Standing Into Danger

Monday, September 11, 2017

The Premier's Rose Garden ~ British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria

Last September I stumbled across a fragrant surprise
behind the British Columbia Parliament Buildings:
The Premier's Rose Garden.

The Premier's Rose Garden

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

September 10, 2017

I've visited this lovely spot
a number of times,
and I rarely see anyone in it.

It's quiet, peaceful, and beautiful,
and I enjoy wandering around
seeing and smelling all the gorgeous roses.

Kosmos Fairy Tale White Floribunda Roses

Livin' Easy Orange Floribunda Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Buxom Beauty Pink Hybrid Tea Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Julia Child Yellow Floribunda Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Henry Whittaker, Chief Architect for the British Columbia Department of Public Works,
designed the rectangular-shaped garden with its boxwood hedges and central sundial.

Paved paths in the shape of a cross divide the rose garden into four quadrants
featuring different rugosa, tea, floribunda, and grandiflora roses.

Central Sundial

The Premier's Rose Garden

Central Sundial

The Premier's Rose Garden

Satellite Imagery of the Premier's Rose Garden

Behind the West Annex of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Google Maps

Imagery: Google

Map Data: Google 2017

The Premier's Rose Garden was constructed
as a relief project in 1935-36 during the Great Depression.
It sits on the former site of one of the original
parliament buildings known as the "Bird Cages."

The garden was dedicated to British Columbia's Premier Bill Bennett
in 1986 and renamed "The Premier's Rose Garden."

The old parliament buildings ("bird cages") and land office

Source: City of Vancouver Archives

Reference Code: AM54-S4-: Out P1027

Anywhere you walk among the colorful roses,
you can smell their beautiful fragrances
and hear the sound of honeybees buzzing among the blooms.

Apricot/Pink Floribunda Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Easy Going Yellow Floribunda Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Buxom Beauty Pink Hybrid Tea Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Living' Easy Orange Floribunda Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

Pink/White Hybrid Tea Roses

The Premier's Rose Garden

When you sit on one of the quiet benches in a shady spot in the garden,
it's hard to imagine that Victoria's bustling Inner Harbour is only a few hundred yards away.

If you let your imagination drift, it's easy to imagine that you've
stumbled across Briar Rose's enchanted castle.

The Premier's Rose Garden

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Victoria has lovely rose gardens big and small, public and private,
but this is my favorite.

Information Source: leg.bc.ca

Friday, September 8, 2017

Sometimes I Feel Like Wonder Woman, and Sometimes ...

Sometimes I feel like Wonder Woman ...

Flickr tacit requiem Licence

And sometimes I have to admit,

I am not.

This is one of those times.

I simply couldn't finish my Northern post,

although I tried mightily.

But I'll have it by next Friday!

So sorry ~ See you then!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

IWSG: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 ~ Touchdown

It's the first Wednesday of the month:
the day when members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.

To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG founder Alex Cavanaugh are:
Tyrean Martinson, Tara Tyler, Raimey Gallant,
and Beverly Stowe McClure.

I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG poses a question
that members can answer with advice, insight,
a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.
This month's featured question is:

Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing?
For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If all goes according to plans I'll touchdown in Victoria
Tuesday evening,
and my brief IWSG post will go up as scheduled.

British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

When I pictured myself writing in my retirement,
it never occurred to me that I would be blogging.
Not only was it a new and unexpected genre for me,
it was almost completely unknown to me.

Stumbling into blogging proved serendipitous for me.
The first thing I wanted to tackle writing in retirement
was a memoir on my family's time in the North.

Blogging gave me an opportunity to tackle things in small bites.
It allowed me to experiment with different voices
and to learn to balance my father's voice with mine.

Blogging also allowed me to work through a lot of powerful and emotional memories,
and enabled me to gain some perspective and distance.

The biggest surprise of this surprising genre
was the fellow bloggers I met.
As I experimented with my posts,
all these amazing people gave me feedback and encouragement,
and became my blogging friends.
I will forever be grateful to them!

Part of a Totem Pole Near My Hotel

Thunderbird Park

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Victoria, writing, and I have gotten along well the past,
so I am looking forward to a productive month of writing.

Wishing you a happy month of writing as well!

Due to flying and arriving late, it may take me a day or two
to get around and visit fellow IWSG members, but get around I will!

Beautiful Beacon Hill Park

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

P.S. We made it ~

except for Terry's luggage which arrived about twelve hours later.

The smoke from all the fires in the western USA

and in British Columbia, Canada is unlike anything

I've ever seen from an airplane.

