tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129410862024-03-18T01:04:14.013-05:00City in the TreesLone Primatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15746801663695992138noreply@blogger.comBlogger1126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-54636892221000364902023-02-11T09:11:00.001-05:002023-02-11T10:14:45.922-05:00Up and down at Woodside Park<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> What a delight. <a href="https://blog.jimgrey.net/2023/02/08/things-that-arent-there-anymore/" target="_blank">I was recently mentioned in dispatches over at Jim Grey's dependable and always fascinating blog Down the Road</a>, though it was kind of a wincing compliment. A boot in the pants to post more often. I keep promising myself I will. My hobbies have turned back inward to my art and my writing, and all the wandering just gets sliced, diced, and put into the Millennium Project for eventual accrual to the provincial archives (I hope) rather than forensically laid out here on City in the Trees like it used to be ten, fifteen years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, I can't promise I'll be a daily doser here like I was back then, but I can certainly post about some of the wanders, if only as an aid to memory. I can't count how many times I've been back here just to figure out when it was I did whatever, and after about 2012, I really stopped providing myself that memory aid. Oh, anyway... here's something that some of you might find interesting if and when you pass by.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bolton is a small town that's actually part of a bigger town, Caledon, to the northwest of Toronto out in Peel Region. It's pretty much on the border with York Region, and I mention it only as a geographic reference. The place I'm concerned with today is a few minutes' drive east of Bolton in Vaughan. <a href="https://cityinthetrees.blogspot.com/2006/08/adventures-on-humber.html" target="_blank">I blogged about it once, way back in 2006</a>, when P-Doug and I were first there. We didn't return until the spring of 2020 (during the meantime, Cold Creek Road has gone from gravel-dirt to paved). More recently, in the past summer or two, we've been back a few times. It's a moderately challenging climb and a beautiful hike; a place that was once cleared and populated in long-ago summers but is now conservation land slowly returning to wilderness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back in the 1960s, the place was called Woodside. It was a park or campgrounds of some sort. There's some suggestion, although it's not conclusive, that the site hosted a local nudist club for a couple of years in the 1950s before it moved on to a more permanent location. There really isn't much about it out there... well, why would there be? But it's been an interesting derelict for a long time, and frankly, I'm a little disappointed in myself that I left most of 15 go by before going back.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHouMUr2uCV4sMUUxnWJhgwFIcMdo4kT_4nTJ9MjAL0qv-cw4DzFI6O6iSrEpUTA-qne7JVyxuhQDhnEA46NaByNjaKA3-YS-7C6_snZ5fZVj94lsqO9v-9z5weif0n9Vnywt9l3EgmSiX3-_f5v9OrkTQmR9pGhBrZLjI2kyWQl9IMpYjg/s2048/1963%20ODLF%207.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHouMUr2uCV4sMUUxnWJhgwFIcMdo4kT_4nTJ9MjAL0qv-cw4DzFI6O6iSrEpUTA-qne7JVyxuhQDhnEA46NaByNjaKA3-YS-7C6_snZ5fZVj94lsqO9v-9z5weif0n9Vnywt9l3EgmSiX3-_f5v9OrkTQmR9pGhBrZLjI2kyWQl9IMpYjg/w400-h300/1963%20ODLF%207.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rZJWZ26sNkTjHULMZl8kzkhWl_bt04UlrbMWhDd95wxSaZWtrrZ5-Y76J6YMx9APKS111h-jSlaqB7qWSNqhUHUY5S8qf7xc1dlQSJ3XK1txnSj6kT2AU4WCu8vdpaD6ajbjrBKE8AApZ68kX8RlQpVbnFyhg9c_2m5rJoaFjeNDnuZWMw/s2048/1963%20%20-%201.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rZJWZ26sNkTjHULMZl8kzkhWl_bt04UlrbMWhDd95wxSaZWtrrZ5-Y76J6YMx9APKS111h-jSlaqB7qWSNqhUHUY5S8qf7xc1dlQSJ3XK1txnSj6kT2AU4WCu8vdpaD6ajbjrBKE8AApZ68kX8RlQpVbnFyhg9c_2m5rJoaFjeNDnuZWMw/w400-h300/1963%20%20-%201.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Like I said, there are some good hikes to be had there. Down in the valley, the most prominent remnant of what the place once was remains the concrete swimming pool, set ironically a 30-second stroll from the freely-running waters of the Humber River. Talk about belts and bracers. It's an absolute mess today; trees have broken through and are growing in it. But back Dr. Kimble was still <i>The Fugitive</i> running from state to state, it must have been the pride and joy of the place. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">York Region maintains an array of aerial maps that include some plates from various years in the past. It's by no means as complete as I'd like; there are decade-wide-or-more gaps in it, but it's way better than nothing at all. Here are some comparison shots of the site in 1954 and 1970, and contemporarily. The red circle in the modern view indicates the location of the house in the 1970 view that came and went in the meantime between 1954 and today. I'll come back to that later.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCBuA2qwLhU876cedoDRLFj6LgAU_5TgoEJpnFwH6poygioCWKM3ARR87MvRtytPp5XXQ50fG2S1dFznaJ3BLVFFMXoqbzKNwR_4hmdn_le_TGX62AkI0sgSO4d11uALLCT-4y73QMq-ySy2xTKlQDh4c_AP1Tx3SLCVy86nQyAQDu7GJsA/s1280/photo_3591@25-10-2022_11-55-29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCBuA2qwLhU876cedoDRLFj6LgAU_5TgoEJpnFwH6poygioCWKM3ARR87MvRtytPp5XXQ50fG2S1dFznaJ3BLVFFMXoqbzKNwR_4hmdn_le_TGX62AkI0sgSO4d11uALLCT-4y73QMq-ySy2xTKlQDh4c_AP1Tx3SLCVy86nQyAQDu7GJsA/w400-h234/photo_3591@25-10-2022_11-55-29.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7ttwE8NHa88LqFl3U8XOr3HETSZPlkbEPYsaruBrX1aKUq7YxE-VJrUCAMxmN8QD4-kmN8vWtY86dQHjJLvlioHh5VdHfuTM4NjfNmOhzO8CxA-3UmrI10IyH1PR5OkkeR7GwbvrEobgC-h1mmvmrg1TKy-fqSoEL6z3XVNMd8ZItOcwxw/s1280/photo_3590@25-10-2022_11-53-50.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7ttwE8NHa88LqFl3U8XOr3HETSZPlkbEPYsaruBrX1aKUq7YxE-VJrUCAMxmN8QD4-kmN8vWtY86dQHjJLvlioHh5VdHfuTM4NjfNmOhzO8CxA-3UmrI10IyH1PR5OkkeR7GwbvrEobgC-h1mmvmrg1TKy-fqSoEL6z3XVNMd8ZItOcwxw/w400-h234/photo_3590@25-10-2022_11-53-50.