Boom Times Sailing!: Nuptials and Trap Count

Leaving the boat in Long Island NY we've flown to Winnipeg Manitoba for a few days to attend the wedding of Cassandra's old friends Dominique & Danny.

The wedding was a beautiful beach ceremony on the shores of Lake Winnipeg followed by reception in a community club house. Huge admiration is due the happy couple for having a frugal DIY affair. Invitations designed by the bride. Hair & makeup done by Cassy. Ceremony officiated by father of the groom (one day licence). Decorations; lights strung from the rafters, burlap table runners with strips of lace, antique tins with prairie flowers. Instant photo booth built by the brother of the bride. This was a smart wedding! Simplicity at its best and great time was had by all!

Winnipeg is the only city I've ever seen who's local weather report includes mosquito level readings. Cloud, temperature, wind and trap count! Known as the “provincial bird” mosquitos can become so bad that the city will “fog” a larvacide city wide to kill the eggs and combat the insect plague. There are twenty four traps set-up around the city and if the average trap-count is reaches 25 and the maximum count in any one trap reaches 99 the city will start fogging! As you can imagine there is some health concern around publicly spraying chemicals over houses, yards, parks etc. Any home can request a buffer zone which means the spray truck will momentarily shut off its jets as it passes that address. I have yet to see the actual fogging but I have experienced the bugs and let me tell you it was very unpleasant. By far the worst was waiting in line at the local ice cream parlour. Thirty people doing the self-slap dance or occasionally tapping each other to get one. Winnipegers seem somewhat accustomed to it and have come to terms with these bloodsuckers. There is a lot to say for Winnipeg; the wonderful people, rich cultural landscape, sports, etc. and I remain a huge fan but these mosquitoes are just the worst.

We also went to Sky Zone trampoline world!!