All posts by meanderer007

Autumn Delight

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn, Nature, photography

 

Very few people understood the eastern forests better, or at least could explain them more coherently, than Henry David Thoreau. This is what he said:

“If a man walks in the woods for the love of them for half each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is esteemed as an industrious and enterprising citizen.”

 

 

Hermann Hesse also got it right: “Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever learns to speak to them can learn the truth.  They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”

 

I love reflections of the autumn leaves in lakes or streams. I can never get enough of them.

 

The autumn colours were clearly the best that we had seen yet on this trip. They were sensational. As we strolled along the Mersey River the colours reflected brilliantly in the water of the river.

The water in many places seemed brown. This was not from dirt or pollution. It is stained brown as it seeps through the surrounding bogs and gets coloured brown. The locals call it Mersey tea.

 

Tannins stain the water brown saponins are a kind of natural soap. When they fall over rapids they form stable foam.

The river contains a lot of slate which is a smooth gray metamorphic rock that forms natural dams over the river. Over time the slate has been polished smooth. The slate was formed about 500 million years ago when silt was deposited in fine layers on what was then the continental shelf of northern Africa!  Think about that. The slate moved with the continent from Africa to North America.

380 million years ago the continents of Africa and North America moved together closing the Atlantic Ocean in the process. This collision of continents baked and bent the layers of silt and shale into the metamorphic rock that we call shale.

 

Later the continents shifted again and the continents separated once more leaving some African slate as part of what we now call Nova Scotia.

Autumn in Nova Scotia is grand. Life in Nova Scotia is grand.

Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site.

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn, Nature, photography

 

This morning we said good-bye to our new friends from Quebec  and set out for Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site.This is the only National Park in Canada that is also a Historic Site.

 

Christiane and I had a wonderful walk through a trail near the park entrance along the Mersey River.  The colours were spectacular and the entire walk was a delight.

 

The eastern forests are glorious for many reasons. One of the reasons—a big one—is the astonishing variety of trees. You can really see this elemental fact when you look at all the incredible colors of the trees in a place like Kejimkujik.

 

The autumn colours were clearly the best that we had seen yet on this trip. They were sensational. As we strolled along the Mersey River the colours reflected brilliantly in the water of the river.

 

 

Kejimkujik is located in Southwest Nova Scotia together with an adjunct consisting of a parcel of land on the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Christiane made good friends with a woman from Maryland. Both of the women  had a wonderful chat as their overly eager amateur photographer spouses went off in search of the elusive perfect autumn images. At least they were elusive for Christiane’s spouse.

 

Some of the canoe routes here are thousands of years old. They are part of Mi’kmaw culture.

It includes petrogrly sites, habitation sites, fishing and hunting sites, travel routes and burial grounds, all of which attest to Mi’kmaq occupancy for thousands of years.

It has also been designated as a dark-sky preserve by the Royal Astronomical Society with some of the brightest night skies in southern Canada.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best: “The wonder is that we can see trees and not wonder more.”

The War on Smart

politics, Skeptical Philosophy, The Sleep of Reason

 

Late night comedians are smart. At least they are smart enough to gather together a diverse collection of funny people. And when they smell ignorance, they smell funny. Recently this was proved by the actions of Donald Trump. Actually, this has happened many times, but it certainly happened when Donald Trump declared war on brains. One of those actions—there are actually many—was the dismissal of basically all of the Department of Education. After all who needs education. Trump’s sons didn’t need no education!

 

As Jimmy Kimmel said, “Trump famously said he loves the poorly educated, and now he will have so many more people to love.” Supposedly that is what it means to say ignorance is bliss.

 

Kimmel also said this: “Trump signed the order [gutting the Department of Education] during an event at the White House. They invited  like ‘Hey kids, who hates school?’  And they’re like ‘Well we all do!’  And they said, ‘Well, good news, it’s over.’

 

One more comment from Kimmel:  “The idea behind this is to let the states come up with their own educational standards. For instance, from here one, in order to receive a high school diploma in Florida, all you have to do is complete the maze on the back of the kids’ menu at Fuddruckers.”

 

Jimmy Fallon said this, “Today, President Trump signed an executive order to shut down the Department of Education. It’s a historic move that years from now kids will not read about in history books.”