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZmz4PemHkSDpyGJPB9qqU9CJ4IZItcjtndo_LlcYhMT-64WU6cm8GnTQQFMIJJ1Ahu_NZY5zhoOqaptwB2FydcRPnNEI4rHPEP8wEHai-0rFBP7a3BOFPhevZ4_X5N7KYsi7tJ4Cur2yGJ72_EMeESgf4FM35D2KroiWZQWoavJQYoNqAg/s1280/photo_3592@25-10-2022_11-58-55.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="1280" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZmz4PemHkSDpyGJPB9qqU9CJ4IZItcjtndo_LlcYhMT-64WU6cm8GnTQQFMIJJ1Ahu_NZY5zhoOqaptwB2FydcRPnNEI4rHPEP8wEHai-0rFBP7a3BOFPhevZ4_X5N7KYsi7tJ4Cur2yGJ72_EMeESgf4FM35D2KroiWZQWoavJQYoNqAg/w400-h210/photo_3592@25-10-2022_11-58-55.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Along with the swimming pool, there were some interesting buildings on-site in 1970. I have no real idea exactly what they were, but I suppose they were there in support of the enterprise, whatever it was. </span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMroMk73pfufqhw4tJkn3WVgtZ-oODSVnxTYZW4PLgKO4C8KTXM8Xtsy4l2PMmWrB8A63MinCym-SsG_mN7ORNYSwx6zN7cmoSk26awOEAfmn3tfdEe9QvRONQYuNd3sWsMZTarqHPY68TVvxYmfmHF9Mge-AdU-ZTDMdqC-IXfAEyPaIqg/s1280/Pointers.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMroMk73pfufqhw4tJkn3WVgtZ-oODSVnxTYZW4PLgKO4C8KTXM8Xtsy4l2PMmWrB8A63MinCym-SsG_mN7ORNYSwx6zN7cmoSk26awOEAfmn3tfdEe9QvRONQYuNd3sWsMZTarqHPY68TVvxYmfmHF9Mge-AdU-ZTDMdqC-IXfAEyPaIqg/w400-h234/Pointers.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">By the pool here seems to be the central hub of the place. This must have been a snack bar and/or the changing room and washrooms.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjDFB0hfjz4Z_pNmZvwlpmlLBVDCvuTReknGMJcgJTtgHhWrwvhpYNa06vBrHxIMWeaHpGp_ffR25iZEJJ3XdjbTksRFehnnOMSmS7uN7tiFlmFzYJRlc4L_gMZif9oAmD02LuroULB74o04vouOrNuzHIDzUSTRNOXoxiXyjTu6ad4fX1eA/s1280/photo_3595@25-10-2022_12-02-28.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjDFB0hfjz4Z_pNmZvwlpmlLBVDCvuTReknGMJcgJTtgHhWrwvhpYNa06vBrHxIMWeaHpGp_ffR25iZEJJ3XdjbTksRFehnnOMSmS7uN7tiFlmFzYJRlc4L_gMZif9oAmD02LuroULB74o04vouOrNuzHIDzUSTRNOXoxiXyjTu6ad4fX1eA/w400-h234/photo_3595@25-10-2022_12-02-28.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back when we were there in 2006, we wandered northwest a bit and found some old, long abandoned and largely collapsed wooden structures. I keep promising myself to go back and look for them again, but really, what would there be to see even if they haven't been cleared out? More pronounced collapse?</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqlPju18p9g3W1bsclrRugEI7l_kabfSnJGysxfgiU0dfsFjndyAF-iUshGXvY7k9LRHq2XZt0_dfJMlgs7-_-yGV83CYpmPZEfs68OKhbpd7O2W2LmVG_DOdUXjRSVV7Vk_8uftYNJpTnGaeTMvDes0YtsAyGfG7aMrpqsy0oBwBsPVaJA/s1280/photo_3604@25-10-2022_12-30-02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="1280" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqlPju18p9g3W1bsclrRugEI7l_kabfSnJGysxfgiU0dfsFjndyAF-iUshGXvY7k9LRHq2XZt0_dfJMlgs7-_-yGV83CYpmPZEfs68OKhbpd7O2W2LmVG_DOdUXjRSVV7Vk_8uftYNJpTnGaeTMvDes0YtsAyGfG7aMrpqsy0oBwBsPVaJA/w400-h116/photo_3604@25-10-2022_12-30-02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A few things have disappeared since we were there; the place was "cleaned up" by the region at some point in between. The wrecked car that once graced the place is gone.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIzklf5Z9xOYA4krXyZ6QCpYTLK4pPflDjGO4nsCIk6E9mqu3xPLp1YRye1yuA0cxg-daTQl2T4S1S1qHRIFKUtU5p3E2QWcGFi1j6ZPTIwSNf-nVcSFifMry8rWYV1Hi54nWWBYYjv8UBbUzcL7uxTRoNmVxfa9KitO-6WrsidnDwy-unQ/s1280/photo_3602@25-10-2022_12-27-14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="1280" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIzklf5Z9xOYA4krXyZ6QCpYTLK4pPflDjGO4nsCIk6E9mqu3xPLp1YRye1yuA0cxg-daTQl2T4S1S1qHRIFKUtU5p3E2QWcGFi1j6ZPTIwSNf-nVcSFifMry8rWYV1Hi54nWWBYYjv8UBbUzcL7uxTRoNmVxfa9KitO-6WrsidnDwy-unQ/w400-h116/photo_3602@25-10-2022_12-27-14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">...Although to the north, a more modern wreck exists on a small promontory of land on the far side of the river whose location and presence is much, much harder to explain! This view was shot telephoto from the heights on the west side of the river, looking down across it.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdPG_HKvvJcSVBJZmgDMdRfUcLP0aY9LKKntfE8Xncw3uegsocHgtC1G3CVU5G51u99NApjAHpf1ROhahm6f-GGDq1tp_4c3qumSesliNE5Pk7IjBzaZRru09NJviPgwaX9HoUSlnrLTYnEm_NVNWv2G076vjxxUoAbnmwIcWzUn5mB3ZiQ/s4032/20200404_162400.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdPG_HKvvJcSVBJZmgDMdRfUcLP0aY9LKKntfE8Xncw3uegsocHgtC1G3CVU5G51u99NApjAHpf1ROhahm6f-GGDq1tp_4c3qumSesliNE5Pk7IjBzaZRru09NJviPgwaX9HoUSlnrLTYnEm_NVNWv2G076vjxxUoAbnmwIcWzUn5mB3ZiQ/w400-h300/20200404_162400.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p>And the supports for a bridge that once gave vehicle access to what appears to be a farm on the far side of the river. When we were there, P-Doug suggested these were supports for a suspension bridge, but the aerials to me looks like just a more mundane pony truss. There's no way to really be sure at this point, however. Anyway, these, too, are gone, though the abutments are still in evidence.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKnlozF6lUyxuuxyZrEcZgy--k_xd9IRKT6553HdQxKFDaT1Wlu8THQlQ8uT-NTDE6UeT1t8hxq0owNhwixcQWLf2yRBmXvIIcp5q95666qDFdi5SwIohWJ2mZrhBRqaBJGdS1QUBsESGys6jhAIoAfo2PnlIBW4ZxTB9ZDIfkrd1jqn4wg/s1280/photo_3603@25-10-2022_12-28-19.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="1280" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKnlozF6lUyxuuxyZrEcZgy--k_xd9IRKT6553HdQxKFDaT1Wlu8THQlQ8uT-NTDE6UeT1t8hxq0owNhwixcQWLf2yRBmXvIIcp5q95666qDFdi5SwIohWJ2mZrhBRqaBJGdS1QUBsESGys6jhAIoAfo2PnlIBW4ZxTB9ZDIfkrd1jqn4wg/w400-h116/photo_3603@25-10-2022_12-28-19.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvZFULMH7agH31-cx5MOjBMN2M951lhHxxg5bmg4TKQ5eSqitlsY-mR0C9yn9uRIsU20QRGLWMYKnwHIfFRXrGV6-CYg6YyZXBMMXMSIVW6ll-LY8gqPtsq24aTr8cQYzJSKfu8ylmAeBB9Aeh3kHZqH2udn_IZei6LzpiysjFmDadsyabA/s8288/20200404_152301.