28 June 2012

Pilgrimage - Part two


No. 9067 - 28 Jun 2012 - 14:59:13

In the copse up ahead is the house in which my mother spent a dozen years of her childhood. I visited it with her 18 years ago and even though it had already been abandoned to the elements we were able to enter and go up the stairs to the little room she used to share with her two sisters. Unfortunately the photographs I took inside the house did not turn out and I must rely on my memory to recreate the place that nurtured my mother's shared remembrances of a
depression-era upbringing.

The homestead was built on another's land, a tenancy farm, after her family lost their land in Cayer due to the 1929 stock market crash. It was situated a few miles north of Gilbert Plains, a small town on Highway 5, north of Riding Mountain National Park and west of Dauphin in Manitoba. The relocation precipitated their eventual departure from the prairies and permanent move west to British Columbia 13 years later, at the end of World War II.


Nos. 9012, 8989, 9000, 9032, 9002, 8992, 9014, 9020 - 28 Jun 2012

A thicket of poplar trees has grown tightly around the little house my grandfather built for my grandmother - out of sight as if a Sleeping Beauty. I could not see it when I first drove by and only spied part of its fallen roof after I turned the car around. With some difficulty I breached the barrier of little trees to discover the roof had collapsed through the second floor and through the first where once stood the parlour and all is sinking into the cellar.
A tree grows through the front porch.


Nos. 9041, 9037, 9024, 9025 - 28 June 2012

No doubt my grandparents would be puzzled and fairly amused at my sentimental feelings for this pile of rotting timber. It is my understanding that, once the decision to leave was made, they left and never looked back. And yet, as a second generation survivor of the Great Depression, I feel as though I too know that house from hearing my mother speak of it often and lovingly
when I was young.

Old farms die like this on the prairie - slowly and with plenty of melancholy.

27 June 2012

Pilgrimage - Part One

No. 0147 - 27 Jun 2012 - 17:45:30

This is the church that my great grandfather built - St. Jean de Brébeuf.
I was unable to visit the Cayer District, Lake Manitoba last year due to the 2011 flood situation. The strong winds that have been lately will go a long way to drying out the land however the basement of the church is full of water and nothing will be done while it remains de-commissioned.




Nos. 8795, 8826, 8864, 8907, 8911, 8912 - 27 Jun 2012

I would like to buy it and turn it into an art gallery or museum
but the chance of visitors at the end of a 35 km gravel road and
north of the 51st parallel (next stop, Crane River) is slim.

26 June 2012

St. Vital


No. 8710 - 25 Jun 2012 - 19:35:53


No. 8694 - 25 Jun 2012 - 19:32:26 * No. 8695 - 25 Jun 2012- 19:32:33

Euro Cup inspires the neighbourhood after dinner.

25 June 2012

Panorama

No. 0126 - 25 Jun 2012 - 11:35:09

The cemetary at Cathédrale de Saint-Boniface on Taché Avenue is stretched and flattened with the aid of a camera app.
Left of centre in this image and encircled by stone is
the grave of Louis Riel.

24 June 2012

Summertime, Manitoba

No. 8666 - 24 Jun 2012 - 10:53:25

Some part of the Cayer family has lived in Winnipeg for over 130 years.

23 June 2012

Regina - Home To Wonderful Artists

No. 8610 - 22 June 2012 - 19:51:35

Thank you Carle.

Wilson


Nos. 8523, 8531 - 22 June 2012 - 17:32:32

Wilson is an American Robin who lives in my cousin's Calgary backyard. He was born with only one wing and one good leg. He has wisely chosen their home as a refuge and was so named by Leslie's daughter.

21 June 2012

Golden Morning

No. 0119 - 21 June 2012 - 05:34

I took this image with an iPod Touch and using an app that makes up for the questionable quality of the camera in the device. Five minutes after taking this, on my way out of town, I was forced to turn back due to a mudslide that had only just happened on the Trans Canada Highway. Re-directed to Calgary through Radium Hot Springs added one hour plus to my travel time but resulted in an easier drive.

20 June 2012

Leaving Vancouver

No. 0100 - 20 Jun 2012 - 07:15:27

Leaving Vancouver for a couple of weeks means saying goodbye to, among other things, great coffee. I am on my way to Winnipeg for a quick visit and will be at the mercy of Starbuck's and Tim Horton's coffee for the near future. This is a Photosynth image of the JJ Bean cafe on Railway in downtown Vancouver.

14 June 2012

Port of Vancouver

No. 0038 - 13 Jun 2012 - 19:26:12

07 June 2012

R.I.P. Public Privacy

No. 0623 - 23 Oct 2011 - 17:21:40

The gradual disappearance of the Public Telephone from the landscape suggests a shift in the value of privacy now that the personal mobile phone digitally documents our every movement and location.