Cowtown by the sea

I'm in Calgary, but I keep thinking I'm in Vancouver. Well, less now. But my billets (Ray and Brian) live in a home in Inglewood that is so stylish, modern (a la mid-90s) and lushly landscaped that I woke up convinced that I was in Vancouver. Their living room vista seems to step down right into the Bow River - the third floor deck/garden just doesn't seem the Alberta way. In Edmonton it was hard to find a lawn that wasn't, well, lawn. And you know what else it is? This lushness abuts sharply onto urban grit. Inglewood is an old community cut off in a sense from the rest of Calgary by the river on one side, and busy railroad tracks on almost three sides! A couple of days ago, Aura and I witnessed the weirdest optical illusion down 13th Street SE as two trains and a truck pulled cargo in different directions at the same rate, in near-but-not-quite parallel.

I'm near the zoo! Apparently sometimes the animals make themselves heard - or a giraffe's head pokes up. I will go visit the elephants in preparation for my Tarragon script.

And a bird sanctuary! Can't wait. Plus on one of my days off I'm going to the Royal Tyrell dinosaur museum in Drumheller AB.

Winnipeg to Calgary is a two-day drive. Did you know that? We stayed with Rod ("Glory Days") and Maureen McDonald in their lovely house right by the Legislature in Regina. And of course we dined and beered at Bushwakker brewpub (and I picked up some bottled brews for the road) - where we randomly met up with about 12 Fringe touring performers to whom we had said goodbye in Winnipeg (they were on their way to Saskatoon Fringe via Regina - I have been trying for YEARS to convince other performers to hit Bushwakker on the way, but only when I stopped trying did anyone show up!)

Rod had just managed to injure his back at the end of Winnipeg Fringe (his play is about boxing - but it is apparently (and perhaps unsurprisingly) the LIFTING of the punching bag that created the problem. His doctor gave him permission to do Calgary Fringe before being tended too, though - for the special reason that Rod and Maureen have decided to make Calgary their last stop in a touring life that goes back to 1992.

We have our opening Calgary show tonight! The festival opened last night, and crowds looked not so bad. So we'll see. Our theatre has a pillar near the middle of the stage. We are treating it as a tree.

I'm always nervous opening in a new city. Nervous nervous! Breathe, breathe...