At the end of November the gentleman and I trundled down to mrkt to celebrate our friend Dave's birthday. It just so happened that the birthday celebrations coincided with mrkt's first annual harvest dinner.



We were served a fixed 5 course menu paired with a selection of Italian wines. A sommelier on hand to describe all of the selections and answer any of our questions. The evening was a delight. I love multiple course fixed menu dinners. The whole experience is so relaxing and every dish is a surprise. I'm looking forward to another night out like this soon.

My younger sister and I have just returned from a six day trip to San Francisco. There was a bit of a crazy seat sale when I first came back from my spring break trip to Washington and New York and the younger sister and I decided that we should plan a sisters trip (well, a fifty percent sisters trip since my two older sisters were unable to attend).

It was a busy six days and the Alessandra and I had a great time exploring the different neighbourhoods of the city. Our schedule went more or less like this... we woke up, took our turns getting ready, then headed out the door of the hotel, sometimes stopping for a danish at a nearby cafe and then we would walk to our neighbourhood of choice. We would check out the sights for a bit, then grab lunch (great recommendations of where to eat from my friends Tom and Lisa, as well as one of my coworkers). Then we would wander around some more, grab dinner and then head back to the hotel to recoup for the next day. Seems sort of tame but when you take into account that we averaged around 15km of walking a day (with a fair amount of San Francisco hills thrown in more good measure) we definitely needed time to rejuvenate our tired soles. We went out a couple nights, but mostly I used the downtime to download and edit some of the photos and video I shot during the day. Which meant I actually posted daily photo updates from our explorations. Which of course means that I'm sort of on top my vacation photos for once. And to top it all off, I've even edited my vacation video.

six days... seven minutes. Enjoy.



sisters in san francisco

The last five days have been dedicated to folk fest. Things are sort of back to normal but the younger sister and I are off to San Francisco on Wednesday so I'm sort of busy making sure that I complete a bunch of things before I leave. One if those things is this summary of my weekend at Folk Fest. This is sort of a lazy post, since I'm just posting the videos (and their brief descriptions) that I shot over the course of the last five days. But those videos took a bit of work to edit, so in the end it all balances out.

Wednesday

A friend of mine had a pair of tickets to Van Morrison's performance at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. What a windfall! It was the one night I didn't have tickets for. After work I met the gentleman at the university where we hopped on the bus at the park n' ride which took us directly to Gallagher Park. The line up to get in spanned three blocks, but the queue moved along quickly. Once inside we met up with some friends who had found a spot on the hill, then wandered down to get some eats. After our al fresco dinner we headed back up the hill, just in time for Van Morrison to take the stage.



Thursday

This is the first time that I have taken in the entirety of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Over the past few years I've been able to attend a couple days, but this year I bought a weekend pass (and one for my younger sister for her birthday) and we planned to attend the entire weekend.

Well, not exactly the entire weekend. We didn't do the full experience, which would entail arriving early for the tarp lottery (we had very experienced and generous friends who were the appointed tarp-masters...). Younger sister and I are also a bit susceptible to the heat and sun, so we paced ourselves and went a bit later in the afternoon/evening, since she faints at the drop of a hat and I just get heat stroke.

Thursday night was just the right temperature. We walked to the festival grounds with our friend Lisa and then found the rest of our crew higher up on the hill. We positioned ourselves for the evening show. None of the Thursday performer's really dazzled me. Gord Downie was off and Ben Harper failed to ignite any enthusiasm in me. But the lovely thing about Folk Fest is, that even when the performers on stage fail to really excite you, you can revel in the company of your tarp-mates or neighbours on the hill and take in the gorgeous view of the crowd and the glowing downtown skyline behind the stage.



Friday

Friday night at the folk fest... younger sister and I arrived late. Headache earlier in the day (me) and post-work meetings (her) meant that we weren't going to make the six o'clock start time. We reached Gallagher Park just in time to catch the very tail end of what looked like quite the popular session on Stage 6. The sun was setting and bathed the sitting crowd in perfect pink light.

