A Woman of Salt Lake

In 2019, Mom accompanied Aunt Jean and Uncle John on what would ultimately be her last trip to Manitoba. I can't ask her now, so I don't know if this is Mom or Aunt Jean in the image. This is most likely Salt Lake, but I can't be sure. 
 

A Ladle Bit of Humour

A few years back Aunt Jean and Uncle John were in Leduc. Here, we see Aunt Jean pretending to drink from the iron ladle that goes with her dad's forge, which now lives in Sean's condo. That imaginary soup must have been very hot indeed...
 

Sylvia and Uncle John

Today we celebrated Aunt Jean's life at a beautiful farm north of Kelowna. This is my favourite photo from that event. Uncle John was Aunt Jean's husband for many decades, and together they lived lives full of travel, art, and adventure on several continents. Uncle John's kindness, tenacity, and talent are truly something to behold, and it's not hard to see why Aunt Jean loved him, and why he and Sylvia connected very strongly at the instant of first meeting several years back. I loved watching them interact this weekend. 

As for the celebration itself, it was a showcase for Aunt Jean's art and our shared love of her somewhat off-the-wall way of looking at the world, something I like to think we share. 
 

Woods, Langergrabers, and a Newton at Red Robin

Earlier tonight Sean, Sylvia and I met with Uncle John, his two sons, their partners, and our cousin David for a long, leisurely supper and chat at Red Robin in Kelowna. Once again, the only real upside of grieving is how it brings people together to remember better times and create some new memories. And it was great to finally meet Kevin's partner, Carol, in person. Sean and Sylvia and I are very grateful to the Langergrabers and David for a wonderful evening. 
 

Memory Beacon

Sean and I each brought home one of these Beacon oil lanterns, originally used on the Etsell farm in Virden, Manitoba, and residing at Mom and Dad's place as long as I can remember...maybe since 1982, when Grandma died. General Steel Works started making these in 1911, but I don't think this one is that old, though I suppose it could be. I suspect it dates back at least to the 1940s. I'd say it might become handy when the apocalypse comes, but first I'd need to find oil and a wick to make it useful. 

EDIT: Sean reminded me that we actually gave the other oil lantern to Aunt Jean and Uncle John when they came by for Mom's celebration of life last year. 
 

Farewell, Aunt Jean

We found out late tonight that Aunt Jean, Mom's sister, passed away on Tuesday. I'm grateful we got to see her one last time at Mom's celebration of life this summer. Aunt Jean is on the right in this image with Mom from 1950 or so. 

Aunt Jean was fun to be around. She was a genuine character and a wonderful painter. She was closest to Mom in age and, I always suspected, closest overall. 

Our thoughts are with Uncle John, my cousins Keith and Kevin, and their partners, Heather and Carolyn, and with Aunt Marjorie. We'll all miss Aunt Jean, but none more than these who were closest to her. 

 

Mom and Me at the Etsell Farm

Here's another new-to-me image from Aunt Jean and Uncle John's collection. I'm back at the Etsell farm with Mom and Smokey the "don't pull his tail, he'll put your eye out" cat. This image brings me peace. 
 

Earl in the Hay

Aunt Jean and Uncle John recently took a large collection of their old slides to get scanned, and there are some beautiful shots in there--some that I honestly think could have been used in Life or National Geographic. 

I wouldn't consider the (cropped) photo above one of those truly outstanding shots, but it has a young me in it--one I'd never seen until my aunt and uncle gave me access to their new digital collection. I believe this was shot on the Gray farm, near the Etsell farm in southern Manitoba, sometime in the early 1970s. I'm terrible at guessing ages; do I look, say, two here? If so, this would have been summer of 1971. 

 

Mystery Viking

Sometime in 1972, either my parents or my aunt or uncle shot a slide of this impressive statue, reproduced here as a scan. Without a living person in the frame, it's hard to judge the statue's scale, but it looks pretty impressive to me. Does anyone know where I might find this statue? 

Manitoba Hydro

Mom or Dad or Uncle John or Aunt Jean shot this photo of a Manitoba Hydro facility sometime in 1973. Dam, that's a long time ago. 

Factory 1972

This photo was shot by Aunt Jean, Uncle John, or one of my parents. Something about it fascinates me. The image was shot from a vehicle, and captures some kind of industrial facility, perhaps a refinery or processing plant of some sort. It is very...of its time. 

From the 1940s to Yesterday

Today I am learning that it takes 13 hours to back up 1.45 terabytes of photographs. They stretch backward in time to the collections of my parents, aunts and uncles and forward to the shots I took yesterday. As Sean remarked, "That's a lot of photos." Maybe one day the'll go in the national archives or something. Actually, the photos Aunt Jean and Uncle John took of the Etsell farm in the 1960s and 1970s are certainly worthy of such preservation...

Father's Day Ferry Ride

Sometime in the early 1970s, before Sean was born, Mom and Dad took me on a vacation to British Columbia, probably to visit Aunt Jean and Uncle John in Kelowna. I remember this ferry crossing vividly because it was very hot, I was tired and Dad gallantly carried me around. I also remember consuming too much strawberry ice cream and vomiting pink muck everywhere shortly thereafter. Good thing Mom shot this charming father and son photo before that unhappy event. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

The Bedrocks of B.C.

Sometime in the early 1980s, the Woods family travelled to Kelowna, British Columbia to visit Aunt Jean and Uncle John. While there we visited Kelowna's Bedrock City, one of two Flintstones-themed parks in British Columbia that thrived for a few years and then vanished.

A stone helicopter would require tremendous lift! These photos were taken with a pretty primitive camera, one that seems to have allowed some light to leak into the film compartment, because every photo taken with it features a reddish smear near the top of the frame.

That's Bamm-Bamm and, I guess, Dino, enjoying a bit of fishing near a volcano.

Another view of the pool.

Guests could ride the train through town.

Naturally, this station only played rock music.

Out of Africa

Tonight Sean and I met up with Mom and Dad in Leduc to see my Mom's sister Jean and her husband, John. Aunt Jean and Uncle John recently returned from a trip to Uganda, where their younger son, my cousin Kevin, is studying primates. You can see some of their adventures at this blog, maintained by Kevin's friend Jim.

Aunt Jean is a painter, and I asked her to pose next to her Charlie Chaplin painting - one of my favourites, since Chaplin is one of my favourite directors.I wonder she'd paint Chaplin as The Great Dictator for me - it's probably the Chaplin film I admire most.

Aunt Jean and Uncle John had some pretty fascinating stories to tell about their time in Africa; Aunt Jean spent some time painting landscapes and willing Ugandans, while Uncle John accompanied Kevin tracking chimpanzees. One of their guides could recognize over 60 chimps by their voices - a pretty amazing feat!