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3568" data-original-width="8288" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvZFULMH7agH31-cx5MOjBMN2M951lhHxxg5bmg4TKQ5eSqitlsY-mR0C9yn9uRIsU20QRGLWMYKnwHIfFRXrGV6-CYg6YyZXBMMXMSIVW6ll-LY8gqPtsq24aTr8cQYzJSKfu8ylmAeBB9Aeh3kHZqH2udn_IZei6LzpiysjFmDadsyabA/w400-h173/20200404_152301.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PLkl0nNLiY6seVCxkQ3MwlaF5GcgW_Gfznd5z2GAeOJ_EG_46f4iQ-YOQd0CHHjyYSaTaPiTV2R4jydiPZsNkG8b488-jw8L_EH5CtMllvHkYDSof0PWqVq-OpMwTenD0xBUEnKcGRVF8OFgm_HwMHelDB1PfWBsNqsyKlkgoVvaUQHXUA/s4000/20200404_152341.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PLkl0nNLiY6seVCxkQ3MwlaF5GcgW_Gfznd5z2GAeOJ_EG_46f4iQ-YOQd0CHHjyYSaTaPiTV2R4jydiPZsNkG8b488-jw8L_EH5CtMllvHkYDSof0PWqVq-OpMwTenD0xBUEnKcGRVF8OFgm_HwMHelDB1PfWBsNqsyKlkgoVvaUQHXUA/w400-h300/20200404_152341.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p>If you go back to the maps at the start of this post, you can see there's some suggestion that part of the park included land up on the heights, were a single building at the lip of the valley is indicated. That's the house you can see at the bottom left in the 1970 view. That causes me to speculate if the house was in fact the administrative aspect of the park, at least for a time.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So let's consider the house now. Essentially, it existed from the 1950s or 1960s to sometime in the 1970s or so. Where its driveway met Cold Creek Road, you can now park and hike in along the way that once brought you to the house.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Since I like to geotag my 3D shots, and my now-ancient FujiFilm FinePix W3s don't have any geotagging facility of their own, I turn on the tracking app on my phone and put that information in later using Photo Mechanic.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsONliMB0uQOKcn_L2SEl9IjWY6LM9mGLtreZs3yW0EtQ014y8y-x1bji5qUZOjFK2kvV9zVt2UAZZrxs4z3q_NZ1_ZubvxYqUCmSL1vFPG03w6ikv7WeHPCLVS_YlUSPVMXn_MBevslzYeEEbS7mOq5DNf_oridRtMmAhvN4OiOIV2xdZQQ/s806/photo_3746@06-11-2022_00-08-29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="806" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsONliMB0uQOKcn_L2SEl9IjWY6LM9mGLtreZs3yW0EtQ014y8y-x1bji5qUZOjFK2kvV9zVt2UAZZrxs4z3q_NZ1_ZubvxYqUCmSL1vFPG03w6ikv7WeHPCLVS_YlUSPVMXn_MBevslzYeEEbS7mOq5DNf_oridRtMmAhvN4OiOIV2xdZQQ/w400-h373/photo_3746@06-11-2022_00-08-29.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">But matching the shots later made me realize that, a some point, when you hike the trail along the edge of the valley, you are actually walking through the very spot where the house once stood.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmAZS3MmWiEcf0gUtb7hTvtUkbthDtPOUw1BP8eaTm8jlEmkpgjkpAwagFOXgvk5dqmL-vEmynJrwfC6yMiBcqgwfQ_NlI5RiaEWg9jaoqUTPDI_krCFrzc19qfHWdXh2Nwc3EiAQliELJUqcMad4eIVcBjls4QqzOxnru38AWK72tTeQbQ/s806/photo_3747@06-11-2022_00-08-36.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="806" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmAZS3MmWiEcf0gUtb7hTvtUkbthDtPOUw1BP8eaTm8jlEmkpgjkpAwagFOXgvk5dqmL-vEmynJrwfC6yMiBcqgwfQ_NlI5RiaEWg9jaoqUTPDI_krCFrzc19qfHWdXh2Nwc3EiAQliELJUqcMad4eIVcBjls4QqzOxnru38AWK72tTeQbQ/w400-h373/photo_3747@06-11-2022_00-08-36.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzQx7TmFCC_uf0ucVg2P2fCyUqFt-nGPB994T_f4eDAMmXjc1ooEmqNMDJ5rbdEF0vHCzjfcCy9Ar75gx7g-FF3C9I0yJhR1H7Dleyv4LERb2bouiOnDTYqT--k3un_sKgDASvU8uo2p0uuf0GtEHB1kGbXr9GWLZ5BMIiD0pWsvFAoWZBw/s1280/photo_3600@25-10-2022_12-15-30.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzQx7TmFCC_uf0ucVg2P2fCyUqFt-nGPB994T_f4eDAMmXjc1ooEmqNMDJ5rbdEF0vHCzjfcCy9Ar75gx7g-FF3C9I0yJhR1H7Dleyv4LERb2bouiOnDTYqT--k3un_sKgDASvU8uo2p0uuf0GtEHB1kGbXr9GWLZ5BMIiD0pWsvFAoWZBw/w400-h234/photo_3600@25-10-2022_12-15-30.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbOEftVquNb9cX-Br387yGjiQq_OZnrcA69wuuksDL4e53aWid9Pyd0jvtQVGPEEcZM3kKB7_y5JBppo5VrESK5sdsTX2COgkaXZXaw9By-11TIlW-wL4if8dvYD2eA_VXTF_ww51IdSzbUm2MHJWnmIM8QsrK5WXf12rLw_rQt7qeyvVdw/s1280/photo_3601@25-10-2022_12-15-36.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbOEftVquNb9cX-Br387yGjiQq_OZnrcA69wuuksDL4e53aWid9Pyd0jvtQVGPEEcZM3kKB7_y5JBppo5VrESK5sdsTX2COgkaXZXaw9By-11TIlW-wL4if8dvYD2eA_VXTF_ww51IdSzbUm2MHJWnmIM8QsrK5WXf12rLw_rQt7qeyvVdw/w400-h234/photo_3601@25-10-2022_12-15-36.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>And, in fact, on that spot, you can still find a little bit of what I assume was the concrete parking pad of the garage just a foot or two off the trail in the woods. Other than that, though, there's nothing left of the house per se; nothing at all.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">By 1978, the photo evidence is the place was demolished and utterly gone. At the risk of repeating myself; below: 1954, 1970, 1978, 2022. (Interestingly, the bridge across the river to the far property still seems to have been there in 1978.)</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4lP_p3t5AGL0A788v6za2lrzZg-5imrnuenztr3KamL8L1SkdRL1y1KQmWg9rMDfsvoRYs5vQLadEV0FM9-Xc2wef9uG-iqq28koPa3R8B2k7Njm365zki80wSIuxttuMURU4hBSIbml_iOqJYruPkutggtTz0WtIxDhm0lFV4Qb_HPSG7g/s1280/photo_3591@25-10-2022_11-55-29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4lP_p3t5AGL0A788v6za2lrzZg-5imrnuenztr3KamL8L1SkdRL1y1KQmWg9rMDfsvoRYs5vQLadEV0FM9-Xc2wef9uG-iqq28koPa3R8B2k7Njm365zki80wSIuxttuMURU4hBSIbml_iOqJYruPkutggtTz0WtIxDhm0lFV4Qb_HPSG7g/w400-h234/photo_3591@25-10-2022_11-55-29.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPUT3mVpt96n3iXAicwk_C9c32xXzRpA1q9lFcXTIpohDXx87IUyIgkVdurspcOI_VOmsInqemjcoJ0MC3FIKCILTlILMNn6mYszTnepFNhrM0m-rrqb7oSzFXT64Asyumm_eOS2UNpdlYNpD-VxxF_EOBhO80upGHs7grLT_cHKFRzd4Ug/s1280/photo_3589@25-10-2022_11-53-14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPUT3mVpt96n3iXAicwk_C9c32xXzRpA1q9lFcXTIpohDXx87IUyIgkVdurspcOI_VOmsInqemjcoJ0MC3FIKCILTlILMNn6mYszTnepFNhrM0m-rrqb7oSzFXT64Asyumm_eOS2UNpdlYNpD-VxxF_EOBhO80upGHs7grLT_cHKFRzd4Ug/w400-h234/photo_3589@25-10-2022_11-53-14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKAsf0yzJnSziEBQvQYl5bBw8ayuFTYFoX7jVsIYujZIhFWDB_ZID36USAQHTE-nTAhSNTXJiPwogy1nhbjoytisLKoikDV_ZQdPR10mXDZoffk4YeDS7oQx_q3AmLqgF14ZqrPNTElxqC0kXDm8j6F2YjFNl-bPBzRQVLScSXhuEc4MaPA/s1280/photo_3590@25-10-2022_11-53-50.