Tuesday, July 22, 2008
So I'm back in Toronto. I took a bus from Nelson to Winnipeg and spent about a week in Winnipeg with Matt, who was there for a conference of urban planners. We had bought tickets for Saturday at the Winnipeg Folkfest, and the weather was pretty godawful that day. Apparently it was the first time in all 35 years of the Folk Festival's history that a whole day was cold and rained out like that, and Matt and I were lucky enough to choose it! (Of course, all the other days were sunny and warm.)
But we still had a great time. We got to see some good performers, like Hayden and Calexico, and we drank hot maté from the Twelve Tribes booths - Maté Factor and Common Grounds. The Twelve Tribes have a community near Winnipeg, but I heard about them when I was in Nelson, where they have another intentional community as well as a café, which is very beautiful, in-town but on a hillside surrounded by trees. The people who work there are very hospitable and generous (forcing much free food and drink upon me), and not preachy at all (though I didn't bother asking about the Christian-based religion their movement seems to be founded upon). Their maté and their food are incredibly good.
I spent the rest of my time in Winnipeg getting to know the city a bit. City of empty parking lots, I like to call it. It's a little strange. The streets were pretty empty in general, especially of pedestrians. The mosquitoes weren't bad at all while I was there, though I was expecting them to be bad considering that the city has been getting fogged for them regularly (since West Nile broke out, I guess?). I'm not sure why this year the mosquito presence was so low. The mosquitoes weren't nearly as bad as usual in Winlaw, either.
I'm back in Toronto now. I'm not really all that happy about the air quality. I suppose I was pretty spoiled when I was out west. The heavy, humid, yellow, smoggy air seems to go as far east as Cobourg, probably much farther. The humidity itself I can bear, it's just all the pollutants that mix in with it that I find make it barely bearable to breathe. Yes, I guess I've become somewhat overly sensitive to these things... ;) Food, water, and air quality rank pretty high on my list now.
Anyhow, I'm in Ontario for the time being, but chances are I'm bound for Winlaw again in a month or two. I think I've succumbed to the lure of the West.
But we still had a great time. We got to see some good performers, like Hayden and Calexico, and we drank hot maté from the Twelve Tribes booths - Maté Factor and Common Grounds. The Twelve Tribes have a community near Winnipeg, but I heard about them when I was in Nelson, where they have another intentional community as well as a café, which is very beautiful, in-town but on a hillside surrounded by trees. The people who work there are very hospitable and generous (forcing much free food and drink upon me), and not preachy at all (though I didn't bother asking about the Christian-based religion their movement seems to be founded upon). Their maté and their food are incredibly good.
I spent the rest of my time in Winnipeg getting to know the city a bit. City of empty parking lots, I like to call it. It's a little strange. The streets were pretty empty in general, especially of pedestrians. The mosquitoes weren't bad at all while I was there, though I was expecting them to be bad considering that the city has been getting fogged for them regularly (since West Nile broke out, I guess?). I'm not sure why this year the mosquito presence was so low. The mosquitoes weren't nearly as bad as usual in Winlaw, either.
I'm back in Toronto now. I'm not really all that happy about the air quality. I suppose I was pretty spoiled when I was out west. The heavy, humid, yellow, smoggy air seems to go as far east as Cobourg, probably much farther. The humidity itself I can bear, it's just all the pollutants that mix in with it that I find make it barely bearable to breathe. Yes, I guess I've become somewhat overly sensitive to these things... ;) Food, water, and air quality rank pretty high on my list now.
Anyhow, I'm in Ontario for the time being, but chances are I'm bound for Winlaw again in a month or two. I think I've succumbed to the lure of the West.
Labels: intentional community, music, smog, winlaw, winnipeg
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