Going to the Park at Banff Trail School

... leaving the south side of 26th Avenue...
We have been spoiled for days and days with a beautiful Chinook.

... onto the north side of 26th Avenue ...
She says Chinooks are way better than the winter freezing rain we get back in Gatineau.

Rhiannon is starting to like them.

Alice, Betty and Rhiannon decided to go for a walk to the closest park,
which is the one behind Banff Trail School.

This is the park where I played when I was young.

But they have a new updated playground which is beautiful.

The Ballet - The Golden Age

Richard trying out his selfie-extension stick
at the foot of the stairs into the Chinook Mall.

“When is the best time to start taking children to the opera, the theatre, the galleries, the ballet?”

Neither Richard nor I know the answer to that question.

Still we were debating it at which point I realized that the transmission of the Bolshoi’s The Golden Age was on Saturday.

So we committed to going and taking the kids. 

I went into full scale production to get the candy bags ready.

Theatre 10
Poster for The Bolshoi Ballet's
The Golden Age

That meant pulling out the Hershey’s Mini Eggs and a some small mixed treats in bags which had to be unbagged – an arduous task, but better done at the kitchen table by all of the children, than spilled all over the theatre floor in the dark.

Meanwhile Richard found a youtube clip of the ballet and sat the kids down on the couch to watch it.

Both strategies worked.

The kids were ready for their treats as soon as the theatre darkened.

And their expectations were realistic about what they would see.

Betty on her blue booster seat
Selfie extension stick at work again

We seated them so that Richard and I separated all of the kids and they made it through to the intermission at which time we knew it was time to go for the popcorn to take us through the second act.

Richard and I cringed at the price, but it was well worth it in terms of keeping little people busy for the next hour.

On my side, Michael spilled ¼ of his popcorn and on Richard’s side, Betty’s drink went down.

Other than that, ours was a road of wiggles and some chair rocking, but the kids made it through to the end of the ballet.

Alice the day before the ballet,
getting ready to go to the dance class.

I would have considered the event a success if we had only been able to stay for the first act.

We had also practiced saying the word Shostakovich and knowing that he had written the music.

The was another fact which would have been a take-away for the whole ballet.

That the original ballet had been booed by many in the audience was a fun trivia fact that they could all remember, and they practised it, as well as the Russian custom of having the audience clap in unison.

Probably what I liked the best is that on the way out of the theatre I heard Michael humming “Tea for Two”, which tune is in the theatre, part of the dancing that goes on in the cabaret. Michael asked me why I was laughing during this part of the show. The music is repeated, often a different instrument or a different rhythm being taken up. Yes, that would be making me laugh, though I had no quick way to describe to him what was happening.

We stopped by the arcade after the show was over.

If Betty went in a booth and sat on a chair
she thought she had played a game.

I think that experience pre-empted the ballet:  the arcade's lights flashing, the bells ringing, the circus music playing, the mallets inviting people to pick them up to play whack-a-mole, the older boys using guns to fight imaginary foes on the screens, and teen-agers sitting on motorcycles leaning in and out of curves as their course was charted before them.

A blessed close to an afternoon at the ballet.

The two adults come home needing naps and both blaming it on blood thinners.

Arta

The Best Day Ever

I got the expression, “the best day ever” from Graham Hicks. Glen told me that on one of their holidays Graham said, “This was the best day ever.” Glen was pleased. Then he noticed that every day Graham was saying this at the end of the day. Glen was more pleased. Now that is an attitude for you!

In that spirit, Saturday was my best day ever. I was on my way to watch Romeo and Juliet when Richard and Miranda told me that if I would watch their children, they would do my electrical work for me. The switch was easy for me. Getting my electrical done – the best day ever. And I had the best day ever in other ways. The kids and I started out with a Bubble Gum Contest. If you have to ask who won, the answer would come in the form of Doral Johnson’s answer.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes."

"Then you won."

We moved on to learning the skills behind the game “Whose Got the Quarter”. When I was young, we used to play that game with a silver dollar. Now we need a toonie for weight, so we emptied Alice’s piggy bank. The children told me that emptying piggy banks is expressly against the rules of their house, but no one seemed to know where there was any change, except in those banks. I suppose sin is always done in the name of expediency.

As we practised slapping the coins on the table, some people had more success than others. Betty was practising with a dime so that noise she made wasn’t all that loud. We had to have a leader trying to figure out who had the coins, so that occasionally gave our fists relief.

When that game lost its charm we went outside to play Fox and Geese since the snow is so high. Richard asked Michael and Alice if they could remember playing the game last year. They had no memory of it. Betty could remember. Oh, she is a miracle child, being able to remember the game from when she was 19 months old.

Richard shovelled the first round of circles and crosses for us, but he only took off 1/3 of the first layer of snow. I was left unable to run the course, since my feet were slipping so much further into the trails.

At one point Michael and I may have had a tussle, pushing each other in the snow, the fox trying to get away from the goose. I fell. He fell as well, but he could get up. I was trapped on the ground in the snow. Miranda had to come out of the house and get me vertical again.

We spent a lot of our collective time resting on the snow laden lawn chairs for running through that deep snow is exhausting.

Then we came to my house to do some craft work followed by another game of Spendor. I can’t beat Michael at the game.

At least not without cheating.

The best day ever.

Arta