jane’s walk

I love, love, love Jane’s Walk! It’s happening this weekend all over the world and it’s free! I’m going to spend Saturday finding out more about my neck of the woods. I mentioned the free part already, right? So no excuses… get out there and find out about the place where you live.

human library

The 2013 edition of the Human Library will run from January 24 to 26. It is taking place in Winnipeg at the Millennium Library and in fourteen other cities across the country. I love this event! Or rather, I love the idea of this event because I’ve never actually participated before. But I am this year.

My book is Nicole & Kris, a couple in their 30s who are building a Earthship. Interested to hear how they’ve done it but what I really want to know is how they ever found the guts to take the leap in the first place.

You can walk in and take a book off the shelf but the time slots fill up quickly, so if you want to be guaranteed a book you need to schedule in advance. I’m booked (haha) for Friday. Will let you know how it goes.

culture days recap

It was a gorgeous weekend. As winter approaches, I increasingly feel the need to soak up as much warm weather as nature provides so I spent two days almost entirely in the yard… taking in the garden, hanging laundry, basking in the sun. We did make it to the WAG for Nuit Blanche on Saturday night, however, and it was amazing!

Started the evening at 8 p.m. with a panel discussion featuring Guy Madden, Sarah Anne Johnson, Paul Butler and Michael Dudeck. We hadn’t been to the exhibition yet and it was interesting to hear the artists speak about their installations before actually viewing it. Michael Dudeck pretty much stole my heart. I had heard him on the radio in the morning and thought he seemed lovely and charming. That was even more true in person. The last question to the artists was about why Winnipeg was such a great place for art. The low cost of living, the supportive community and the long cold winters that forced you to work because there was nothing else to do were a few of the answers. And then Michael ended the discussion by saying (I’m paraphrasing and really wish I could remember his exact quote) that people in Winnipeg were less concerned about owning yachts and more concerned with living poetically. *swoon* I’m sure our illustrious mayor would disagree with this, and in all honestly I don’t think it’s true; I think we’re plenty concerned about material goods. But it is a beautiful thing to strive for and something I will keep in mind next time I’m worrying about my lack of money.

We then headed up to the galleries. Totally blown away by some of the art, totally underwhelmed by some. What truly impressed me was the sheer numbers of people who turned up for this event. And the diversity. Young and old; hipsters and the not-so-hip; the thrift store crowd and the high heels, dripping in jewels crowd; girls who brought their girlfriends, boys who brought their boyfriends, families who brought their kids; and black, white and everything in between. What impressed the love of my life was how old some of the art is. How has it survived, in such good shape, for 500 or 1000 years?!? Will people in 2512 be looking at art from this exhibition and marveling at it?

When we left after about 3 hours the line-up to get in was a block long. Maybe Winnipegers are concerned about living poetically after all!

i heart culture days

Totally looking forward to Culture Days this weekend. Tons of stuff to do here in Manitoba and across the country. So much stuff, in fact, that I don’t know what to take in. We’re going to Nuit Blanche for sure but should we go to the WAG or the Museum? Leaning towards the WAG though I know it will be crowded and crazy. I’m also taking a French class so I’d like to do something en francais. And if I wasn’t such a horrible singer, I would totally go to this. Would need some 80s-style power rye and cokes first, though.

free friday!

September is always a hard month financially. As a perma-student, there is tuition. Almost $900 for this first semester. And I bought my house in September so the house insurance is due. Just over $800. AND we got our dog from a shelter around this time, so her annual shots are coming up. Considering that my monthly income isn’t quite $1400, this is a lot to deal with all at once. Time to be über-frugal!

With my empty pocketbook firmly in mind, I managed to have an awesome time yesterday without spending any cash. The morning consisted of my usual routine of walking the dog and watering the garden, followed by some reading for school. In the afternoon I went swimming at the Sherbrook Pool. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy going for a swim and I’m sure I’ll do this regularly now that I’ve found out that all of the City of Winnipeg pools have free swimming times. The regular rate is $6 so going once  week would add up to $315 a year. I can definitely put that kind of cash to good use.

In the evening, I went with a friend to see the Circus of Objects at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art. The event itself was free but you could buy a light lunch or booze if you wanted. There are two mores Circuses coming up on September 21 and October 6 featuring entirely different performances. Not sure if I’ll go but I’ll be heading back to the Plug In to check out the rest of the My Winnipeg shows.