Congress 2016 - Atwood and Klein

Tonia was the early bird who emailed me and said that Margaret Atwood would be speaking at Congress and that she had applied for two electronic tickets for the event.

But Tonia went that step further and printed the tickets, allowing us to waltz on by those whose tickets were still electronic and who were held up, as will happen, when the bar codes can't scan what is on someone's phone.

"Compassion under contemporary conditions" was the title of the talk.  Atwood has a dark, satirical view which is so funny that even knowing what is coming as she reads, she laughs herself, as though she is not the one who wrote those words.  I love it and I think, so did Tonia.

On the way into the theatre we met Donna Coates who asked us if we were going to hear Naomi Klein: "This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate".  And when we sat down at our almost front row seats to listen to Atwood, Tonia's friends who were sitting behind us asked Tonia the same question:  are you going to hear Naomi Klein next.

We did.

...a selfie at the end of a good day ...

At 2 pm we were ready for food at home and we had a chance to sit down with Rebecca who had just flown in and was on her way to the President's Reception.  The three of us knew how to grab 30 minutes together and talk our heart's out.

Rebecca left and I joined Leo and Kelve for deer burgers, salad and rhubarb and strawberry pie out on the patio, all supplied by Leo and the Johnson's next door.

Arta

Gabe in 'Beauty and the Beast'

Greg and I drove in from Shuswap to see Zoe's puppet performance and to attend the Captain Nichola Goddard Middle School performance of Beauty and the Beast. The director gave Gabe his choice of playing the Beast or Gaston. Gabe chose to be the Beast. Of course it is always the pleasure of the grandparents to watch performances of the grandchildren.

Beauty is a little out of focus but the Beast looks great! Gabe's voice was mic'd so that he sounded gruff like a Beast. He came across larger than life with his raspy gruff voice.


 The costuming was amazing. Someone did a lot of work.

 And here Beauty has invited the Beast to dinner and is showing him how to put on his napkin.

 The Beast and Beauty did a mighty fine dance together after dinner.

The Beast did a lot of talking to his everlasting rose.



It was quite a production to see. There were over 150 students involved in the acting, staging and lighting. Both Gabe and Beauty had lush voices that never missed a note.

Academy awards for all!

Wyona

Dolly Wiggler Cabaret

Dolly Wiggler Cabaret
.... no door prize ... just a good time had by all ...

At the Dolly Wiggler Cabaret, Zoe's Glee Club performed Harry Belafonte's "Day-O", also known as the Banana Boat Song.

The choir came on stage, some shuffling, some shyly, some in mock shock, each with something held behind their backs.

On the first note of the song out from behind their back came the puppets they had created and the song began. Wyona says that Zoe is the only one who can stay in tune, though many others come close to singing around the note.

Before the show began a case worker came around the audience, finding interested parents to tell them that at the end of the performance the Glee Club would come down from the stage and do a mambo line through the audience and hopped we would join in.  Zoe was the leader of the line.  As soon as she passed us and others began joining in, we ran to find her and filed in behind her.  What our line lacked in precision, it at least had in enthusiasm.

On the way home in the car, Zoe told us in 3 words how she made the puppets: "paper, glue, paint".  It is up to you to fill in the details of the project.  I did watch her puppet performance carefully.  Her hands had no trouble making the right movements so that it looked like the puppet was really singing.

Nice performance, Zoe and as you said yourself, brave.  Brave to have led the mambo line.

Arta

Checking the Drain Pipes

 ... a rainy day in downtown Calgary ...
I am fascinated by the reflection of
one building in another.

The water was pouring down after lunch.  I didn't know the rain was pounding the pavement  until I went to take out some compost.  Having climbed the stairs, it seemed a shame not to take the job to its completion for how wet could I get in 30 seconds.

But on the way back I noticed that the first drain spout was unhooked.  I stopped to find it behind a peony bush, my foot squishing in the mud.

Then I looked by the lilac tree and noticed that the drain above it was also disconnected. I pulled debris out of the pipe and got that together, just as a deluge of water fell on my head from above.

There was no use running for cover, since I was already wet and had a third spout to check; there was happiness for me in at least being able to find the unit tucked up beside the front of the house house, and now I stopped again to get 3 out of 3 connected before running for the shower.

Is this fact or fiction?

