Aug 11, 2020

Mt. Elphinstone hike

Some photos from a hike up Mt. Elphinstone on Sunday, a destination long gazed at from afar (it's visible from Vancouver). One of those "I must hike that one sometime" mountains. Sunday was sometime.

Caught the early boat over from Horseshoe Bay, seemed absurd to pay the extra and drive so went on as a foot passenger and hiked from Langdale. Photos follow, with the disclaimer that my old super zoom camera is at the end of its life so the tone of these vary pretty wildly.

(click to enlarge)


The tusk on some big zoom from the ferry.


The wake, crossing Howe Sound.


Elphinstone rises above Langdale. Literally the only mountain within eyeshot that's summit is covered with cloud.


The top of Wharf Road is where the trail begins.


And it goes on like this for quite some time, very slowly gaining elevation.


After some route finding challenges following a power line crossing, I ended up making a B-Line up an overgrown trail, disturbing some large mammal in the bushes to hiker's left. And then ended up in this clearcut just north of Langdale Falls.


Descended a steep trail following the "Langdale Falls" signage, but must have overshot the falls and didn't have too much time to find it, so carried on.


Trail up the other side of Langdale Creek, getting close to the actual Elphinstone Summit trail now.


One of the nicer bits of the Elphinstone Summit trail. The trail was in large part the product of the late legendary mountaineer, Dick Culbert's labour.


The trail gains elevation very slowly until its final km or so. This is the first hint of the views to come.


Higher up there are some marshy bits.


At the true summit now, which offers views to the north.


And a few minutes away there are other viewpoints offering views towards Vancouver.
Mt. Baker looms above the distant valley.


I think the prominent road is Kingsway as I see Elphinstone pretty clearly while commuting it.


Without all the zoom, Vancouver is trickier to spot, at left, beyond Mt Gardner on Bowen Island.


Super zoom of Delta, Pt Roberts and beyond to Lummi Island (passing as Mt. Rainier lol).


View down to Gibsons with Keats and Bowen Isls at left.


On the lower slopes en route back to the ferry.


Elphinstone framed by the vehicle ramp at Langdale terminal.


The MV Queen of Coquitlam (44 years young this year), with Sky Pilot Mountain group beyond.

Zoom on Sky Pilot group. Ledge Mountain looks particularly impressive from this vantage point.


Lions Bay area peaks; Hat, Brunswick, Harvey, West Lion, Unnecessary.


Closer look at Hat, Brunswick and Harvey from the ferry.


St. Mark's summit from the ferry....


Can't quite see the 'grammers up on St. Mark's yet.


But you can now!


Overall, the trip to Elphinstone was a good long day of hiking from the Langdale terminal, 22.5km with about 1350m of cumulative elevation gain, lots by my recent standards! The main trail is a beautiful one, though some care is required on connecting to it from the terminal. The elevation gain is slow which at times feels like a slog and the views are pretty nice, if not quite in the league of the HSCT peaks. Glad to have got this hike done!

May 10, 2020

For Mother's Day-- a tribute to some of my mother ancestors


From the woodlands and plains of Western Canada to the Scottish firth, the Solent Coast and the Finnish lakesides, these women and so many more are all reasons why I'm here.

Here's a wee bit about some of the ones I know about:


Great-great-great Grandmothers

Marguerite McMillan (nee: Dease) (1818-1904)
St. James Parish, Manitoba. 
Photo taken circa 1900
My Father's Mother's Mother's Father's MOTHER.

In keeping with imperfect records of the time, my great-great-great Grandmother, was born in either 1815,1818 or 1820 in either Fort Alexander, Rupert's Land or Rainy Lake. She was a Metis woman, daughter of well known trader John Warren Dease and Genevieve Beignet, from present day Green Lake, Saskatchewan, site of a Northwest Company post in the 1790s.
Marguerite gave birth to nine children, and lived into her 80s. Her husband was a signatory to various Metis petitions and a buffalo hunter, trader and guide. 

She would have had not only a huge household to run but would also have been involved in the preparation of the buffalo for the robe trade.
Thanks mother and my other 15 great-great-great Grandmothers who I know less about but owe no less to!
💓


Great-great Grandmothers

Virginie McMillan (nee: Bruce) (aka: Granny Mac) (1862-1949)
outside Winnipeg, MB photo circa 1920s
My Father's Mother's Mother's MOTHER

Virginie was Marguerite's daughter-in-law, herself having deep roots in the Red River settlement. Her father was a  La Loche Boat Brigade leader.
Her uncle, John Bruce was for a time, one of Louis Riel's closest confidantes and president of the Metis provisional government.
My own Granny, who knew her simply as "Granny Mac", would fondly recount visits to her home by streetcar in 1930s Winnipeg, where she'd regale her with stories of old days and give her sweets. 
She had five children and at least 15 grandchildren, (that I know of), probably more. 
Thanks Mother!
💗

Catherine Smith (nee: Parisien),  (C. 1857-1932)
Winnipeg, Manitoba
My Father's Mother's Father's MOTHER


Catherine Parisien is another of my maternal ancestors whose Red River roots run very deep indeed. Her father Pascal fought for the Metis at Batoche, as did several cousins. Her grandfather Augustin, was among those present (and actually part of the firing squad) at the execution of Thomas Scott, a pivotal event in Metis and Canadian history.
Herself of French Metis heritage, she married into the English Metis Smith family, eventually settling along with her offspring in the Rooster Town area south of Winnipeg, after the city expropriated their land.

