Category Archives: autumn

Sheet Harbour: Sweet Waters

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn, Waterfalls

 

Sometimes, meandering is just plain fun. This day was one of those. We were leaving the area around Lunenberg that included Mahone, Bay, Chester and Peggy’s Cove and started heading north east of Halifax along the shore. It is called The Eastern Shore or Marine Scenic Tour.

We stopped to admire and photograph the lovely falls and autumn foliage at Sheet Harbour. That is a pretty good combination. The Roman poet, Ovid said it well: “There is no small pleasure in sweet waters.” I think that is a perfect description of this day.” The water here sure looked sweet.

This community is located on edge of the 100 Wild Islands. We photographed the river and falls near the bridge across the highway. Nova Scotia is laced with lovely drives. Since the first time Christiane and I travelled to Nova Scotia, about 40 years ago, we have used those scenic routes as our guideposts.  I remember that first year, we actually met the young lady who had written the book for Nova Scotia Tourism. We were really blessed.

Only about 800 people live in the area around Sheet Harbour. Like most places in the Maritimes it was originally settled by the Mi’kmaq First Nation who have inspired me so much. The Mi’kmaq called the place Weijooik which means “flowing wildly.”  I guess that is why the surrounding islands are called the Wild Islands. Currently, West of Sheet Harbour lies Sheet Harbour 36 a small Mi’kmaq Reserve.

In 1773, nearly exactly 100 years before Mennonites arrived in Manitoba to settle the prairies, the first European settlers here were Loyalist refugees who fled the United States, much like refugees who show up on American borders today.  But these were welcomed by the British who wanted British settlers. They settled this area together with British veterans of the American Revolution and they called it Port North. That name was used until 1805. After that, it was called Sheet Harbour on account of a rock at the entrance of the harbour which resembled a sheet. This became a prosperous lumber area and its sawmill became a hub. The sawmill was built about 1863.

It was lovely. No sweet.

 

Chester: Captain Canada

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn

 

Chester Nova Scotia is a lovely little village on the southeast coast of Nova Scotia. We have been there many times and never tire of it.

The original inhabitants were of course the Mi’kmaq First Nation.  After that came the French, particularly the Acadian, who of course were expelled by the British. On the south shore where we were there were only a few Acadian settlements.

After British took over from the French after they left the English decided they needed to repopulate the area. It would not do to just have Indigenous People of course. So, they offered land grants, naturally without consulting the Mi’kmaq, to English colonists from New England.

During the American war of Independence Nova Scotia was invaded many times by American revolutionary forces including what were called privateers. Chester was raided by these forces in 1782.

However, after the American revolution, many of those were not loyal to the British. Maybe the English should have kept the Acadians?

Nonetheless it is a lovely region with lovely homes and even some nature where autumn sparkles.

Peter Gzowski, my favorite CBC radio broadcaster of all time, though not without his faults, lived in Chester for part of many summers. He was very popular and came to be called Captain Canada. He had a deep love for Canada and rarely travelled anywhere out of the country. He hosted an annual golf tournament for literacy in the area. Every time I go there I think of him.

 

Stonehurst Nova Scotia: another gem of small Nova Scotia town

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn

 

Stonehurst is one more lovely tiny community in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia just a few miles from the town of Lunenburg Municipal District.

It’s known as a quiet little village that some have called “far from city life and off the beaten path.”

Yet it is notable for one strange thing which I discovered one day while watching a TV series starring Tom Selleck as a former police officer from Boston now a sheriff in a small town called, interestingly, Paradise.

What I noticed was that in the series the police officer called Jesse Stone lived in the red house at the end of the bridge in the photograph above.  I had photographed without knowing that fact. I had been struck by the quiet beauty of the house. That’s why I photographed it.

 

The series is based on a series of detective novels written by Robert Parker.  He wrote another detective series where the detective was called Spenser. Another TV series was made of that series of novels too.

I loved the little brightly coloured outhouse in the above photos.  It reminded me of a series of outhouses in a book filled with photographs of outhouses by a Nova Scotia photographer called Sherman Hines.

 

In the Jessie Stone series of films, the detective was a recovering alcoholic with a dog that looked disappointingly at Stone when he slipped off the wagon.

Stonehurst in one sense does not seem very hospitable.  Rightly or wrongly, I got the impressiosn that outsiders were not wanted here.  Not sure why I felt that way, but I did.  Maybe it just me.

 

The TV series was filmed mainly in the town of Lunenburg. I remember seeing photos of Selleck on the wall of our favorite restaurant in the town. I guess he ate there as well.

To tell you the truth, in previous vists to the small town I concentrated more on the view of the village from the other side of the only road leading into town. This day I noticed that this side was pretty nice too.

 

But  I must admit in any direction particularly in autumn it looked good to me.

All in all, time spent in Stonehurst is time well spent.

Conjoined Twins: Dreary and Beauty

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, autumn

 

 

Gray Gables B & B in Mahone Bay area

 

After we arrived in Chester Nova Scotia it rained a lot. I realize people here say they need the rain. Visitors like us disagree, but we concede that the locals have more at stake than we do. Our delightful host Jackie, at Gray Gables B & B ,  in Mahone Bay,  Jackie, said that every day she hears about another well running dry. When Christiane and I hear that, we stop complaining.

 

Ingramport River

One thing is clear peak autumn colours have arrived in Nova Scotia. The colours are sensational. And dreary days seem to bring them out with exuberance. The irrational exuberance of conjoined twins: dreary and beauty!  And I love it.

The lovely Ingramport River strutted her stuff and we paid heed. I could not stop to grab a few images.  Not great photos alas, but great colours.

We don’t get such colours back in Manitoba. Compared to this our colours seem grim.

