An old one from the first Utah trip....

I recently posted this image to my Flickr account.  This is one from the first trip down to Utah in October of 2013.  I was travelling with my friends Rob and Brad.  This shot was taken near the trail head to Wire Pass and The Wave.  It is a corral made from juniper logs.  I'm not clear whether this is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management or if it is used by the local ranchers that lease this area as grazing land for their cattle.  In any event the texture and tonality of this fence, against the rock formations, was visually intriguing.  This image was shot on Kodak Infrared film, with a #25 Red Filter.  Though I still have quite a bit of this film left in my freezer, it was discontinued many years ago with the last batches reaching their best before date in 2001.  I will continue to shoot with it as long as I get images like this....

Family Reunion

Three years ago I coordinated a family reunion with all of my cousins, as well as all of my aunts and uncles, and a few second cousins.  This was the first reunion that had been undertaken in a couple of decades.  Everyone was really enthusiastic, and the event was really well attended.  I volunteered to organize it again this year.

There are seventeen cousins in my generation, including myself and my two brothers.  Three years ago all but a couple were able to make it.  This time around the attendance was almost the same, but the enthusiasm was lacking.  My two brothers didn't make it, nor did one of my older cousins.  Everyone else showed up, but mostly just for the afternoon.  There were only two trailers that stayed overnight and the festivities were fairly short-lived.  The next generation of our kids did not show a lot of interest last time around, and even less so this time.  It was really nice to see everyone again and I'm glad that almost everyone was able to make it, but I am a little disappointed.  

We booked the Hillside Community Hall west of Westaskiwin and there were around 65 people in attendance.  We had a big BBQ and potluck and it was great to see everyone get back together.

My two surviving uncles both showed up with their wives, my aunts.  Walter and Ben are both in they nineties and amaze me with their longeviity.  Their wives Freida and Ruby were also there, as was my Mom, and my aunt Ellen.  Ellen is the last surviving triplet, born with my Dad, who passed away in late 2013, and a brother, Richard, that died as a child.  The other sibling was John, who never married and died of a brain tumor in the 1990's.  Lots of stories and memories were shared of all of the times spent getting together when we cousins were growing up.

I think we'll try to do this again at some point in the next three to five years.  Hopefully we can pump up the interest a little.  This time around only two families showed up with trailers and stayed over night and many were only able to stop by for the afternoon.  Maybe we can change things next time around.  Perhaps I am to blame for the lack of interest.  With all that has been going on in my life the last couple of weeks I just couldn't devote the time an energy to really get this outing organized.  I bailed out on getting out to the hall on the first night... Friday... and it seems that many followed suit.  The girls and I were able to get out on Saturday morning, and we stayed over until Sunday, but only my cousin Don stayed with us and everyone else headed home on Saturday afternoon and evening.

Upside Down

Wow... didn't see that coming... and now my life has been turned upside down.  Along with me for the ride is my wife, my kids, one of my business partners and his family... among others.  My colleague at work, who I hired to be my office manager about seven years ago, has really let me down.  I recently discovered that he was a closet alcoholic, who just came out of the closet.  Turns out he has been drinking heavily for quite some time, although in fairness it seemed to be mostly an after hours problem.  This has left me high and dry, and forced me to cancel my days off and vacation for the foreseeable future.  I now have to attempt to do his job, as well as mine.  It is all I can do to keep my head above water right now, despite 12+ hour days.  Just what I needed and wanted as I look to slow down towards my eventual retirement.  Margarit and my partner's wife Michele had recently signed on to do some part time work, helping out in the office.  With this situation suddenly thrust upon us they are now sharing a full time position, in addition to looking after kids and households.  It is a very stressful time for all of us.  With no solution in sight I have to try to do what is in the best interests of my company, my family and myself.  While my former employee attempts to turn his life around I have no option but to try and recruit a replacement.  Margarit and Michele will help me out in the short term and perhaps eventually drop back to the intended part time role that they signed up for.  In the mean time I am faced with doing the bulk of the work, all the while trying to train new staff to pick up the pieces.  Not exactly what I had in mind in the twilight of my working career.

