Manitoba Hunter Safety Instructor

I have vague memories of watching Mom and Dad using rifles to shoot tin cans in the forests of Leaf Rapids. This would have been before Sean was born, and might have only happened once, possibly twice. Mom and Dad had those two rifles for decades (along with Granddad's shotgun), and that's the only time I can recall them ever being used. Mom and Dad finally got rid of the rifles sometime in the 2000s. I think they probably only had them in case of bears or wolves; I certainly don't remember them being hunting enthusiasts, despite Dad being a safety instructor through the 1970s. 

Another bit of family history I wish I'd asked about or written down before it was too late. 

Man in the Mirror

 

Burntwood River at the Golden Hour

 

An Organic Interlude

Sometime in the mid-1970s, we travelled from Leaf Rapids to Thompson to buy an electronic organ. Mom or Dad shot a Polaroid of us playing with it in the spring of 1977. 

As a built-in teaching aid, the keys on this organ would light up to display the notes. Once you'd learned them, you could turn off the feature and play like a real organist. Mom and Dad got pretty good at it, as I recall, and the organ came with us to Alberta. I think Mom and Dad finally tired of it in the late 80s, or maybe it stopped working. 

The organ's brief presence in our lives is something of an anomaly, as neither Sean nor I play an instrument, nor did Mom and Dad seem to have much interest in doing so aside from this organic interlude. (Pun intended.) Maybe they hoped Sean or I would pursue music. Sean plays the harmonica, but me, well . . . I still have the recorder from the one music class I had in grade four or five, but I was and am pretty terrible. 

This is the our first Mother's Day without Mom, and it feels weird to say it, but I think they might have gotten a kick out of some of the stuff Sean and I have been doing with generative AI tools--taking old photos of fishing trips and turning them into movie clips and so on. Or this: 
 

Sean and Earl as painted by da Vinci. I think Mom would have gotten a chuckle out of this. Dad probably would have shaken his head, but I think he'd like the motorboat animations from our fishing trips. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. 

A Manhattan Gorilla at Pisew Falls

Gorilla and canoe are not to scale. 
 

Where I've Lived, and When: Part One

In 2014, we went back to Flin Flon and shot a photo of our old house. 

A few years ago, not long after Dad died, I asked Mom if she remembered when we moved from Flin Flon, to Thompson, to Leaf Rapids, and finally to Edmonton. Yesterday, I found the post-it note upon which I jotted down the dates she gave me, allowing me to determine where I've lived, and when: 

Flin Flon, Manitoba: February 1969 to July 1971
Thompson, Manitoba: July 1971 to September 1973
Leaf Rapids, Manitoba: September 1973 to March 10, 1979
Edmonton, Alberta (Millwoods): March 1979 to June 1979
Leduc, Alberta: July 1979 to September 1987
Edmonton, Alberta (Lister Hall, University of Alberta): September 1987 to April 1991

A Fishy Culinary Tradition

 

Whose idea was it to add breading or batter to fish? Fish is delicious when fried or seared, rich in flavour and texture. Breading it just masks the flavour and makes the whole dish feel much heavier than it should. 

Maybe I'm spoiled. Mom and Dad used to catch fresh fish from the pristine lakes of northern Manitoba and clean and fry the fillets right at the campground. The pickerel and trout they prepared in those days remains my favourite meal of all time. All fish since has paled in comparison. 

Even so, I can still enjoy fish if it's not wrapped in a casing of fried lard and butter. 

Fish: better without the batter. 

A Short History of Transair by The View from Seven

Way back in the early 1970s, I flew for the first time. Mom will have to correct my memory, but I believe we flew from Winnipeg to Thompson on a Transair 707, then from Thompson to Leaf Rapids on a much smaller propeller-driven plane.

At least I think that's how it happened. I remember Mom bought me an inflatable Transair jet, which some time later shifted in the closet while I was sleeping and terrified me, causing me to bolt downstairs in a flash into the arms of my parents because I thought it was a monster.

Transair was a short-lived Winnipeg-based airline with a brown and yellow paint scheme--very 1970s. I'm not sure why I was thinking about it today, but to my delight someone's actually written a capsule history of the airline. If you're interested in flying or Manitoba history, read about Transair here. 

