Stompa

Gotta get up, listen to me

Clappa your hands, stompa your feet

Nothing is wrong, if you move to the beat

Clappa your hands, stompa your feet

Stompa your feet

~Serena Ryder

Peterborough is a city for music lovers. Throughout the town, live performances are hosted at bars, festivals, hillsides and other venues. It's not unheard of for there to be several performances going on at once. This was the case a week ago when a few locations aired the final concert of our beloved Tragically Hip. As in many towns across Canada, screens popped up in parks so that fans could set up their lawn chairs to watch together. It was the next best thing to being there. The local Holiday Inn on the waterfront also shared that live feed. That same night heard ongoing performances at the Peterborough Folk Festival, as well as this season's closing act at Musicfest, which has featured free concerts every Wednesday and Saturday night throughout the summer for thirty years.


This year, in late June, Musicfest opened with a biggie - local singing sensation, Serena Ryder performed for her home town in front of an enormous and appreciative audience. She put on a fine show.






Her family and friends were all there to cheer her on. And her sweet young niece joined her on stage to perform Sia's song,  Elastic Heart.






She put on a great show full of energy and passion.






Her hit Stompa really got the crowd going.






It was a superb start to the year.






On the previous night, there was a bit of blues happening at the waterfront Holiday Inn with Jerome Godboo.






Note all of the harmonicas, each in a different key, hanging from his belt, and the colourful percussion tubes which reportedly belong to his kid.







A large crowd gathered to watch. They arrived by foot, by bike..






...and by boat, as was the case with this little sweetie.






She quickly made friends with someone who had a pocket full of doggie treats. No, it wasn't me.





As the evening moved on, we got to see those tubes in action.


Other performers at Musicfest's free summer concerts also caught my attention, at least for a little while. There was Keifer Sutherland Band, Jocelyn Alice & Ria Mae, husband and wife duo, Whitehorse, and a few cover bands - Powerhouse (Chicago), Hotel California (Eagles) and Classics Albums Live featuring Fleetwood Mac hits.


And then I had the pleasure of listening to The Sultans of String.






This was a grey night and it was raining on and off. Unfortunately, that meant a smaller crowd for this performance.






For me, that was good luck. As I stood off to the side of the stage snapping a few pics, one of the venue volunteers invited me to take a seat in the VIP section since it had scarcely filled up and the show had already begun. I gladly and gratefully selected a seat and enjoyed a great view of the show.






I had first heard of this group a couple of years back when I read an impressive review of their performance in Maynooth - where I was living at the time. It seemed I had missed a good show and so I made a mental note of going to see them if the situation ever presented itself to me. It presented itself very nicely.






Here's a small snippet of how they sound.






These two backed them up occasionally.






With a plastic bag for my camera (so classy!) and an umbrella for me, I didn't mind the brief but heavy downpour.






It was a great show and a fine season.

I can hardly wait until Musicfest 2017.

Look-alikes

These images are from different days and were actually leftovers after I had sorted and made mini collections out of the rest of the photos for blog posts.

But when it came down to arranging this group, I began to see a pattern emerging. I saw similarities between images so that I could pair them up with with totally unrelated partners. Have a look and see what I mean.


There's an elementary school just up the road from where I live. Toward the end of June, shortly before classes were done for the year, I noticed that the kids had begun decorating the chain link fence with colourful yarn. Each weekday their designs grew, as they probably spent their recess and after school time adding to their creations. This colourful, diagonal stripe was similar to something I saw just a few days later...







This flamboyant guy had just finished dancing up a storm at one of the local outdoor musical performances at the waterside Holiday Inn. He danced, had a quick rest, grabbed his colourful suitcase and moved along.






Back to school, and a macro look at some more yarn art...






And back to town where you can see that art does indeed imitate life. These horizontal stripes are on a passing, graffiti-covered train car.






These two sections of decorated fence suddenly struck me as a couple of sleeping children, cuddled up next to one another - but only because I was seeing it next to...