Rain in B.C. is warm.

Rain in Alberta is cold and drives a person to find a warm shower and then dry shoes and clothes as quickly as possible.

Arta

Downtown

Our first Selfie
Kelvin giving me instructions about which buttons to push,
and me equally naive about how to do this job!

Kelvin came from the south end of Calgary this morning and I came from the north to meet him in the centre of town, a place neither of us go much.

My timing for our appointment together was so far off that I arrived downtown a full hour early.  To kill time, I walked the Plus 15, looking in shop windows, scouting out the SAIT Culinary Shop and watching the food being prepared, and lingering at the windows of boutiques that sell high-end vinegar and oil.

I was at the corner of 5th Avenue and 7th Street eventually, and my new interest there was to see how many places I could find to have lunch within one block of where I was to go.  There is a Saigon Express in the same building.  Across the street is a PitaBasket.  On the west perimeter of the building is a Chinese Village Lunchtime Buffet, right next to a Gyu Kau (Japanese BBQ Social Dining).

I am arranging my next appointment downtown to coincide with lunch instead of the early morning breakfast schedule.

Arta

An Unbirthday Party

Hanging from the arms of the boys
are their nerf guns, an
important part of today's adventure.

David invited the boys he will be heading into middle school with, to a party at his house.

The main event?

Hard to know if that was the hot dogs, chips and pop, or the time at the lego table, or the run along the lake shoreline, or the planning and then executing of the nerf gun war.

There are rules for the Nerf Gun War that was to be held.  The rules were posted on the china cabinet.

One rule is about the area of the body at which you can take aim.  If things go wrong for you there is a way to measure your mistakes, one of which is that you have to wear your baseball cap backwards so that others will know you are "1" down.

It is early spring.  The grass between the ruts on the road is high.  The trees are in full foliage.  And if you enlarge the picture you are sure to see thimble berry bushes in full flower.

There was a bush down at the creek that was allowed to grow last year and it made it down as far as the water and grew in a wide circle up on the lawn.   Just one bush.  Gone now, taken out on the day that Bonnie and I attacked the larger weeds by the creek and the saplings in the meadow.

The daisies are growing, but not in bloom yet.  All seems well when nature is working out its natural Springtime rhythms.

Arta

Roses for the House

Thanks for the roses, Grandam,
and for the ribs

I wanted to pick the white roses that are doubles on one stem for seven days.

But I never got around to it until there were two minutes left for me at the Shuswap.

That is when I grabbed for the scissors and ran for the bush of white flowers in my front garden.

I have been trying to make them climb up on the pillars on the front porch.

Ron Treleaven told me that my task would not be possible, since it was a bush, not climbing roses.  And he would know, for he gave me the gift.

I thought I would deadhead some of the blooms, but none were dead.

All in full glory and a pleasure to pick.


The other task that made me laugh was cooking ribs.

Wyona spotted a good sale on them.  

... too much food for the 2 of us ...

I slipped them into my cart as well.

Weeding all day is easier when I know that the slow cooker is doing it's job and all I will have to do is finish the meat off on the BBQ and add a little sauce.

 I was doing a practise plan for the summer when others arrive.

 Arta

Can hardly wait for summer!

 Looking forward to yo'all coming out!

 Always nice to see the old guys looking after the younger.

 Fun for All!

No diapers for Lurene or Theresa this summer.

Shuswap - getting ready for the summer

.

It is always fun to write a name in the mood and dirt on the deck. Every spot on the decks is just like this. It has been 4-5 years since we have done a forensic clean on the decks. This is the year.  

Today I finished cleaning the upper decks.  Thee was black and green old on the white pickets and everywhere. I took a trip over to Janet and Glen's house this afternoon and took a look at their sparkling white pickets, fence and deck. Janet explained that she spent 3 days cleaning their deck.

 It was cold and raining. While I was busy doing the deck, Greg was working on the back corner of the lot.

Glen suggested it would be easier for us if we grassed in the garden. The strawberry plants were old, did not bear much fruit and the weeds were taller and hid the strawberry plants. So gone are the strawberry plants.
I found two chinese pots from Malaysia so we have filled them with soil and we have planted pumpkin in the pots.
All in a days work at the lake.