Following the death of her Smith husband, she remarried but stayed close to her children's household. Her death was noted in the Winnipeg Free Press as the passing of a "Pioneer woman of the west".

Thanks, Mother!

💓


Hilda Ojala (nee: Kartano) (1868-1940)
Intola, Ontario
My Father's Father's Mother's MOTHER.

Hilda was one of the first wave of Finnish immigrants who would eventually settle and form the community of Intola, Ontario, near Thunder Bay.


She was originally from Virrat, Finland, north of Tampere. For decades her and her husband lived meagerly and worked the land while raising their nine children. When my grandfather was very young, he fell gravely ill and his Granny Ojala nursed him back to health (it was mentioned goat's milk was somehow involved!). He maintained that he would have died a young boy if not for this woman.

Thanks, Mother!
💗



Evelyn Fanny Reed (nee: Day) (1882-1978)
Portsmouth, England
My Mother's Father's Mother's MOTHER.

Evelyn Fanny Reed passed away just one year before I was born, at the age of 96. 
Widowed for over 60 years, she raised her daughter in the north end of Portsmouth, England following the death of her husband at the Battle of the Somme during the Great War (WW I). 

She was one of the throngs who crowded to Portsmouth Harbour to watch as the body of Queen Victoria was brought over from the Isle of Wight, where she had died in 1901. She related this story to my mum. I know of no other mother ancestor of mine who was widowed longer nor lived longer than she.
Thanks, Mother! 
💓



Great-Grandmothers


Agnes Smith (nee: McMillan) (1881-1935) 
Winnipeg, Manitoba
My Father's Mother's MOTHER

And now we get closer to the mothers of people that I have known and loved. 
My own Granny's mother was born and raised Catholic in Winnipeg in what would have been a difficult era to be Metis (or "half-breeds" as the census referred to her family as). She would have spent most of her younger years in the St. James Parish on or near her grandfather's old river lot. 

She would have witnessed, in her first 30 years, an incredible change to Winnipeg as settlers poured in from the east, increasing the population by 17 fold. Marrying teamster Alex Smith, a fellow Metis, in 1902, she had 15 children of her own, over a span of 22 years, Winnipeg's largest family of the time.

My Granny recalls her mother being a generous and sociable woman who'd hand out an assortment of beautiful flowers from her garden to passersby just to brighten their day. In contrast to her tall, lanky husband, she was a well built woman but an incredibly graceful dancer. Granny recalls her mother and father dancing to fiddle music during weekly socials at their home in Winnipeg's south side "Rooster Town".

Life took its toll on my Great-Grandmother and she sadly passed away at just 53 years of age, when my Granny was just 10 years old. Somewhere, she is brightening someone's day and being joyous and strong for her family. 
Thanks, Mother. 
💓 




Margaret (Meg) Currie (nee: Gemell) (c. 1900 - 1965)
Edinburgh, Scotland
My Mother's Mother's MOTHER

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, Margaret Gemmel, my grandma's "Mam", had four children with James Currie. One of those children, Jim died when just a boy from I believe, tuberculosis.

My grandmother always kept his picture displayed somewhere in the house.


After my grandma moved to Canada, her Mam would often ask in letters I've read, when her daughter was coming back home across the pond because she was "missed terribly."

Husband James oversaw construction for the Royal Navy and spent years travelling. For a time, they both resided at his post in Malta. In the 1960s, Margaret became ill and lived with her eldest son's family in Alberta, Canada.

She was known to especially enjoy Kit Kat bars, a strong family trait evident in her granddaughter (My mum) and I.

Thanks, Mother!
💓



Hilma Freeman (nee: Ojala) (1890-1971)
Intola, Ontario
My Father's Father's MOTHER

With one eye reading the Vapaus and the other eyeing an attractive dress, my paternal great-grandmother was a Red Finn with an eye for style.
She came to Canada with her parents at a very young age, settling in Intola, Ontario near Thunder Bay. Before her 25th birthday, she had met my Great-Grandfather and had two children by him. It was not a match made in heaven, however. While he spanned North America working in mines, on railways and wherever his wandering and enterprising spirit took him, she preferred a more secure stable life. Nominally married, they were seldom together and she had a child by another man in the 1920s.

