Radically Retired

Tag: Regina

  • Happiness Is … A Tomato Festival

    Happiness Is … A Tomato Festival

    On the August (Saskatchewan Day) long weekend, two of my sisters (the third one was feeling unwell, so unable to join us) and I attended the third annual Tomato Festival, sponsored by the Regina Farmers Market group.

    A pit stop before the event. We wore matching shirts decorated with tomatoes

    This was the first time any of us had attended the event and we decided it won’t be the last.

    There were over seventy vendors, most selling freshly picked garden produce. There were others with everything from jewelry made from silver spoons, to honey, to baking – if it was home made or hand made, it was there.

    One of many vendors selling the stars of the show
    My sis next in age to me
    My baby sis
    Moi – The eldest and the shortest

    One vendor had some cute signs for his produce:

    They were plump and sweet
    Some of his beans were in a crock pot

    The event was held in the stunning Queen Mary II Flower Gardens, adjacent to our province’s legislative building. Although I’ve been there many times, I’ve never had a photo of myself there. Now I do.

    The day was forecast to be extremely hot, so we were there when the festival opened and finished our shopping by the end of the morning.

    I purchased all of the ingredients I needed for the borscht (beet soup) that I make every summer for our mom. It’s her favourite soup, and we arrived home early enough for me to get the borscht made in my Instant Pot.

    A healthy haul
    Everything is washed and ready
    Chopped just the right size
    Borscht, accompanied by whole wheat sourdough bread that I also bought at Tomato Fest

    It was a “perfect in every way” kind of day.

  • Artsy and Fun

    Artsy and Fun

    The Cathedral Area in our province’s capital city is an artsy-fartsy district that a person could spend an entire day exploring.

    From little clothing boutiques to sidewalk cafes, to a variety of bookstores, and to art installations on the walls of both businesses and homes, the Cathedral Area holds an “old meets new” sort of charm.

    In a previous post, I featured a photo of a mural that I was disappointed in because I was too close, so cut off the end of it.

    I returned last week and used the 0.5 lens on my camera and voila!

  • Easter Eggish

    Easter Eggish

    I’d often heard about the excellent meat offerings at the Ukrainian Co-op in our capital city, Regina, Saskatchewan.

    When I Googled the address, the images that came up were all the incentive I needed to convince hubs to take me there to get some photos.

    All sides of this building are covered with colourful and historical murals.

    My feature photo shows where we parked our truck on arrival. We soon discovered that this was an exit, so we had to walk around to the opposite side to locate the entrance.

    The walk was worth it.

    If you’ve ever seen a hand painted Ukrainian easter egg, you’ll know how I chose the title for this post.

    From Google Images
  • A Lesson in Distance

    A Lesson in Distance

    In the mid to late 1980’s, artistic murals on building walls here in my province, were a new concept.

    In 1989, the town administration of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan had heard of another Canadian town – Chemainus, British Columbia (where a murals project had become quite famous) so a delegation traveled to B.C. to explore the feasibility.

    The resulting Duck Lake historical murals definitely boosted tourism.

    Now, these massive art displays are found on building walls in cities and towns across our entire province.

    I snapped my feature photo in our capital city – Regina, Sask. Sadly, I was too close to catch the ladybug that was on the far right of this colourful mural. I always forget to switch to the .5 (extra wide) lens on my phone in such situations.

    Hopefully, lesson learned this time.