Impressions of The Rock-ELSS
The Rock stands opposite the Elliot Lake Secondary School. It was there to watch the school first be built and the student population to grow to over 1000 students. It has watched the same population shrink to about half of that. Teachers and students have come and gone. Some students have returned as teachers themselves. One past student is now the music teacher, while another has become the Vice Principle, still another has become the school nurse. Other students have returned as parents of students now attending the school.
The Rock has seen it all. Graduation, dances, the great Elizabethan Banquet, school plays, the Aboriginal Culture week, first days and final exams. It has witnessed the highs and the lows. It has seen enter those who would lead the young to greater self-knowledge and self-worth through a wide education in the arts a, technology, sciences & mathematics, business, computers & mass media, and the humanities. It has seen those who tried to hide in the shadows of trees and bushes or a in parked car, ready to lead young minds down less favourable paths. Success and failure, the Rock has been witness to both.
Tears of laughter and grief have fallen on and near the Rock. Not all students graduate, not all students grow into adults. Not all teachers get to a well-earned retirement. Thankfully such events and the tears they give birth too are infrequent, though it would be better if no such tears need fall. Better the tears of teenage heartbreak or a minor set-back in the road to independent adult life. Better still the tears that come from joyous laughter that echoes through the halls, out the doors, and across the parking lot to be heard on The Rock.
Monday: Moon & Wires
The moon suspended between wires.
Who is the prisoner ?
Above the hill the pale moon rises.
Signs of Spring Awakening
Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men. ~Chinese Proverb
SPRING, DANCING
Here April wanders from the rainy Sound—
Ethereal Beauty in her shining veil,
Like a slow-dancing Sibyl comes with joy.
Enraptured we behold her mystic form
Gleam through the silvery showers against the hill,
And must forever follow on her trace,
Enchanted as in some old fairy tale
By the enthralling sorceries of the earth.
And hark, what music for her pomp is made
In the awakening meadows, where the stream
Murmurs at twilight when the moon is large,
And through the alders in the marshy ground
Rises the watery treble of the frogs—
The eerie and haunted Pan-pipes of the Spring.
A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
~Emily Dickinson
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Antique Impressions: Elliot Lake Ontario
The above scene was taken a few years ago looking across Elliot Lake from the senior’s manor. The colours and saturation levels were modified and combined with a texture layer to age the image.
Highway 108 Heading South_April23-2012
As I have mentioned before in earlier posts, the contrast between the natural environment and human activity can be very dramatic. You can drive outside of a community and in a manner of minutes feel like you are in the middle of empty wilderness. There are times when we take this for granted or just blend into the scenery. If you look carefully at the next image you will see a student sitting on the rock reading her book. Each year the grads paint their year and names on the Rock. There a multiple layers going back to the 1950′s.
Elliot Lake Secondary School Parking Lot _ The Rock
Time is dictated by rock, trees, and sky. Step a few feet from a road or a school parking lot and turn in away from human occupation and you are suddenly alone. You face an ancient and powerful environment. You can feel both its power and age.
On the Rock 2
Our humble efforts at leaving an impression on the world seem like faded aged paper. The details becoming less and less sharp as time goes by.
Antique Impressions: North Ontario Trees
North Ontario Trees
Clinging to dreaming old rock.
Spring slowly returns,
Trembling roots await the sun;
Chilled stone recalls summer.
North Ontario, Trees
Suspended between seasons,
Trapped on a page.
Time taped at the corners,
Old photographs recall spring.
On my way to work,
Passing those trees so often.
They have grown taller.
Spring slowly returns again.
My bones, like the chilled stone,
Recall the summer.
Should’ve I tarried longer ?
Note: More photos of current area just beyond the school parking lot. Poetry form - mostly Tanka.
Antique Impressions: Birch Trees in April
The Birch Trees in Spring
Sing without the breeze’s voice.
Eager green buds swell,
Ready to be embraced
By the Sun’s hot promises.
The Tanka poem has been considered the most important form and the oldest style of Japanese poetry. It dates back to the 1300s. This verse consists of five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables whose intent is to focus the reader’s attention on a single event, or image and the mood that is associated with it. In it its Japanese form it is considered a lyric poem. While sharing some of the same concerns as haiku verse, Tanka poems often are romantic in nature or concerned with the temporariness of love.
Click images for enlargement & detail.
Surreal Thursday: Heavy Snow Expected Friday ?!
Well, it is definitely a Surreal Thursday. My daughter continues to be sick and my wife had to take her in to emerge. There is a bug going around and some are getting hit harder than other. This was the Canadian Winter that wasn’t and the flu season seemed to be the same. Oops, ………. we are getting hit late. Yes the first image is a modified screen shot of Environment Canada’s anticipated weather for late tonight and Friday, ….. SNOWFALL WARNING IN EFFECT.