This beautiful creation is by Ontario artist Arthur Schilling (1941-1986). His amazing art was on display at the Art Gallery of Peterborough earlier this year. Taken from the exhibit information card:

"Schilling reveals the beauty and richness of Indigenous peoples. Bold strokes of deep red, yellow, purple and ochre, defined with black and white connect complex backgrounds to figurative forms. The beautifully drawn lines of his faces and figures reveal the gentleness of his approach. These elements point to a unique artist who was guided by the strength of his vision. It was Schilling's skill and confidence that invested his paintings with life and power." 

 If you ever get a chance to see his work, I highly recommend it. In fact, I think fellow-blogger Shammickite from Rook's Nest  would likely agree. She made the trip to Peterborough to see that exhibit a few weeks back and after she did, we spent the rest of the afternoon together. She's a lot of fun and I enjoyed our time together immensely. I hope you'll return soon, Shammie!






One more yarn creation...






And its accompanying image of slanted books on the shelves of the third Little Library that I have come upon in the neighbourhood while out walking.






One other thing that I found adorning the chain link fence was this lost baby bonnet. Someone must have found it and hung it there in hopes that it would be seen and reunited with its rightful owner. The soft peachy-pink tones and gentle folds reminded me of...






This lovely glassware on display at the art gallery.

Thanks for indulging me in what I thought were look-alikes. Yes, I know that some, if not all of them were something of a stretch. But I'm easily amused. I hope you were, too.

More photos coming up eventually.

Celebration

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words. ~ Plautus

A few weeks back, I was suddenly presented with the opportunity to take a quick trip to and from my sister, Andrea's town of Port Dover, Ontario for the combined occasion of her 65th birthday, and my brother in law Bill's retirement.
My son, Alex and I were there and back within twenty-four hours for the intimate gathering and our time was filled with family, friends, food and fun. My lovely nieces, Jaime and Stephanie threw this joint part for their parents at the beautiful, old farmhouse where Steph and her partner, Jordan live. They also accommodated six of us with a place to sleep after the party.

I'm not including any people pics - just images of things which made my camera go click!


Along with lots of other goodies, these scrumptious celebration cupcakes were a huge hit.


 



A mini replica of the race car Bill and friends owned, back in the day.






My niece's home borders on a big old cornfield which spent much of the afternoon and evening illuminated by the sun.






What farm doesn't have a wheelbarrow parked on it, somewhere?






Colourful clouds gathered as the sun began its descent in the sky.






Before long, only a small strip of vibrant gold remained on the terrain.






Which was when the moon made its presence known.






That was also when the mosquitoes dictated that we take the party inside to toast the celebrating couple with champagne.

In the morning, Andrea and Bill kindly treated the family to a yummy breakfast out. As we arrived on the patio, a couple who had been enjoying their breakfast made a hasty exit. The waitress told us that the man was Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates who was in town for a charity promotion in support of Big Brothers - Big Sisters. None of us had ever watched the show, so he went unrecognized by our group. I think he saw my camera and feared getting caught up in an intrusive photo request. Little did he know that whether we recognized them or not, they would have easily finished off their breakfast uninterrupted.


After breakfast, Alex and I left for the drive back to Peterborough. Glancing out the passenger window as we crossed this bridge, I happened to see a boat doing circles in the water.





And this famous landmark greeted us as we drove along the Gardener Expressway in Toronto.






A closer, more tilted perspective of the C.N. Tower, complete with dashboard reflection.







And back home again, I happened to catch my beautiful little Zephyr's reflection in this small mirror. He was sitting to my right on my desk, when a glance to my left revealed his perfectly framed sweet face. I had to snap two shots and play with them a bit in Photoshop because there was no way I could get his face into focus along with the rest of the image.

And that ends our whirlwind trip into Port Dover. Thanks for your wonderful party hosting, Jaime and Stephanie, and your lodging hospitality, Steph and Jordan. And thanks for brekkie, Andi and Bill. Happy Birthday, my beautiful sister. And Happy Retirement, Bill.