-Ahmed Alaadeen
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| Since my last blog post over two weeks ago… we have become grandparents to this standard poodle… named JAZZ… and here are my happy grandkids with him! Also since my last post… I have been at many concerts at both Saskatoon and Montreal's Annual Jazz Festivals… so above are the two programs. |
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| Saskatoon's Jazz Festival began on June 25th and ran until July 5th, which I managed to take in several of the free outdoor venues, before going off to catch some of Montreal's festival. Above is a concert on first day I attended two conserts… one in the little Pocket Park… and another down at Potash club jazz… with Brian and friend Ella and Cousin Gwen. |
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| The second night of our festival it was a perfect night to take in a great intimate dining experience at Mano's with friends, Vern and Ella. Our favourite local piano player, Maurice Drouin and his singer, Tatrina Tai entertained while we ate out on the patio. |
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| My nephew alec was working at Manos that night, and popped by our table to say hi. Ella and I enjoyed our drinks and did a special cheers to summer and jazz festival time! |
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| I did a few little pieces of Saskatoon free concerts before heading off to Montreal… and took Shuffle, my doggie for a few walks before going, too… while enjoying JAZZ on my iPhone for the walks! |
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| When we arrived in Montreal… this program and lovely hand crafted card were waiting for us in our Bed and Breakfast room. Colin had dropped it off for us in advance… and the card was crafted by Caro's mom, I loved that thoughtful gesture! |
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| With the Jazz Festival only 13 and half blocks from our Bed and Breakfast, I made several trips to and from while in Montreal, noticing many Jazz signs along the way each time! |
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| Out of the hundreds of shows to choose from in Montreal, I was lucky to get a ticket to this concert… I bought a ticket for 90.00 bucks from a scalper to this sold out concert of JAMIE CULLUM. The theatre is amazing in the round, and I was in row 4… wow… what a seat. Jamie is a 36 year old British jazz sensation, and he performed with about 20 Montreal jazz musicians… all amazing… he put on such a high energy concert and really included his fans. I loved this concert. |
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| Last year while at the Montreal Jazz Festival, I scored a ticket to Earth Wind and Fire, and sat beside a Montreal Jazz fan named Pat. We instantly bonded and kept in touch year round and once again met this year for a LATTE fun and catch up at a little Jazz venue on the Montreal Jazz Festival site. Was so great to reunite with her again… and catch up on our year since we last met. |
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| I made several trips to and from the Jazz Festival site in Montreal… and was able to catch many,many free venues along the way… From the big out door stages to the smaller venues and beer tents along the way… many bands were amazing… so much jazz music… so much talent. |
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| From beer tents to malls… and everything in-between… Montreal was alive with JAZZ everywhere I went! |
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| There were buskers out in full force playing their music everywhere, Some in metro stains and some in front of them and others just on the streets as I passed by. |
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| Brian and I enjoyed music in OLD MONTREAL as well as at the free little venues at JAZZ FEST… we even met up with a friend of Colin's for a lunch, too! |
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| One of my favourite JAZZ venues in Old Montreal is the restaurant called JARDIN NELSON… where they have an in house four piece smooth jazz band at all times. We ate supper there one night and then enjoyed the sights and sounds in and around Old Montreal. |
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| On another trip to Old Montreal we had some one snap our photo in this picture frame… while JAZZ played in the background! |
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| We loved the times we spent with our son, Colin's girlfriend, Caro. (I will do another blog post with more on her and her family visit we had while in Montreal.) |
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| My son, Colin doesn't like his photos shared on the internet… but I thought I'd include this one, as you cannot really see him much!!! Here he is walking down the street with his dad, by where he lives … This village in Montreal is always bustling and this trip happened to have an art exhibit going on while we were there. I will post more on our time shared with Colin in the next blog! |
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| Our Bed and Breakfast in Montreal called Sir Montcalm was AMAZING… we had delicious meals daily. They had a resident little doggie named Boogaloo, too who we became pretty attached to as well. More on this place in the next blog post too! |
