Canadian, Eh! at the Scarborough Museum

Mom and I went to the Scarborough Museum for "Canadian, Eh!" for Canadian Multiculturalism Day yesterday.

There were lots of activities going on.

I got to try playing Badminton.
I wasn't very good at it but it was my first time trying.

I really liked it though!

I tried croquet.

I got to try lots of different foods from all over the world.

They even made some of the treats in the McCowan Log House!

The Scarborough Youth Collective did a couple of Bollywood Style dances.

And we got to play games in the gallery.

My favourite part of the evening was when a group from Kadara Capoeira did a demonstration.

I also liked that so many people showed up for Canadian, Eh!

I think they must all love the Scarborough Museum as much as I do.

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly

On Thursday, Mom and I met Norm Kelly. He's the Deputy Mayor of Toronto.
He mentioned me on Twitter before I got the chance to blog about meeting him.
https://twitter.com/DMayorKelly/status/482549324367544320/photo/1

We spoke about homeschooling and we mentioned that I went to see a Toronto City Council Meeting.

Here's a picture that Mom took.

Chad Solomon at the Aboriginal History Month Celebration

Mom and I went to the National Aboriginal History Month Celebration put on by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto today.
We were just in time for the storyteller - Chad Solomon.

I volunteered to help tell the story and he picked me and 6 others.

 Each of us got a chance to walk around and use our puppets. I was the beaver.

 I had so much fun!

After the story we went by Chad Solomon's booth to buy some of his Rabbit and Bear Paws books!
You can find out about them on his website:
rabbitandbearpaws.com

I got to pose for a picture with him. 

Gibson House Museum Group Tour

We went to Gibson House Museum with my Homeschool Group.
We did one of the school programs where we made Ice Cream and we carded wool.

Here is a list of the things we needed to make Ice Cream.

But first we had to wash our hands.

We mixed milk, cream, sugar and vanilla.

We put a churn in the cylinder with the ice cream.

Then we packed ice around the cylinder and added salt to the ice. We made sure the lid was on so no salt could get in our ice cream.

We cranked the churn!

After a while, we learned how they made clothes from wool 165 years ago.

We teased the wool. That means that we got rid of any grass and we slightly pulled it apart to make it light and fluffy.

We used the 'cards' to help make it fluffy. The cards stuck together like velcro.

We also got to see how they would spin the wool.

After that we got to do a quick tour of the house.
This is the master bedroom.

This is the sewing room.

The guest room.

The boys' bedroom.

The girls' bedroom.

The hired man's room.

David Gibson's office.

The dining room.

When we were finished with the tour our ice cream was ready to eat.

It tasted so good!

We took a picture of the outside of the museum as we were leaving.

 And I posed for one with Mom.

The Na-Me-Res Pow Wow

Mom, Dad and I went to the Na-Me-Res Pow Wow on Saturday. It was a bright, sunny day and it was the perfect weather!

All this month, I have been learning about First Nations Peoples and it was amazing to go to the Pow Wow!

Here is a video from the first Inter-Tribal Song.

There were some things I noticed:

• People entered the dance circle from the Eastern Doorway and danced in a clockwise direction. 
• Dogs were not allowed in the dance circle.
• The MC would let us know who could dance and when we were all invited to dance. 
• The MC also let us know when it was OK to take photographs. (We didn't take any pictures or video during the Grand Entry or Honour Songs.)
• Everybody was very friendly!

I loved the men's regalia!

I got to see the Grass Dance, the Women's Traditional Dance, the Fancy Shawl Dance, the Jingle Dress Dance, the Duck and Dive, the Men's Traditional Dance and the Crow Hop!

Here are some pictures of me dancing at the Pow Wow. 

It was a lot of fun!

I also got to learn a bit about the Na-Me-Res. They provide help for Aboriginal men who are in need.
You can check out their website at nameres.org.

To all the people who were involved in making it such a great day, Miigwetch!
Thank you!

TSO's Gershwin Highlights

Mom, Dad and I went to see the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Gershwin Highlights. I was happy because it's been a long time since I've been to a TSO concert, but I was sad because it was the last concert of the season.

Bramwell Tovey was the conductor and he told us lots of jokes while he explained what the songs were about. I laughed so hard when he joked that it took so many years of going to Julliard to play the 'taxi horns' from "An American in Paris".

The concert opened with "Cuban Overture". It was the first time I heard it and it's now one of my favourite songs! It's like the orchestra carries you off to Cuba and the percussion has you dancing all the way there. There is a part where you can feel waves crashing as you listen to the music. I loved it!

They used saxophones in "An American in Paris". We don't see that very often when you go to the orchestra. It's a cool adventure song!

After the Intermission, we got to hear highlights from "Porgy and Bess".
The soloists were amazing and you could understand everything they sang. You didn't even need to read the sur-titles.

There were 5 black soloists who performed with the TSO.
Marquita Lister, soprano (Bess)
Lisa Daltirus, soprano (Serena)
Gwendolyn Brown, contralto (Maria)
Jermaine Smith, tenor (Sporting Life)
Alfred Walker, baritone (Porgy)

I loved Jermaine Smith's singing 'It Ain't Necessarily So'. He's an incredible singer AND he was so acrobatic! I don't know how he could dance the way he did and still sing so wonderfully! That's talent!

I would love to see the full opera someday!

The Highland Creek Festival

Dad and I went to the Highland Creek Festival. 

I love parades!

Here are some pictures from the parade:

Of course, I especially loved bagpipes!

Here is a short video of the Highland Creek Pipe Band as they passed us.

They had a petting zoo.
Here's a picture of the chicks. But they also had hares, and a calf.

They had rides for the little kids too.

We saw Amanda from Sew Funky Monkey. She sells really cool stuffed toys and she's my friends' Mom too! 

I got my very own Funky Monkey!

I love it!