Winnipeg Manitoba Museum of Man & Nature

Ah, me, Amelia and JackJack (Boy) went out for the morning. I have been trying to think of things to do with a three and one year old. Television is said to be no good for kids, causes Attention deficit disorder. In other words makes kids stupid by the time they are nine. So I don't want that. I have been taking the kids to the city parks. St. Vital park is pretty big with a fair amount of woods for looking at venturing into, if you are into that. We go there and the kids play on the structures. It's nice to spend them there. Lots of Geese hanging around putting poop on the ground. We went to St. John's Park in the north end yesterday.

A very nice park in the midst of the north end. The north end of Winnipeg is one of the poorer areas of the city. It is also a very high crime area. I guess poverty and crime have a symbiotic relationship (if crime and poverty were living things). Another nice park is the one down town in the city central. Another high crime, and relatively poor area.  Lot of new immigrants in the centre. The park there is new, fixed up and fancy. Not too much green space, but enough to be an oasis in the middle of all that concrete.

So today it was museum time. Going to see Indians in glass boxes, all dressed up in their going to the Pow-wow best, or in their going to get married duds.

That place is Fantastic!!! Oh I've been there before, but you kind of forget how neat it is to be in a museum. Next I think I will go to the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Not sure how that will go with the young ones.
But I sure did like that museum.

This is an example of an older snowmobile. We called them skidoos when we were kids. I guess that is a trade name sort of like kleenex is for tissue paper. In any case when we were kids, my dad got one like this. He used it for trapping and we used it for fun.

Some great minature javascript:void(0)work, I think they call it a diorama? In any case the museum had your Indians, but it also had some old bones, some stuff from new settlers and few other interesting items. Amelia thought one of the big dinosaur skeletons was a dragon. She was pretty clingy through that section of the museum. We went through the museum at a good pace, so we also went down to the Planitarium. The show was on at two, so we just went to the hands on exhibit. Cool place for kids and adults.

Don't the canoe and the meat look real? This is a minature display from the typical northern Indian village I would guess.

Those damn Indians sure could make clothes look fine. The beading and the design. I have a vest that some old ladies did for me from Norway House. The beading is really good. I hope that I could get another one for my grandson and granddaughter some day. I wonder when the Chinese will start making beaded Indian outfits? I bought a few beaded purses when I was in Vancouver and they looked good. Cheap in price. Quality was not there yet as the threads got lose and beads fall off. But when the do they will have a pretty market from all the Indian dancers out there. I kind of hope it doesn't happen. But who knows, I say the art of beading is dying for Indians. Some will argue it's not. All you have to do is check vendors at pow-wows and other Indian events and you don't see beaded stuff. It is time consuming and people don't want to pay for the amount of time and effort you put into the beading, never mind how much of an art piece it is. So beadings becomes a select hobbie for the purists and the ones who can't afford to pay five grand for an outfit. Anyways rambling here.
The museum was cheap to go to, well worth the costs.