Tanner arrives

On Thursday Moiya walked around the edge of the water lilies in  
the lake by the Salmon Arm hospital
By Friday she was in Beverton waiting for the birth of baby Tanner.
Isn't modern transportation a joy!

Others will know this by Facebook.

Moiya just wrote me to say that Des has a new baby boy:

"Yes, he weighed in at 6 lb. 3 oz.  … 18 inches long and his name is Tanner. Fluid on lungs and very low oxygen. Couldn’t get a vein to feed him intravenously and they finally fed him today at about 3:30 – 4 pm by an eye dropper. He had tubes up his nose and down into his stomach. Des and Brandon finally got to hold him tonight.  He was born on Friday at 9:16 pm.

The tubes are all out now but they probably won’t come home until Monday morning.

Congratulations to all.  I guess those other three Vaughn kids will love to be holding baby Tanner soon, as will Grandma Moiya and Grandpa Dave.

 Arta

Time for Dinner

I did many chores one day in Calgary and came home exhausted at 5:30 pm.

 I just laid down on the bed, tucked some pillows around me and didn't have the strength to pull up a blanket.   I was out! At 6:45 pm Alice woke me.  She was in my bedroom and told me it was time to come over to her house for dinner.

I went over there, ready to eat.

Here is what really happened.

They had eaten without me.

Then unbeknownst to her parents, Alice slipped over after dinner to tell me to come over.

Miranda had noticed that she didn't have her eyes on Alice nor hear her. She looked outside and saw the door of my house was open.  She knew Alice must be over getting me, after the fact.

 ... Alice on her own at grandma's house ...

How cute is that.

Two years old.

Old enough to know how to get into the house, but not focused enough to shut the door behind her.

Cute.  Unless you are the parent of a two year old like that.

Arta

Shopping at Hanna's

Doral asked me, "Will you be blogging while you are currently out in BC?  I'd love to see some photos of the comings and goings, the weather, the scenery etc.  We never seem to be out there when the blossoms or cherries are on the trees."

In answer, I am currently having trouble carrying my phone with me.  For others, having their cell phone in their pocket is the final thing they check when going from the house to the car.  For me, the final check still involves do I have my car keys.  So when I am in places that deserve photographing, I am without the means to do it.

For example, Wyona and I took a quick trip to see the new Winners in Salmon Arm.  We didn't get there, though.  We stopped first for a $6 lunch, and then went to Hanna's, the nursery that is just off of the highway.

Wyona went for a pumpkin seedling.  She found one that has a white rind -- her choice -- the unusual.  I took one of the traditional orange ones and began to plan where I would plant it when I got home.  Then she got a small basil plant and then some cilantro.  I followed suit.  The place we parted company was with the new item she has been looking for.  I have wanted a small clump of oriental poppies for years.  I had some seedlings in my hand when I was shopping with Moiya but put them back, thinking I would get some of Glen's at the end of the season.  Then I wondered why I was doing that to save $4.25 when I was really wanting them this year.

Japanese Maple ... small, medium or large

Wyona wants a Japanese maple and so we looked at the $89 one, the $129 model and then the $229 tree -- all are the same strain, just each one more mature than the last.

"Why did mine die, while my neighbour's to the left and right of me lived?", she asked the clerk.

Water is the key.  Water, especially in the first two years.  And those neighbours spend more Spring time hours at their home than she does.

Now by the time Doral gets here, perhaps my poppies will be in bloom and pumpkins will be on the vine.  I hear the cherries will be early this year; the blooms were early so the cherries may be gone by the first of July.  The Japanese maple?  I think she will purchase it when she has a clear window of opportunity to water it

You will miss the cherries by six weeks, Doral.  Start thinking peaches.

And no, we didn't make it to Winners.  Clearly gardening was the joy of the day.

Arta

Zoe's Glee Club Performance

Zoe's Glee Club is performing May 27th at 8 pm, as part of Puppet Slam Network.

They will be doing a musical puppet performance in the Dolly Wiggler Cabaret.

The show is presented by CAOS, the International Festival of Animated Objects and the Puppet Slam Network. The show is at the Royal Canadian Legion, 116 7 Ave SW, located right at the C-train line. 

See if you can spot Zoe in the promotional picture below.

