Happy New Year!

What a wonderful weekend in the mountains! Korinnya was pleased to be the guests of Vohon at the annual Malanka in Jasper at the outstanding Jasper Park Lodge. Though the drive there through the Icefields Parkway was dicy, once we arived we were treated to wonderful hospitality and sang for over 600 attendees.

The highlight of Friday night's performance was our rendition of Poyikhala Baba v Lis, a song about a grandmother who goes into the woods with a wheelbarrow - which doesn't have a front wheel (you can't make this stuff up). Well, our 'wheelbarrow' prop was left behind in Calgary. In what must be the ultimate in customer service stories, a request was put in to the groundskeeping staff when we arrived for one of their wheelbarrows. I'm not sure if Stephan called room service for this request, but nonetheless, a wheelbarrow was delivered to us in time for our performance. To top it off, the front wheel of this understudy wheelbarrow was completely flat. Thanks again to the JPL staff for coming through.

Saturday was spent doing a brief performance of carols in the afternoon, then continuing our caroling at a pivate cabin. Our visit concided with a visit from Scola Cantorum, a men's choir from Edmonton. What followed was one of those moments that make all the rehearsal time worthwhile - over 60 voices combining to belt out carols in a combination of wonderful harmony and sheer volume that shook the log cabin's foundations. We had one more performance on Saturday night at the final banquet, then many of us proceeded to take full advantage of the two dance bands that hit the stage.

And the food - oh the food. It's a brave group that decides to offer 600 people access to the JPL's buffets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Lodge came through with outstanding choices and quality. Not to be outdone, however, was the resourcefulness of our choir and the ability of Ukrainians to survive. The road we drove up on was still closed after Friday's snow, so we had to return to Calgary using a longer route. After a few hours on the return route, out came the first Ziploc bag of sliced sausage. Then more bags . . . the cheese . . . the crackers . . . the pickles. We could have been stranded for days and not been hungry.

Thanks once again to Vohon, the organizers and the JPL for another outstanding Malanka in the Mountains.