Broken Hovercraft

One more for the graveyard of childhood, a Matchbox hovercraft from the 1970s, probably purchased in Thompson, Manitoba. Kind of amazing the stickers are still in place. I don't remember what might have run along the top; you can still see the holes where some kind of plastic detail was once anchored. 

Tanks for the Playtime

Farewell, World War II toy tank made by Corgi and purchased sometime in the 1970s in Thompson or Leaf Rapids, I barely knew ye. 

Thompson Peaks

I find it kind of hard to believe I didn't think of this back in 1990, but better late than never. For those who don't recognize the background, it's a photo I took of Pisew Falls back in 2009, near Thompson, Manitoba. Thompson would be a great place for a Canadian version of Twin Peaks, although Leaf Rapids would be even better...but "Leaf Rapids Peaks" doesn't sound right. Actually, I guess "Leaf Rapids" works as a title on its own...I'm rambling, I'll stop. 

Saving the Cars

Sometime in the early 1970s, there was a kitchen fire in our Thompson house. Mom or Dad came to collect me from my room, but I grabbed my ice cream pail full of Hot Wheels cars before they hauled me out. "I'm not leaving without my cars!" I said, or so I imagine.

It wasn't a serious fire. I remember playing with my cars on the stoop as the firemen took care of it.

You can see the stoop above, with my maternal grandparents. We didn't live in Thompson for more than a couple of years, so I must have been approximately the age seen here when the fire happened. 

The Splendour of the 70s

The jacket isn't so bad, but the pants! The carpet! The chair! The horror. Check out that sweet vintage John Deere toy, though. And I appear to have a chocolate chip cookie in hand. No wonder I look happy. 

Life is a Highway in Northern Manitoba

Canadian rock musician Tom Cochrane and Lynn Lake native is being honoured by the Manitoba government; Manitoba Highway 391 is being named after him.

I'm familiar with Lynn Lake, of course, having visited a few times during our family's time in Leaf Rapids, the closet community to Lynn Lake. I didn't realize that Cochrane hailed from there. As the CBC story notes, he'll actually be playing Lynn Lake next year. I'm trying to imagine what venue will be available for the show...northern Manitoba is not exactly overflowing with decent infrastructure.

Here's Highway 391:

For the record, I'm not really a fan of "Life is a Highway," but I still think the honour is pretty cool, and I do really love "Boy Inside the Man" and "Lunatic Fringe."

Here's an image of Sean and me on Highway 391. Perhaps we're dancing to "Life is a Highway." 

Snow Place Like Home

The author in a snowsuit in Thompson sometime in 1971 or 1972. 

There's a lot more snow there today. Wear your mittens!

I'm seeing reports on Twitter and Facebook that my old home towns of Flin Flon, Thompson, Leaf Rapids and Cranberry Portage are under siege from snow, with Leaf Rapids in particular getting at least 60 cm of snow with up to 15 cm more on the way by day's end. Winter always came thick and fast in northern Manitoba. I hope everyone's hunkered down with supplies and a good book or two. 

Linear Exponential Lateral Northwestward Ho

Born
In
Flin Flon
Thompson was
Next then Leaf Rapids
Leduc came after a long drive
Finally Edmonton, and who knows where next? Not me. 

47

I'm not really keen on celebrating my birthday, especially as I get older, but here are four photos from my fourth birthday, which took place 43 years ago in Thompson, Manitoba. 

Yellows and Blues

Vroom!
Said the child I was that Christmas morning
Amazed by his plastic snowmobile
And his matching pajamas
Whatever happened to these two?
(they rode into the soft falling snow, and faded to white)  

I Want to Ride My Tricycle, I Want to Ride My Trike

I used to really get around on this tricycle in Thompson. I can still feel the texture of the hand grips. Sure, that I remember, but not playing mini golf in Calaway Park a decade or more later...

Fisher Price Airport Blues

Here I am sometime in the early 1970s with one of my favourite toys: the Fisher-Price airport set. What fun I had sending the little people on their imaginary journeys and bringing them home again.

There's something interesting about this shot: there's a photograph leaning against the base of the lamp in the background. Even at maximum resolution you can't make out who's in the photo, but you can tell that it's a close-up of a single person. Maybe the negative of that print is somewhere in my files, yet to be scanned. It's almost meta.