 

Greg Gutfeld said, “President Trump signed an order today to dismantle the Department of Education. Yep. Soon employees will be reading their pink slips at a third-grade level.”

 

Yes, in the good ole USA, famous the world over for the strength of its universities is turning to dumb. Dumb on steroids.  And this is no accident. That is what Trump and the Dumpsters want—ignorance.  They want dumb! They want it. And they’ll get it. Kimmel was right when he called it “a confederacy of dunces.”

 

Why does Trump want dumb?  I think Hannah Arendt had the answer::

 

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

 

Trump, like most totalitarians likes dumb!

 

Digby Lighthouse proves No one has to make Canada great again!

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada

 

 

As faithful readers of this blog will know, I consider lighthouses a sacred trust. They are important. Vitally important. And I am not the only one.

 

Even though it was a modest light on the harbour site, in Digby there was a dispute over a lighthouse which was resolved in typical Canadian style without war. Just like the Canadian dispute with Denmark over Hans Island. Since I am named after that island, I consider it sacred too, and it was also resolved amicably between Canada and Denmark

 

 

It took more than 30 years to resolve the argument over the Digby lighthouse.  (I could not call it a “fight” in good conscience). It had a been a fixture in Digby for 70 years until it was removed by the Canadian air force in one of its worst ever dereliction of duties. At the time, the Canadian Coast Guard brought the lighthouse to Saint John New Brunswick for “storage.”  Of course, like so many things governments do, such as income tax impositions which were also supposed to be temporary, this act too seemed to be permanent. For about 30 years it was a fixture in the New Brunswick harbour.

 

But fault also lay with the people of Nova Scotia who failed to honour and protect the Lighthouse as was their heavy duty. Many people of Digby actually forgot about it, as impossible as that sounds. Eventually, the Digby council sent a delegation to the Saint John Waterfront Development Corporation and urged them to give it back to Digby, where they said it belonged.

 

And guess what happened? In true Canadian fashion they gave it back! Can you imagine Donald Trump giving something back? Light the Eiffel Tower for example? Of course not. That is not how he sees Americans becoming great again. For the same reason he wants the Panama Canal back even though the United States gave it to Panama.

 

 

The Saint John Waterfront Development Corporation however was a good Canadian neighbour! A spokesman for that corporation, Kent Macintyre said, “We have three lighthouses on the waterfront, so handing back one to help invigorate the heritage development of another Bay of Fundy community is wonderful.”  On October 19, 2012 the lighthouse came home to Digby thanks to the honest Canadians of Saint John New Brunswick.

 

Only in Canada! That’s why I love Canada!  That’s why we don’t have to make Canada great again. It is already great! As Aristotle would have said, ‘Canada is great-souled.”  And that is greatness indeed.

 

But that was not the entire story. When the lighthouse returned it was badly in need of repairs and as it turned out the National Trust for Canada opened a campaign headed “this Lighthouse matters” to stimulate historical restoration or conservation of lighthouses, so the citizens of Digby got together and the Digby pier light got first place after receiving 219,000 votes from around the world and the funds were used to fix it up again. It looked pretty snazzy on the harbour, I must say. Some people know what’s important!

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada

 

In 1604 the famous French explorer Samuel Champlain named the town Port-Royal. Now we call it Annapolis Royal on the Annapolis Basin.

 

The French had tried a few times to establish successful settlements until 1605 when they started one that worked at Port Royal Nova Scotia. This one was led by Pierre Dugua le Sieur de Mons and worked mainly because they were helped by the local Mi’kmaq.

 

The Mi’kmaq offered their valuable knowledge about the land and its inhabitants that proved immeasurably helpful to the new arrivals. They also became military allies. The alliance lasted for 150 years. And, of course, many of them joined the French in their religion as well. They became Christians.

 

Christiane and I visited the reconstructed Habitation on what is now a designated  historic site of Canada. It is located close to where the original one was believed to be. The reconstructed Habitation was completed in 1941 and was instrumental in providing an example of how such projects should be handled. The reconstruction was based on Champlain’s picture plan of the settlement.

 

Before Europeans arrived the people now called Mi’kmaq were called L’Nu’k which like names claimed by so many Indigenous Peoples means, “the people.” The Mi’kmaq lived here for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. The traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq included all of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and part of New Brunswick including the land north of the St. John River and the Gaspe area of Quebec. In other words, it included pretty well all the land we travelled on for 3 weeks in the Maritimes. The Mi’kmaq called the southern part of Nova Scotia Kespukwitk which means “the end of the flow.”

