Stories from the road: Wasauksing

This past weekend Sabrina, Gillian and I attended the beautiful Wasauksing First Nation pow wow (PDF link) on the shores of Georgian Bay.

The pow wow was great; we had a lot of young visitors trying out our Fractiles and making beautiful designs. Our good friend here was an aspiring artist, and wanted to make Fractiles because, in his words, “Building stuff is like making arts!”

And he is right! One of the things people do not realize about engineers and the designs they make is that there is a lot of art involved. Using properties like symmetry and balance to design and carry out the construction of a building takes a lot of artistic ability and creativity!

We also visited our friends from the Toronto Zoo, who had their amazing “Ways of Knowing” Turtle Island Conservation display set up again. These individuals travel to pow wows, but also run a program at the Toronto Zoo that shares the hopes and goals of First Nation partners in the commitment to preserve biodiversity, wildlife and wild places for those yet to come. Visit their website at www.turtleislandconservation.ca

We also really enjoyed the beauty of the Muskokas this weekend, by going swimming in the lake, and generally being outside and active. We visited a little park near the lake where we swam, and played some tennis outside of our hotel, which was nestled into a wooded area just outside Parry Sound. The weather was wonderful; hot, dry and windy, which made for a great two days.

We visited the sweatlodge that was right near the pow wow grounds, and also entered the teepee that was on the grounds, too.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we all had a good time. See you next weekend!

Alyssa