|| Dear Diary || On radio silence, radio ga-ga, radio goo-goooo

Oh hello my dear readers, I’ve been a little absent here, the world feels like it’s been upside down, inside out and spun around. Like I’ve been ingested by some great big monster with a ton of time-eating hunger. It’s Summer! A good and mighty fine bit of the year! It’s blissful in our truck/camper/home on the campsite in the Netherland where we’re staying till early October! Such a beautiful place to be! I put some songs on a playlist to celebrate the sunshine. Lot’s of artists and tunes I love, and of course my own ‘summer’ tunes because, well, of course ;-) It’s here: SPOTIFY Summer Playlist So last March my new album ‘For Everything a Season’ came out. I’m sure you’ve heard it by now? (If you haven’t you can find out all useful links here: https://fanlink.to/GdRseason) I’m feeling so grateful to everyone that bought the record and supported it through the subscriptions and the crowd-funding. For the support it’s had from some awesome DJ’s at BBC 6, BBC Scotland, Ire 1, Dutch Radio 2 & 5. And to all that wrote wonderful reviews, took the time to share interviews and helped me get the record out there! Such love!

I’m feeling kind of embarrassed to not have written anything here since the release, but dear me, life has swallowed me up. Some of you might be aware of the fact I’ve packed my belongings around the time I did the album-release tour and then moved myself and my things back over to the Netherlands after 10 years of living in the UK. To give you a little more background - last November I found myself unexpectedly (and quite impossibly…) pregnant. My man and I bought our current home-on-wheels so we could tour with the babe, and situating ourselves back in the Netherlands made sense as both our families are here. But sadly it turns out miscarriages happen with about 1 in 5 pregnancies, who knew it’s so common! Many people don’t talk about it. But the whole ‘don’t tell till 12 weeks’ makes all the more sense to me now. I ended up miscarrying at 11,5 weeks. The entire experience felt like the biggest roller coaster ride, from intensely happy, excited, terrified, worried, incompetent - to heart broken yet grateful. And gosh did it get me thinking. What am I here for? What is actually most important? How does a creative career and family sit together in the same room while being mutually supportive? Surely as a woman in arts, I can’t have a kid or will loose some of my credibility? Oh gosh is this the end of me being able to make and play music as I have? Oh dear what if my relationship isn’t strong enough yet to make this work? (we hadn’t been together long at this point) and so on so on… the workings of the mind. But jeeeees WOMEN YOU ARE AWESOME and MEN TOO for dedicating life to little people while pursuing dreams and expression or full-time ‘normal’ work and house-caring and all that. I suppose trusting in all that life throws at you to offer divine experience, growth and learning is the best way to flow through it all with positivity. Faith, In whatever form, is so important! After all that, from the physical and hormonal roller coaster to generating funding and releasing a record, moving country with all the admin involved and finding ground in a new - but also old - live, I needed some time to recover. So I laid low for a little while. It’s a bit up and down, my energy is much better now and classic me I’ve got stuck in with a ton of different projects and plans again. The autumn/winter EU tour is taking shape (more about that later) - I’m working away on a kids book project I’ve had on the go for aaaages now, I’m pulling together the music for my next album that I’m recording from October onwards and in the background trying to figure out some income in the Netherlands while I’m here for summer. Gigging, Pilates teaching, some waitressing, some musical event organising, all that. And finding a ton of joy in spending time with my family, partner and friends. Even though I endlessly miss those close to me in the UK, I’ll be there again soon for a few days and a few gigs! 25th-30th of July to be exact. If you wanna you can come see me play songs in Cookham on the 28th of July! A gig in a church which will be wonderful! (Go to the TOUR page for more info..) I’m trying to balance things. To find enough ‘me-time’ and look after myself by exercising and eating well. It really helps! Some days I feel great and energised, some days I just wanna huddle up and let the world pass me by. I guess that’s all part of living. It’s good, I think over the last years I’ve grown to accept and embrace all the inevitable ups and downs, the to-ing and fro-ing. And learned to accept there is no perfect or ‘end-goal’ to hold on to really. It’s a journey I’m on and we’re all on together. I have so much more to write to you, especially in relation to the upcoming tour and record, but I want to dedicate a whole separate post to that so will post that at a later point. I tend to regularly post on Instagram and Twitter, there’s pictures of our home and all there too, so if you wanna stay in the loop do follow me there -> instagram.com/gittaderidder & twitter.com/gittaderidder Ending this post on a thought I wanted to share: Where would us humans be without nature, art, creativity and community? I’m so endlessly grateful for having creativity in my life, giving me understanding, direction and purpose time and time again. All of us seekers, each in our own way, I hope shared experience in the form of art and music can keep bringing us together and bringing us light in all that challenges us on the way. love and light x Gitta