A developing low pressure system over the central plains of the U.S. will track over Lake Huron on Friday and reach Western Quebec by Saturday morning.
This system is expected to bring a significant snowfall to the Nickel Belt and Nipissing region on Friday (April 20). Snow in advance of this low will begin overnight with snowfall amounts near 15 cm expected for the Elliot Lake area while the Nipissing region will likely see between 15 and 25 cm by late Friday.
The snow is forecast to taper off in western regions late Friday afternoon and near the Quebec border late Friday evening.
Please note, our snow storms, and other messy weather, comes from the U.S.A. . There is this misconception that all the bad weather in the States comes from “up North” (Canada), the same way they blamed us for those terrorists that caused the 911 attack. We send you Snowbirds who flock to Florida , New Mexico, and Texas. America supplies us with illegal guns and sitcoms& reality TV and we supply them with oil, legal gay marriage, hockey players, and not so legal grass ( from BC’s golden coast, where the Rockies have a blue haze).
As you can see, it is all very surreal. So here a few more surreal images to complete the day.
Surreal Icicle
Confused icicle doesn’t know which way the warm winds are blowing.
Elliot Lake Lookout & Fire Tower
Can you read the secret message in this image ?
Surreal Horse & Signs
How not to place signs when you install an eye-catching sculpture. Shall we say surreal ?
Click images to get a 3d surreal experience of Canada. You have to supply your own D , here is the 3.
What if Wednesday
After my last post, I got to thinking about the line between the natural environment and urban/industrial decay. What if Nature became more aggressive in taking control of the decay ? What if Nature sent us a message marking the territory as a warning ? Would we notice ?
Last week, while we waited for Tasha’s bus, my wife pointed out the neighbour’s roof. The shadow of the tree created a frost silhouette – like a hand grasping the roof.
Just a coincidence – a random act of natural art or an opening shot from a movie by Hitchcock or Lean.
Nature is not that sinister. We need not worry that our buildings are about to be consumed.
Nothing to worry about.
Just sit back and enjoy Nature. Observe the beauty of it all, ……………., while Nature observes us.
Birch Trees & Trailer
In Northern Ontario there is a unique mix of the natural environment and urban/industrial decay. This can be especially true in smaller communities where a small industrial area is next to the tree line. I took the original photos on the weekend when I was doing recycle drop off. The methodology for processing required using the Redfield Plugin and VirtualPhotographer Plugin .
Lilac Dreams & Poppies
We are still awaiting the arrival of flowers.
The unseasonably warm weather spoilt us.
As the temperatures returned to normal,
We became impatient.
We dream of flowers,
Over-heightened colour & textures.
Feverish with expectations,
We twist and turn our heads.
We detect ghostly scents of Spring’s arrival.
We eagerly wait for when
We can curse the over abundance of Pollen,
that falls like gently shed
Snow.
Note: George had mentioned in a previous post that I seemed to change styles. “Am I becoming predictable?”, I asked myself. I replied, ” I knew I was going to ask that question”. I took that as a sign that it is time to do something a bit differently. This post started out as something and turned about when I wasn’t looking. The title changed, the visuals were modified further & additional images were added. There was not going to be a poem. I realize I now have to adjust the selected tags. The process of creating and communicating ideas can be organic or chaotic – chaotically organic/organically chaotic ( which of these is healthier and better for the environment? ) .
Then & Now
The flower stand covered in a white bloom,
Shadows mark the passing days.
Now look where you step.
Note: Go to seekrazfor another take on Snow Cones.
Frozen Memories
The seasons shift and time is frozen in memory. Winter releases its grip reluctantly. Suspended between coming and going, familiar landscapes slowly alter as we gaze.
Overhead, the signs of the next change soar and hover in the air, finally coming to rest on the shifting ice. Horizon lines recede in the bright sun. Half remembered paths begin to fade.
Memories of seasons past, present, and future merge.
Note: If you click the third image to see the enlargement, you will see the seagulls sitting on the ice, just past the mid-way point .
Memories on Newsprint
These two photos were taken last weekend during our unexpected week of March “Summer” here in Elliot Lake. You can see the snowmobile tracks in the thinning ice. In the first photo, you are looking at Spruce Beach. The shot was taken from Spine Beach looking East. Below in the second shot you can see the view in reverse from Spruce Beach looking west.
