Kelly’s Blog

We had lots of fun up in Winnipeg for Folklorama. Alex and I hit the Irish and the Belgian sites. We waited outside for about half an hour to get into the first one… and it was very hot (Alex had the foresight to get bottles of water before we went to line up). While the other Irish booths weren’t much to write home about, the show was spectacular. Will Millar of the Irish Rovers was emceeing and also did a bit of performing with mandolin. The show was mostly Irish dancing, choreographed by someone of Lord of the Dance fame, but also had a couple other musical numbers. Noteworthy was a woman who could do fiddling and Irish dancing all at once. Alex had a Guinness of course, and fish and chips and Irish soda bread. I tasted some of everything and it was goooooood.

The Belgian pavilion was much smaller and cozier compared to the massive Irish arena. The paper described it as a “warm hug.” We got there early and went upstairs for a Belgian waffle, chocolates, cookies, and the best beer Alex has ever had ($80 a case to special order it into Manitoba, so unfortunately we’re not getting some any time soon). They had a display for something called “St. Sebastian Archery Club”– bonus points to anyone who knows why that started me giggling uncontrollably! When we went down for the show, we had some beef stew, more fries, and some chocolate mousse. Mmmmmmmmmmm………… The Belgian performers were homey and fun, with an accordion player and several younger participants who did lots of fairly complex-looking folk dances. Alex got a free drink out of it too– some sort of chocolate liqueur, I believe. See pictures of everything here!

And speaking of pictures, I’ve been working like a crazy person on all sorts of art projects to submit and display in the upcoming Winkler Fair (I’ve got till Thursday morning to finish). Alex has taken a few pictures of my freshwater pearl mosaic and a very fluffy sheep. I think my hands are going to fall off!!!