The tarp crew had secured a pretty good spot at the mainstage, so I was close enough that I could get some fairly decent shots of the stage with my super-zoom. The Levon Helm band got the crowd off their feet to dance, which was a good start to the main performances of the night. There was a brief appearance by Basia Bulat during the procession of the volunteer lanterns. Following Basia was Calexico, the definite highlight of my night. At the end of Calexico's set (which was awesome), they invited Bassekou Kouyate on stage to play during their last song. Then the cold started to set in and younger sister and I headed back across the river while Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba ended the night of music on the hill. We crossed over the bridge (which was dark), admired the view of downtown reflected in the river and then met the gentleman in Riverdale and were escorted home. The previous night there was a great shot of the hill lit up with candles (which I neglected to photograph at the time), but this evening all that we could see was the glow of the mainstage lights.



Saturday

On Saturday the younger sister and I arrived later in the afternoon as we watched the Cariwest parade and visited the market briefly in the morning.

Our first session was "War and Peace" with Sarah Harmer, Basia Bulat, Jill Hennessy, and Terry Morrison on Stage 6, which always seems to feature the artists that I come to folk fest to see. Once that session was complete, we caught the very tail end of the concert with Debashish Bhattacharya, pioneer of the Indian slide guitar. Younger sister and I ran into my good friends Wade and Phil, who were almost always at different stages than I was. We parted company at that point, W&P off to the beer tent and younger sister and I to the food tent area, where we supped and then headed to the prime tarp location (thanks again to the tarp masters who stood in line).

And that's where we spent the rest of the night, ideally located for the evening's mainstage acts. The bare spots on the hill started to fill in during the four-part harmonies of bluegrass artists Dailey & Vincent and Malian singer and guitarist Vieux Farka Toure. The threat of rain was made good during Sarah Harmer's set, but our tarp was soon retrofitted with umbrellas to provide shelter from the elements. Despite the rain Sarah Harmer managed to get people on their feet and once on their feet they could no longer resist the call to dance. The rain frightened some people away, but their premature evacuation proved to be a poor choice as Brandi Carlile was a quick crowd favourite. She even got the crowd to sing three part harmonies (it did sound pretty good on the hill despite the off-key groaning coming from the people standing behind me). Younger sister and I made our own exit during Colin Hay. We crossed the river while the pedestrian bridge was still lit up and you could still see the glow of the candles on the hill when you got to the other side. I managed to get a picture this time.



Sunday

The younger sister and I arrived earlier on Sunday to catch a session with Alejandro Escoveda who we missed on Saturday. Alejandro was joined on stage by Basia Bulat and Dala as well as Brandi Carlile, so we got a bit of a reprise of the previous evening's mainstage performance.

We sought shade in the beer garden and enjoyed the midday mainstage performance by Te Vaka through the speakers. We were sitting close to Stage 1, so we were within earshot of the early afternoon performance by Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens. My parents were visiting so I wasn't going to be able to stay for the evening mainstage, but the younger sister and I had a little taste of the final mainstage at the 4:30 session on Stage 6 where Jakob Dylan performed with Colleen Brown, Brandi Carlile (she seemed to be everywhere) and Jimmy Rankin. It was a great session. The mood shifted from leisurely and relaxed to upbeat. During the final song of the set the siblings and I did not resist the call to dance.

It was a beautiful way to end the weekend. It was a hot and sunny festival, but younger sister and I managed to avoid heat stroke by pacing ourselves even more than we usually do. We tended to arrive late and leave a little bit early. We didn't see every act that we might have wanted, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. We left hydrated (cherry lemonade by Stage 6!) and slightly sunburned. No heatstroke or fainting for either of us though. Success!



Oh, one more thing. On Sunday as I was leaving the beer tent I heard someone call my name and looked around to see a couple sitting on the grass. The gentleman in the group raised his glass to me and said, "Raffaella... local celebrity blogger [insert interrobang here]"

"...yes?" I responded, curious because I had no idea who this fellow was and if I do get recognized for something rarely is it my rather unpopular blog (although thinking about it, I might have seen this couple sitting near some mutual acquaintances earlier so maybe I do know who they are but didn't recognize them from behind the brim of my sun hat).