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1280" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKAsf0yzJnSziEBQvQYl5bBw8ayuFTYFoX7jVsIYujZIhFWDB_ZID36USAQHTE-nTAhSNTXJiPwogy1nhbjoytisLKoikDV_ZQdPR10mXDZoffk4YeDS7oQx_q3AmLqgF14ZqrPNTElxqC0kXDm8j6F2YjFNl-bPBzRQVLScSXhuEc4MaPA/w400-h234/photo_3590@25-10-2022_11-53-50.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgr5_7ERmRwiB4xEKP-0sqXEdgnmKyBh3PVvw-m2vRUdlVgrjOjwKd7Np3FnrBEpczzSlaxkWnsbTJ2iRNtdwyz4qTYQgchBFBIK_IQQwBAAEkcuYLSc93BzfWUTO8q5KK9CWcqAV6llToQhA7LSb78HQBGtYzjfOyxwzAzlbYPIMdj6Zsg/s1280/photo_3592@25-10-2022_11-58-55.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="1280" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgr5_7ERmRwiB4xEKP-0sqXEdgnmKyBh3PVvw-m2vRUdlVgrjOjwKd7Np3FnrBEpczzSlaxkWnsbTJ2iRNtdwyz4qTYQgchBFBIK_IQQwBAAEkcuYLSc93BzfWUTO8q5KK9CWcqAV6llToQhA7LSb78HQBGtYzjfOyxwzAzlbYPIMdj6Zsg/w400-h210/photo_3592@25-10-2022_11-58-55.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>Studying the place on Google Maps, I've long been intrigued by what looks like two extant structures. When we were there last year, I decided to finally make a point of finding them and learning what they were.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of them, that white spot just to the lower right of the second "bullseye" in the above images, turns out to be, according to the consensus of friends' opinions, a smokehouse, built at a nose-friendly distance from the house proper.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDB2uZ8NRb9l18A9sVInv8WmDQ27g1TQ_Sb6PW_shfIhVu57fk3YXuSa7vBT6Y5OkEp3-rJBtXyBslYFAv1lWZs80u4PhwF0uGYFC0qIyj0zxF97cJ1DKHFJ7JcTsmZ2qdJoxUHjEzgmNujw1Yr3TabB3LNnfZY_CJEOkdvbLbWY4kC_uXw/s1123/photo_3611@25-10-2022_12-37-53.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1123" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDB2uZ8NRb9l18A9sVInv8WmDQ27g1TQ_Sb6PW_shfIhVu57fk3YXuSa7vBT6Y5OkEp3-rJBtXyBslYFAv1lWZs80u4PhwF0uGYFC0qIyj0zxF97cJ1DKHFJ7JcTsmZ2qdJoxUHjEzgmNujw1Yr3TabB3LNnfZY_CJEOkdvbLbWY4kC_uXw/w400-h283/photo_3611@25-10-2022_12-37-53.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzUJyLiq4ID04fybYZg84-WS_1Sncctf_OjWoctGtbjQSvq3ZZ6N4s7HngwlssZQ0DnGIFjEEp4kqKIfJC_IUsLvLP7TUQhSo1acPQV-x0_cBmaCiatYi9b6uhH2d61wDgg7rFLsYrDbj9QBw-MMMHZi5qFy9DJDnGCrtGeRbWA_7RRuWpA/s1249/photo_3610@25-10-2022_12-36-48.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1249" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzUJyLiq4ID04fybYZg84-WS_1Sncctf_OjWoctGtbjQSvq3ZZ6N4s7HngwlssZQ0DnGIFjEEp4kqKIfJC_IUsLvLP7TUQhSo1acPQV-x0_cBmaCiatYi9b6uhH2d61wDgg7rFLsYrDbj9QBw-MMMHZi5qFy9DJDnGCrtGeRbWA_7RRuWpA/w400-h228/photo_3610@25-10-2022_12-36-48.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKmOIMymzOkzpz1F4m1fSIS8gGdhORupnPw7HGG_xRdPwnsiz8ei1ZRAXRd1xIbeltrV3ezKUSrAaDDrCe2hjAniBmBeVzOGR-MBmHB4IfqimU4b_MK_8E3VLOgHejQon72F9qN_u20jFqR510cY-5v2H404UjAF3sfexrvqyZoc1e5RXRw/s1249/photo_3609@25-10-2022_12-36-11.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1249" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKmOIMymzOkzpz1F4m1fSIS8gGdhORupnPw7HGG_xRdPwnsiz8ei1ZRAXRd1xIbeltrV3ezKUSrAaDDrCe2hjAniBmBeVzOGR-MBmHB4IfqimU4b_MK_8E3VLOgHejQon72F9qN_u20jFqR510cY-5v2H404UjAF3sfexrvqyZoc1e5RXRw/w400-h228/photo_3609@25-10-2022_12-36-11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokSCjpbPkdriDloIwpyW8ldO79RvLsnfTMMiZtVB-HrB3dqbH78qS1Jzka91v6pdY1mYmR3IT6uOvLdkajrez6_IuNKDjqeD3DZ1T1VD1mmIUvgbLjnVMp1BiwD054DAEg128g1-fwcYoFRWwM2jQ0h8yMYDve_3s-HuWgCrx9GHE3afVdA/s1249/photo_3608@25-10-2022_12-35-08.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1249" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokSCjpbPkdriDloIwpyW8ldO79RvLsnfTMMiZtVB-HrB3dqbH78qS1Jzka91v6pdY1mYmR3IT6uOvLdkajrez6_IuNKDjqeD3DZ1T1VD1mmIUvgbLjnVMp1BiwD054DAEg128g1-fwcYoFRWwM2jQ0h8yMYDve_3s-HuWgCrx9GHE3afVdA/w400-h228/photo_3608@25-10-2022_12-35-08.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEBl8DonL7PIuZQU5xXq9_mqXiQADqOtmz09ZWEnQJuQqQ2iRpgTZeOrD0oZHzHCqW6RcHK9Gpj797QgtH3btCJtHk73d_38NG7Es7jcMLEhk7KpW_a2p6StAhtrIk0clbtmO04Q_m1mSWn7qMGIZDHZtM2Pm3lU6nrq62wFPqfyrI_B2pg/s3557/Vaughan%2043.8707%20-79.6944%2020221024_133019%207117_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3557" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEBl8DonL7PIuZQU5xXq9_mqXiQADqOtmz09ZWEnQJuQqQ2iRpgTZeOrD0oZHzHCqW6RcHK9Gpj797QgtH3btCJtHk73d_38NG7Es7jcMLEhk7KpW_a2p6StAhtrIk0clbtmO04Q_m1mSWn7qMGIZDHZtM2Pm3lU6nrq62wFPqfyrI_B2pg/w400-h308/Vaughan%2043.8707%20-79.6944%2020221024_133019%207117_l.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKf49wvoB6a3-i2jTIY1iSCZkDHSbc-OQGx_CkJmBRa8favaeuox6qGT4_CAnznasfLMNxJK9w6zeOfiaDXKbUIVS8GIQCbYuGYHyASTLULRXM5roZITbd_tEAazksNlT9ckMxqxetQnrYWl04hvV6uUhm9slDs7rAH8ZusjgCoLVVil_Qg/s3557/Vaughan%2043.8706%20-79.6945%2020221024_135637%207177_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3557" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKf49wvoB6a3-i2jTIY1iSCZkDHSbc-OQGx_CkJmBRa8favaeuox6qGT4_CAnznasfLMNxJK9w6zeOfiaDXKbUIVS8GIQCbYuGYHyASTLULRXM5roZITbd_tEAazksNlT9ckMxqxetQnrYWl04hvV6uUhm9slDs7rAH8ZusjgCoLVVil_Qg/w400-h308/Vaughan%2043.8706%20-79.6945%2020221024_135637%207177_r.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGdudi6Qg-_ziZZzh3KBKwpapFMPBOBS7RkI7E3PvNP5_PvrTkbGLXTVIpauYF4WYnWqj0Xrgrg1BLByyQyAab7-OwaJRqwx0T7DjAMp4VdSVDACBcDNcH4azHulb2sP7Rjwr3bvwBWIXd1_ZdvaM0gKiaDKKOH7bDk53gFcPV9Q1KAa7mw/s3626/Vaughan%2043.8706%20-79.6945%2020221024_133151%207123_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3626" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGdudi6Qg-_ziZZzh3KBKwpapFMPBOBS7RkI7E3PvNP5_PvrTkbGLXTVIpauYF4WYnWqj0Xrgrg1BLByyQyAab7-OwaJRqwx0T7DjAMp4VdSVDACBcDNcH4azHulb2sP7Rjwr3bvwBWIXd1_ZdvaM0gKiaDKKOH7bDk53gFcPV9Q1KAa7mw/w400-h301/Vaughan%2043.8706%20-79.6945%2020221024_133151%207123_l.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAeQLBRs-VvN6EigEGUteTtyXE-TiDKRT1qWuU5b5eqdHmJCEy_xCcjh6IiOON23nRQRNCVtcQL-y7jhqDiHx-FbLIbNnJLYlbR2AgE3tmmHjZyaqUhp3SzUDdocTVO2Lh2GfruvIR_F48ZpY9Ez2SB4Oxp-8ah50ffVcujJsC-nFuQUQ20g/s4000/Vaughan%2043.8706%20-79.6945%2020221105_114633.