I have called this post Memories on Newsprint because they are constructed realities that suggest a more distant past than they actually are. I have been experimenting with creating aged newsprint backgrounds & textures. I used photographs of recent newspaper pages and flyers to create these “aged” pieces. Time passes and we construct memories built from sensory experience and saved within emotional context. Below is another shot looking out from the Spruce Beach parking lot toward the “famous” rock and island beyond. Islands trapped in melting ice, like memories wrapped in yellowing newsprint and sepia tones.
Katrien does this post fit the chronotope definition ? Or are we all creating new examples/forms through the process of blogging ?
Antique Impressions: Sumac
Sumac is a common, well-known and easily recognized feature of the rural North American landscape. These small trees with thick twigs and an almost tropical appearance are familiar to most country dwellers. Their shape and large cone-like, dark red berry clusters are distinctive and their bright red autumn foliage is hard to forget. Yet few people know that these little trees have provided a delicious and refreshing summer drink throughout much of the world for thousands of years. Sumac :The wild lemonade berry (Link)
All of the true (edible) sumacs have dark reddish or purple fruit borne in erect, tight clusters. (On some of the western species, the clusters are pretty small and may not be as tight as on the eastern species, but they are still distinctly red.) The surface of the fruit is fuzzy or grainy.
Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America. The word sumac traces its etymology from Old French sumac (13th century), from Medieval Latin sumach, from Arabic summāq (سماق), from Syriac summāq (ܣܘܡܩ) – meaning “red.” The First Nation people also used the leaves and drupes of the Smooth and Staghorn Sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures. Sumac stems also have a soft pith in the centre that is useful in traditional First Nation pipe-making and the plant was also used in traditional healing & to make dyes.
Sumac was used as a treatment for half a dozen different ailments in medieval medicine, primarily in Islamic countries (where sumac was more readily available than in Europe). An 11th-century shipwreck off the coast of Rhodes, excavated by archaeologists in the 1970s, contained commercial quantities of sumac drupes. These could have been intended for use as medicine, or as a culinary spice, or as a dye.
Variations: Seagull in Flight
Seagulls are birds -
Closely related to the terns -
See how they turn .
The acrobats of the sky
Float motionless in midair.
Catching wind currents,
Like pieces of bread
Thrown in white clouds,
At just the right angle
Their bodies
Appear effortless.
Most gulls
With perfect timing and precision
Belong to the large family,
Larus.
“Ravenous sea birds” float above,
While positioning
Around the oceans worldwide.
Distantly related to auks, and skimmers,
Seagulls can be misleading inland,
At just the right angle.
Easing human-bird conflict,
Swedish city toilet train seagulls.
Impossible antics inland
Are so numerous.
Conflict appears effortless
At just the right angle.
White feathers bright with sunlight
Twist with ease in the air.
Ravenous white birds
Drink
Sea & Fresh water
Without conflict -
With the exception of some
Central Pacific islands.
White vehicles ,
See how they turn ?
See how they turn !
Droppings
At just the right angle
Catch the wind currents.
In Southern Ontario / GTA
Gulls in large numbers
Are Larus all year round.
Catching wind currents,
The CN Tower recedes,
As they await the Blue Jays.
Many people
Consider the gulls.
A Nuisance ?
Sanitation engineers with wings ?
See how they turn motionless .
Impossible antics are numerous.
Numerous Provincial and Federal laws
See how they turn
Without conflict ?
Note: This found poem uses several sources. Each link leads to location. The CN tower link leads to an earlier post about the tower. The bird on the wire link leads to a very interesting news photo from the Canadian Maritimes.
On Ice
The weather changes and shifts. The ice is still holding up in our area. No way of knowing what the conditions will be by the weekend. These images were based on photographs taken from the boat launch near the West View Park in Elliot Lake Ontario. Experiments in colour and texture., they hopefully represent how warmer temperatures are on ice.
Note: My plans for this post changed when the combination of a phone call and a glitch in the computer resulted in lost work and revised images. Enjoy the day & the days yet to come.
Snow Caps & Winter’s Touch
Winter is not harsh,
Those in her charge
She covers with
Rolling blankets,
White sleeves, and snow-caps.
Winter is not harsh,
She communicates with reeds
Of crystal light:
Her meaning is clear.
Winter is not harsh,
If we reflect upon
Her gifts,
Hear her lullaby
In misty white:
“ Rolling blankets,
White sleeves, and snow-caps.“
Note: This is for all those of you have been so supportive during my anxious whiny moments this weekend, and for all my followers(new & old) and regular visitors & commenters who have made this blog such a pleasure to do ( not to mention addicting). May none of you find your winters harsh.
Captain There Be Snow Here
Winter has reasserted itself in Northern Ontario.