Arta

Venice AND Beware flying Ryanair

We left amazing Barcelona to take a Ryanair Flight to Rome. Ryanairs moto is ‘point to point’, no frills cheapest fare. We paid $150.00 Canadian for 2 flights oneway. Good Deal!  Went online to checkin, one can do this 30 days before but you pay extra if you do that. So I went on again 7 days before to checkin online. We were travelling in low season so prices were less. 1 bag of 20 kilos= 30 euros, 1 bag of 15 kilos= 20 euros, to pick seat=4 euros, priority seating so you have a place for hand luggage=6 euros. I ended up paying more for luggage and seating than our seats originally cost but I did it for Greg’s peace of mind and mine but not so much mine. I just sucked it up and paid with my credit card online. Could not print out the boarding passes but I saw them.

Got to the line to drop off bags and because I did not print out the boarding passes, it was going to cost 15 euros each ($25Can) to have boarding passes printed out. I just kept refusing and finally when the third person came to tell me I had to do that, I stepped out of line, opened my ipad and started checking in again to find where I saw the boarding passes. (I had to sign in on Barcelona Airport wifi and needed to pay money so checked the free box and then somehow read I would get a free iphone in the mail. Knew something was wrong. What had I joined?) After half an hour or more, I got online and I found the boarding passes again. Showed them to the guy and he said OK. Hah!  I kept that 50 dollars in my pocket.

Then we had to show the boarding passes when checking in with security. I had kept my ipad open to the passes. However, one pass got read and then my ipad said I had to refresh it. So I stepped out of line again and searched again until I found the passes again. Got through security. Then I had to guard my ipad so I could get on the plane. I managed. Put the ipad in my bag. Then had to show the boarding passes again to get on the plane. Found the passes again.

Somewhere during all of this I read where one could download the Ryanair air app. But as Marcia knows, I could not find the app store. What a nightmare. Greg and I were so happy when we finally did get on the flight. Next time, I will think twice before I book Ryanair, the airline for cattle!

 While we were watching the concert on Mother's Day this little girl and an adult walked into the church. The adult took a seat but the little girl just marched right up to the front, watched the string orchestra, dance a little and then took a seat. I guess she got hot because she got up and brought her coat back, dropped it off and went to the front again. Noone seemed to care. She was really cute and interested in the players.

This is the hotel wall in Venice. The wall is covered with lush fabric which is padded. Ad there are  murano crystal light fixtures plus a number of paintings. It is a great hotel.

This is a photo from our hotel window overlooking the Grande Canal.

And a photo from the canal looking at Bellini Hotel where we are booked with our Air Miles points. 

We spent today and a good part of yesterday riding the Vaporetta water taxi up and down the canals. This is just one of the photos I took from the water taxi. It just all does not seem real.

I tried to checkin today with Swiss Air. Could not do it. Even had the concierge desk phone and somehow our flight is blocked. So we will head out at 5:30 a.m. for the airport and hope we arrive in Calgary by nightfall.

Fiddleheads at My Door

Photo: Bonnie Johnson

Has anyone ever gone picking fiddle heads and cooked them?

I think by the time they get to be the size of the one in the lower right hand side of this picture, it it is too late for the tasty recipes that call for fiddleheads.

This one is just about a full grown fern!

Arta

Mother's Day in Venice

Sailing into Venice; One can never sail into Venice too many times. Feast your eyes. So many boats and ships and water taxis!

And then the larger buildings appear surrounded by waterways everywhere.

And the only way to move is on foot or on a boat. 

We just left the ship and walked around. Just popped into a church and there was a string concert inside.  We took a pew and sat there; soloists etc. It was magnificent. A Mother's Day to be remembered!

The church itself was just a marvel and then to listen to Bach, Handel and others was a real treat. We made our donation on the way out. The musicians were all ages and all playing abilities. But a concert not to be missed.

The Adventures of Pericles - in retrospect

I liked relying on Rebecca to do all of the pre-show work for me. In Victoria, she used to teach us the connections between all of the characters, have 10 famous quotes from the show taped to the door between the living room and the dining room and she would do a synopsis of the show as we were eating our meals together.

Now I have to do all of that on my own.  I went to the work to do it, even printing out a list of the characters and taking it with my on my early morning walk, memorizing their names and functions from my who is who in Pericles.

Since one of the reviews said that this was a mediocre play, well acted, I had the bar set low.  I wasn't expecting much -- just thinking I was putting in time by seeing some acting from Stratford.

