Happy Birthday Amanda

There's a new car in our driveway. A cute orange Toyota Yaris. It turned up a couple of days before Amanda's birthday. Just like most Albertans we now have a car for every adult in the household but it's essential to have wheels here as our bus service is abysmal and Nick's car likely won't last the winter.

Amanda and Nick celebrated her birthday at the Unheardof, one of the best places to eat in Edmonton and then we had birthday cake.

Convocation

Yippee!

Nicolas received his degree yesterday at the University of Alberta's convocation ceremony. It was a proud moment for us all. His grandmother came from Vancouver to attend the ceremony, braving the winter weather (which is still very mild). Preston Manning was awarded an honorary degree and he gave a wonderful speech urging the graduates to be beacons of ethical principles.  

Reuben was able to sit on the stage and be the first to congratulate Nicolas. 

Nick and his dad.

Nick and his grandma.

I've never seen Reuben in his robes. I think he looks great!

We had a wonderful time and in the evening we all went out for a celebratory dinner. 

Naming of St. Albert

Last week our local paper brought up the question: which saint was the City of St. Albert named after?

I said earlier in the blog, that our city was named after Father Lacombe’s patron saint. But then, I didn’t realize that there are 11 St. Albert’s in the brotherhood of saints. So which one was it?

Just off our main street, hidden in a walkway, is a statue of St. Albert the Great. He’s the patron saint of scientists and as we have a statue of him, one would assume he’s the man. However, it seems that he could not possibly have been Father Lacombe’s patron saint as St. Albert the Great didn’t become a saint until 1931, 70 years after the founding of St. Albert.

 

Well, we have a few scientists in our house so it’s a good association for us.

But who is the right saint? According to Father Lacombe’s biography, the naming of St. Albert happened like this:

 

“On Jan. 14, 1861, Lacombe and Bishop Taché stood in the snow on top of what is now Mission Hill. Taché turned to Lacombe and said, in French, "My Father, this site is charming. I choose it for the founding of a mission which you will name Saint Albert, in honour of your patron saint."  

I took this photo from the top of Mission Hill looking down at what is now the centre of St. Albert.

 

So Father Lacombe's biography doesn't name the saint. But it seems most of the evidence points to Albert of Louvain, cardinal-bishop of Liège. Born in France in 1166, he became a bishop when he was just 25. He was caught in a power struggle in the church and murdered in 1192.

Back to the statue….some councilors have suggested that even if our city wasn’t named after St. Albert the Great we can still have him as the city’s patron saint. I think that’s a very sensible solution and a good reason to keep this lovely little statue, maybe we could even move it to a more prominent spot.

 

 

 

Chickakoo Lake

It was my birthday yesterday. Nick and I were wondering whether to go out for lunch or go for a walk at Chickakoo Lake. It was a lovely fresh November day here so we opted for a walk. I'm glad we did. Chickakoo Lake is a natural area about 20 minutes drive west from St. Albert. 

We arrived just after 10am and we were the only people in the parking lot. On Nov 11 we had a dusting of snow but the air was mild and the colours of the landscape were stunning. 

Bright blue sky and yellow grass. There's lots of hills on the walk so we had a good lung stretcher. The trails wind their way through aspen forests, rolling parkland and four small lakes.

That evening Amanda and Nick prepared a delicious meal. Roast bison stuffed with peppers, spinach and cheese, creamy cheese baked onions, salad with olive dressing and a yummy lemon almond cake. It was a wonderful day.

Remembrance Day

We've been going to the Remembrance Day ceremony in St. Albert for many years now. 

I always get a lump in my throat when the bagpipes start and I hear, 'Scotland the Brave.'

I think of my two grandfathers in WW1. Grandfather Helliwell was badly injured in the trenches,  just before Armistice Day and he came back to England to face a life of coping with ill health. He suffered from epilepsy and depression and towards the end of his life had to have both legs amputated because of damage from the shrapnel that remained in his body.

I also think about my uncle, Robert Rogers who along with many other men was killed by a German submarine during WW2. And also, my dad, Derek Rogers, who was too young to enlist but did, and thankfully survived the war. 

Written by William Gibson, 1878 -1962

Back

They ask me where I've been,
And what I've done and seen.
But what can I reply
Who know it wasn't I,
But someone just like me,
Who went across the sea
And with my head and hands
Killed men in foreign lands...
Though I must bear the blame,
Because he bore my name.

Can't see Amanda for the trees

Amanda works for the City of St. Albert. One of her responsibilities is doing a tree inventory for the city. That requires her to map every tree whether its on a street, a boulevard or in the parks. 

To do that she uses a G.P.S. (global positioning system) to mark the position of each tree. She notes the species and other features such as its health or any damage to the tree. It's necessary to go right up to each tree and this often generates strange looks from passerbys as they wonder why Amanda is lurking in the trees. But I think she's used to that now!

