Grands Jardins Provincial Park

Aug 12 Parc national des Grands-Jardins has amazing mountains that are part of the Canadian shield. Jardin is French for garden. The park got its name because of the carpet of lichens and Nordic vegetation. We only got to sample the park and we were there late in the day when the sun was low in the sky. There was a long dirt road on the park brochure that looked worth exploring, but we knew we had limited time so we only went a short way before turning back.

Near our turnaround point, we came upon this lovely old log church.

La Mauricie National Park

La Mauricie National Park is located northeast of Montreal in the Quebec province of Canada. While there are hiking trails and roads to explore the park, canoeing is probably the best way. There are 30 lakes to explore with portages between many of them. Canoes, rowboats, and kayaks can be rented at several places in the park. For those planning long trips with several portages, they have light weight canoes. I've gotten to do some canoe trips, and I found myself wishing that we had more time here to see the scenery from the water level.

The road led us up to this beautiful overlook. There are canoes on the water in the distance, but so far away they are little dots. We were lucky enough to be here late in the afternoon when the lighting was pretty good for photography.



We stopped at this lake and I went out on the dock - savoring the still, quiet water and the beaver that was swimming on the other side of the lake.

Lake Superior's North Shore

Aug 2-3: For a long time I had been wanting to explore the Canadian side of Lake Superior. While we didn't have a lot of time on this trip, we made the most of what we had.

Since we first started visiting the Lake Superior area, I'd been hearing about Thunder Bay. It is a picturesque town the western end of the St. Laurence shipping lane. It overlooks the scenic Sibley Peninsula with the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. It is a nice sized town. We had a great lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay in the old train station.



Near Terrace Bay is the lovely Aguasabon Gorge. There is also a waterfall, but the overlook didn't have a good vantage point for a good photo and it was getting close to dark so I had no time to check for a better one. The limits of doing a road trip with a hard deadline to be in Montreal for the convention are that you can't always be at the prettiest places at the right time of day hoping for "magic" lighting.



On the way to Pukaskwa National Park, we saw this merlin swooping over the marsh. Merlins catch their prey in flight. While much of their diet is small birds, they also eat insects such as dragonflies. This merlin was hunting over this marshy area and we suspected that the insects were his prey that day.



He did pause on this fence post to check us out giving us a good look see and a better chance to identify him.




We weren't at Pukaskwa National Park at the right time of day for spectacular photos either, but the rock formations leading down to the water make this a pretty place. It was one of several Canadian parks that I wished for a canoe to go out and explore it better.

Riding Mountain National Park

Back to the blogs about our Canada trip:

It was a rainy, cloudy day when we entered Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. Beautiful aspen forests surrounded us as we drove into the park. There were two bison enclosures and we were able to drive quite close.



I don't know why, but I always enjoy getting to see bison - they're big, strong, and a historic symbol of the open prairie.



The wildflowers were beautiful.



From the daisies to the pink clover - there were flowers everywhere.



These reminded me of domestic day lilies, but they were small:



This young bear poked his head out of the forest to check us out. A little later we got to watch him grub for worms deep in the forest.



We were treated with a rainbow at the end of the day! What more can one ask!

St. Louis

One of the things I like to do while we are in St. Louis for Archon is to go over and take cityscape shots of St. Louis. Each year the sunsets are different - different clouds, different colors, etc. This year I was lucky and the Busch Stadium lights were not on. I like to get there before sunset and take sequences of shot without moving the camera or changing the zoom so that I can play with the images later for specific looks.

These may not be the final versions, but here are the initial workups of this year's shoot. You can click on each image to get a larger view.

The sun was not in exactly the best place for where I was to get the golden hue behind the arch. But in this version I was trying to get the sunset glowing sky and yet keep detail in the buildings rather than a silhouette and get the street lights. So the images used for the HDR were taken over a longer time frame.



This HDR version was created to produce an image similar to what your eyes see at twilight:



I chose the first vantage point so that I could avoid getting a building crane in my skyline shots. But I also wanted view that would get the courthouse better, so I moved. I think I wish I had moved earlier so that the sky would not have been quite as dark.



I also wanted a vertical shot this year:

Early Man - Bannock Point Petroforms

A Post from our Canada trip:

We were driving south from Lake Winnepeg along Highway 307 late in the afternoon, when we noticed a sign along the road for "petroforms." When I read the historical information kiosk a the parking lot, I knew I definitely wanted to take the hike over. Sadly, since it was late in the day, I didn't grab my camera, but I did head off at a brisk pace up the steps, through the forest and up the hill to see what I could see.

