After a long and rib cracking illness, I've been playing catch-up on the summer. From road-tripping to an historical ranch, to checking out renovated parks and a Heritage Day festival, to shooting people being kids on a two block long water slide, to dressing up and shooting a medieval faire; it's no wonder I feel a little tuckered. And there's still Carifest this weekend!!
This weekend, another hot one, had people cooling off at Calgary's first two day Slide the City event held on the 10th Street just below SAIT and beside the Burns Garden. These were taken Saturday evening with my Canon G15 (point & shoot). I think these were the VIP pass holders. They got unlimited access, so some of the people became familiar. It took long patient waiting to get a good shot of the two guys on the big pink pig.
Bar U Ranch
The Bar U Ranch is an national historical park, one of the first ranches established in Alberta. Not only a beautiful place to take photos; they also have an excellent restaurant. Normally I don't eat beef, but I decided to try their Percheron Swiss burger with sweet potato fries. The solid meat burger was the kind of juicy that required a stack of napkins and the fries were the best.
Heritage Day
The Heritage Day Festival, held in Olympic Plaza, had the usual ethnic dance schools showing their stuff. While nice, I found taking photos of the kids around me much more interesting. And photographer friend, Len Chan.
Brooks Medieval Faire
The biggest event in August for my friend and I was the Brooks Medieval Faire. My friend went last year with her husband. When she told me about jousters and costumers I had to check it out for myself. To make it even more interesting, I suggested we go costumed, too. So months in advance, the two of us researched and spent weekends sewing medieval undergarments, over-coats, and stuff. My friend was a merchant lady, I was the peasant kitchen help, and at the last moment we convinced her husband to go as a friar.
This Saturday is the Carifest Parade and Sunshine Festival. Last year I had to work and missed it. Really, really missed it. Although I tried getting some shots of the parade during my lunch break, fifteen minutes of shooting just wasn't the same. This year the synchronicity gods smiled upon me. A coworker needed the long weekend off, so we swapped Saturdays. They say the weather is supposed to be sunny and plus 17. Just right for racing up and down and dancing with a parade.