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2252" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAeQLBRs-VvN6EigEGUteTtyXE-TiDKRT1qWuU5b5eqdHmJCEy_xCcjh6IiOON23nRQRNCVtcQL-y7jhqDiHx-FbLIbNnJLYlbR2AgE3tmmHjZyaqUhp3SzUDdocTVO2Lh2GfruvIR_F48ZpY9Ez2SB4Oxp-8ah50ffVcujJsC-nFuQUQ20g/w225-h400/Vaughan%2043.8706%20-79.6945%2020221105_114633.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The other was a barely-visible dot that turns out to be down the slope, and is, in fact, a long-ago pilfered Toronto Star newspaper box that subsequently appears to serve, or has served, some sort of role in drunken reveries down in the hollow.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjUVrjMGpn6IgatkWQXqDv41hfq_L2axlupr_h_WvCZxsQS9sG7enD3E0IOo5PEGv-jZEyRgFeurSSJDWXBqAaM2SLckb1aaFZ0cGUrCkuSZkScwDHZ3VPpHP2AAixCsSY96sKhbjftYjPBvgtDxLDol4QbBXVibdTDXzJAzcmDqzGhna1ig/s3603/Vaughan%2043.8708%20-79.6943%2020221024_132532%207105_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3603" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjUVrjMGpn6IgatkWQXqDv41hfq_L2axlupr_h_WvCZxsQS9sG7enD3E0IOo5PEGv-jZEyRgFeurSSJDWXBqAaM2SLckb1aaFZ0cGUrCkuSZkScwDHZ3VPpHP2AAixCsSY96sKhbjftYjPBvgtDxLDol4QbBXVibdTDXzJAzcmDqzGhna1ig/w400-h304/Vaughan%2043.8708%20-79.6943%2020221024_132532%207105_r.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XO9TcjZ7b0_LGqpsN6X6Z52d1DKM0nCrm112PwS1Auktv5hTX_xPHKbrXZeGvQ-d3N4wROyQskEXN5bTSyWeHaN44UtGgnINMxTAnAXVKLXPcG1ZYrDeoi5Nwa4iDHFHm6SThypt2vTKH5RZ25DwRJbvtKeMQYNE3EuWshYhtgjvSpU74w/s3398/Vaughan%2043.8708%20-79.6943%2020221024_132547%207107_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3398" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XO9TcjZ7b0_LGqpsN6X6Z52d1DKM0nCrm112PwS1Auktv5hTX_xPHKbrXZeGvQ-d3N4wROyQskEXN5bTSyWeHaN44UtGgnINMxTAnAXVKLXPcG1ZYrDeoi5Nwa4iDHFHm6SThypt2vTKH5RZ25DwRJbvtKeMQYNE3EuWshYhtgjvSpU74w/w400-h323/Vaughan%2043.8708%20-79.6943%2020221024_132547%207107_l.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are four ways down into the valley from Cold Creek Road. The first is the most obvious, and the one we took the very first time we were out there. At a dip in the road, the actual road down to the park once existed. Even with the dip, it's a long, treacherous hike, and P-Doug scraped his knee badly our first hike down it back in 2006. Frankly, I can't imagine how anyone could have made it down there hauling a trailer without it jack knifing, so maybe it was tents only.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The second is just to the north of the end of the driveway, in the open space. It leads down to the cup of the valley to hook up with the first route near the bottom. The third is a slippery but more direct descent just a few yards before the second that drops you more or less where the swimming pool is.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The fourth, which we've discovered more recently, is a trail between where the parking pad of the house once stood and the proximity of the bridge abutments, lending some credence to the idea that the house really did have something to do with the park, more formal than just being a neighbouring property. It's not quite wide enough for a car anymore, but it's reasonably open most of the way down... once you can find it, that is. The first twenty yards of it are nearly completely lost in the trees, and we only ever found it in the first place by essentially reverse engineering it, coming up from an obvious gap in the trees at the trail in the valley.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNYDqSYyw4F5gPFpSRsB6GILlVn68qwuR2bouf9IbWULA4LuGoI-syYD0OehEictj_J9iNSlqvbiylxcXvQ4lcA5uafktcE_ztPmgRC0uxxjqyycA1tQ0mZRW2_ZwtEYKoEr2qpn4mKV05OLCAAKjow0R0fy85Fti7rQrrtePOjOz-SMwgw/s1076/photo_3613@25-10-2022_12-41-14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1076" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNYDqSYyw4F5gPFpSRsB6GILlVn68qwuR2bouf9IbWULA4LuGoI-syYD0OehEictj_J9iNSlqvbiylxcXvQ4lcA5uafktcE_ztPmgRC0uxxjqyycA1tQ0mZRW2_ZwtEYKoEr2qpn4mKV05OLCAAKjow0R0fy85Fti7rQrrtePOjOz-SMwgw/w400-h294/photo_3613@25-10-2022_12-41-14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS76nuNUOf4ICkW2ueem5EVAAHL_Qw-RtALAyOpZWVWdWaDFDC-7-2qlKpSSq1yM7rPGH2cqw2__wP2ulOgGujaG6zSuCvmRGr_ooQzWWWCbFKNzQPVIbjxjz0GMPTMBgnyZRcL0F7aCloobT-RN_xbefXQU3VUP_YxkDKqtgy9URBJNelvg/s1076/photo_3614@25-10-2022_12-43-20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1076" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS76nuNUOf4ICkW2ueem5EVAAHL_Qw-RtALAyOpZWVWdWaDFDC-7-2qlKpSSq1yM7rPGH2cqw2__wP2ulOgGujaG6zSuCvmRGr_ooQzWWWCbFKNzQPVIbjxjz0GMPTMBgnyZRcL0F7aCloobT-RN_xbefXQU3VUP_YxkDKqtgy9URBJNelvg/w400-h294/photo_3614@25-10-2022_12-43-20.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">I guess at this point I've exhausted all I really have to say about it, other than that it's a glorious walk from late April to early November, and one I hope to return to many more times in the future.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And here's to you, Jim, for getting me off my butt... or actually, on my butt... to write this all down. :)</span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-37230574373936718902022-09-06T18:52:00.001-05:002022-09-06T18:54:41.541-05:00When You Wish Upon a Star...<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not all went according to plan. At least, not at first.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The reconditioned W1 arrived on July 11th. I was ecstatic, of course. I took it out for a walk at lunch time to test it out. What an amazing thing to be able to take infrared photographs in 3D!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But when I got home and split the MPO files into right-left independent JPG pairs, I realized that the right images were somewhat soft and out of focus. I reached out to the guys at Life Pixel and asked about returning the camera to correct the fault. The response I got was immediate, kind, professional, and apologetic. They agreed to revisit the camera and see about making the right view just as sharp as the left.