Portage la Prairie, Manitoba

The Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame has officially announced its inductees for 2009—among the nine individuals “judged to have made a significant and lasting contribution to agriculture in Manitoba within their lifetimes” is my dad’s older brother, my ‘Uncle Pete,’ Peter Jacob Peters, now 95. He’ll be giving a 5-minute speech (though he insists he needs 20 :-) at 1:30pm on 16 July at a ceremony open to the public at the William Glesby Center (11-2nd St. NE) in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

Peter J. Peters immigrated to Canada from the Ukraine with his family at age eleven (when my father was six). He took his schooling at Gretna in Southern Manitoba, and later enrolled in teacher training. At the outbreak of World War II, Pete enlisted in the RCAF—upon his eventual return from overseas service he attained his BSc. in Agriculture. Following graduation, he worked with the Extension Service of Manitoba Agriculture as a potato specialist (where he became known as “Potato Pete” to those in the field)—among other significant achievements he is credited with paving the way for the commercial potato industry in Manitoba. He also applied himself to the Strawberry Experimental Demonstration program at Hadashville in Eastern Manitoba, and as a direct result of his efforts, the Strawberry Growers Association of Manitoba came into being. Pete served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Manitoba Horticultural Association, was President of the Western Canadian Society for Horticulture, revitalized the periodical The Prairie Gardener, and wrote and published A Century of Horticulture in Manitoba. Aside from his horticultural pursuits, Pete is also a prolific poet (with too many published books to list here) and was active throughout his adult life in church and community activities, renowned for his entertaining hundreds with his photography-poetry-musical presentations.

Photo: Peter J. Peters in 1945 (while requisitioned to serve as a tri-lingual interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials after the war [on account of his fluency in Russian, German, and English]—a time he prefers not to speak about to this day). Thanks to my brother Jim for the scan from an old photographic print.

Nunavut, Canada (1949)

An inspiring 60-year-old flashback for the ultimate lesson in (Northern) sustainable architecture… from Canada’s National Film Board. (Note that the term ‘Eskimo’ used by narrator Douglas Wilkinson is today considered pejorative and has been replaced by ‘Inuit,’ which is the indigenous plural term for ‘Inuk’ [‘man’ or ‘person’]).

New York, New York

Some great photographs of legendary U.S. climbers in a flickr set, shot by Jim Herrington. Shown above: Doug Robinson on a first ascent on Temple Crag in the Sierra Nevada, California; Glenn Exum strums in Colorado.

(Thanks to Winnipeg photographer friend Ian McCausland for the link).

Portland, Oregon

I’ve seen a number of these memetic cartoon character depictions in the past and finally stumbled across the source—Michael Paulus. View the rest on his website here. Following is what Michael says about his “character study” of 22 present and past cartoon characters…

Animation was the format of choice for children’s television in the 1960s, a decade in which children’s programming became almost entirely animated. Growing up in that period, I tended to take for granted the distortions and strange bodies of these entities. These Icons are usually grotesquely distorted from the human form from which they derive.

I decided to take a select few of these popular characters and render their skeletal systems as I imagine they might resemble if one truly had eye sockets half the size of its head, or fingerless-hands, or feet comprising 60% of its body mass.

These characters have become conventions that are set, defined, and well-known personas in our culture. Being that they are so commonplace and accepted as existing I thought I would dissect them like science does to all living objects—trying to come to an understanding as to their origins and true physiological make up. Possibly to better understand them and see them in a new light for what they are in the most basic of terms.

Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 20 years ago today… (photo by Jeff Widener)

A premonition I had in my twenties that I wouldn’t
live beyond forty obviously didn’t pan out…
(message to self—don’t bank on your intuition, OK?)

Thanks to the many friends from far and near
who have sent their regards…

Steinbach, Manitoba

My uncle Jacob Jacob Peters (shown above with his bride Margaret Klassen in August 1949) was born 100 years ago today in Russia, at the height of the Bolshevik revolution. ‘Uncle Jake’ passed on September 18th, 1979… time sure does fly.

(Thanks to cousin Herbert J. Peters [Uncle Jake’s oldest son], a lawyer at Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson LLP, for the heads-up and some old photos; thanks to my brother Jim for the scanned wedding photo).

Paris, France

Today marks the 120th anniversary of the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is still the tallest building in Paris, and has been visited by more than 200 million people since its construction (making it the most visited paid monument in the world). The metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes while the entire structure including non-metal components is approximately 10,000 tonnes.

Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tonnes of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. In order to maintain a uniform appearance to an observer on the ground, three separate colors of paint are used on the tower, with the darkest on the bottom and the lightest at the top. On occasion the colour of the paint is changed; the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-grey.

Lots more information and tower trivia here…

What it is depends largely on the value one imbues it with (think memetics), often comes down to where you find it (context counts a lot), and how you choose to define its transitory relevance…

ephemera

1398, originally a medical term, from M.L. ephemera (febris) “(fever) lasting a day,” from fem. of ephemerus, from Gk. ephemeros “lasting only one day,” from epi “on” + hemerai, dat. of hemera “day…” Sense extended to short-lived insects and flowers; general sense of “transitory” is first attested c.1639. Ephemeral is from 1576. Ephemeris “table of astronomical calculations” is from 1551. (from Online Etymology Dictionary)

Images: a few bits of ephemera from a nice Flickr collection here. 

Porto, Portugal

Ev and I decided to make a one-day jaunt up to the coastal wine-making city of Porto yesterday (hence Port wine), three hours by train north of Lisbon. Although the forecast was for cloudy weather with showers, the rain (mostly) held off and we were treated to beautiful shafts of sunlight illuminating this remarkably textured old city. We certainly got our exercise in the 9 hours or so we spent walking up and down the hilly cobble-stoned streets, including an airy crossing of the Douro River to visit the venerable Ramos Pinto house of port. Following the obligatory tastings Ev decided she had a hankering for the fruitier white port—a bottle of which then accompanied our picnic dinner of fresh breads, local cheese, fruit, and pastries—a meal fit for a prince, though at a pauper’s price.

Images, from top: vernacular signage; a lovely old motorbike; ubiquitous illustrated Portuguese tiles; bridge over the river Douro; view across the river from in front of the port houses; period posters for the Ramos Pintos port brand; Ev in front of the Majestic Cafe and in the fresh market.