Here are a few photos to give you an idea:

Yellowstone National Park, USA

September 5, 2017

Cameron, Montana, USA

September 5, 2017

Delta (Greater Vancouver)

Frazer River, British Columbia, Canada

September 5, 2017

Full Sunshine ~ Lots of Smoke

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Ash fell from the sky like snow on Labour Day

September 5, 2017

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Lansdowne Letters: Indian Education ~ A Beginning

For my next few northern posts, I want to share
some of my father's experiences as a teacher
and some of my experiences as a student
in Lansdowne House's Church of England Indian Day School.

The Church of England Indian Day School

The Mainland, Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Fall 1960

Photo by Don MacBeath

My father applied for the teaching position in Lansdowne House
in the summer of 1960 mainly out of curiosity,
and darned if he didn't land the job.

With the enticement of a good salary, a generous isolation allowance,
and the adventure of teaching Indians in the wilderness,
my father postponed his plans to return to Acadia University
to earn his Bachelor of Education degree and headed North.
I eagerly followed when my family joined him some five months later.

Both of us arrived in the remote community west of James Bay
knowing little about the reality of Indian schools in the Canadian North.
Both of us had experiences we never imagined and never forgot.

The Teacher and the Student

The history of Indian schools, both day and residential,

in Canada is long, sordid, unconscionable, and tragic.

Much has been written about that dismal history
over the decades since my family was in Lansdowne House.

The Canadian Indian Residential School System primarily operated
from 1876 (with the passage of the Indian Act)
to 1996 (when the last government residential school closed).
Wikipedia

What people sometimes forget is that there were also community day schools,
like my father's Church of England school and Uno Manilla's Roman Catholic one.

The main difference between the two was that
residential students were separated from their parents for the school year,
and day school students returned to their homes after school each day.

Both were funded by the Department of Indian Affairs and operated by Christian churches,
like the Church of England and Roman Catholic day schools in Lansdowne House.

The Roman Catholic Indian Day School

The Father's Island, Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Fall 1960

Photo by Don MacBeath

The well-documented abuses that occurred in residential schools
also occurred in day schools throughout Canada.

In his unpublished handbook
"The Northern School Teacher" my father wrote:
"The primary purpose or goal of all Indian education
is the ultimate integration of the Indian population with the white population,
and the teacher has to familiarize her charges with the white man's way of doing things."

It sounds innocuous at first glance,
but it was anything but.
It was cultural genocide.

It was a deliberate attempt by government and church
to exterminate indigenous languages, traditions, and spiritual beliefs.

While my father and Uno did not intentionally harm their Indian students,
they were both tasked with teaching their students English,
familiarizing them with the dominant white culture,
and preparing them for assimilation into that culture.

Sadly, some people who were genuinely motivated
to work to improve the lives of Aboriginal people
found themselves operating in a system
initially designed to eliminate them.

"I want to get rid of the Indian problem.
... Our objective is to continue
until there is not a single Indian in Canada
that has not been absorbed into the body politic
and there is no Indian question,
and no Indian Department ... ."
Wikipedia

Duncan Campbell Scott
Head of the Department of Indian Affairs
from 1913 to 1932.
Wikimedia

There were a number of events that altered my father's plans
to pursue a career with the Department of Indian Affairs,
but certainly one important factor was his increasing dissonance
over the purpose of Indian education and the results
he observed throughout his time in northern Ontario.

Lansdowne House's Two Teachers (with Baby Duncan)

Uno Manilla ~ Roman Catholic School

Don MacBeath ~ Church of England School

Photo Probably by Duncan or Maureen McCrae

Aboriginal children who were educated under this system
often felt they did not belong in Aboriginal or white society.
They were not skilled in their traditional ways,
nor did they receive an adequate education to function in white society.
Their feelings of worthlessness rippled down through the generations,
and it led to alcoholism, substance abuse, and suicide.

I didn't have to read any of the vast number of pages
written about Aboriginal history in Canada to know this.

I have been haunted throughout my life
by the stories my Ojibwa friends shared,
by the suicide of one of my young Ojibwa friends,
and by the drawn-out, death-by-alcoholism of a Métis friend.

My father wrote his handbook in an effort to acquaint
the novice white teacher with the real challenges
of teaching in the Indian day schools of the North.

He adopted an "informal, reminiscent, and chatty manner" in his handbook
in an effort to inform the new teacher "without scaring him or her unnecessarily."

Unpublished M. Ed. Project Manuscript

My father wanted to provide new teachers with practical information,
unlike the "so-called introduction" he received
during "a one day indoctrination course" before going North.

He wrote:
"Far from being encouraging and informative,
the introduction that I received during my orientation course
was a veritable nightmare of half-truths, outright falsehoods,
rumors, and misrepresentation of facts."