"Keep writing," the gentleman said and his lady friend smiled. I laughed and nodded sheepishly and then wandered on my way.

But as you can see, I did follow the advice/request of this mysterious stranger and as evidenced by this post I have kept writing.

So, after all my talk, I finally made good on my claim to buy a bike. I ended up going with the Dahon, both for its compact size and the fact that there was one for sale on kijiji for much much lower than the model I intended to buy.


I promised Sarah that now that I own a bike that this blog wouldn't become bike-centric, but for at least a little while there will probably be quite a few posts where I delve into my return to cycling and updates as I pimp my ride through what will have to be considered self birthday presents (good thing my birthday is less than a month away).

This weekend has been too busy to warrant a long bike ride. After I picked up the bike on Friday night (thanks Elize!), I went right to bed with a migraine. On Saturday I met up with Lisa and took baby D to the pride parade to see Wade walk with Camp Fyrefly and then later in the afternoon I checked out Al Fresco, the block party on 104th street with Sarah, Don and Dave (photos and video from that event coming soon).

My darling papa was passing through town on Sunday, so after a morning of boring household chores and a little bit of office work, I met up with the sibs to hang out as we waited for him to arrive. As it was another beautiful spring day we made our way to what has become our favourite little chillout spot in the Ezio Farone park. Even though the park is just a few blocks away Alberto rode the bike there. I had promised to send some high res photos to my bike pimpin' crew and I sort of abhorred the idea of photographing the bike in the living room, so it just sort of made sense to take the dahon out for a mini-spin. Besides, it so handily transported the blanket we would be using for sitting on it's rear rack.

Following the very short session of bike glamour shots (well I'm not sure if I could consider them glamour shots since I haven't even cleaned the bike yet), Alessandra and I sat about chatting while Berto ran off to play soccer with some guy who was in the park kicking around a ball. I played around with the height of the handlebars, which despite my efforts to tighten the stem, it keeps lowering as I ride. Although it's convenient to have a bike that folds up, I doubt I will fold up the bike frequently, since I think it's a bit of a pain to readjust something to your preferred specifications every time you want to use it.



The surprise of the afternoon came when Alessandra decided she was going to learn how to ride a bike. I don't know how she avoided learning as a child, since getting a bike was a rite of passage in our house (it meant you could wake up later to get to swim practice in the morning). Whatever the reason she's nearly 25 now and wanting to learn. And although being an adult learner is potentially much harder, today she got on the dahon (somewhat unprompted, I might have asked her to pose with it so I could take pictures) and was willing to try.



Maybe it makes me a mean sister to have documented the learning process, but I was also helping out by holding the bike as she learned to balance, giving helpful tips like not looking down at the pedals as she rode. And obviously, as you can see by the expression on her face at the end of the video, she was having a good time learning. Alberto was also very helpful. He channeled his inner coach and provided very practical dryland demonstrations (I know it's a swimming term, but I can't think of an equivalent for cycling... wheel-less?) of how to push off, pedal and steer, and brake. Together, I think our combined antics provided ample entertainment for the rest of the people in the park.




By the end of the little lesson Alessandra had figured out how to stay balanced for at least a few seconds and pedaled across the park. I likened it to watching the first sustained airplane flight. So much anticipation for success sustained for a very short duration. Nevertheless, it was still reason to celebrate. She was victorious and hoisted the bicycle over her head in a demonstration of her bicycle domination (nevermind that berto had to help her lift it up that high).



A few more lessons and maybe we'll let her ride off the grass.

*single tear.

How fast our little ones grow up.