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now, understand... The Fujifilm W1 is not a camera LifePixel lists as one of its standard models for reconditioning. They were taking it on as a challenge and, in a way, a favour to me. They even offered to replace the camera if they couldn't fix it, but I told them I appreciated their efforts, that it had been my gamble, and if it couldn't be done, it couldn't be done. No harm, no foul. It was all on me. So, with their kind indulgence, off the camera went on its way to Washington state again.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">They went right to work as soon as they got it. And sure enough, working on it for a day, they corrected the fault. The owner even had a brief phone conversation with me to explain what they'd done. If I remember correctly, it had to do with turning the right lens assembly very faintly to intersect with the view of the left... obviously something they never have to do working with 2D cameras that only have a single lens assembly. They sent it back to me, and it arrived on August 3rd.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, the arrival itself was an adventure. Let me quickly tell you about that. Lately, my job has had us coming back into the office on Wednesdays. August 3rd was a Wednesday. UPS was going to drop it off that day, and the last thing I wanted after all this was to have the thing dropped off outside my door and vanish before I got home. So, I made arrangements to have it delivered to a nearby UPS depot. Turned out to be a little hole-in-the-wall convenience store. During the day, I got email from UPS telling me it had been dropped off. At the end of the day, I took the bus a few stops further to go pick it up. They told me it had not been delivered yet; that it would probably arrive that evening.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Disappointed, I started walking home, got about half way there, and turned around. I was going to sit it out. I went to the pub next door to the place that had only three beers and downed a couple of pints of Canadian while I waited. P-Doug offered to come up and keep me company and maybe go to Pizza Hut after. Just before he arrived, I decided to check again. I showed them the email saying it had been delivered (secretly terrified they'd "delivered" it to someone else). Well, that did the trick. They really went and looked this time, and hey, presto, whattayah know, there it was. Idiots.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, off P-Doug and I went to Pizza Hut, where we looked it over (I had no battery with me, so looking at it was all we could do), and eventually he dropped me off and I had the chance to actually try it out. Well, it was late in the evening by then, so the interior shots weren't too great, but they were good enough to confirm that both lens assemblies were in focus. I was looking at my first crisp, clear 3D infrared images. I took it out the next day into the sunlight and the shots were spectacular. Everything I hoped they'd be.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Infrared shots typically benefit from having level and/or curves corrections done on them in Photoshop to really emphasize the contrast. The shots you're about to see are side-by-side JPG images rendered by StereoPhoto Maker, and then curves-corrected and reduced to 20% of their original size for presentation here. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends of all ages... let me now present to you actual single-click 3D infrared images, taken at various times and places over the past month. Click on the first one, cross your eyes, and arrow-key through the remaining shots. See the world as you've never seen it before... thanks to the guys at LifePixel.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93m9jfsLsazyt8GFMWJrbjnBvZAiQZRaw9jD6zJssuv47n5KcnDWlvnzfRnkSLKMH9TbrcZkWSLFT9tEAowcDTYvAIx81K4sdiuEeJRAAlPUC0GnJ-EEgH2f2VQXBUHNZ2NAycBX7dBS8TP5hGHdjkLgldvrdvxln4mp2Ieoec1_xLXNhRg/s1405/DSCF9115.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1405" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93m9jfsLsazyt8GFMWJrbjnBvZAiQZRaw9jD6zJssuv47n5KcnDWlvnzfRnkSLKMH9TbrcZkWSLFT9tEAowcDTYvAIx81K4sdiuEeJRAAlPUC0GnJ-EEgH2f2VQXBUHNZ2NAycBX7dBS8TP5hGHdjkLgldvrdvxln4mp2Ieoec1_xLXNhRg/s320/DSCF9115.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicTRxavISyjdB3aD_-WbFSO6h7t0B5gTMHmUDngbV4IXMxhj4c9299cVkhd_QXzVA15wdSS0GvyxcZKM4vZbzZ9QtdktqVQIHdzLlOKraggWXhANG4KmI4z4GXrSChubJsVSZyrdeFgZHwctSKaqSohVn28pFn9DPgdESKZguWzZ1-9uO81w/s1414/DSCF9118.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1414" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicTRxavISyjdB3aD_-WbFSO6h7t0B5gTMHmUDngbV4IXMxhj4c9299cVkhd_QXzVA15wdSS0GvyxcZKM4vZbzZ9QtdktqVQIHdzLlOKraggWXhANG4KmI4z4GXrSChubJsVSZyrdeFgZHwctSKaqSohVn28pFn9DPgdESKZguWzZ1-9uO81w/s320/DSCF9118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwQ9ykK954IqdbTEDCsj2SIruSH9b7JeuwnMldHNyOeM1TiQ_J84isx0cK7MqTcNhXEZAW0VYyS2TEZuHtYslJ4zQxdmunoMre5ZEQqe53OytWt3VXuTsLmchU5TrnYq2MmUxql-EtVdcv0IZJyVFerDWXY2qPBVwuCJJrz5a-uDX4X7MDg/s1377/DSCF9148.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1377" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwQ9ykK954IqdbTEDCsj2SIruSH9b7JeuwnMldHNyOeM1TiQ_J84isx0cK7MqTcNhXEZAW0VYyS2TEZuHtYslJ4zQxdmunoMre5ZEQqe53OytWt3VXuTsLmchU5TrnYq2MmUxql-EtVdcv0IZJyVFerDWXY2qPBVwuCJJrz5a-uDX4X7MDg/s320/DSCF9148.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1405" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCw1wwshNeJScAbgrZSICQ_T853RbudoJWovKDEwAsc-2_mlC4lsdVYMqM54VkjqGs3DWbcJQyPiguJYknTTXhyLYN2xLTrYE_Fqva6VYQCY00dhCXIax2AKkc0Q04zTHHixvHEtqh1D8RKFrO-h_BhxdORehv5aHKBxRobW9sB-AUtpa-Q/s320/DSCF9507.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKPbeSmvij59R7B-fxZC4oUwqS2giJNJg3ikWqHzuIxeU7qa7vTVjBnF4VJppCsl9mmDHloZk-9mKkdHWxGRCF0j5RCIV9LsoNM3w8mdCQy1gGmTs1uaV58yvXgKRfbsiZ2euTPfe4DHTFhkEKH5bKL0d8w54CuqYanwTWxtv7XxCM3O5AA/s1441/DSCF9625.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1441" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKPbeSmvij59R7B-fxZC4oUwqS2giJNJg3ikWqHzuIxeU7qa7vTVjBnF4VJppCsl9mmDHloZk-9mKkdHWxGRCF0j5RCIV9LsoNM3w8mdCQy1gGmTs1uaV58yvXgKRfbsiZ2euTPfe4DHTFhkEKH5bKL0d8w54CuqYanwTWxtv7XxCM3O5AA/s320/DSCF9625.