The Lilac Festival

Location: 4th St. SW, Calgary, AB, Canada
Local Time: Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Lilac Festival is a yearly event, in late May. This is my first year here in Calgary, so of course I've never been before.

I thought it was great.



There was piles of food (though I didn't actually eat anything), booths for shirts, jewelry, henna tattoos and lots of other stuff.

My favorite was the performances. I saw at least 3 different belly dance shows,





2 salsa dancing performances, a magic show (which was after the lion dance that I missed),



singers and musicians and capoeira.

Cricket in Riley Park

Location: Riley Park, 8th Ave NW, 12th St. NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Local Time: Saturday afternoon, May 27, 2007

So, when I was in Merritt about a week ago, I was talking to a fellow from Calgary who said he had heard that there was often people practicing poi and fire spinning in Riley Park, evenings and weekends.

He hadn't been there yet, due to weather difficulties, but he'd heard about this from other people.

I thought I'd swing by and take a look. I didn't find any poi, so I'll have to try again for that. I did find a couple of cricket fields. Unbelievable. People in Canada play cricket? I had no idea. I had never seen cricket until I was in Nepal in 2005.

CBBAG in Calgary

Location: NW of Calgary
Local Time: Friday, May 25, 2007

For those of you not in the know, CBBAG is the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, a group dedicated to the bookarts. I did not belong to the Vancouver chapter, however I had weekly binding lessons with Terry Rutherford, so she kept me up to date on what was happening. Here in Calgary, I thought I'd try to get in contact with the local scene.

There were bookbinders, professional and hobbyist, papermakers, paste papermakers and other connected arts, I'm sure. A fun group. On Friday, it was a BBQ hosted at Robert and Jamie's house. Robert and Jamie run Octavia Press out of their basement, as well as the Illuminata Bookstore.

The Illuminata Bookstore in particular seems like it would be worth keeping an eye on. They host a variety of events in the store, music and meetings for groups and so forth.

The Crux

Location: Barlow Trail and 16th Ave NE, Calgary, AB, Canada
Local Time: Noon, Sunday, March 18, 2007

Danny and I went bouldering at the Crux. We were bouldering at the Stronghold last week. The Stronghold is much cheaper for bouldering. The Crux has the same price for bouldering as for climbing.

The bouldering was good at both places. We were there for about 4 hours at the Crux. We met a guy named Al and worked on an overhang problem. Danny almost got it done, but was tired by the time he had it worked out. I lack necessary strength. It's a work in progress.

The Calgary Public Library

Location: Central Branch, Calgary Public Library, Calgary, AB, Canada
Local Time: Saturday, March 10, 2007

I think the Calgary Public Library is such an extra-ordinary place, I just want to comment on it.

So far I have only been to the Central Branch so far, so my observations can not be considered universal.

The librarians as so friendly, and helpful. I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia before coming here. The librarians there really manage to make you feel that you are only permitted in the building at their sufferance. Here, they like to help you, they take an interest. It's pretty extra-ordinary.

Of course they are also friendly people, but I'm beginning to realize that is just Calgary. The people here are so darn friendly.

The central branch is stocked with 6 glorious floors of fabulous, wondrous books. There is a small DVD section, but a significant music section. I'm starting to work my way through the classical guitar section. First Andres Segovia, not John Williams.

When you reserve a book, they tell you of it's arrival in the requested pickup branch, then you go there and all the reserves are on a shelf off to the side near the checkout counter. You can find your name and pickup your book. Much better than going up to a counter, waiting in line, then dealing with someone who looks at you like you really shouldn't be wasting their time.

My only complaint so far is they close at 5 on Friday night. 9 would be much nicer. However, since downtown Calgary only has 4-5 people in it, total, after 8pm, I can understand why they wouldn't have late hours.

Straw Bale House Building

Location: Near Sundry, Alberta, Canada
Local Time: Sunday, March 4, 2007

Sundry is a little far afield for this blog, but it was an interesting day.

There is a company here in Alberta, Living Design Systems, which builds houses out of straw bales. I went out with my buddy Wayne to see a building going up. We spent the day out there, looking around seeing how things worked and helping install rafters.

Straw bales are cheap building material, locally produced (less transport costs and energy consumption to receive them) as well as good insulation. The final product is coated in stucco, so it does not look like you live in a haystack, it looks like you live in a cement building, without the cold cement feeling.

The Calgary Philharmonic

Location: Epcor Center, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Local Time: Thursday Evening, March 1, 2007

Val and I went out for dinner at a recommended restaurant, The Blue House Cafe, 19th St. NW. Not impressed. The ambiance and decor were lovely, the service was good, but the food was very mediocre.


After that we went to see the King Arthur presentation by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. That was quite nice. A two and a half hour performance. We arrived a few minutes late but were able to seat ourselves quietly as there were many extra seats at the back.