Off to Ogema

We finished yesterday on a high note at the Dimensions Awards Ceremony where I was so fortunate to win the Jane Turnbull Evans Award for Excellence in Innovation in Craft sponsored by the Saskatchewan Arts Board. I was really thrilled to win this for my bowl carved from a Burr Oak tree brought from Winnipeg by Cathy’s brother John.

Burr Oak Bowl

After a delightful visit with friends Katherine and Randy we headed out from Regina on our way to Ogema where a group of volunteers has galvanized a community into believing they could make a train go from Ogema to Horizon.  The Highways Department has declared war on rural communities and denied them a road sign to help direct people to find this train.  Fortunately we drove into Ogema and there was the train waiting for us.

Having located the train we were ready for a coffee so were delighted to see a coffee machine in the train station.

Upon closer inspection it appeared the volunteer responsible for coffee had other duties today.

 It is amazing but this community has pulled off this astonishing feat and now you can step onto the past and be whisked off to Horizon (aptly named) at a speed of at least 10 km/hr. 

The real train ready to go.

 

Our friends Jane McPhee, Shan Landry and her sister Avril joined us for this leg of the adventure.

Jane and Cathy ready to go.

 

Our expectations were high to see wildlife on this trip so I was excited to see at least one red fox and many white-tailed deer.

 

The sky was truly alive today as the clouds swirled around.

 

After our return to Ogema we toured the local museum which has seen visitor numbers go from 300 to 3000/year after the introduction of the train.  We had begun to think about supper so were quite relieved to see that friends in the Maritimes had anticipated our hunger and supplied salted cod for our dining pleasure.

 

It appeared the organizers were anticipating a large crowd to help eat the codfish.

 

We left Ogema and had a delightful drive across the Big Muddy Hills to Coronach.  We had two recommendations to go for supper at the Chinese Restaurant on the East end of town.  On our first pass it didn’t register this was the restaurant but soon we realized just because nobody else was there it did not mean it was empty.

 The inside was nicely decorated and the food was … served. 

  I think the restaurant repair crew was still contemplating how to de-rust the porcelain facilities.

We are now settled in the Country Flavor Bed and Breakfast getting ready for tomorrow’s adventure.

The birds seem to be busy raising babies this week.  This Swainson's Hawk and a Yellow Warbler cooperated and allowed me to take their picture.

Swainson's Hawk

Yellow Warbler

 

On the weekend I went with some friends to a wood turning weekend at Deb McLeod's who lives near Ruthilda (near Biggar, Sask.).

One morning I went out and took some pictures in this very beautiful area with some native prairie grasses, sloughs, birds and wild flowers. Rain and wind accompanied me on my hike in this gorgeous environment. 

Flycatcher

Prairie Crocus flowers after the bloom.

Three-flowered Avens

Vesper Sparrow

Northern Shoveler, Male

Recent Bird Pictures

I am still going through all my old bird pictures and selecting the better shots so not all of these are in any particular chronological order.  Here are some recent pictures that I have put on the PBase website.

Spotted Towhee sitting in a Buffaloberry bush on the Meewasin Trail.

Common Starling eating junk food.  Taken in New Zealand.

Spotted Sandpiper on banks of South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon.

Savannah Sparrow on Meewasin Trail.

New Website for birds.

I have been busy since my last post working on a new website for my bird pictures. You can have a look at: http://www.pbase.com/trent

I plan on showing the new birds that I add to the website on this blog as well.  It will allow me to make a few more comments about the birds.

Pictures of my friend’s artwork will also appear here.

Here are some recent pictures of Mike Hosaluk's work for a show at the Slate Gallery in Regina.

These first ones are belt buckles Mike made from cutting up old tin containers and fastening them to a brass backing.  He then solders a loop for the leather belt and a hook to keep the belt tight.

This shows the front and back of the buckle. Note the loop for the belt and the hook.

Sculpture of bronze imaginary plants.

Birch vessel 15" tall, turned and painted.

A box that comes apart revealing a secret container. Turned, carved and textured.

Here is a selection of photos from my last few days of wandering around Vancouver. If you click on the little box with corner arrows you can watch in full screen mode. Press the Esc. key to get back. 

Another day of wandering Vancouver for me and another day of bicycle conference for Cathy. After the conference I met Cathy, collected our bicycles and we went for a ride around Stanley Park.  This pleased Cathy enormously as her active use of a bike had been stymied for two days as she was bombarded by experts from around the world on best practice in the cycling world. She was delighted to get rolling. 

Rolling along the Vancouver sea wall.

 
 

 

Time for a catch up blog.

Sunday, June 24 was a traveling day. Our retinas and taste buds were in for another thrill as we sat down to Apple Scooters for breakfast at the Birdsong B&B. This is a Danish treat where butter sautéed apple chunks are cooked inside a pancake batter and come out as… well, Apple Scooters. Dose in maple syrup, plop on some raspberry jam, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with bacon.

Apple Scooters

We had an enjoyable time learning about one of our hosts, Edward, and his earlier life as a clothing designer, maker and marketer in Vancouver. We had a ferry to catch so loaded up our panniers, said goodbye and headed to Fulford Harbour.

(L to R) Trent, Bill, Edward, Some other dude

A quick ferry ride to Swartz Bay and moments later we were headed to Tsawwssen.

It was amazingly easy to ride from the terminal to cousin Sally’s house in Ladner.  She lives in a floating house on the Fraser River. We had a most enjoyable afternoon and evening visiting with Sally’s friends on the dock and sharing family stories over supper. Sally had arranged to have John and Tess for supper so we had a lovely time catching up with them.  It was a pleasure to meet Sally's friend Steve as well.

Monday June 25, 2012

Sally and Steve fed us a royal breakfast and we headed off for downtown Vancouver with a short bike ride, a bus ride and the rest of the way on the Canada Line.  

Sally, Steve and Trent getting ready to roll.

 We found the YWCA Hotel, checked in and began the next 4 days of complete bicycle immersion. Cathy is in heaven.

Tuesday June 26, 2012

Cathy is off to her VeloCity conference for the next few days and I am free to wander and explore Vancouver.