Turns out there were epiphanies to be had at Epiphany

...just 722 days later than expected!

I wrote about these folks back in October following my presentation to the Canadian Common Ground Alliance Damage Prevention Symposium in Niagara Falls. Apparently, some of the folks who saw my presentation there thought it would be a good idea to have me present to the Ontario Regional symposium in Ottawa this week. And so here I am, typing this blog in room 619, just down the hall from rooms 656 and 658, once the studios of the great Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh. And that's just one more example of the various kinds of common ground I've found with this group. As I said at the event back in October and again yesterday, the people in that room - they're the non-profit alliance of people in the world of underground infrastructure in Canada, the ones who run the "Call Before You Dig/Click Before You Dig" campaigns - that while they concern themselves with the piping and wiring and cables and conduits and all the other stuff that most of us never think about that actually keeps us all connected, Six String Nation is very much about our cultural infrastructure as a diverse country and set of nations within nations. Mike Sullivan (pictured above) is the President of Alberta One-Call Corporation and Executive Director of the Canadian Common Ground Alliance. He's also an unrepentant bass player! He was slated to play Voyageur at the gathering in Niagara in October but he was days away from becoming a grandfather at that point and decided to stay close to home ( Jason Manning did a great performance of "Lovers In a Dangerous Time" in his stead, you may recall). So now that the twins (that's right, double grandpa) are healthy four-month-olds, Mike jumped at the chance to play Voyageur at this event. Bass player? He's a pretty fine guitar player too - and acquitted himself brilliantly in a rendition of Blue Rodeo 's "Hasn't Hit Me Yet" - including the high vocal parts! Apart from the presentation and the performance, I had the chance more at this event than the earlier one to chat with many of the attendees - including a terrific sit-down with Brad Gowan , whom you'll hear about later this year. But rather than have a post presentation swarm as is so often the scenario, the arrangement here was for awards and other housekeeping to follow the presentation and then I'd return with the guitar for a reception in the evening. What a great opportunity that was to meet so many of the attendees and hear their stories and take pictures and sign books. I was especially thrilled when John Todorovski told me of his Macedonian heritage and played some Macedonian music on Voyageur . He was not only a great guitar player but told me he also plays the gaida - one of my favourite instruments. Do yourself and look it up - or listen to Valya Balkanska 's track on the "Carl Sagan's Cosmos" soundtrack! Of course, I mentioned Yousuf Karsh at the top here and that is really the other thrill about presenting at this event at the Chateau. Given that Doug Nicholson 's extraordinary body of portraits are so integral to the way we communicate this project, to be able to show them in a place that is so central to the history of portrait photography in Canada is a real honour. We did have the honour of shooting portraits here for Winterlude back in 2007 as well and the ice sculptures are animating Ottawa's streets as we speak so it's been great to deepen that connection at this event. Thanks to Mike Sullivan and the rest of the Common Ground executive. Special thanks to Rebecca Leighton and her team for taking such good care of every detail surrounding this trip. Thanks also to Nathan and Lauren for sound and lights and to my team at the National Speakers Bureau. A very special thanks also to Kate McDerby for helping me out at the meet-and-greet reception. I couldn't have done it without you!

I've been to Picton Ontario many times. I suppose I've even been there with Voyageur but it has mostly stayed in the car since we were just passing through. And we love all of Prince Edward County. For several years now we've done mid-winter trips just to tour the restaurants, wineries, distilleries and sugar bushes. And if we're driving from engagements in Ottawa, Montreal or Kingston, the ferry and the county are a far more pleasurable and picturesque route back to Toronto than the 401. So when Krista Dalby - whom we'd met at the SPARC Conference in Cobalt in 2018 - invited us to come and be part of her Ice Box Festival we jumped at the chance. The venue for the festival is Macaulay Heritage Park, comprising the Manse, the gardens, the former church turned museum and the surrounding conservation area. And the festival is designed to bring people out of their winter doldrums to experience art indoors and out, with installations and animations of all kinds taking place over two weekends in February. Our space was indoors at the former St. Mary Magdalene Church, now the interpretive hub for the park. We arrived a day early in order to do an interview at County FM 99.3, get our tech, soundcheck and portrait set up done in advance and to make sure we beat any bad weather - Prince Edward County has its own microclimate, which makes it great for wine growing but unpredictable for winter travel - though we needn't have worried: it was mostly very mild with only the lightest dusting of snow. When Krista booked us for the festival, she let us know that she was also booking long time friend of the project Justin Rutledge , who has been a part-time local in PEC in recent years so we knew the music component of the festival was going to be great. But Justin would be playing a full set on the second day of our stay in the museum so Krista had also booked three local musicians to play Voyageur as part of the "performance pocket" segment of the Saturday presentation: Annelise Noronha, Lisa Bozikovi c and KASHKA . I wasn't familiar with any of them and I feel like an idiot because they are all amazing and the musical touchpoints between these women, myself and the project are deep and varied. We could do a whole show with any one of them and it would be extraordinary. And then, of course, Justin did an amazing set on Sunday - accompanied by the wonderful Burke Carroll on pedal steel guitar - ending with a reprise of his famed "Don't Be So Mean, Jellybean" on Voyageur , which has been so closely associated with Six String Nation since 2006. The festival continues this coming weekend and I'll be back in the County for a school presentation in March. And we'd come back to Ice Box any time! Special thanks to Krista Dalby and her team at the Department of Illumination , Jennifer Lyons at the Macaulay Heritage Museum, technician Emerson Pringle , musicians Annelise Noronha, Lisa Bozikovic, KASHKA and Justin Rutledge , volunteers Jen Bradovca, SaraLou Miller and Trish Van Huesen , Julianne Snepsts and Craig Foster at County FM 99.3, the Picton Harbour Inn, Sarah Gillett, Doug Nicholson, Sarah Keenleyside and baby Jack . And, of course, to everyone who came out to join us for stories, music and portraits at Ice Box 2020!

Unionville Montessori Elementary Principal Dave Treherne (at right) and I go back more than 30 years and Dave's involvement with Six String Nation goes back to the beginning. Dave is the source of the piece of gold taken from Rocket Richard's 1956 Stanley Cup ring that adorns Voyageur 's 9th fret. Dave also had me in to speak to students in his previous role as a public school teacher. Last year he took on this new job and was keen to get me in front of this very bright group of students. Unionville Montessori enjoys a terrific facility for these kinds of presentations - with proper staging, lighting and projection systems and raked seating - a far cry from what we managed to scrape together at Dave's last school. And where some schools depend on whoever on staff knows how to plug in a projector or enthusiastic students from the AV Club, UM has Jim Motton , a professional media tech and sound guy who looks after a few neighbouring schools. So I was really going into an ideal situation on that front. But what was really ideal about my day at UM was everything else: The presentation went really well and the performances were fantastic. For the first song, Mr. Tymstra played Voyageur while Mr. Renglich played piano and lead the Appasionata Singers student choir in a rendition of "From a Distance". For the second song, Dave played Voyageur to accompany student Evelyn Esch singing.... wait for it... "Fish & Bird" by Tom Waits! A clear case of students benefiting from a principal with great musical taste!

My presentation to the congregation at West Hill United Church in Scarborough ON.