Like a boot in the front hall,
It has posted a greeting that is hard to ignore.
With an artist’s hand
It has left signature highlights
For us to admire & marvel,
As we shovel & trudge.
Highlights high & low
Entrance & beguile,
With transformations of icy alchemy
Winter climbs the wall
With white fingers
Curling like frozen smoke.
That are knocking at the window.
***** Hopes this balances things after the whiny stressed post from earlier today. ********
What if Wednesday: Transfigurations & Transformations
This What if Wednesday is all about change. The process of change and the moment of change captures our minds and imaginations. Whether it is a vision of transfiguration or photograph of the sinking of Atlantis, we want to witness the change. We would capture it and present it as evidence of the possibility for positive change and a prophetic warning of potential catastrophe that awaits us if we do not change our behaviour & attitudes.
We see change in both positive and negative forces in both the natural world and the manufactured world in which we live.
Visions of great achievements and disastrous outcomes.
What if we do nothing ?
What if we succeed ?
Impressions of A February Walk
Last Sunday I accompanied my wife as she canvassed for Heart & Stroke. Liz was a bit over-enthusiastic about the number of nearby streets she would cover. She did not anticipate the changeable weather or some personal health concerns. We still have a few more places to go this weekend. In any case, for me this walk-about serves as a photo-safari. A few people may have thought it was a bit odd a canvasser to have a camera dangling from his neck. I just told them I am assisting my wife ( and making an unofficial documentary ).
Our unusually mild winter ( Who knows what the cause is – Prime Minister Harper & his Conservative has reassured the Canadian populous that there is no climate change, Kyoto Protocol was an unnecessary, unworkable, & terribly unfair, and Oilsands will save us, somehow) has made our February Faw more photographically fascinating. You can stand on the corner and watch the weather swing about from Early Spring to normal Winter like the flow of traffic. The Natural world and man-made artifacts mingle in a daily shifting environment. It is as if they are trying to tell us something.
Simplicity: The Rose & Ice
Simplicity,
The state of being Simple.
But You can not get there from Here. -
Simplicity
Usually relates to the Burden.
The Burden which a Thing
Puts on Someone.
Or the Burden is the quality Someone
Tries to explain or understand.
The Burden is the quality of Simply Understanding
Something.
OR, ……..
Trying to explain or understand It simply.
Something which is easy to understand.
Explain Please?
It is simple,
Depending on the way
We choose
To describe It.[1]
In contrast to Something Complicated.
Alternatively, Something is Simple .
Go Smell the Roses,
Observe the Simple Complexity of the Ice.
Once There, you have arrived Here.
Note: Photographically I wanted to go for simplicity, no fancy processing. Then I had to write something on the topic of simplicity, sigh. I chose to go with a found poem.
A poem created from prose found in a non-poetic context, such as advertising copy, brochures, newspapers, product labels, etc. The lines are arbitrarily rearranged into a form patterned on the rhythm and appearance of poetry.
The source I used was a Wikipedia entry. I purposely left the original links intact, besides adding one or two of my own. For a much earlier and simpler (?) example of this form see my post, Contemplating The Moon.
Did anyone else see a resting fawn in the ice ? I guess that is what happens with simplicity we see complex patterns and hidden meanings.
Coloured Memories: Winter2
Winter comes in many colours -
Patterns form with each new layer -
I turn another page.
Icicles hang next to blue shadows,
Growing on the dry vines of winter.
The sun’s rays nurtures swelling fruit.
Winter spreads another layer -
Weary warriors hold their ground.
A few more skirmishes
Before Spring’s fresh recruits
Start to advance.
Antique Impressions of the Manufactured4
Re-visiting the topic of the manufactured in the environment. As with the previous entry in this series the above image is from one of the small industrial zones in Elliot Lake (Ontario). Viewing industrial settings and artifacts through the conceit of Antique Impressions emphasizes the impermanence of human creations. it is ironic that as a species we have such a huge impact on the global environment and at the same time so much of what we create or discover can vanish so quickly. See: Technologies that we’ve lost – and the quest to find them again
Makes you wonder what will happen to the internet and blog world in the future. Will there be an Indiana Jones IV and Hashtag of the Crystal Blog Raiders as a holo-novel one day. (Sounds like a What if Wednesday topic.)
I hope this talk of the impermanence doesn’t leave you in the emotional dumpster (metaphor).
To see some intriguing art/photo work that goes beyond the digital darkroom see : Darkroom No. 2 It is the Refrigeratormagnate blog-anniversary. He may even explain how to stop a stop bath or how to start a stop bath, or stop starting a stop start bath,or pick a peck of pickled bath salts in a stop bath.
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