When I got to the theatre 15 minutes early, only one patron was sitting there.  I went over to her to speak to her.  Tonia told me that if I am looking for friends to go with me on these adventures, perhaps it would just be easier to find those friends among people who are already there, since their presence would already tell me they are interested.

So I looked the person in the eye, and instead of saying "How many people do you think will be here today", I said, "How lovely to find you here today.  Do you remember me from the library?"

"Happy Birthday to you
You are 400 years old
I still like to see your work
37 and that's just the plays."

"Of course, Arta", she said, "I know you.  I am here, alone.  It is Shakespeare's 400th birthday, so in honour of that, I decided to see how many of his 37 plays I can see.  That is my new bucket list."

Why didn't I think of doing that?  I could make a list of how many of the plays I have seen, and how many I have yet to see.

Last year's The Winter's Tale and now The Adventures of Pericles are surely among the plays less performed and harder to access.

And Hamlet?  Now really, I can't count the number of times I have seen Hamlet:  for sure twice last year and once this year.

When I get a moment, I am going make my own list.  It will be short.  I will  probably have about 27 more to see.

I forgot to take this selfie with Kelvin at the theatre.
I only remembered after he left.
Perhaps at Butterfly I will get both of us in.

I was pleasantly surprised, enjoying this play much more than I had anticipated.

I don't know if it is the fact that the unusual conventions now seem common -- is it that familiarity that makes me comfortable?

The Greek chorus is a less used form in modern plays (though it is a delightful trop in the musical, Legally Blonde).  The careful wrapping up of all of the threads in the conclusion seems heavy-handed nowadays.   But I enjoyed it yesterday.  Relished it, really.   And the miraculous events:  a waterproof coffin making it to shore, people who should be dead, found living, a riddle which when solved would cause death to the person who solved it.  All of that is perfectly acceptable to me now.  I think my willing suspension of disbelief may be out of control.

Rebecca called me about an hour after the play was over for me.  Alex and she had gone to see it in Victoria.  She had felt too sick to go, but he is the one who didn't want to miss it.  I laughed when he reported that the shipwreck scene almost made him feel sea sick.  I had the a similar engaged feeling when Marina ran at one point to the end of the stage and looked far ahead.  There was the sound of sea gulls and on cue, my mind added the sound of the water, the smell of the salt, the long shore to either side of her.

The play's the thing.  Whoops.  Too much Hamlet.

Arta

A Spring Watch

It would seem to me that many people love their phones. I take this from the fact that they carry them everywhere, always have them charged up, can easily find them, whip them out to take a peek at them during red lights, or theatre intermissions and I sometimes even see them taking a cloth and shining the face of the phone or wiping off fingerprints.

goose nesting ... lower right hand corner in the middle of the green.

I would like to be one of those people. who are in love with cell phone technology.

But I just don't get it.

I have a number of things to remember when I go out the door on my early morning walk: my sunglasses, a scarf for the Alberta wind,  a pair of gloves, some kind of identification in my pocket should I trip and fall, a hat to keep the sun away from my face on the walk back home which is directly into the rising sun, and my cell phone.  I never get all of these things together at the same time.

But I was pleased to have my phone with me so that I could record seeing this goose, nesting, and already the chicks have hatched.

I was wishing I had brought along my binoculars, rather than my phone.

So sweet.

Arta

The Friday Night Standing Order

These boots (behind us) are made for walking ...
and riding ....
and that's just what they'll do.

Zoe and I have a standing order for a lunch date each Friday night.

We took Charise with us last week and she tramped us through Market Mall, looking for the Post Office and then for Coles for what seemed like hours and hours to me.

Zoe quite seemed to enjoy that walk.

So on Friday Zoe and I tried the same routine at Crowfoot Village.  We started out there with our coupons -- though Zoe didn't want anything on the discount menu.  That didn't seem to matter.  Just that there was a discount menu was the important part fo her of making the choice to go there.