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| Yesterday upon our return form our Montreal trip… Jana and Beau came over with JAZZ… to meet SHUFFLE for the first time. The meeting went well… always fun to return to family at a home again! |
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| Here we are with our DOGGIE… JAZZ and SHUFFLE yesterday… and this morning we went to let JAZZ out mid day while his family was all out at work and other places! JAZZ is such a calm dog… and we love him… he fits right into the family! Greetings to all my blog readers… and sorry for the delay on my blog posts… I was busy enjoying life and felt JAZZED about the last two weeks of events in general. Between our Jazz Festival and Montreal's… it is always a favourite time of year for me. I have also had many other things in the past couple weeks to blog about as well, so decided to group them into different blog posts… so stay tuned for more blog photos and stories revolving around our fun the past bit. As the photos above reveal… we have enjoyed not only JAZZ music, but we are excited to share that since my last blog post we are now proud grand parents to a new GRAND DOG also named JAZZ! My daughter and her family adopted this 3 year old standard poodle from a dog rescue by the name of "We all need a K9 Rescue." My grand daughter, Mariah has worked at an adoption for them the past year or so off and on and she fell in love with JAZZ the last time she worked… and so worked on her mom and dad… and the next we knew… they adopted JAZZ… he is a perfect member to add to the family for sure… such a calm and gentle not to mention a handsome dog. Mariah said the fact it's name was JAZZ was surely a sign that it was meant to be! We always miss our doggie, Shuffle, when away… but were happy to pick her up from the doggie day care yesterday again upon arrival home. The day we left for Montreal happened to be my mom's birthday… so as we flew through the clouds on route, I felt that much closer to her up in Heaven. I evened played a little tribute to her through my earphones on my iPhone on the plane on our way. My parent's favourite song was always the Duke Ellington classic sang, "Satin Doll"… so that is what I played … and felt her spirit and my dad's too. My parents are the reason I love JAZZ music so much and even though they are not with me anymore… their spirit lives on through JAZZ among other things. Our trip to Montreal was outstanding… everything seemed perfect this trip… not just the JAZZ music as shared in this post. I do hope to report in the next blog post or two about the other things from our trip, as well, because we had a fun time all round. We enjoyed visits with Colin and his girlfriend, Caro… who live just two doors away from the fabulous bed and breakfast we stayed at this trip called "SIR MONTCALM". I will be sharing much more on all of that in the next post, too. I just have to say the food was fabulous at Sir Montcalm, as well as the accommodations and all the fine people we met there, too, from as far way as Germany. The weather was not too hot… just a perfect 24 degrees celcius or so… which was perfect for roaming around. The Jazz Festival was only a 13 and half block walk from where we stayed too, which was a bonus! A highlight of this trip was meeting Caro's family when they welcomed us to their lovely home in Repentigny. Although her parents speak little English and we speak no French… we totally bonded with the help of translations from Colin and Caro… such a fun meal and visit we had with them. I will share more on that soon as well. I loved the JAZZ festivals here and there… just wish there was more time and money and I would take in more! This year has been a year of milestones… one of those was good friend, Jacquie's 80th birthday. We attended a great tea in her honour the day before leaving for Montreal, which I took several photos at… so hope to do up a blog on that sometime as well. We felt honoured to be included at that special celebration. Just this past weekend, my dear Auntie Mary turned 95 years old…and her grand daughter, Elaine turned 30… and soon my cousin Gwen will be 60… so many milestones to celebrate here, there and everywhere! Hope their celebrations went well. Today my brother Bob and his wife, Arleen are celebrating their 43rd Wedding Anniversary. I remember their wedding like it was yesterday… I was a bridesmaid at it. Today we were at their grand daughter's swimming lessons… Little 7 month old Jorja was adorable in the water… and I took many photos of that as well, to hopefully share sometime soon, too! Well… I know I am full of excitement and enthusiasm on this trip and all the things leading up to it including all the JAZZ… nothing better than JAZZIN' IT UP in the SUMMER! On that note… here is my rhyme of the day… It's summer time… and the living is JAZZY… Music fills the air and it's both snappy and pizzazzy! JAZZ is a big part of my summer life , I find… Once JAZZ FEST is over, I want to just rewind! Whether at a concert… in doors or outside, Jazz just make me smile, it's like my happy guide! Whether I'm in Saskatoon or on a holiday, Jazz is just the music for me along the way. Jazz has many styles, from mellow to upbeat. Whatever style I listen to, I think it's really neat! Any season's right to me, to have some Jazz tunes on, I know I'll still be jazzing it up… long after summer's gone! |
Love hearing how special your summer has been. I am so very happy that you and your Family is sharing such wonderful times together. What a special blog
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