Although I've always considered myself a pedestrian, it took the sour situation of the end of my last relationship to really propel me to explore the streets of Edmonton on foot. Although the majority of my transportation in the city had been on foot, rarely did I set out on walks just for the sake of walking. At least not by myself. I had always found walking to be a calming experience, and so in the thick of what was probably one of the more stressful periods of my life, I would escape from my apartment and just walk. At the risk of sounding too overly dramatic, I can honestly say that walking was probably the one activity that helped me the most at that time.

Perhaps it was the endorphins that were released during exercise (I would walk fast enough for it to be considered exercise)... maybe it was the vitamin D. Whatever the combination of elements, walking became more than just a form of every day transportation for me. My daily constitutional became the one part of my day that I was loathe to miss.

Of course winter arrived, and with winter came snow and ice... and although I pledged to continue, the frequency and length of my daily constitutional dwindled. I ventured out a few times now and again, but I fell trap to working longer and ending my day too tired to even think about walking. Which of course was ridiculous, since walking is one of those things that tends to perk me up. But after a winter of breaking my daily habit - working late into the evening and pausing briefly for supper and other life activities, my mood was getting progressively worse and worse. The last two weeks in particular... I found that I was becoming rather negative when I had no cause to be. The gentleman had commented on my general unpleasantness, which gave me pause... if he felt it necessary to comment on my attitude, how might I be coming across to others? I sought to remedy this immediately.

My plan... resume the daily constitutional.

On Sunday I was up early, so before breakfast I left the apartment and headed towards one of my preferred routes. I brought the beast along in case I felt like documenting things photographically (or cinematically as the case would be). As I wandered across the river and round about through Whyte Ave, I encountered a friend on her way to her community garden plot, a colleague out for coffee, and many random strangers who had left their homes on this beautiful Sunday, meeting friends for breakfast or stopping in at one of the many shops along the avenue.

(And now, the video of my stroll, accompanied by the sorrowful crooning of Frank Sinatra in the hilariously fitting tune entitled Walk Away. Sometimes I can't resist these music choices, no matter how cheeseballish they seem)


When you walk along the same route frequently, you start to take note of certain things. I walk on the multi-use trails a lot and I can't help but notice the variety of people using them, whether they be traveling on foot or rolling by on their bicycles or skateboards. While I'm sure many were just between point a and point b, I'm sure there were several who, like me, were out exploring the city just because.

On Wednesday night I met up with with miss sarah and our friend Tom for a little bike ride through Belgravia. The bike ride was all part of an evening of fun, but it was also prompted by Sarah's participation in the Let's Go Ride a Bike Summer Games, a contest put on by Dottie & Trisha, the two ladies who write the Let's Go Ride a Bike blog. Our little excursion fit the category of Sarah bringing along a non-biking friend for a ride. Since I haven't owned a bike in about four years, I fit that category, since in Edmonton my main form of transportation is on foot or by transit. That doesn't mean I haven't wanted to buy a bike. A year and a half ago I almost bought a beautiful Batavus, but at the time it just wasn't the best financial decision to make, so I held off for something else. The problem is I never found another bike I liked quite as much and then winter came and I ended up not buying anything. So I remain bikeless, but for the past several months I've been feeling that bike lust and before summer arrives I will be buying a bike. Currently under consideration (a couple styles from each manufacturer), in alphabetical order: an abici (I like the look of the granturismo, but haven't tested one out yet), batavus (not sure what model), dahon, and the oma.




On Wednesday I rode Sarah's dahon foldie (which I'm currently borrowing as I try to figure out if it fits my needs) and Tom and Sarah took turns pulling each other in the Madsen. The dahon is a compact little bike, and it rides nicely (with the exception of the seat post deal which I describe below, but that was human error not so much the bike's fault). It's also probably the most inexpensive of all the bikes I like. Upside, it is the most compact so it would be easy to store in my apartment during the winter months. Inexpensive? Does that mean I could save up for more camera equipment?




But back to the Madsen. When carrying big loads, especially an adult, this cargo bike requires a bit of oomph to get going. Tom eventually sorted it out with Sarah in the bucket and we rode around for a bit before stopping so I could adjust my seat post (it kept on slipping down until I figured out how to tighten it properly, and with my long stems a too short seat post is most annoying) and Sarah could take over pedaling the Madsen.