Back to Nordegg

We weren't able to get away for the entire weekend this past one...  I went to the shop in the afternoon and started work on pre-fabbing the outhouse that we will set up in Nordegg.  I put the two younger girls to work doing some painting.  Then later there was a block party in our neighborhood on Saturday evening so we stayed and attended that.  A bunch of the neighbors got together and had a BBQ out on the street.  Around ten homes on our street sold in recent months or are currently for sale.  So, there are a bunch of new neighbors that we met for the first time.  After the BBQ was over and out of the way, a bunch of the kids and a few of us old guys had a big game of road hockey.  I was feeling pretty worn out and tired by the time we shut things down at dusk.

The next morning I got up early and tried to get the girls out of bed.  I finally got them all up and going by about 9:00 so that we could hit the road for Nordegg.  The ATV was pre-loaded on the flat deck trailer at the shop so we slipped over there to hook it up.  This time all the girls were coming along so we had a full truck.  We were on the road by 10:30AM and arrived in Nordegg at around 1:30PM.  It was Father's Day and the girls presented me with a card.  They respected my wish of no gifts.  After the formalities, we un-loaded the ATV and set to work on a few chores.  The trampoline was set up again, just like last summer.  The girls were all over it from the minute it was ready to go.  Then I set about finding a spot and digging a hole for our outhouse.  Much like the rest of our property it was very rocky and I was only able to get down to a depth of about 1-1/2 feet.  Should be good enough for the occasional use that this building will see.  I put the base in place, levelled it and backfilled around it.  The rest of the afternoon was spent just riding around on the ATV and going for a couple of short walks.  The two older girls both took turns driving and both were pretty careful.  By later afternoon we had to pack things up and head for home.  We left Nordegg about 6:30PM, made a stop in Rocky Mountain House for fuel and something to eat, dropped the trailer and ATV off at the shop, and made it home by about 10:30PM.  A long busy day but lots of fun.

June Day Trip to Viking

Last Sunday Margarit and I went out for a day trip.  We left the girls at home, asleep in bed, and headed out in the morning.  We were travelling to the southeast of the city to meet up with our friends Chris and Connie, in Viking, Alberta.  Chris and Connie had connected with a guy named Mike who was a mechanic in Viking, and also a volunteer at the local museum.  Mike's Dad had worked at the local Ford dealership, which although no longer a dealership, still exists.  Mike works there now and has made it a hobby to collect old cars that were originally sold by the dealership.  He lives with his wife and three daughters on a farm outside of town.  He has quite a collection of old vehicles, mostly Fords, but also a selection of others.  Many are stored outdoors and are in various states of deterioration.  A select few have been restored and some are set aside for future restoration.  A really friendly family that we spent that better part of the day with.  They served us a second breakfast when we arrived and then graciously showed us around their property.  They have quite a population of garter snakes on their farm and we saw a number of them.  I spent some time photographing a couple of the old vehicles and hope I did justice to the collection.  I'll share scans of one or more of those images once I get around to processing the film.

Later, before heading back to the city we made a side trip over to an old orthodox church and community hall.  A very enjoyable day and it is was great to see Chris and Connie again.

Templeton Falls

Here is another image from the Spring Photo Weekend.  This was the weekend spent out in the Columbia Valley of British Columbia, near Fairmont Hot Springs.  Seems like just a couple of weeks ago but in fact it was nearly two months ago, at the end of April.  This shot was at one of my favourite locations.  We have returned to this little waterfall along the Templeton River every time that we have visited the valley over the years.  It has changed quite a bit, most recently with some heavy flooding that significantly eroded the river channel about three years ago.  This particular shot was taken with my Ebony SV45TU camera and a Nikkor M 300mm lens.  The film was Ilford FP4 developed in Perceptol 1:1.