Ingramport River

I like more than just maple leaves. I like the red oaks leaves too. I particularly like them when the colour green seeps out of the oak leaves leaving reds, oranges and spectacular colours behind. The absolute glory of autumn.

 

Red Oak

In the evening, we enjoyed visiting our new friends at the Gray Gables  B & B for some drinks and lively conversation. They recommended a good place for pizza and said we could order in. That is what we did. That is what we love about such accommodations. It is hard to get anything similar in a hotel or inn. At ordinary inns or hotels there is little opportunity for convivial conversations. And this was one of best B & B’s we ever visited.

After every one left and I stayed a while with my computer at the breakfast table, the power went out. I was stuck. Thank goodness I carried a flashlight in my phone. Some modern technology is pretty darn good.

How is it possible to have so much dreary and so much beauty together? Dreary and Beauty: Conjoined  twins

 

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 Road to Fort Frances

2022 Inferior Trip to Superior, autumn

 

 

 

The trip to Fort Frances from Thunder Bay was a delight. I made many stops along the way to photograph the autumn leaves. Some people say there is nothing to see here other than rocks and trees. Well, if that is true, I love the rocks and trees particularly in the fall. The colours were sensational. They should declare a national holiday for us to see them. The journey through Quetico Park was inspiring. I also listened to a brilliant podcast by the historian Timothy Snyder. I even got to see a few more of the little islands I like so much.  Life was good.

Through Quetico Region and Rainy River

2022 Inferior Trip to Superior, autumn, Colonialism, Indigenous People After Contact

 

Larch or Tamarack

The road from Thunder Bay to Fort Frances was an absolute delight.  There was very little traffic and I could stop to photograph the countryside as often as I wanted. this is a photograph of one of the grandest sights of autumn–the larch or tamarack. This is a coniferous tree that does not stay green. I think it is the only tree in Canada that does that. There were plenty of them in the Thunder bay area.

“There used to be 7 Anishinaabe First Nation communities along the Rainy River. In the early 1900s, after the Metis resistance, the province of Ontario forced the amalgamation of some of them to form Manitou Rapids First Nation. According to the Ryan McMahon of the Couchiching First Nation in north-west Ontario, this was an illegal amalgamation, by the province of Ontario because they wanted the land for settlers and then they gave them our land for free.”

 

Here was an ad produced by the Canadian government:

 

By order of Parliament: Land Grants are to be given for the purpose of settlement in Somerville Township.

 

The governments (federal and provincial) spread such posters far and wide in many countries. They offered irrigated land with lots of nearby lumber with lots of potential farm land with access to markets and roads.  They did not tell too many people about the winters in Canada. But people did get land with documents on plans that showed road allowances. The Ontario government in 1853 invited “Capitalists, Tenant farmers, agricultural labourers, mechanics, Day labourers, and all parties desirous of improving their circumstances to immigrate to a new country.” Earlier people had been given parcels of land in the middle of nowhere. They had road allowances but often no road. So, the governments started a road system to attract settlers and facilitate enterprise.

 

Of course, the governments that did this never asked their partners—those nations that entered into treaties with the federal government—what they thought about what they were doing. The first nations never thought they were ceding the land to the European newcomers. They thought they made deals to share the land with the newcomers. But that is not how it worked out. The newcomers took over—everything.

Pam Palmater, an indigenous Canadian lawyer and professor of law,  had an entirely different view of these enterprises. As she said,

To me these roads, railways, they’re like an infection. Not just metaphorically, but actually. It was  a way of invading our territories, without legal authority, without consent. And what are roads used for now? They literally bleed our territories dry of people, of resources, of everything that matters and they pose a hazard.

 

This was how colonialism started in Canada, with a fundamental disagreement about what the parties had agreed to.

Grueling Inquest

2022 Inferior Trip to Superior, autumn, Indigenous Issues, photography

 

Sometimes truth does not come in clear images.  The impressionist painters of the late 19th century realized that, and I found their images captivating.  Some of you may have noticed that some of my photos are not clear either. That is not an accident.  I have been using a technique called “the Orton effect” after the man who invented it. The technique involves combining 2 identical images into one. The first one is clear, but over exposed. So it is very light. Then I take a second image of the same subject and blur it deliberately. When combined the images sometimes are stunning. Sometimes you have no idea what the result will be when the images are combined. Sometimes the results are duds. When combined however, sometimes the images seem magical what you see the two images coming together in the computer.

 

A few years ago I was at photographic workshop with a photographer by the name of Andre Gallant who produced a book called Dream Scapes. He is a master of the technique.  I am a poor elementary student.  His images were deeply compelling to me, but he admitted, as must I, that the technique is not for everyone. After all, why would one deliberately blur a sharp image? That is a good question? Why did the impressionists do that?

 

Julian Falconer, in the film Spirit to Soar, together with the Grand Chief Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Alvin Fiddler fought for an inquest into the deaths of the 7 young indigenous people in Thunder Bay for years.  Finally, one was announced in 2008, but only for one of the 7 students.  The inquest was for Reggie Bushie and it was finally called in 2015. According to CBC reporter Jodi Porter,

“there was a roomful of lawyers there and their only job was to protect and cover-up and they were the ones who got to call [witnesses]…There wasn’t healing in it. It was traumatizing. It was awful to sit there every day. And no one from Thunder Bay bothered to show up.”

 

While the Inquest was being held another indigenous body was pulled from the river. “The gruelling inquest”, according to Talaga, “lasted for 9 months and came up with 145 recommendations including building high schools for every community that needs one. And improving safety for Thunder Bay rivers.

I wonder if anyone cared about that. The film did not say. It left a lot of questions unanswered.

In the same way, combining images can leave a lot of questions unanswered. But aren’t questions more important than answers? I don’t want to give up on truth, but sometimes I want to experience it from a fresh perspective.