The first two years of the French settlement were very hard and many of them died, even though they had help from the Mi’kmaq. As a result morale was understandably very low among those settlers. As a result, Champlain wisely started a social group in the winter of 1606 to 1607 called the Order of Good Cheer. What a great name! The group had regular nights of singing, feasting, and story-telling. Naturally, some beverages were also consumed. How could you have an Order of Good Cheer without that? The Mi’kmaq chiefs were often invited to sit at the head table with the “gentlemen.”

Bed & Roses B & B

Today the historic site is called Port Royal. A number of years ago we stayed for a number of days at a lovely B &B. It was elegant, but also comfortable.

It is also an artistic community. Now the community admits “Visitors are invited to delve into the rich Mi’kmaq history and heritage, witnessing its enduring impact on our vibrant culture.”

 

A Church in need of a Savior

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Churches

 

After our time in Yarmouth Nova Scotia we continued on our way back to Digby, but this time we travelled along the coastal route, carefully avoiding the access controlled highway.  Meandering in other words.  As a result, we saw a good part of the Acadian French coast of Nova Scotia.  There were numerous little French towns that were settled by the Acadians. Acadian heritage is proudly on display in every small town here.  Their flags visible everywhere. Ubiquitous.

 

Yet there was one stain on their proud record. That was the dilapidation of Eglise Ste. Marie.  This is a huge French Romanesque Revival Church in the Acadian community of Church Point. It is right beside the highway. We were not expecting it and new nothing about it until we happened on it.  How could we not stop to see this?is reputed to be the largest wooden church in North America. It is an important cultural mark for the Acadian community yet it has fallen into ruin. It is no longer used as a church and is likely unsafe.  I saw some pretty big cracks in it and feared to go close let alone inside. Christiane disagrees with me but she is a Catholic. I know I did not want to go inside. Too me it looked rickety and unsafe.

In my opinion, churches, like lighthouses can be beautiful.

As I have said, I love dilapidated buildings, but when a heritage building falls into such disrepair it is sad. It is sad the community was not able to get together to save it. The Catholic church who continues to use it, but is not able to maintain it, has listed it for sale.  You can buy this church!  Why not buy it?

It has been designated as a historic place by the Province of Nova Scotia.

The church was completed in 1905 so it is pretty impressive. It was the third church to be built on the site to serve the local Catholic congregation who were mainly the descendants of the Acadian families who arrived in the area in 1769 from Massachusetts after being deported by the English. They returned to Nova Scotia on foot. Their homes had been destroyed by the barbarian English who had displace the Acadians.

 

I have been told that the high vaulted ceilings combined with the large nave and transepts give the visitor, upon entering, a sense of grandeur and awe. As I said, I was too afraid to walk inside for a closer look. It takes a man of faith to do that. But the sheer size of the church gives it a dominating appearance as the 185-foot spire can be seen from miles around. We just happened upon it and at first thought it was a church in good standing. Sadly, on closer inspection that was no longer the case.

 

About 10 years ago the Arch-Diocese gave a community group 1 year to raise the money to restore and maintain it but they were only able to raise $500,000. It was estimated that $10 million would be needed to save it.  After that money would be needed for maintenance.

The roof is leaking in several places said a local Pierre Comeau the head of a local committee that tried to raise the $10 million needed to save it. Comeau said “The church deserves to be maintained and preserved as a monument to the faith and the tenacity of our ancestors who built it.”

 

In 2023 an anonymous donor offered to pay the $10 million purchase price and pay for maintenance. When Comeau and his group heard about the offer they were “ecstatic and overjoyed.” When they heard the news it felt like “the offer came down from heaven.” Spiritual ecstasy, like political popularity, is often short-lived. Alas, heaven has failed to save the church. That offer was withdrawn by the secret donor who did not give a reason for his/her changed mind. Now it is a monument to inadequate faith!

 

In 2024 the church was deconsecrated and put up for sale. Apparently According to numbers provided by the archdiocese, 32 church buildings in Nova Scotia have been deconsecrated in the past decade, and nine of those buildings have been sold. The province said it would not buy the church.

 

One thing is clear, the church needs a savior or it is a goner. And that would be a shame.