10 Voices Submission - Rejected

Visual Arts Alberta put a call out for submissions last spring.  They are sponsoring a gallery exhibition that will be hosted, later this year, at both the Northern and Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditoriums.  A variation of this show takes place every year.  This time around they were considering both digital and traditional photography.  They were choosing a number of works by 10 artists.  I sent my submission package in way back in the spring.  Today I received an e-mail advising that my submission had NOT been accepted.  I understand that they plan to exhibit 30 pieces... three works each by ten artists.  I'll be curious to see what made the grade.

In hindsight I think it is probably a good thing that my submission was turned down.  I didn't have any of my work printed yet and would have had to find the time to make exhibition prints from the negatives that I selected and submitted as digital scans.  I am having staffing issues at work at the moment and working long hours.  I'm also not able to take any of my scheduled days off.  We are busy this summer with the construction of our summer home at Nordegg about to get started.  I think I have to put my submission plans on hold for a while until my schedule settles down a little.  For the moment all I really have time for is work, a little family time mostly on weekends, and my weekly hockey game for exercise.

Day Trip to Nordegg

Last Sunday, Hailey and I took another day trip out to Nordegg.  Annelise wanted to stay home to study for an upcoming dance exam, and Margarit and Helena stayed home with her.  Hailey and I loaded up the ATV and took a spin out to Nordegg.  We left early enough that we arrived at our property just after lunch.  We off loaded the ATV and hit the trails.

After leaving the subdivision we crossed Highway 11 and took the Off-Highway vehicle trail into town.  Work is progressing on the new store being built in town.  I recently read in the Clearwater County newletter that the historic Bank of Commerce building had been declared a historic site and was to be restored.  I had photographed this building about three weeks ago, the last time we were in town.  This time around the building was jacked up onto beams, moved off it's original site, a new foundation poured, and it looked ready to move back on.  Nice to see things progressing so quickly.  I also noticed an old abandoned store at the edge of town that I had previously not been aware of and we paused there for a photograph with the view camera.

We headed up into the hills on the OHV trails.  This time there was no snow and we were able to travel much further than the last time we were up here.  The trail eventually met up with a fairly high grade road.  We followed the road around to the south and it eventually looped up and towards the northeast.  It ended at a large cleared site near the summit of Eagle Peak.  The view from up here was spectacular.  I later learned that there was once an oil well site up here.  It appears to have been recently removed as the site was all graded and the well was no where to be seen.  We followed the road all the way back down to the Industrial Park.  There was a gate and a sign at the base that indicated it belonged to Pengrowth Resources, but was open to Off Highway vehicles.  

We followed the Trunk Road from the Industrial Park back down to Highway 11 and then followed that back into town.  We stopped at the food truck in town and ordered a couple of burgers for a late lunch.  Then we drove back up to the water tanks above the town site.  There are three of them, one collapsed and abandoned, a second newer and apparently still in use, and a third brand new one.  Just down the slope from the tanks was an old building.  On first glance it looked like a house but I think it was some sort of pump house.  There was a small spring beside it that flowed with clear cold water.  There was also the remains of some wood cribbing of an old water well.  Water was trickling out from beneath the foundation of the building and inside were the remains of some vandalized old plumbing pipes.  Nearby was a new looking concrete pad with what appeared to be a well.  I'm guessing that this is perhaps the town water supply and that it is used to fill the new tank up the slope.

I couple more photographs with the view camera were in order before we continued on our way.

We headed back over to the property in the early evening and loaded the ATV back onto the trailer.  The lot to the east of ours now sports a "sold" sign, since our last visit.  It appears that all but one or two of the acerage properties on the uphill side of Tamarack Trail are now sold.  Lots of activity with sites being cleared and building construction projects getting underway.  There was some activity on the lot two doors to the west of us and Hailey and I walked over and introduced ourselves to our new neighbors, Rob and Brenda from Sylvan Lake.  They just bought their property at the beginning of 2017 and already have their septic tank and foundation in and are about to start construction of their cottage.
Nothing much has happened at our place in the last three weeks as we are still awaiting a bunch of paperwork before we can really get things underway.  We have our development permit in place but need to get a building permit.  That application is in, but is stalled waiting for some New Home Warranty documents.  We have chosen to opt out of the costly warranty program as we are acting as our own contractors and will closely monitor construction ourselves.  But even to opt out costs $750 and requires a annoying complicated application process followed by a lengthy bureaucratic review.  Tax dollars in action...!  Our fee payment, application forms and sworn affidavit have been in the hands of the bureacrats for over three weeks now and they just began to review our file two days ago.  Government and action are two words that do not belong in the same sentence and I'm becoming very frustrated at the glacial pace of this process.  I spoke with our contractor this week and weather permitting he hopes to have our septic tank, foundations, water storage cistern and temporary power panel in by around the end of the month so that framing can commence in July.  Fingers crossed...!