I shouldn't really say we started out there.  Initially, when I got to her house she whispered to me that she had found Wyona's candy that was hidden.  She blurted that out when I asked who had been ruffling the covers on Wyona's bed.  Of course, I wanted to see where the stash was, and what the stash was -- a bag of sweets that only Wyona can pack: chocolate cream eggs, chocolate covered malt balls, chocolate covered jellies, and that is only in the category of candy I liked.  There were bags of the stuff that I have no interest in.   Zoe warned me that we should not take too much of it, and I tried not too.  But just a little from every bag soon began to fill my pockets. And I should have taken even less for the lovely Lindt chocolate eggs began to melt in my pocket before we had driven a few blocks.  The day was hot.

After our lunch date, we looked at every store by walking the perimeter, in and out of London Drugs, Marks Work Wear House, The Pet Shop -- oh yes, a big hit there.  Not for me!  But Zoe was touching the parrot, running her fingers through the hair of the guinea pig that someone else had out of a cage, and studying the eyes of the ferret.

The shop that went over the top for her was Lamelle's.  "Have you ever been in a shop that is just for cowboys," I asked her.  She shook her head.   We went in.   We looked at everything: the silver belt buckles with the Saddledome imprinted on them, the rhinestones on the back pockets of flashy jeans, and we sat down on a bench made of huge unsplit logs and smelled the leather of the cowboy boots.  Zoe got out her camera when we got to the frontier sports coats.  She was taking the pictures of those for Greg.  A good choice, for I am pretty sure that as yet he doesn't have one of those in his wardrobe yet, I told her.  I was surprised to see no saddles.  But thinking about it, I can find those at The Horse Shop.

We lingered for a long time at the sock rack in Lamelle's-- since every pair had some iteration of a horse or cowboy boots imprinted on them.  I should have had her buy a pair.  I just wasn't thinking.

We looked at free form sculptures there to buy, small ones for a coffee table.  There was a charming one of a man holding the reins of a horse and a small boy learning to ride.  Can you remember when Costco brought in a sculpture of a bucking horse and had it in their warehouse for sale?   Wyona will remember, for she wanted one to cart around the world with her.  I just wanted one, but they were out of my budget in those days.

Zoe I continued on down to the Urban Barn and she wanted to go in.  She was fascinated by the kinds of mirrors decorators use.  We checked out the frozen yogurt shop and decided to save some room for that venue when we go next to Crowfoot Village to do our shopping.  We lingered on the steps of Montana's, remembering when she and I and Moiya had dinner at that chain one night.

All in all, a lovely evening.

All of it window shopping.

Arta

Happy Birthday to Me

light ... blow ... light ... blow ... light .... blow

I have been so excited thinking about this birthday.  At first I wanted a party.  A really big one.  I am starting the last quarter of my life!  I wanted a really, really  big party and had decided to plan it myself.

The closer it got to May 8th, the smaller the party began to get in my mind.  A big party is a lot of work.

By yesterday the event had dwindled to making cupcakes with cream cheese icing and taking them over to celebrate with Michael and Alice.  I know I was really going to do that for I bought the cream cheese.

By last night I was thinking, maybe it will be alright to make the cupcakes later in the week.

This morning when I was eating crepes with them, according to our usual Sunday ritual, I dashed back home to get matches and candles.  I rolled one of the crepes up, gluing it together by spreading peanut butter liberally on both sides and then cuttting it in half.  Now each child had a celebratory candle glowing before them.

First we used it to sing Happy Mother's Day to Miranda, light the candles, blow them out, sing again, light the candles, blow them out, sing again ....  And they gave her cards. Hastily made?  Yes, but given with all the love they could muster.  Michael drew her a star wars ship.  Something she has always wanted.  And for a gift one sang the alphabet song and the other sang twinkle, twinkle, little star for her.

Then we began again, this time singing for my birthday, with the same rhythm:  sing, light the candle, blow the candle out, sing happy birthday, light the candle, blow the candle out.

A good time was had by all.

I can find something else to do with that cream cheese.

Arta

Crete, Greece

Crete is a long Island with a mountain range down the middle.

We took a bus ride to the top of the mountain where there was an old castle.

The first photo is looking over one side of the mountain and the second photo is looking at the other side.

We took a walk through a small village.

The roads go straight up. No curves here.

The mountains are called 'the white mountains' because the mountain tops stay white with snow year round.

And the beaches are sandy and long.

The drive up the mountain is full of pintail curves.

Again here are the white mountains. Almost every spot on the island is terraced  and used for olive orchards or  some kind of garden. The drive was amazing and beautiful.