 

Whapmagoostui (Cree Territory): Respect for Life

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy

 

in the series “Telling Our Stories”, Saige Mukash said there are so many things that are spiritual—such as waking up and greeting the sun. To Matthew Mukash goose hunting is part of their spiritual tradition and they understand that if you are part of this culture, the goose will protect you. The goose brings food and medicine and also “a reminder that mother earth provides whatever it is that we need.” As a result, the people must respect the goose. Even though they hunt goose and eat goose, they must respect the goose. This is part of their culture and their spirituality. Respect for all species.

 

Danielle O’Bomsawin-Mukash, an Abenaki from Odanak, said  she eats a salad and it was alive. And she eats it. Obviously, she is not a vegan since she eats goose, but all of us eat things that are alive.  “We believe that everything has a spirit. It means showing as much respect as you can,” she said, as she was removing the feathers from a goose. Respect is a fundamental concept in many Indigenous cultures.

 

Matthew Mukash said the job of an old man is to keep the meat turning above the fire. He does that while sitting comfortably on a chair in his wooden shelter. And just like old men in the white territories his grandchildren giggle as he talks. He prays to the ancestors as he gets the food ready to eat.

 

These are their ceremonies. They reminded me of Catholic Ceremonies. Many religious groups have ceremonies. I remember as a good Mennonite boy the first time I was in a Catholic church in the little town of LaBroquerie, I was surprised at the strange ceremonies they had. Priests in fine robes handing out the body and blood of Christ. Not really that different. Matthew Mukash said, in their culture old people were present when the food was cooked and they shared their stories.

Waskamatsiwin: Everything Alive is Sacred

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy

 

Waskamatsiwin–Everything that’s alive is sacred. As Eruoma Awashish, an Atikamekw from Opitciwan, another Indigenous group in Eastern Canada, said in the CBC Gem series, “Telling Our Stories”,

 

“Waskamatsiwin is a philosophical concept. It could be translated as to live in full consciousness within the harmony of the Circle. For me the word expresses our entire worldview, how we see ourselves in relation to the world. How we interact with the world. We aren’t in the centre of this circle. We are within it.”

 

This is very different from the spiritual colonialism of Europeans and Canadians. They don’t claim to be dominant or in the centre. It is enough to be part of the world of nature.

 

Steve McComber, Kanien’kehà:ka from Kahnawake said

 

“spirituality is the application of ritual, song, dance, people, laughing, singing, and being happy for what our Creator gave to us.”

 

Saige Mukash, Eeyou from Whapmagoostui, added

 

“Spirituality would be us communicating with the spirit world. Communication with ceremonies, and also an understanding of where we all fit into the Circle.”

 

Another woman said,

 

“Bears play an essential role in our spirituality. It is also said that they speak the language of men. The bear is our equal. Our brother. Our protector. Many nations also respectfully call them Nimisho, my grandfather. Like all living and non-living beings the bear is a part of our circular world-view.”

It was interesting for me to consider Indigenous spirituality as we drove through eastern Canada

A Treasure Trove of Colour

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, photography

 

 

We had barely left Cape Forchu when we discovered another splendor. A treasure trove of colour! I almost passed this by. That would have been a sin.

I don’t know who put these things together, but I really believed they did it just for me. I love colour. It energizes me and this really energized me.

I spent almost as much time photographing these various items of seaside paraphernalia as I did photographing the Forchu Lighthouse.

 

I really can’t remember the last time I encountered so much colour. Colour without a apparent purpose, but I felt the French impressionists would have gone crazy here. I sure did.

 

These looked like missiles of colour

 

A colour wheel

 

 

 

Finally a house with a nice trim in a nice colour against a blue sky.

 

The Beacon of Canada: Cape Forchu

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Lighthouses

 

 

 

Our main goal in our travel in the afternoon was Cape Forchu in  Yarmouth Nova Scotia. OK, it was my main goal. Christiane never expressed such a goal. She is a much more reasonable person than I, at least when it comes to lighthouses.

First, I must set my upcoming comments into the proper perspective. The last time we were in this part of Nova Scotia, about 10 years ago, we made a trip to Cape Forchu I was bad disappointed because the lighthouse there was shrouded by ugly dark, but interesting clouds. Actually, I was more than disappointed. I was devastated. My photos were all duds.