It was about 7:00PM before Hailey and I had the ATV tied down so that we could hit the road and just after 10:00PM before we got back to the city.  We dropped off the ATV and trailer at the shop and made it home by about 10:30,  A long day, with lots of driving, but very enjoyable.

Family Get Together in Jasper

For over a dozen years now my family has held an annual get together in the mountains.  This includes my Mom, as well as my two younger brothers and their families.  This year we returned to Jasper National Park.  We had reserved some accommodations at the Patricia Lake Bungalows, up on the bench above the Jasper townsite.  This was the weekend of May 26 to 28.

I booked the Friday off work as one of my scheduled days off.  We pulled the girls out of school for the day, and headed for the mountains in the morning.  The rest of the family would arrive later that evening.  On our way into the National Park we say a Mountain Goat up on a steep slope above the road.  On our way home a couple days later we would see Bighorn Sheep in the same spot.  We stopped in the dunes on the spit of land between Jasper Lake and Talbot lake and explored for awhile.  The mountain runoff is in full swing and water levels were high.  I pulled out my view camera and made a couple of photographs while the girls explored.  Later we headed into town and had dinner at a local restaurant.  It was a Greek place and the pizza I ordered was one the best I'd had in years.  After dinner we headed up to the Bungalows and checked in.  The rest of the family would arrive later that evening.

The remainder of the weekend was pretty laid back and we just visited and relaxed.  We rented a couple of canoes and some of the family paddled around Patricia Lake for a while.  We played Bocce and Frisbee and Basketball.  In the evening the requisite game of charades took place.  While some of the family was on the lake paddling around, my brother Greg and I took a walk along the shore.  We watched a garter snake, about 18 inches long, slithering amongst the rocks at the waters edge.  Then to our surprise it dove into the cold mountain water and disappeared into the underwater rocks.  A moment later it popped back it, with a minnow in its jaws.  There were calypso orchids blooming all over the place in the woods.

There was a spectacular display of aurora late that night but I missed it.  My brother Wes and his daughter were out to experience it.  On Sunday afternoon we checked out and headed into town for an ice cream.  After that we said our goodbyes and headed off in various directions to our homes.  The girls and I stopped by a small roadside pond on the way home and I took another shot with my view camera.  After that it was a pretty uneventful four hour drive back home.

 

May Long Weekend

After all the miserable weather we had through the spring, I half expected it to snow on the May Long Weekend.  Instead it was really nice with mostly sunny skies, and mild temperatures.  I packed up my three daughters, and we headed down to East Coulee for the long weekend.  Our trailer was still down there in storage from the winter, and we would stay there, and then bring it home.

Margarit decided to stay at home and try to catch up on some chores around the house.  It is always easier to accomplish something without three girls in the way.

The girls and I headed down on Saturday morning.  We dropped off all of our groceries and stuff at the shop, and put everything in the trailer.  The trailer was still parked inside the shop and we left it there for the weekend.  Then we headed over to the Last Chance Saloon in Wayne for lunch.  It was very busy, and the service very inattentive.  Later in the day we headed back over to East Coulee.  We took a walk around town and checked out all the usual stuff.  The old timber bridge of the Red Deer River has now been barricaded by CP Rail.  Although the structure of the bridge is still fairly sound, the deck has been getting quite rotten and I suppose they are concerned that someone will fall through.  We also walked along the river and admired all the trees that were blooming.

