I plan to keep posting some of the potential material on my website (www.anastasiadesroches.org).

I am getting excited for Christmas! How about you?? I love the snow in December (not so much from January on) and every time there are a few flakes it puts me in the Christmas mood. I have been listening to Christmas music for about a month now. Anne Murray's album is one of my favorites because she sings the songs the way I remember them. I am not so much of a fan of modern arrangements of traditional songs. The Barra Macneils' Christmas albums are always in the rotation and I just bought the new Ode à l'acadie album. My Christmas shopping is almost done and I'm working on my wish list, hehe.

That's about it for today I guess!