The experience left my father so "mixed-up, frustrated, and apprehensive"
that he almost resigned on the spot and returned to Nova Scotia.

When my father arrived in Lansdowne House,
he walked into a new one-room school with no furniture or desks,
limited supplies, and no school records.

He arrived a week late because of bad weather
that had prevented him from flying into the community.
Some of his students had already disappeared into the bush
headed for the winter traplines with their families,
their parents having concluded there was no school that year.

My father was on his own, or so he thought.
He quickly discovered that the small number of white people
in Lansdowne House would rally to help him.

My Father and Two of His Supportive Friends

Father Ouimet and Brother Bernier

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Fall 1960

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue.

Notes:
1. Uno Manilla:
Uno was the teacher at the Roman Catholic Day School in Lansdowne House. Prior to our family
joining my father in the North, my father and Uno had bunked together in a shack or "cottage"
on the Roman Catholic Mission grounds.

2. Father Ouimet and Brother Bernier:
They were members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate,
a missionary religious congregation in the Roman Catholic Church.

3. My father's Unpublished Handbook:
The Northern School Teacher: A Hand Book To Be Issued To All New Entrants To The Teaching
Profession In The Indian Schools In The Sioux Lookout Indian Agency, 1966,
Page 14 (Body) and Page 1 (Introduction).

For Map Lovers Like Me:

Map of Canada

Highlighting Ontario

Wikimedia

Location of Lansdowne House

Wikimedia edited

Monday, August 28, 2017

Unexpected Guests: Swainson's Hawks

For the past few weeks Terry and I have been watching
a pair of magnificent Swainson's hawks.

Aerial Dancers Off Our Deck

Aurora, Colorado,USA

They've taken a great liking to our roof, deck, and airspace,
and they aren't the least bit intimidated by Terry and Me.

A favorite Perch on the Peak of Our Deck Roof

The Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni), is a large Buteo hawk of the Falconiformes.

Aurora, Colorado, USA

Hanging Out on Our Deck

It couldn't care less that I'm snapping photos nearby!

Aurora, Colorado, USA

These beautiful raptors are found in the open spaces
of the prairies and dry grasslands of the American west.

They hunt rodents in flight and sometimes chase after insects on the ground.
They especially like locusts and grasshoppers.

Hunting in the Grass

The Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni), is a large Buteo hawk of the Falconiformes.

Aurora, Colorado, USA

Swainson's hawks are similar in size and in habitat to the Red-tailed hawk.

Their white underbellies and white wing linings contrast
with their black flight feathers, helping to identify them.

Swainson's Hawk in Flight © M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue All Rights Reserved

These hawks like to perch on fence posts, utility poles, and lone trees,
but these two are fond of our decks and roofs.

They can survey two golf holes and all the natural rough surrounding them
from our neighbor's and our roofs and decks.

Perching on Our Neighbor's Deck

The reddish tinge is caused by the way the light is striking the red deck.

Aurora, Colorado, USA

This one lands the most on our home.

The Hawk as Seen from Our Bedroom

Aurora, Colorado, USA

Powerful Talons

Aurora, Colorado, USA

The Swainson's hawk winters in Argentina in South America
and have one of the longest migration routes of any American raptor.

Wikipedia

All too soon our unexpected guests will be heading south.
It will be quieter and less exciting when they leave!

Hawks High Over Our Deck

Aurora, Colorado, USA

A Joy to See!

Aurora, Colorado, USA

I'm no bird expert, so if I've misidentified this hawk,
please let me know!!!

Books Read in 2026

"18 Days in Heaven" by Gale Poirot
"A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Hope, Love, and Overcoming" by Kerrie Rawson
"Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life" by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD.
"Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics Deepest Truths" by Eugenia Cheng
"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir
"Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout
"The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese
"The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity" by David Graeber and David Wengrow
"The Life Impossible" by Matthew Haig
"The Lord go the Rings" by JRR Tolkien
"The Match" by Harlan Corben
"The Night the Path Disappeared" by Terri Bergen
"The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper" by Roland Allen
"Theo of Golden" by Allen Levi
"Think Twice" by Harlan Corben
"Why Christianity Must Change Or Die" by John Shelby Spong

Standing Into Danger

Pages

Monday, September 11, 2017

The Premier's Rose Garden ~ British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria

Friday, September 8, 2017

Sometimes I Feel Like Wonder Woman, and Sometimes ...

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

IWSG: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 ~ Touchdown

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Lansdowne Letters: Indian Education ~ A Beginning

Monday, August 28, 2017

Unexpected Guests: Swainson's Hawks

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