Atlantic City, End of Season

Lenny Kravitz at the Borgata Casino.

You can climb inside Lucy the Elephant.

Atlantic City, end of season. Walked miles on the shore with the gulls, watched the still-out-there surfers, munched salt-water taffy, then wandered back along the Boardwalk. Believe it or not, AC's a great place to commune with nature and get some exercise.
I've always found this old resort town very atmospheric and never more so than this trip: old Absecon Lighthouse, streets after which the original Monopoly game properties were named, the Atlantic thundering ashore at Margate where I visited Lucy, America's First Roadside Attraction, dating from 1881.
Not everything here's old, though.  Lots of young people on the packed WestJet flight (just over an hour from Toronto) were headed for a weekend at Harrah's and the Borgata casino-resort.  I went to the Borgata, too, later and was glad to see that the huge hotspot had spent money on real art, decking their lobby and hallways with giant pieces by glass wizard Dale Chihuly, pieces that, to me, evoked underwater lifeforms, coral and such.

That night I caught Lenny Kravitz's show at the Borgata's event center. Its relatively intimate size meant we could groove quite close to the stage. Roger Daltrey was scheduled to appear a few weeks later, and Lady Gaga in January.  I'll definitely check concert listings before my next visit.
And I'll be back as soon as I can.  I've got a real soft spot for this oceanside city, especially when the casino lights glisten on the dark, rainswept streets.

Has anyone seen my pyrohy?

What's yum in Ukrainian?

6'2", eyes of blue, has anyone seen my pyrohy? It's impossible to find those tasty pillows of stuffed dough in the east end so Mario and I made sure we got to the Toronto Ukrainian Festival last weekend to get our fill. It's the largest Ukrainian festival in North America, big enough to close Bloor Street for three days between Runnymede and Jane. With standing room only for eating, we lost quite a few of our slippery treats and had to keep going back to Natalie's Kitchen for more. It's taken nearly a week to recover from the carb overload but it was so worth it.
Music was a big part of the festival this year, with headliner and Euro favorite Haydamaky whirling traditional Ukrainian tunes, myths and instruments with reggae, ska and punk in a musical blender to produce what they call Cossack rock. Bare-chested accordian playing could be dangerous if done by anyone other than Ivan Leno; he manages to make it soulful.
Dynamic lead singer and sopilka-player Oleksandr Yarmola was born in Chernobyl in 1966 and likes to use music as a medium for political change (the band's name comes from Haydamachyna, an 18th century peasant rebellion against foreign oppression). Check out Haydamaky's performance--and other festival highlights like opening act Zrada Cultural Academy from Winnipeg--on Uke Tube.
Great food, incredible music, amber jewellery and FC Dynamo Kyiv soccer fan scarves...the festival just gets better and better. The next one is only 358 days away. That should give us time to recover!