We were on the Canadian shield, precambrian rock that is the oldest in the world. While there is forest surrounding the petroforms, there is a big open space at the top of the walk. The sight of old lichen covered bedrock, depressions filled with grass and moss surrounded by the forest rewarded me for the hike uphill to get here.



At first it took some study to find the petroforms, the first ones seemed like random stacking of rocks amidst the moss. However, the more we walked along the bare rock paths, the more we found. Henry joined me and we wandered through the area amazed at the number and the variety of the shapes. Some of them are obviously very old - notice how the lichens and moss surround the rocks with matching lichens.



Henry had brought his small camera along and began photographing as we tried to make sense of who did these shapes and why did they make them. The photos in this post are his!

These petroforms are actually pretty large and are quite varied - snakes, turtles, people, even a newer cross. The initial sign said that the oldest date back 2500 years. I tried to picture people in North America during that era - these are primitive art, but none the less interesting. Were they telling a story? Were they leaving messages for one another perhaps like modern graffiti? Were they nomads who had just come to a new land? From having read so much science fiction - were they trying to signal someone in the sky?



I did some research, it is difficult to make an actual date for these petroforms because there is definitely a large space of time between the oldest through the newest. One dating method, based upon a campsite that was near two small petroforms, suggests 500 AD.

Native people in this area, the Anishinabe (also called Ojibway or Saulteaux) still consider these sites as sacred. They call this area the Manito Ahbee, the place where God sits. They believe that this is the site where the first Anishinabe was lowered from the sky to the ground by the Creator.

As a Christian, what is impressive about this place is that even before the good news of Christ came to this area, the people knew there was a Creator and wanted to communicate with Him. I think modern society often misses the importance of the spiritual elements of the human soul. Too many people have decided there is no God and what we have here in this life is all there is . . . I also believe that if we earnestly seek God, he will reveal Himself to us.

The petroform area fascinated me - I could have spent more time there and would love to have heard an interpreter describe the current ideas about what the individual forms mean.

For more information about the Petroforms and related topics:
From Manitoba's Provincial Park website: Teaching Places, Healing Places: the Petroforms of Manitoba


Wapedia: Wiki:Petroform

GoNanaimo.com Manitoba Bannock Point Petroforms

I also found these two links that relate to the petroforms - the similarity is amazing . . .
Midewewin Stages of Life vs
Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

Heart of the Healer

One Lovely Blog Award

I've been greatly honored to receive the One Lovely Blog Award from a special friend and writer, who is also herself a very worthy recipient of the award: liana Metallinou, writer of Art Stories blog.



Liana's blog features interviews with writers and artists as well as book reviews. She has also written a children's book: The White Snail. The White Snail is a collection of three short stories with lovely illustrations.

liana is a teacher, an artist and a free lance writer, writing travel, lifestyle, and food articles as well as fiction and non fiction for children. We met her because she also writes book reviews and has reviewed several of Henry's books. Very talented, she is also an artist with drawing, painting, and photography.

You can see her artwork and postcards at: Liana's where there are links to her art and her articles

It is now my pleasure to pass on this award. These are the rules for those individuals I choose. They are simple:
1) Accept the award, and don’t forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2) Pass the award on.
3) Notify the award winners.

There are two persons I would like to pass this award on to, who have inspired me in different ways:



David and Linda Gregersen are teachers and missionaries living at the Namwianga Mission in Zambia. Their blog shows their daily life at an African school. Namwianga mission has a secondary school and college, an orphanage and a health clinic. The people they meet are fascinating and the stories real. I love the stories from the chicken coop and the people at their door. The students are excited about their education and will be teachers in villages when they finish college at George Benson Christian College. The Gregersens are having a great adventure in Africa and I am blessed as I follow along with their blog.



Bill Crider is a mystery writer and a retired college English professor. The Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series is set in small town Texas and each book has been a delight to read. He also has written mysteries with college English teachers as reluctant amateur sleuths. The first book in the Truman Smith series was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private-Ey Writers of America. Bill's webpage will show you his books as well as taking you along on some of his amazing vacations! His blog is eclectic - from announcing the deaths of celebrities from past and present to strange and marvelous events to humorous links - you won't have time to be bored as you read the numerous posts he makes each day.


Both of these blogs are unique in their own way. Enjoy!!!!!