Summer Fun on the River

I had a nice 6 mile run tonight (576 miles) along the river. It was a bit hotter than I like but I maintained a slower pace and stopped and took photos along the way. 

I love the hot air balloons and I imagine tonight was a perfect night for ballooning. I've never been in one and I can't decide if it is something I'd like to do. I am fine with flying in an airplane but I am not a fan of heights. The couple standing in front of the balloon were getting ready to go up for a ride. When I asked the husband if they were going up, his answer was a hesitant "apparently".  I'm certain that once they were up, up and away all the nervousness and anxiety was replaced with amazement and awe. 

The dragon boat races are being held in Saskatoon this weekend. I have a favorite team, Graham Construction! I met two paddlers on the Graham Construction team when I was running past the tents. They had just finished their race and came in second. They race again tomorrow at 8AM so I'll try to arrange my run so I can see their race. Both of the guys are originally from Nigeria. I left them in Roatery Park and ran across the Sid Buckwold Bridge. On the bridge I met the nicest family (photo above). I ran past them and they all smiled at me so I couldn't resist turning around to ask for their photo. Seeing them reminded me of my own family when I was younger. They just looked so happy. With Skender being up in Prince Albert the house has been pretty quiet and I'm feeling very lonesome for him. Maybe I should have asked this wonderful family to adopt me for the evening, it looked like a great family to be in!

I managed to get nice photos of one of the dragon boat heats. A breast cancer survivor teams (I think there are 3 different teams) was in the heat I watched. They also had beautiful ribbons and posters tied on some of the trees along the river. 

I met great people tonight on my run. The elderly gentleman was a sweetheart and told me to "keep chugging along" with my running. The three men are from Ontario and in Saskatoon working on a project at the university. It was obvious that they were having a lot of fun and I ended up having a few very funny moments with them (as you tell by how hard I am laughing in the photo) before I headed off to finish my run.  I came across a group of people hanging out by the big water fountain, playing guitar and having a bunch of fun. They were so kind to give me a great photograph. 

The last photographs are of Michelle Smith, a Montreal film maker and Anna Burnstein from the National Aboriginal Health organization. They are in Saskatchewan to film for a Metis Maternal Health project. The wonderful thing about my involvement in their project is that it gave me the opportunity to connect with Michelle again. Twenty years ago Michelle and I were at McGill University doing our BAs in anthropology. We lost touch after university but would run into each other once in awhile in Mile End, the neighborhood we both lived in in Montreal. My reunion with Michelle was very fun and it was nice to catch up after so many years.