ArtwordBlog

June 28, Landsdale Area Neighbourhood Association declared a cleanup day in J.C. Beemer Park and three churches in the neighbourhood. There was supposed to be a yard sale, and Judith and I planned to rent a table and get rid of some stuff. But at 2 a.m., there was a ferocious thunderstorm and in the morning a dreary, socked-in rain. So the tables were cancelled, but the cleanup went on Judith and I helped a classy and indefatigable woman named Bea weed and plant the garden at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian on Tisdale. Afterwards, we had classic hot dogs, just like at the CNE in my childhood, at J.C. Beemer Park. More »

We arrived rather late in the afternoon to catch the last couple of traditional dances in the Aboriginal Pow Wow in Gage Park. The sun was shining, the singing and drumming were hypnotic and inspiring.

I was impressed with the commitment of the people who had organized the festival. At the end, there was a long exercise of persuading everyone who had helped to assemble and be thanked. Then there was the ceremony of retiring the flags: we were asked to stand and men were asked to remove their hats. Dignity and dedication.

The Turkish Festival was smaller than some, but made up for it in enthusiam, particularly the spontaneous dancing in front of the bandshell stage. Almost all the speech from the stage was in Arabic, so it wasn’t clear what was going on, but we enjoyed it all anyhow. There was a somewhat strange (to our untutored eyes) children’s dance involving plates on heads. More »