Finding little epics at home

This summer my fiddle got out to large bodies of water several times: to the Experimental Lake Area, the cottage at Bird River, and my guitar got to accompany my friends and I on a exploratory mission to find primo climbing areas in the ELA again.

Photo by Kasia Dyszy

Now that it's shoulder season, I'm forcing myself to stay home: too cold to canoe, camp or climb, not cold enough to ski.

So for the first weekend in MONTHS that I'm actually home, I managed to still have a couple of epic adventures: Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, and Syphony No. 4 in F minor - performed perfectly by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and soloist Denise Djokic.

Saturday, after combining work-out and errands in an 8 km run for groceries, I met with a producer/sound engineer to discuss a future recording project, then rushed to a workshop on music Management at Manitoba Music, and retrieved Edmonton murder mystery writer Janice MacDonald and her husband Randy from the Manitoba Museum to take them shopping at Vintage Glory before settling in for slow food at Cafe ce Soir.

Enough links there? I'm wearing my PR hat today! But this is the town I live in. Winnipeg is so close-knit, and if you go out and live life to the fullest in it, you can make so many connections and enjoy it so much. And it's not just the businesses and buildings, it's the people...

I found encouragement for my own music talking to the musicians and managers I met today. And Doug Shand at Vintage Glory always has a good story - and he's a blues singer himself! French-trained Chef Tran is a rock climber and carpenter who is trying to learn to play the violin! And folk-music lover Janice is a banjo picker.

Though I'm not taking wing myself these days, if anyone wants to visit Winnipeg, these are a few of its stories, created by its wonderful people - and those who pass through.