BALLS TO BOOM-BOOMS TO BOOKS

The week included 3 days in country/Kemble to pick peas and finish some deck but events in the city blew that away with action and colour. The Beach was a blur of last-day Jazz Fest music, huge kites overhead, and a bigtime beach volleyball tournament. A good time was had by all. But the holiday weekend blasted out with a million people for the 45th annual Caribbean Carnival, the biggest in North America. And a million feathers. a billion sequins.

Just wiggle through the security wall and you're on the street, IN the parade (can you spot Pat?)!  Hours and hours, miles and miles of proud and happy Torontonians who happen to have ancestry and rhythm from 40 Caribbean countries. Your lungs are compressed by the booming soca/reggae/jump-up and your teeth hurt from smiling with the revelers. These pictures give some flavour but you really gotta be there ---  the colours and delirium wrap you like a multicultural feathered boa. Only a fraction of the raunch is shown here.And the pix are representative of the crowds: 90% girls/women of all sizes, 5% musicians/DJ's, 3% kids in costume, and maybe 2% guys. The ladies really let loose!

Back home in the Beach with our ears still ringing and my camera smoking, a total contrast on the sidewalk --- how about a nice quiet book?!