Back in the office she puts the data into the computer using GIS, (geographic information science - Arc map software). Then she creates maps showing the trees and streets and aerial photos. 

Once she's completed this phrase of the project, St. Albert will have a complete record of all the city's green assets. They can use this to project how much the city needs to spend to rejuvenate the parks or to protect the trees from disease. When you consider that the value of each tree is about $30,000 (taking in account the replacement costs and the environmental work each tree performs - keeping our air clean), you can see how important and vital her work is.  St. Albert is the first city in Alberta to undertake this work.

Just for the record, St Albert's most common trees are the Green Ash, followed by Elms, Maydays and Lindens.

Indulge me!

Reflections in steel fascinate me.

I like to write, I like to draw and paint and I like to take photos and sometimes I like to take photos that are a bit abstract. Eventually I plan to use these photos as springboards to a series of abstract paintings. 

I took these photos around some sort of sewage pump work thing ...it did smell bad but I like the images. 

Grain Elevators and amazing clouds

. St. Albert isn't known for its scenic views but there are a few places where you can look out and say, "that's very pleasant." (Yes, I'm afraid that's about as exuberant as I can be about the views).  Over the next few months I'll eventually write about all the special places here so keep coming back. (I feel the need to plug this blog for some reason!). 

Today I went to see Amanda working, which fortunately was in a park very close to the grain elevators. And as an added bonus the sky was showing off. The combination of iconic elevators and big prairie sky cloud effects was stunning. I hope you agree. 

These altocumulus clouds are formed by convection in an unstable layer which may result in the gradual lifting of air in advance of a cold front. Hmmm...does that mean snow later tonight? We're having unseasonably lovely weather right now, dry, sunny and the last thing we need is snow.

 Grain elevators are ubiquitous on the prairies. Once a symbol of the three prairie provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, they are now fast disappearing from the prairie landscape. At one time, every town and hamlet built one or more elevators to store grain beside the railway track.  St. Albert's two remaining elevators are from different decades, 1906 and 1929. A few years ago they were designated as Provincial Historic resources and could rank as our number 1 tourist attraction - if we ever had any tourists. You can take a guided tour of the elevators and the new train station (don't get excited - we don't have trains stopping here - it's just a fake station) which was designed and built 3 years ago to appear as it was in the 1920's, after it was extended to increase the baggage handling area. That bit about the baggage handling area makes me smile. Firstly the train station looks pretty small so it's hard to imagine that it was even smaller and secondly, who cares?  I think I know. Train buffs seem to be fanatical about their facts, don't they?

More Halloween fun

Nick and Amanda have been diligently saving chicken bones for the last three weeks.

 Last Sunday, they boiled them up in a big pot, dried them out and spent all week drilling holes and stringing the bones together to create armbands and necklaces. Add some grass skirts and a little face paint and their transformation into shamans was complete.

Riverlot 56

St Albert was founded  in 1861, which makes it the oldest community in Alberta. Father Lacombe, a Oblate priest brought his Metis parishioners here, to settle, on the advice of the 7th Earl of Southesk. These people were descendants of marriages of Cree, Ojibway, Algonquin, Saulteaux and Menominee aboriginals to Europeans, and are one of three recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada, along with the First Nations (Indians) and Inuit (Eskimo).

Father Lacombe named the community in honor of his chosen saint, St. Albert. Based on the Quebec method of allotting land he divided the area into river lots. Long tracts of farming land,  fanning out from the Sturgeon River. Today there is only one original river lot remaining. It's now a nature reserve and cross country ski area.

Last Sunday, on a lovely sunny day, we went there for a walk. It's about 10 mins from our house. Although we have skied there often, we didn't walk there because you are not supposed to take dogs into the reserve and we never went for a walk without dear Cleo so this area was out of bounds. 

The natural area we live in is not true prairie, although it is fairly flat, its actually called parkland and the photos of the riverlot show what is very typical scenery around here. It's a mix of aspen forests, grassslands and scrublands. The land to the east and south of Edmonton is prairie and further north is boreal forest.

Thanksgiving

The cook in action

Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated the second Monday in October (American Thanksgiving is in November). This year we had two Thanksgiving dinners, at home on Sunday and then at Pat and Terry's on Monday. Nick cooked the whole dinner and I made pumpkin pie. The whole dinner is very traditional and is more or less identical to  Christmas dinner. 

Famous cornbread stuffing

 This year Nick roasted the turkey, made corn bread and then used it to make a wonderful corn bread stuffing. He roasted squash, made cranberry sauce and only lost his temper right at the end of the marathon cooking session, when the gravy refused to thicken. Nevertheless it was a delicious meal. Thanks Nicolas....now please do it again for Christmas! 

Tah dah!