My Great-Grandfather helped make sure her and their children were well looked after though and by the 1940s she was living in a large house on Cardero Street in Vancouver's West End, which has somehow survived to the present day.
Her latter years were spent with my Dad's family in Surrey, BC and eventually at the Finnish Canadian Rest Home in Vancouver.
Thanks, Mother! (looking good)
💓



Evelyn Rose Gregory (nee: Reed), aka: Nan (1909-2000)
Portsmouth, England
My Mother's Father's MOTHER

Nan was the one Great-Grandmother I met. My earliest memories involve watching her weathered papery hands with a knitting needle (oh and picking up a spoon I dropped when I was 3 (sort of an in-family joke)). Residing in Portsmouth, England her entire life, she visited Canada numerous times after her son (my Grandfather) moved here and married in the 1950s.

Nan's father died in the First World War when she was just seven years old and she was raised by her mother who lived to be almost 100.

With her husband, who was a tradesman, she raised my Grandfather and Great Aunt.

She knitted sweaters and mittens for me when I was a boy, and sent some all the way from England or brought them on her visits. She was a keen letter-writer and never forgot birthdays, often including a five or ten pound note in a card for me.


A favourite saying was, when discussing any weather-related phenomena, she'd reply "It's the tides, dear!". No doubt that was informed by her spending her entire life practically beside the Solent, in the naval town of Portsmouth.

Thanks and love you, Nan! 💓




Grandmothers


Merle Freeman (nee: Smith) aka: GRANNY (1925-2008)
Surrey, BC
My Father's MOTHER

What can I say about my "Happy Granny" (as I used to call her)?
Too much, far too much, for just a few paragraphs. I feel incredibly privileged to have had her as a big part of my life growing up. The youngest of 15 children born into a decidedly non-privileged family in Winnipeg, she overcome an extremely unpromising set of circumstances and challenges with her outlook and inner resolve. 

She also played a mean game of cards and could talk non-stop for 2 or 3 hours on the telephone, if allowed! Her home was the family home.

I remember visiting "all the parks in Surrey" with her one day when I was about 8. Another time, she and I went for a ferry ride to Nanaimo and back on the then new Tsawwassen-Nanaimo route. For a few years running, we'd go to Denny's in Blaine, Washington for a New Year's breakfast as a special treat. One time, Gene Kiniski was there and gave her his phone number!

The stories I heard from this woman and the life lessons learned through them and just observing her, have shaped a huge part of who I am. One day, I'll write more about her.
Thanks and I love you, Granny! 💓



Margaret Gregory (nee: Currie) aka: GRANDMA (1931-2008)
Victoria, BC
My Mother's MOTHER

If there are genes for creativity, I'm sure I got almost all of my limited supply from this woman.

A published author of about 20 books, a painter and green thumb (not to mention filling the home with music), I am as equally privileged to have had this grandmother in my life.


Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, she worked for years at a typewriter, writing copy for the BBC, then CBC, before finally penning novels in the 1970s and 80s as "Elizabeth Graham". All this while raising two girls.

Her roast potatoes were second to none, with everyone in the family having tried to get close but never quite equalling them. Her pride in her Scottish heritage was always there too, as the songs she'd hum and whistle would attest to.


Some of my fondest memories were of staying up late with just her watching British shows on PBS, sipping ginger ale, and talking.


A few words would never do my Grandma justice, so I'll leave you with a favourite dittie:



 Love you, Grandma 💓
------------------


Mum and I, 1979
The only redhead in the entire known family tree. 💓

Apr 11, 2020

41st, West to East

The beginning. 
Camosun Street at SW Marine Drive, just steps from western end of 41st Avenue.

I tried to take a photo of each street intersection and only missed one or two.






Line-up outside Save on Foods.







Well equipped lawn and garden maintenance truck. 






Kerrisdale was the most populated area of 41st Avenue, but not very.



Sorry, I am not sure if he made that bus.







Monkey Puzzle and Magnolia in one yard!












 The former Oakridge transit centre, destination for all those "41st and Oak" buses back in the day.









 The boulevard so recognizable to any Vancouverite.









First of two reflections.

Cree Street opposite.


Something about clothes out to dry.


Worthwhile signage! 


Mountain View Cemetery. Somewhere in this general direction is my paternal Great-Grandfather (1882-1958)'s unmarked grave. Born in Finland, he fled a military family as a boy by stowing away
on a ship to Montreal. He later settled in Intola, Ontario in a Finnish community, and had two children. One of them was my Grandfather (1913-1971), who would have been a young boy at the
time of 1918-19 Influenza pandemic.







 One of 35 or so discarded gloves spotted.




Several of these spotted.
















Proper distancing at Earle's Park.


One of the five or so discarded masks spotted during the walk.




"Thank you for fighting Covid 19"
 



East end of 41st Ave, at Joyce Street.

Sir Guy Carleton Elementary School, building at left among the oldest school buildings in the city.