Capital Ex
I spent most of today at a summer event called Capital Ex. Which has displays, a fairground, lots of music and lots to see. I had a bit of a picnic lunch with me, so the first thing I did was sit down at a table and eat it. I then went to the butterfly exhibit, which cost an extra $3 to get in, but was worth every penny. I went in and right away a butterfly landed on the back of my neck and tickled me with its wings and feet. Another landed on my hand. I walked along with my butterfly friends and came across a lady in a motorized scooter who was virtually covered in butterflies.

They had several kinds of butterflies, Owl eyes, the ones that seemed to like me, some blue butterflies - none of which landed on me, and some yellow ones - one of which visited me for awhile. There were several little girls in there, covered in butterflies and thrilled about it. A boy who showed me how to get a butterfly to crawl onto my hand and a girl about one and a half to two who showed me the butterfly she had and told me all about it. She said the butterfly's name was Princess. I told her that the butterfly chose to land on her and visit her because she was special and beautiful and good. She smiled and talked to me for a bit before her mother hurried her along.

I then watched the White Buffalo Dancers, a metis group that demonstrates jigs dance. Kids from the age of six to fourteen. Paired up in couples, one of them same-sex. I also listened to a very good fiddler in that pavillion - the First Nations pavillion. I bought a ridiculously priced necklace and key chain, but both were worth the money. The necklace string is made of deer hide, it has purple, dark blue light blue and yellow beads on it, made by the seller himself, as well as a brass bead, it also has a bit of elk horn hanging off of it. It's very pretty and the first necklace that I've bought that feels comfortable to wear. I held the elkhorn bit in my palm for awhile before buying it and it felt "right". The keychain is a miniature dream catcher, beautiful and intricate. I also got a hand painted card from there of mountains against a redish gold sky, very beautiful.

I headed over to listen to the Blues Brothers revival group - a take off of Dan Akroyd's group by two pretenders and they were terrible, so I left to go find a seat in the pavillion where the Peking Acrobats would be performing. Found a seat in the bleachers and waited. They were amazing. I was more impressed by the ladies than the men, because the ladies were all about working together, doing impressive balancing feats, were very flexible and graceful all at the same time. One lady was particularly good at balancing things while being flexible and graceful. You could tell that they had to concentrate a lot and be very focussed.

I then went to have supper in the First Nations pavillion, where I got chili, Bannock, and two coffees for $8.50. A great price. I also stumbled upon a performance by Dallas Arcand, who has an album out called KrayKree. He's an extraordinary performer and singer, his songs have some connection to his culture and, in addition to singing, he danced in the traditional way. First the Sacred Circle dance, with one hoop. It is traditional for families to sit in circles, set up their summer Teepees in circles, and dance in circles, to pay tribute to the great circle of life Mother Earth set up. He then did the four seasons/races dance, to pay tribute to all cultures in attendance. Then the Moon dance, with thirteen hoops to pay tribute to the thirteen moons there are in every year. Each dance was very intricate and energetic. As an aside, in the First Nations culture, dancing is a calling, not just something you do for fun.

After his concert was over, Tom Jackson came on and sang. I sat and listened to him for a half hour, then bought a couple of Dallas Arcand's CD's, since I liked him so much. He has bits of his work at aboriginalentertainment.com and my space-albertahouse/.com. One song of his that I really liked is called I will never say goodbye. In fact, this is a tradition in his culture, where there isn't even a word for goodbye. Instead they say, "I'll see you later" for they believe they will see you either in this lifetime or in the great beyond.

I then wandered across to the far end of the fair grounds to get into position to see Wierd Al! Yay! I love him, really I do. He did a lot of my favourites, including Amish Paradise, White and Nerdy, the Yoda song, the Jedi song, I'm Fat, etc. He was on for almost two and a half hours. It was an amazing performance and he put a lot of himself into it. I think he's in saskatoon next, and in Vancouver September 14th, or thereabouts. I was on "the floor" and had an amazing time, dancing to his songs, singing, catching glimpses of him every now and then, past the six foot tall man standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME for nearly the entire show. If you ever have a chance to go see him in person, do so, it's well worth the time. After the Weird Al concert, I waded through thousands of people to get to a bathroom before heading home.

I took 100 dollars with me to spend, with the intent that would be all I spent and I would have been able to stick to that if I hadn't lost my bus pass, a fact I discovered when I looked for it while I was in the bathroom. I had to take out $20 dollars from one of those ATMs that charge you $3.00 for the privelege and then buy a diet coke I didn't want or need, to get change for the bus. This fact didn't even dent my "Oh my god, I had an awesome, wonderful day" feeling, for I can get a book of bus tickets tomorrow and they'll last me the rest of the month.

I had a great time at the Ex this year, and it's because of all the amazing things I got to see and do there.