The excitement never ceases! I don’t exactly know
where to begin, since everything has happened without me writing it down
at the time. The first thing I guess I should too is continue relating
the happenings of last Tuesday, after the false memories talk. I’ll make
this the quick version. Pam and I left the talk and arranged to meet Barry
(one of the grad students in Alan’s lab) to play softball in the evening.
Pam, being the sports nut, sucked me into this. I was much more interested
in going with other members of the lab to take Mike Miller out for dinner.
No such luck. But we could meet at a pub on Whyte Ave. after supper.
It was my intention to watch as Pam played, but that did not happen
either. I played second base instead. Let’s just say that when Geniva called
today to see if we wanted to play again, I wasn’t jumping at the chance.
So, we played, and resulted in a tied game. Not entirely
disappointing, considering that we were handicapped because we had too
few girls on our team; an automatic ‘out’ tacked onto each rotation of
players to bat.
After the game, Pam and I walked down to the pub on Whyte Ave. We ended
up staying and talking until midnight. Mike was an interesting fellow,
reminding me a bit of a “mountain man”. Alan and another prof named Walter
Bishof proved to make the evening quite silly at times. Oh well, paper
airplanes and origami with menus is fun sometimes.
What else have we done? Last Sunday (Aug. 2) we visited the Edmonton Valley Zoo (which was what you would, or somewhat less than you would, expect) and the cultural fair put on for Heritage Day.
This was something worth seeing! Fifty different countries or cultural groups had tents set up. They were offering dancing, music, food and crafts. Since Pam and I went there after visiting the zoo, we were in a bit of a hurry to get home, so didn’t stay too long at each tent. But it still took us two and a half hours to make it around all the tents.
We saw some great drumming from an Asian country, Irish step dancing, Spanish singing and German singing which I’d rather forget. Some of the people representing more northern countries were dressed in elaborate and undoubtedly sweltering costumes.
That was last Sunday. This Sunday, we attended an equally festive spot. We managed to get into the closing night of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. I may have mentioned before that al the week-end passes have long since been sold out, and only one-night tickets were available for inflated prices at the gate. There were also a few people standing at the gates, trying to sell tickets out of their advanced packages, since they couldn’t make one night, or whatever. These tickets weren’t so terribly expensive. We got one for only $15. Pam was about to give up on searching for a second ticket (I said they were available, not abundant) when a woman behind her asked if we were looking for a ticket. We said we were, how much?, $10. I only had a twenty, so I went for change. I ought to mention that the ticket booth was selling them for $35. When I got back, the woman had given Pam the ticket for free, explaining that she had once been given a free ticket, and that if we ever found ourselves with an unneeded ticket, we should give it away too. No problem. And just like that, we got into a concert for $15, which could have cost us $70.
The festival was huge! There were about five different stages, where concerts and workshops went on during the day. We caught the tail-end of a Celtic band on one of the smaller stages. There were craft tents, one which included a local musical instrument maker.
To give you an idea of the size of the festival,
there were over 1000 volunteers helping out with its running.
The main stage faced a hillside, on which thousands of people had placed
tarps and blankets. Camping tents were set up at the top of the hill. There
were large projection screens set half-way back into the audience, so that
individual features of the bands might be seen by the unlucky ones who
hadn’t stayed all weekend to get a good seat.
At some places, the hill was quite steep. Where Pam
and I sat, we were constantly in danger of sliding down into the people
below us. At the first place we tried, it was impossible to sit down. We
would have had to use stakes to anchor us.
Now the acts: there was a Spanish singer and a band from one of the
southern African countries. I’m not a huge fan of Spanish singing. It reminds
me of opera. The African band was great and very lively, jumping and spinning
all over the stage, to a combination of traditional drums and electric
guitars.
Then there was Arlo Guthrie. He came out with his
flowing grey hair (which was about all we could see, at the distance we
were sitting), and proceeded to tell stories and sing a revised version
of Alice’s Restaurant Masacree. Although he played a few newer and unfamiliar
tunes, I was quite content to hear Alice’s Restaurant.
The last act was Jan Arden. She sang well and was not disappointing.
Monday morning, Pam and I woke up to a most peculiar smell, reminiscent of the burning-cardboard incident. When we opened the curtains, the sun did not pour in as it usually does. In fact, only a sickly orangish-yellow light entered. It seems that forest fires were started by lightning in northern Alberta, and the smoke had covered Edmonton and even down to Calgary. When we took the bus to the university, travelling over the North Saskatchewan River, it was impossible to see from one side to the other. The smell was oppressive, and people with respiratory problems were not happy.
Today was not so bad, but the health department recommended that people with breathing trouble still keep their windows closed.
Today was also Pam’s first day of work. She has landed a job as a nanny for an eight-month-old boy. The pay is very good; only slightly less than what she would have been paid for a different opportunity she found here with three children, and more than what she would be paid as a pre-school or teacher. The child’s father is an architectural engineer and his mother works at the university. Pam is very happy with the whole situation. She had a wonderful day.
Any comments?