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZkeZ_wUKvoruVJeJSBoDN53rdnHizB0ubI5oHJ25IIpIMDTA9CVOeNX4kVzu6qx-EAxnPDF2bR3cD-oR0o48OHMAnGVYfXbMtQQJn9qmJNfh3NR4XxsK_BrwnfZaYSNAfupjSYf1nT89-Fl-_onU2kdU96I2g63bBeoywFBrvyYmL6fX6w/s1432/DSCF9057.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1432" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZkeZ_wUKvoruVJeJSBoDN53rdnHizB0ubI5oHJ25IIpIMDTA9CVOeNX4kVzu6qx-EAxnPDF2bR3cD-oR0o48OHMAnGVYfXbMtQQJn9qmJNfh3NR4XxsK_BrwnfZaYSNAfupjSYf1nT89-Fl-_onU2kdU96I2g63bBeoywFBrvyYmL6fX6w/s320/DSCF9057.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-62132977870242569802022-06-28T20:52:00.005-05:002022-06-28T21:12:01.560-05:00Infra-ready to go...<div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So a few hours ago, I heard from LifePixel with some good news...</span></p></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Your order is complete</span><br /><br />Hi there. Your recent order on Infrared Conversions, IR Modifications & Photography Tutorials | Life Pixel IR has been completed. Your order details are shown below for your reference...</span></span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A second email informed me...</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Life Pixel complimentary IR training session invitation</span><br /><br />Now that your converted camera is on its way back to you it’s time to schedule your complimentary One on One 30 Minute Online Training Session – a $40 value!<br /><br />Whether you are new or experienced with digital infrared photography, you will find the session quite useful in helping you get up to speed with your IR camera and help you learn required techniques for great results.</span></span><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's kind of them, but I don't imagine I'll take them up on it. I've been shooting digital infrared for about 15 years now, and I've been pretty happy with my results for a long time. Besides, most of what they're keen to impart is for the wide-spectrum filter (I opted for a hard cut B&W filter) and processing RAW images, which the W1 doesn't produce (it creates MPO files, which are nested JPG pairs).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And then one last, faintly intriguing missive... Kind of a courtesy call...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The conversion went smoothly but there is one small thing. In 3D mode,
it shoots a 2D and 3D picture at the same time and they are both good.
But, in 2D mode, there is a spot on one side of the image and we have no
idea why. Once you get it, please let me know what you think.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I emailed them back and told them I'd certainly have a look, but in all honesty, I'd never used the pure 2D feature of the camera in the 13 years I've owned it, and couldn't give a fig about it. It's not how I used it in the past, and not how I intend to use it moving forward. If they got the 3D functionality to work, that's really all I care about.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, anyway, hopefully the old W1 will be in the mail soon, and maybe as soon as sometime next week I'll be able to start taking honest-to-goodness infrared 3D photographs.</span><br /></p><p>
</p><table align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="width: 650px;"></table>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-76978694811791474992022-06-21T07:26:00.005-05:002022-06-21T07:26:54.776-05:00Lost Homes on Sheppard Avenue<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There's a short strip of single family homes on Sheppard Avenue that I've been vaguely aware of for decades now, since I moved to North York in 2000. They're on Sheppard Avenue, a little east of the two homes I've had since moving here. They always kind of caught my eye in passing because of the pretty stand of trees that front them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">A few years ago, they were bought out and boarded up in anticipation of a single long unit of stacked townhouses. That will move more families into the same space, but it really will not have the charm of the current homes. I also don't think the little grove of trees in front of them will survive.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's how the places looked when they were still homes, and how they look at the moment. (From Google Maps street view.)</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUxMIT7CzWhmKJjZ3bc-Bh0op1Bf_cuH0cFts7DdapsbylofR82JRlKK9jN6DK1Iw3kZyXN8TXLFY-16mLJa3hlXWSHIrenf_In8CEfBsyOOQR5ZnzoApKMgmaibuY_JD8eis4tODpxQyFpx-yKZ5N5oCOw8VYCTsEmGsoBhseBpFLiXeIg/s1249/2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1249" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUxMIT7CzWhmKJjZ3bc-Bh0op1Bf_cuH0cFts7DdapsbylofR82JRlKK9jN6DK1Iw3kZyXN8TXLFY-16mLJa3hlXWSHIrenf_In8CEfBsyOOQR5ZnzoApKMgmaibuY_JD8eis4tODpxQyFpx-yKZ5N5oCOw8VYCTsEmGsoBhseBpFLiXeIg/s320/2009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLAQ5mbfgmG-VGNZr83REMuuX4jCajawtvs5uBGOxS3kaTVQVV3ucbbJDFQL0n8l8dSj2YvGA4BErXI6u7jXwZ2BVMIpSg1RNIhQlohg_zDbevUr2xE4TfYlk2A9FatMbp4x5DvHnUmGRyeR2WdNNcsg5xPYbNc-23_84mT3fH04xaySjF9w/s1249/2021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1249" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLAQ5mbfgmG-VGNZr83REMuuX4jCajawtvs5uBGOxS3kaTVQVV3ucbbJDFQL0n8l8dSj2YvGA4BErXI6u7jXwZ2BVMIpSg1RNIhQlohg_zDbevUr2xE4TfYlk2A9FatMbp4x5DvHnUmGRyeR2WdNNcsg5xPYbNc-23_84mT3fH04xaySjF9w/s320/2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The homes appear to have been built in 1957. As you can see, this part of Scarborough was the fringe between suburban and rural at the time, and Sheppard Avenue was still just a two-lane cross-county road. (These shots are from the Toronto City Archives collection of aerial photos.)