Pinawa Wildlife

We spent a few days in our recent Manitoba visit back in Pinawa, and while it's too early in the year to see many of the insects or amphibians that live in the area, there are a few iconic mammals and birds which are either easy to find or striking enough that I thought we should share a few pictures. First off, there are white-tailed deer EVERYWHERE in town, much like this little fellow wandering along the ice by the beach. These guys seem to know very well where they can and can't be hunted, and subsequently congregate in town where they eat people's gardens and generally wreck havoc in the most adorable way possible.

 Great grey owls are very striking and impressive birds, despite the fact that a sizeable proportion of that bulk is made up of fluff and feathers when compared to smaller owls such as the great horned. Regardless, they are often obliging birds that perch out on telephone poles at conveniently observable heights. This fellow was out during a snow flurry so we didn't get as much time to watch it was we would have liked, but it was a great sighting all the same.

 Rounding out our set with admittedly a bit of a cop-out, Kathryn and I always enjoy seeing my parents cat Darwin. He's a very friendly little fellow, and while he has his own heap of weird kitty quirks, he is very good about being picked up or having his feet patted. Every time we visit, we make sure to get our kitty feet fix before returning to our own reprehensible animal who in no way tolerates such things.

And apologies to anyone who has noticed our 6 week gap in posts lately. I have had a particularly punishing tax course lately which ends in 10 days and took up a disproportionate amount of my time. Regular weekly posts to resume shortly for both of our loyal readers ;)

Manitoba Christmas Time Lapses

A little behind schedule here, but hopefully worth the wait, we shot a number of time lapses in Winnipeg and Pinawa around the Christmas season last year. Although the clip itself has been online for awhile now, I've finally found the time to pass it along to everyone in a proper place.

We have a few different types of time lapses here with an experiment in 5 second gaps rather than our usual 1 minute intervals the entire time. We had hopes of doing a few more ambitious outdoors shoots, but with daily temperatures around -40 plus windchill, it was pretty much impossible to go farther than our backyards.
Merry belated Christmas to you all and hopefully spring is right around the corner!

For Bob

 This past week our good friend Bob Taylor passed away. A brilliant photographer with a sharp eye and a long list of published books, he was a passionate voice for conservation and nature. Running tours through the Canadian arctic (particularly the bears of Churchill) as well as Eastern Africa he was always on the move and always charming, professional and patient.

 My father toured Kenya with Bob in 1986 and took me with him in 1996. The incredible experiences I had in that country were directly responsible for Kathryn and my tour with him in 2010. Bob strongly recommended the Galapagos and Quest tours to us at the time which obviously contributed to our end decision to visit the islands with that very company. Furthermore, Kathryn has been incredibly inspired by his efforts in photography and conservation and his influence certainly contributed to her working as a naturalist this past summer.

Through decades of tours in Eastern Africa, Bob built up a special rapport with many of the safari drivers and lodge staff. Henry Nzioka poses at Sweetwaters with him in the photo below on one of their many tours of Kenya over the years. Henry was a driver when I went with my father in 1996 and their friendship was already long established then.

 

I think Kathryn summarized it best:

A wonderful man of the world and naturalist died. Bob Taylor you opened up another world for me. No thanks will ever be adequate. I know that there are more worlds for you to explore.

Flashbacks Intro

So to spare our few brave readers the next 9 months of duck photos before we get on a new adventure, I thought we'd share some old pictures from before we started this blog and some of our trips and travels prior to our move.

Our first adventure together was a long-weekend camping trip to Kenora in 2006. Just the two of us for a few days out relaxing and seeing if we could put up with each other for extended stretches. Turns out we both liked it quite a bit and a trend was started.
The following year we took a summer expedition to Europe, starting in England and working our way through the former western block before ending in Istanbul. Kathryn was supposed to go on to Israel for summer work, but there was exceptional conflict in the area that year and her funding was pulled. Since we had gotten engaged a few weeks earlier we were quite happy to return home together and not have several months apart at all. Below is the pair of us seconds after our engagement in the tower at Dunstanborough Castle.
And the following year we had our honeymoon in the Mayan Riviera of Mexico. The picture below was taken at our resort before we went riding around on a tandem bicycle.

More Manitoba Mammals

There were quite a few other mammals to be seen this summer in Manitoba, starting with this little wild rabbit I saw while taking a walk through the Forks. He dashed across the path and stood still just long enough for my auto-focus to kick in before jumping through a hole in the fence. They are a not uncommon but always pleasant sight for me, and somewhat less so for my mother-in-law and her wonderful garden.
A trip out to Oak Hammock Marsh found us a handful of very tame and curious Richardsons Ground Squirrels, one of which in particular was willing to pose until we were practically sitting on him with his nose in the lens.
And last but not least, the icon of Manitoba, the bison. They were unfortunate in being on the wrong end of the "there's so many of them we can kill them forever and never run out" line of thought of early settlers. Their once massive herds have been decimated to a number of protected herds in provincial parks and some small herds raised for meat. This individual is from the latter group as there was a small group of them near the marsh.

Manitoba Legislative Building (inside)

Back in the days of the railway, Winnipeg was situated right in the middle of the country and had high hopes for becoming a transportation hub and all around huge city like Chicago became. Time didn't play out the way they'd hoped, but a very elaborate legislative interior was part of the payoff for thinking big. Tours of the interior are free to anyone passing by and if you've never done it, its certainly worth a look. The main entry plaza (click panorama below to enlarge) is pretty spectacular and those giant bronze bison were brought in without scuffing the marble floors by using giant pieces of river ice to slide them through.
The assembly chamber itself is a goodly size and filled with statues of philosophers and paintings of saints with seats on both sides for the ruling party and the opposition. There was no session going on the day I passed through but if the politicians are meeting there is a gallery above here where the public can watch.
And this is the interior of the giant dome at the top of the building looking up from the middle. There's a hole in the 2nd floor that lets light all the way down to the ground floor where there's another neat room below.