Except, as you can see, that switch wasn't so successful. While Sarah has pulled baby Dexter and hauled groceries using the Madsen, she wasn't able to get going with Tom in the bucket. Thankfully we tried this near some soft grass, so that when the bike did take a little spill Tom had a soft place to land. In the end Tom took over the driver's/rider's seat and we rode back to the house to make dinner. We headed back to the house only moments before a thundershower.

I'll report more on my bike adventures as they progress. I'm trying to find a way to attach my camera to the handlebars (gorrilla tripod maybe?) so I can shoot video as I ride. Sounds a little like living dangerously, but I would only do it in controlled situations. Trust me.

A coworker of mine has been in looking at buying a new camera and every now and then she and I talk about photography. Although I own primarily Canon equipment, I usually recommend that people buy what feels good in their hands and that once they have a camera that they practice and take lots of photos. So much of what I've learned when it comes to photography came from photographing constantly and then analyzing my shots, comparing my work against that of a photographer I admire. And I wasn't too afraid to experiment. Nor was I afraid to admit that my work would never be perfect.

Now that I have a camera that also shoots video, I'm trying to take that same approach. I've had a Vimeo account since 2006, but I've never had any video projects to share. Now, I do. There usually pointless little things (much like many of my photos), but they are my attempt to document bits and pieces of my life. And they're fun to create. With my camera almost always within reach, it's easy to record tiny snippets here and there to piece together into a longer form. Just like composition with my photographs, I'm learning how to compose for video. Although there are some similarities, video does require a slightly different way of thinking. It's also requiring a different way of dealing with my equipment. Video on the 5DMKII is testing my understanding of exposure as well as my manual focusing ability. And then there is the concept of sound, which I'm only just beginning to dabble with. It's really rather fun, although I forsee this new hobby becoming another expensive one.

Here are my latest three videos. When I first started shooting video I had the tendency to follow motion with the camera. Now I'm understanding to keep the camera still and let things move across the frame. None of these are of course perfect, but it will be interesting to look at them after a few months and see if I've made any progress.

Let's pretend that my Sunday went a little bit like this...

So there I was, lounging on the daybed doing my best to look peaceful and relaxed.

The phone rings. It's actually close enough for me to hear it and see who's calling.

I answer. It's one of my many friends inviting me out to socialize. An art show... in Millwoods! But of course, I'm always up for an adventure.



Of course that's not exactly how my Sunday morning unfolded (plans were actually hatched days before and sorted out via text and email... I almost never use my phone as a phone anymore, but I felt like constructing a bit of a false narrative so that I could post the series of pictures above), but I did end up in Millwoods at an art show. It's not all creative fiction.

Much like Saturday, the weather was spectacular. The sunny skies and warm temperatures meant it was definitely sundress time. I wasn't the only one with this idea. Most of the ladies in attendance were baring their legs in some form.



The artshow was totally casual and relaxed. The artist, Erin Hooper, is an old friend of Sarah and her sister Sable, and her parents had transformed their home into a makeshift gallery for her art. Erin's paintings, sketches,  and etchings were on display throughout the house. I actually preferred it to the last gallery showing I went to. I find that sometimes it can be hard to imagine what a piece of art would like in a room full of furniture and books, in between curios and whatnots, in rooms where you can't stand back 5-10 ft. to admire a piece. What does art look like in rooms where we live? It was interesting to see Erin's art in the context of a home, in some ways it made of the really huge pieces that she had created seem much more accessible. I think it would be interesting to see an independent gallery that was set up more like a house with art in it... I wonder if people would buy more? There was one piece that I would have loved to buy, but it just wasn't something I had budgeted for. Sigh.



I'd like to mix in a few original paintings and illustrations in with my photographs. It will happen, eventually.

