Our hotel was in Bayer Lake, as we had some shopping we wanted to do on the way home, but after checking in and dumping our stuff, we headed downtown for a little sightseeing/shopping. First up of course was The Loop, which had this adorable sea creature display in the window! I was charmed by it. A felted jelly fish will get me every time apparently. If you check out the website, you can read about the little project that's going on.
After cradling some Tanis hand dyed skeins, one in bright yellow and one in bright orange, very uncharacteristic colour choices for me (there is a certain someone who I feel might be influencing my attraction to bright colours of late) I opted for the more moody and squishy Arequipa (how does one pronounce that anyway?). 65% Superwash, 20% Alpaca and the rest Nylon, is delightfully soft and bound to get lots of wear. Now, it wasn't you guys I was telling that I wouldn't buy any more yarn this summer, was it? No? Good. Must've been someone else. And I picked up the new YH book. More of a booklet, but very cute nonetheless.
After The Loop we hit Mountain Equipment Co-Op for the hubs and then traipsed around until we stumbled upon the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, as we had really wanted to check out the Art of Hockey exhibit. But it was 4:30 and they were closing in half an hour. Boo. Turns out the very next day they had their later hours AND it was national museum day or something and they were offering free admission after five pm. Boo hiss. Two minutes in the box for the AGNS. So we went looking for dinner instead.
Along the way I saw the Wired Monk, the little coffee bistro where I've heard some knitters are known to gather (waves) and a Mexican tall ship. We ended up at the Lower Deck (pub) for a yummy smoked meat sandwich and some soccer playoff action. Cool place...long tables...good beer.
Then of course it was time for the really big shooo. But might I just interject here for a minute about the hilliness of that fair city? Okay, I knew it was hilly but as I'd only strolled it very briefly once before and this trip was more of a power-shopping/hurry up and find these places C'MON! I didn't quite appreciate just how up hill everything really is. *pant* It was a harsh reminder that I am woefully out of shape which really, is a bit of a misnomer. For one to be out of shape, one has to have been 'in' shape at one point. I don't think I necessarily qualify. Anyhow, it wasn't as though I was laid out on the pavement, but I lumbered a little more than I think I really should be lumbering at this age. Sheesh.
So anyway, Bobbo. I was quite the fan back in my teens as I considered myself a bit of folksie/hippy crossed with some sort of alternaweird artsy wallflower. Really, I was just confused with bad fashion sense. So I find it somewhat ironic that I ended up sitting next to the very epitome of my former self. Young, sweet and bubbling over with enthusiasm dressed in a very paisley vintagey dress, slouch socks and ballet slippers. She was clearly there to see vintage Dylan with his acoustic guitar and harmonica singing Blowin' in the Wind. As were 99.9% of the rest of the crowd I suspect. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I mean, after 5 decades, I'd say the standards get a little tired.
Anyway, he started off with Rainy Day Woman #12 and 35, followed by It Ain't Me Babe, both of which were heavily rearranged to suit the rest of the show, which was all rockabilly/blues. It Ain't Me Babe was so different from the original, and Dylan's voice was soooo gravelly and harsh that not only did I say to myself, 'Whoo boy, we're in for a rough night', but in going over the set list later on with the hubs he was utterly shocked that Dylan actually played some songs that he might've recognized.
(yeah, we had crazy good seats. I managed to smuggle my camera in, and even though they were checking bags at the door, just about everyone around me had one. This was the still I got right before filming about 30 seconds before I got scolded by a security guard. Filming with a camera...not acceptable. Filming the entire concert with your Blackberry {dude in front of me}...totally acceptable. Anyhow, I'm going to be a good girl (re: cops wife) and not post the vid online. I'm the kind of person with the kind of luck that would get lambasted with some sort of copyright infringement hassle.)
I don't have the full breadth of the Dylan discography, only the hippie highlights, so even though I knew he ventured into this rockabilly territory, I'd never heard any of it before. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Bobbo, even at the ripe old age of a billion, still rocks the house. The show was about two hours dead on, without any interaction or kibitzing from Dylan, just two solid hours of music, including one encore. He did do All Along the Watchtower for the encore. But he never did play guitar. Just the keyboard. Poor Bob did have a bit of a senior moment though when he misplaced his harmonica and one of the roadies had to hand it to him.
I've always thought of Bob Dylan as this really ethereal, other worldly character, and he did not disappoint. The whole not talking to the crowd thing helped this. And it cemented in me a strong desire to only see geriatric rock stars from now on. The show started at 8 pm, was over by 10 and we were both back in our cozy hotel beds by around 10:30-ish. Man, am I ever getting old!
The next morning, we hit LaZBoy and pretty much picked out a whole new living room for the big move into the house, hopefully sometime this summer. We haven't ordered it yet, just spent a couple of hours picking out fabric and wood finish, which was way too much fun.
As for my baby boy Hank, he spent his first night away from home with friends of ours while we were gone.
I was really quite apprehensive about how he would handle it, but after an initial bout of homesickness as he watched my husband pull away in the Jeep (I couldn't go...I've seen how Hank reacts when I hand him off on his leash to someone else) I guess he settled right in and was a perfect little house guest. He got more walks in one and a half days than I get him out for in a week, which made me feel quite inadequate as a puppy mom. Oh well. I feel much better about leaving him with people now, knowing that he'll be a good listener and follow their rules.
And that's the week in review. Very refreshing to get away, if even just for overnight. There's so much to see and do in the city, I'd really like to go back for a two day excursion sometime. As for knitting, I'm just about finished some socks out of Fleece Artist Somoko mill ends (yummy) and am really itching to start another big project. I feel the tides turning towards me becoming a sweater knitter.
Have a nice weekend y'all. Until later...