Manitoba Legislative Building (outside)

Canada lacks castles in general and Manitoba falls particularly short to that challenge, but it does have a very nice legislative building near the downtown core. As far as I can tell, most of the parliament buildings were built to the same general design but I guess if it ain't broke you don't fix it. The Manitoba legislative is made from Tyndall stone which is a sedimentary stone quite often filled with fossils, so the exterior of the building is full of neat worms and shells if you look closely. (click on the panorama below to enlarge)
On top of the central dome is the golden boy; holding a sheaf of wheat in one hand and a torch in the other, but apparently forgetting to wear pants, he shows how Canadians are always charging forward to greatness without perhaps thinking things through properly.
And since it was designed and built by The Masons there are all sorts of weird things like sphinxes on the building. Traditional Canadian sphinxes. A part of the heritage of the European settlers, indigenous natives and the metis all rolled into one: sphinxes. Okay, I really don't get them either...

Sheena and Co.

Sheena Santa is one of the best friends I made in my years in Winnipeg. We met at the same CG course back in '97 and had a goodly number of years having perfume fights in The Bay, partying at Die Maschine, and being generally troublesome.

File Photo circa 1998.

So when I was out for my friend Jasons wedding I made sure to find the time to catch up on old times and see how she's doing. Happily married and with a few wee ones, she's done pretty alright for herself. Shown below with a more grown-up look and her daughter Tegan.
I also finally had the chance to meet her husband Hugo (shown with their son Kieran) and he is every bit the gentleman and all-around nice guy that Sheena deserves. They make a very sweet couple and it was great to see an old friend and a selection of nice new faces.
Well done you two, keep up the good work :)

Manitoba Mammals

We found ourselves with a few hours to spare in Manitoba this fall and took a quick day trip out to my parents place in Pinawa. While we were there we had a quick 'game drive' of local wildlife as it had been quite awhile since we'd been in that neck of the woods in fall.

Starting off with something easy, white-tailed deer are everywhere in town and remarkably fearless so I was able to walk up to this one in a neighbors yard and get some nice pictures. They are not quite in their summer coats anymore but not in their fully shaggy donkey look that they adopt in the winter.
We did a small search in a few likely places and were able to turn up a pair of black bears. The first was very far in the bush and too obscured to photograph, but this little yearling was grazing on fallen acorns at Seven Sisters Falls and was willing to pose briefly for this picture.
These guys are a bit of a cheat as they are not remotely native to Canada, but there is an alpaca farm near Whitemouth and we stopped for a look on our way by. They are presumably being raised for their wool and there were several dozen of them in the enclosure.

Winnipeg Friendlies

Since I was in passing through Winnipeg anyways, I made sure to make it a long weekend for an extra day to visit some friends in my old stomping grounds. Ian and Victoria have been good buddies of mine since my olden days at Digital Chameleon some 8 years ago. We met up for some drinks at a pub and then wandered down to a game shop to chat and visit with Ian's assitant.
My good friend Colin was next on the list and we had some Indian food and then hit a few pubs for a beer or two in an endless quest to find a place that wasn't just setting up for loud and obnoxious music. I met Colin back in my gamer days maybe a decade ago and it was nice to check in with him and all his latest endeavors.
Rounding out the end of the night I was able to meet up with Wil who was flying out to Portugal the following morning. We grabbed a quick drink and a snack before calling it a night as he was busy most of the day and we didn't meet up until around midnight. Like Colin I've known Wil for ages since my gamer days and it was good to hear where he's at too.
Fine human beings one and all, if you are one of the above you have every right to be proud of yourselves :)

Louis Riel

Louis Riel was a metis Canadian and a key player in the creation of the province of Manitoba. He was gutsy enough to stand up to the federal government on several occassions, two of which ended in bloodshed, the last of which ended in his execution. Winnipeg features 2 memorials to this renegade/freedom fighter with very different feelings. This first one by the legislature shows him as a proud statesman.
Less discussed than his vision for Manitoba is his later mental imbalance and time spent in an insane asylum. Riel claimed to have spoken with angels and been given orders by God which are typically warning signs for most of us.
The second statue of him in Saint Boniface reflects more of this aspect with a man tormented and at odds with himself. I greatly enjoy both statues, finding his story to be a fascinating bit of Canadian history and I am glad to see him recognized as an important part of Manitoba culture.
Rebel of visionary, genius or madman, I think we can all agree that Riel was 20 feet tall and made of brass.

Jason & Veronica's Reception

I went back to Winnipeg for a long weekend near the end of August for the wedding reception of my good friends Jason and Veronica. They had gotten married on holiday in Italy earlier in the summer and then had a reception for family and friends after the fact.
Jason was my best man at our wedding and I couldn't pass on the chance to be there for his special day as he was there for ours. It was also very nice to meet his parents and get caught up with some old Winnipeg friends at the same time.
The whole evening was very enjoyable and the food was outstanding; plus, having a heavy Polish influence it was also unending with a full dinner, dessert and then a second full dinner around 10pm just to make sure nobody left in a state of being other than totally stuffed.
It was a great time through and through and I wish the new happy couple all the best in their years together :)