The afternoon was particularly lovely. I got to meet new people, play with my very charming surrogate nephew, and drink lemonade. All-in-all, it was a good afternoon. The only thing that was missing was my sister Alessandra who was supposed to come along too so that we could have made it a trio of sisters... Sarah + Sable, Emma + Erin, and then of course me and Alessandra. She let us all down. Alessandra, if you're reading this... we were all very disappointed in you ;)



On my way back from the artshow, I stopped by Grandin station to photograph some of the blossoming flora along the street. Of course photographs weren't enough given my new recent obsession with pointless little films. But how could I resist?



The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

While there are a few other farmer's markets that run during the week, Saturday has always been market day for me, especially once the downtown farmer's market (also known as the City Market) opens for the season. Although I could take the LRT there, it's maybe a ten minute walk from my apartment to 104th street. I was meeting up with my friends Wade and Phil for breakfast, but I was having trouble sleeping after waking up from a nightmare about stolen pizza. So while it wasn't quite the crack of dawn when I left the house, it was still early enough that some of the more 'responsible' nighttime revelers had not yet picked up their vehicles from the downtown parking lots along Jasper Avenue's 'entertainment' district. w00t! Clubbing at the ultralounge!



The downtown sidewalks were mostly deserted, with the exception of a few socially conscous seniors sporting raybans and t-shirts that read "Keep Alberta Nuclear Free!" the only other people I passed were a crew removing a tree from the mini parking lot across the street from RedStar (note the newly completed storefront facade above RedStar).


The city could use a bit more street level activity along Jasper on the weekend. It can be a bit apocalyptic at times. I half expect someone to call to me from behind a door and tell me that I'm crazy to be out wandering about and that soon I'll be consumed by the zombie army that lurks on the next block. Thankfully, the crowd that was gathering a few streets away was not interested in eating brains, rather local produce instead (uhh... so if you're wondering where all these zombie references are coming from I recently bought a book about preparing for a zombie attack for Sarah, I think I've been overly influenced by it).

And so... the market.



I had actually intended on doing more shopping at the market than shooting photos or video, but very quickly the camera took precedence and I didn't pick up a single thing. Next time I'll leave the camera at home, or better yet, leave the serious shopping to the gentleman while I happily take pictures.



The market felt a bit like set of My Fair Lady, with lots of plants and flowers for sale. I couldn't find anyone who resembled Eliza Doolittle though (despite there being flowers and girls aplenty), but more than a few dogs were large enough to be mistaken for small horses and one could have easily hitched them up to a hansom cab.


I might have left empty-handed, but most people didn't. I expect that on future Saturdays I'll look a lot like this lady below, with bags full of local fare. If I continue the trend of being at the market by 9am I might actually be early enough to get something from the Queen of Tarts.

Here's your summary of what took place this afternoon.



and the longer version:

I had plans to meet up with Wade for lunch at the university since I was going to be on campus following another video shoot (my seventh for the week), but early in the morning I got an email from my interview subject asking to reschedule. The temporary cancellation proved fortuitous since I ended up using the time to finish editing another video I had shot the day before. But, as my luck would have it, I ended up missing lunch with Wade and didn't get a chance to leave the office until much later that afternoon.

I was going to retire to the quiet of the home office, but Sarah was heading out of the house to get some work done on her master's thesis, so we arranged to meet at the newly opened second location of Transcend Coffee on the south side of the river on 109th street. Sarah made her way there by bike while I trekked across the High Level Bridge on foot. Usually I love the walk, but between carrying my computer and camera I was really lamenting my lack of a bicycle. The trip to Transcend would have taken mere minutes and I would have spared my shoulders the digging in of canvas straps from my various bags.




I really like the big picture windows and corner location of Transcend, but I'm a bit put off by the limitations of the coffee boutique. Considering the location of the shop (so close to the university and right next door to the Garneau theatre) the owners would probably be wise to expand their menu offerings. Right now they serve some baked goods and waffles, but the place needs more food. Perhaps they think that will complicate their business model. I get that their priority is coffee, but even with the free wi-fi and comfortable chairs, we ended up leaving Transcend to go by nearby DaCapo to get some pizza.