This day started out differently. We had beautiful blue skies sprinkled with little happy white clouds. Excellent!  But, as we started driving towards Yarmouth where that lighthouse is located, darker more miserable clouds started setting in. By the time we got there, there was only a small layer of blue. I was set for another devastation. This could not be. This was monstrous injustice. The universe could not be unfolding that way. But it did. So, I once again photographed as best I could. Which was not very good.

 

Yet I kept to the high ground. I did not mope or go quiet and sullen. I put on a false brave face. And guess what? I was rewarded for my heroic conduct.

I was already packing up my gear when hope rose on the horizon.  Blessed light was appearing. Slim slices of blue arrived. Light. I raced back up the hill and was rewarded by joy. Pure joy. The light brougth joy into my life again. The only thing that could have been better was dramatic skies. I was not that lucky, but I was lucky.

 

Samuel de Champlain, Canada’s premier explorer from France  explored this part of Nova Scotia’s coast and named the area “Cap Forchu”, meaning forked tongue of land. Until today that is what it had become for me.

In 1840, The Cape Forchu lighthouse was built by His Majesty’s government in Nova Scotia before Confederation and it was lit on  January 15, 1840 by lightkeeper, James Charles Fox. It was only the 2nd lighthouse in Nova Scotia with a revolving white flashing light to distinguish it from others. Tragically, just 3 months into his new job, lightkeeper James Fox (age 52) died on March 27 leaving behind his wife Bessie and 8 children. His 24-year-old son Cornelius “John” Thomas Fox was appointed the new lightkeeper.

 

The lighthouse at Cape Forchu has been called the Beacon of Canada. It is truly stunning. I would love to photograph it in a nice sunset. Sadly, we did not stay for sunset because there were other things we wanted to see today, churches!

 

In 1857, a fog bell was mounted in a small wooden tower that had been installed making Cape Forchu a light station and not just a lighthouse. The bell’s mechanical striking system which rang 7 times each minute had to be wound up periodically by the keeper.

 

1873, after 33 years of faithful service John Fox retired at the age 57. During that time, he and his wife Sarah had 4 children during their time on the Cape. Their oldest son James R Fox, age 31 was appointed as lightkeeper in his place. In 1874 James and his young wife Maggie gave birth to a son Harry who died at Cape Forchu when he was merely 4 months old. Life in and around lighthouses was fierce.

 

A 2nd order Fresnel lens (the best available) was installed in 1908 at a cost of $38,000. At the same time a new metal lantern room 12 ft taller was built to house the new lens, which today can be seen in the Yarmouth County Museum. It had a frame with 8 lens faces containing 360 prisms. It gave out a brilliant ¼ second flash 24 times a min.

 

 

On September 17, 1939, the lighthouse was hit by lightning twice around 1:15 am. This was not the first time it was hit.  This time, the wooden floor of the tower, where lamp oil was stored, was set on fire. Lightkeeper Cunningham assisted by several others managed to keep the fire under control until a Yarmouth fire truck arrived to save the day. During its 99-year history this was at least the 5th time the lighthouse or residence was struck by lightning. Lighthouses often attract lighning. Professional jealousy perhaps.

In 1940, a new fog alarm building was built, attached to the front of the lighthouse tower.  That same year a big improvement came—electricity. When electrical service began in October, Herb Cunningham the last of the old and renowned lamp lighters, reported that the first light bulb lasted 5 months. During World War II years all lighthouses and their keepers became an important part of Canada’s Coastal Defense Program watching out for enemy German submarines and unidentified aircraft. The Germans attacked any vessels they could. So did the Canadians.

In 1952 Herb Cunningham retired as lighthouse keeper after 30 years on the job. He estimated that during his employment he had climbed the lighthouse stairs about 47,000 times. In total the Fox family, the Doane’s and Cunningham’s had kept watch at Cape Forchu for 112 years. Not bad.

In 1962 it was time for a new tower because the existing one was 122 years. It was replaced with the stunning 75 ft octagonal concrete tower with its distinctive wind-resistant apple-core shape, that we saw today. It also got a new lens to replace the old Fresnel lens.

1993 the lighthouse was automated and after that there were no more lighthouse keepers at Cape Forchu.  The lighthouse is still there but it does not require resident light keepers. An era was over.

 

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