On Sunday, we took a drive out onto the prairie.  We headed over to an old abandoned stone house that I have been to in the past.  I wanted to photograph it again, as well as to show it to the girls.  The nearest road is about half a mile from the house so we parked the truck and set off across the prairie on foot.  Unfortunately, the old creek oxbow that surrounds the house was unusually wet this year, and we weren't able to get right up to it.  But I did make a few photographs from a short distance away.  On the way back to East Coulee we stopped at an old abandoned farm yard and explored a little.  We also noticed what appeared to be a bison rubbing stone.  This was a large glacial eratic out on the prairie.  A deep depression was worn into the ground around it from the animals coming to rub their coats on it.  Some of this was no doubt from cattle that also used the stone for the same purpose.  But the depth of the depression suggests that it was used for a long time, so possibly bison used it as well.

We also stopped at an old country cemetery and checked that out before eventually making our way over to Dorothy.  The ghost town of Dorothy used to be a favorite camping spot of ours.  But, it has now been largely restored, and become more popular.  The girls were quite disappointed with the changes and felt a sense of sadness that it was no longer what we used to enjoy.  After leaving there we headed back to the shop and once there we set up the BBQ and began to prepare dinner.  Our friends Chris and Connie were in the area exploring some old stuff and they stopped by to have dinner with us.  We sat around visiting for quite a while that evening.

On the holiday Monday morning we packed up the trailer and tidied everything up.  Then I hooked it to the truck and we eased it out of the shop.  We headed back home to the city by evening, with the trailer in tow.  We will now have it available to us for weekend trips to other places.

Morning Shoot

A very busy schedule in recent weeks, as well as some computer issues, have seen me fall behind in posting to my blog.  I'm trying to get caught up....

I've been attempting to slow down at work a little over the past year or so.  Mostly it's working out, but there are lot of things that still require my attention.  My days are still fairly long as I usually arrive at the office shortly after 8:00AM, and it is usually 6:00PM before I leave.  But, every other week or so I take a day off... usually tagged on to a weekend.  I find these breaks to be very relaxing and will continue with my plan. 

In recent weeks those days off have allowed me to take part in the Spring Photo Weekend, the Video Documentary Project, and more recently, our annual extended family weekend in the mountains. 

One day back in mid May, it didn't really work out for me to take the Friday off from work.  And, it was fairly busy in the office so I decided to take half a day on Monday instead.  I headed out on a Monday morning, to explore and photograph an old abandoned cemetery up in Lamont County.  I had found it earlier in the spring, and now that the snow was gone, felt it was worth a return trip.  I didn't take any snapshots with my digital camera, but will post some of the film shots later in the year once I process the negatives.

By about noon it was time to head in to work so I pointed the truck back towards the city and headed for the office.  I passed through Elk Island National Park on my way back, just as a rain shower rolled through.  I spotted this Canada Goose on the side of the road, trying to shelter her goslings from the rain and managed to take this snapshot.

Spring Photo Weekend

I think this is one of the first negatives that I've been able to process and scan from the Spring Photo Weekend trip.  This is the trip that happens fairly regularly most years, with the members of the Monochrome Guild.  Andy, Peter, Steve, Daniel and I spent a weekend in the Columbia Valley near Fairmont.  This particular detail shot was of the Templeton River.  I used Ilford FP4+ film in my Ebony 4" x 5" camera.  The film was processed in Perceptol developer, diluted 1:1.  I used a 300mm lens for this shot so that I could get in tight on the highlights of the water spilling over this cedar log.  The exposure was at F45.0, to hold depth of field, for 16 seconds, which nicely blurred the water.

This is my first blog post in quite some time.  I've been having issues with one of the hard drives on my computer.  I have managed to back up virtually all of the files but the drive itself has now crashed completely.  I need to find time to get my system torn apart so that this drive can be replaced.  Between that and summer hockey games and kids activities I just haven't found time to get around to posting much lately.  Hopefully I can catch up with a few posts over the next little while...!