By Lynda Shadbolt

Published Aug. 14 2018

I saw MaMma Mia – Here We go Again recently in Kinmount and what I loved about the movie was when “Young Donna” who was travelling on her own arrives in Greece and takes a boat over to the island.
She has no idea who she will meet what is on the island and what adventures await her. It reminded me of my own youth.
It was a time before cellphones computers and social media and so when you went on an adventure there were always lots of surprises. You couldn’t look everything up or even know what to do when you got there unless someone had told you.
There is something so delightful about being surprised about seeing something that you didn’t expect or even know existed.
I notice when this happens in my life now. The joy of being surprised.

Last Monday evening our Dance Happens Here (DH3) committee hosted a celebration for the Throw Down Collective Heritage Ballet dancers and the musicians who participated in the Sculpture Forest Reimagined evenings.
We were all so very happy with the way the evening had gone and how the audience had responded to the performance in the Sculpture Forest. We were all feeling inspired and happy.
So there we were kids and adults gathered at McKecks chit-chatting about the experience. In the background we could hear karaoke happening and we noticed the person singing had a really good voice. We kept socializing and the background singing continued.
All of a sudden the singers stood up and started singing happy birthday to someone in the crowd. We realized that the singers were from the opera school. The back was full of opera students and teachers! It was amazing. They sang pieces from The Phantom of the Opera and popular music such as Sweet Caroline from Neil Diamond. It was magical.

A small town in Ontario on a Monday evening in a local pub and it felt like we were getting our own private concert. The Throwdown Collective dancers who already love Haliburton were in awe. It was totally unexpected and completely delightful.
Of course we all started talking about combining dance and opera in the Sculpture Forest. One thing we learned for sure through our project is that the Sculpture Forest is a beautiful space that could host all kinds of events from dance to music to visual artists. Our committee was totally thrilled with the response we got and want to thank everyone for their donations and their support for our event.
Haliburton County is full of surprises support and potential. This is a special place to live and visit!

On another note I want to end my article with a shout out to my friend Sue Shikaze who hosts a really fantastic show on Canoe FM. We all have superpowers and one of Sue’s superpowers is to introduce great new music to her listeners. She has moved time slots and now her show is on Saturday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. and it is called Northern Aire. The name of the show is inspired by a favourite song of hers sung by Elliot Brood. Sue is always surprising her listeners with great new music. Sometimes she does shows with themes and she always takes requests! No two shows are ever the same. There is always new music to be shared! I find that Sue is great company when I am cooking dinner on a Saturday afternoon. It’s like a concert in my kitchen as I cook! And a happy cook makes for happy food.