</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSCzXoDe1IDGzhZMtrCV15Oeqt588RJyG0uMxAPJ_HGwaZlHSjO5etW3kPNFNMhn_NZMLNG-T6rQcyedMULPpKRst6BCj91HyyPlj7QkzJMDxxkKRt_lVBrP_rov0Z7_BfDxf1WlXu9js0fTdCcM8lKJmtje26e0dK_l7LCwETY4qI76bLPg/s1196/Shep%2056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1196" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSCzXoDe1IDGzhZMtrCV15Oeqt588RJyG0uMxAPJ_HGwaZlHSjO5etW3kPNFNMhn_NZMLNG-T6rQcyedMULPpKRst6BCj91HyyPlj7QkzJMDxxkKRt_lVBrP_rov0Z7_BfDxf1WlXu9js0fTdCcM8lKJmtje26e0dK_l7LCwETY4qI76bLPg/s320/Shep%2056.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeAS-ZS8DZHaeE4PMW0r0AQKk4qlI8lVby50GIOOt298Aox3THgVF18jlq4Hj8Ulpem-S1YdvvBfM22fYBiTYbiJTXVDxBZHxHVAbtnuWrlinAxh9d6b32TutmEqK54eLm2wiKs_mTQRO0qAwuLJ99p_MCcLZbEKMlDnDGLKTosIAwsZgSFQ/s1196/Shep%2057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1196" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeAS-ZS8DZHaeE4PMW0r0AQKk4qlI8lVby50GIOOt298Aox3THgVF18jlq4Hj8Ulpem-S1YdvvBfM22fYBiTYbiJTXVDxBZHxHVAbtnuWrlinAxh9d6b32TutmEqK54eLm2wiKs_mTQRO0qAwuLJ99p_MCcLZbEKMlDnDGLKTosIAwsZgSFQ/s320/Shep%2057.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So I thought it would be a good idea to go out and get some shots of these places before they're finally gone. They have been boarded up for at least a few years now. Odds are, it won't be long.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I got P-Doug to man the second W3 (these shots are all natively 3D; I'm just putting up the left side images here) and we set off on Sunday morning a week ago. The first place we took some shots of was the little strip mall on the southwest corner of Pharmacy and Sheppard Avenues. This mall itself is due to disappear soon, but for the moment, is still in business.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOy-t8sLG3vnIPQWY_RaLhibvCXFSc4cmaJ5oq1f_U3oDSH0p07GHsRFp72OEKJdLA77-yajXAKbWpvc5A1i48WMPBktNFeT5ct-Bq41EF-iiKiYKbxUwUhJzwFhdp1qtH9aIz5ofwK7aKG9yp2xb2OOnnMpv9Chux865H3Ta3ISNoEYOYw/s1094/Scarborough%2043.7763%20-79.3181%2020220612_083347%200051_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1094" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOy-t8sLG3vnIPQWY_RaLhibvCXFSc4cmaJ5oq1f_U3oDSH0p07GHsRFp72OEKJdLA77-yajXAKbWpvc5A1i48WMPBktNFeT5ct-Bq41EF-iiKiYKbxUwUhJzwFhdp1qtH9aIz5ofwK7aKG9yp2xb2OOnnMpv9Chux865H3Ta3ISNoEYOYw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7763%20-79.3181%2020220612_083347%200051_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsih7ZQuxbF9FsR35INPF0SNsqfEcxqvJstqoDPU-hDJ2sHZsykys3NIltLaJsocxWfEY6HUrdrU8KAW5uhxS5aIE05iNrLqn7YJaRrg02CTTqX_5BcbJ7ej7b6FlrafWAVJAiHm88f3sAlk3NCWj9rhcjqS1p8KbhXqk8iGZG4z58ipq1pg/s1081/Scarborough%2043.7758%20-79.3175%2020220612_090014%200186_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1081" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsih7ZQuxbF9FsR35INPF0SNsqfEcxqvJstqoDPU-hDJ2sHZsykys3NIltLaJsocxWfEY6HUrdrU8KAW5uhxS5aIE05iNrLqn7YJaRrg02CTTqX_5BcbJ7ej7b6FlrafWAVJAiHm88f3sAlk3NCWj9rhcjqS1p8KbhXqk8iGZG4z58ipq1pg/s320/Scarborough%2043.7758%20-79.3175%2020220612_090014%200186_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNyG5quVv6h2AOU-TQ9Xw3t4d9peOIjfuTtc5C5EPCHOe1XmBaJ_HiYTW6RAU8lfda1QcgDJbdkmXpmfkeiA_ufDvHA5eHVttKW5YXWpWgoTBLUFTw5Sf2wpYBib6a_R8bfhp5d339p3U2XEjsA3iuB7cDMrgcXyp014CuRSi6zIpUw2GvA/s1054/Scarborough%2043.7759%20-79.3176%2020220612_085730%200172_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1054" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNyG5quVv6h2AOU-TQ9Xw3t4d9peOIjfuTtc5C5EPCHOe1XmBaJ_HiYTW6RAU8lfda1QcgDJbdkmXpmfkeiA_ufDvHA5eHVttKW5YXWpWgoTBLUFTw5Sf2wpYBib6a_R8bfhp5d339p3U2XEjsA3iuB7cDMrgcXyp014CuRSi6zIpUw2GvA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7759%20-79.3176%2020220612_085730%200172_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVVPEmcdgLItjuMwmbMoeL6c86av0PMYH4hg78Pz10QHGjQV7XY-do19EIOMAvXOv06TMmCizP57CjVnw1LXAXtfmaObgzbAxjEiAawJw3_F4YeCdPH3xT2DPCotZEnGxjrSVEV_OWXvx2zDpBZo3xNVvdBzcSgszGIF9tLUUP3lOmhkV4g/s1040/Scarborough%2043.7762%20-79.3177%2020220612_085535%200159_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1040" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVVPEmcdgLItjuMwmbMoeL6c86av0PMYH4hg78Pz10QHGjQV7XY-do19EIOMAvXOv06TMmCizP57CjVnw1LXAXtfmaObgzbAxjEiAawJw3_F4YeCdPH3xT2DPCotZEnGxjrSVEV_OWXvx2zDpBZo3xNVvdBzcSgszGIF9tLUUP3lOmhkV4g/s320/Scarborough%2043.7762%20-79.3177%2020220612_085535%200159_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the southeast corner, across the street, is a new condo building with some commercial space downstairs that replaced a different strip mall that had been there since probably the 1960s.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmu5yQd-jwPNoOPmEcg2wubs4XCm4YHg84RjiZ_5jw56MIdddMKCpwWW1sx91_wCHV_StADh8gaOXRqkY8kqIfzBt-RrUUWRoGMK9SigiBc5TcGzF87P8bxj1weqHpjTli89f6ACOvStgJnUEMWE81uXq4r6663W-MD3leNR4i8Bh2Tq5KuQ/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7766%20-79.3170%2020220612_083544%200062_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmu5yQd-jwPNoOPmEcg2wubs4XCm4YHg84RjiZ_5jw56MIdddMKCpwWW1sx91_wCHV_StADh8gaOXRqkY8kqIfzBt-RrUUWRoGMK9SigiBc5TcGzF87P8bxj1weqHpjTli89f6ACOvStgJnUEMWE81uXq4r6663W-MD3leNR4i8Bh2Tq5KuQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7766%20-79.3170%2020220612_083544%200062_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The houses in question are now fronted by a long wooden barrier. What I found most interesting is there was no evidence of any driveways; just paths to the sidewalk. It occured to me that the driveways might be coming into their backyards from the street behind, and P-Doug made the same suggestion when I mentioned the lack of sidewalks. That turned out to be the right guess. Once Sheppard was four-laned, either in the 60s or the 70s, that was probably a godsend to the people who lived here.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYgCW7C6Ggky5lhP18KGyep5DTEiMnj5q3Dk3fgZQzZJFwXZLaj33tqGOaiw2mQcbERo3Yw1btnJUdVFTGe1F2yYAJrrsQnMiGA-FBERT0JrkGQW9BFtT7ORWYWxK0fWagGp5oaCUMItpm6ykqWIM2n-1tDxqxXV2k2MKa-LQm5MRIEgMEw/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084204%200101_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYgCW7C6Ggky5lhP18KGyep5DTEiMnj5q3Dk3fgZQzZJFwXZLaj33tqGOaiw2mQcbERo3Yw1btnJUdVFTGe1F2yYAJrrsQnMiGA-FBERT0JrkGQW9BFtT7ORWYWxK0fWagGp5oaCUMItpm6ykqWIM2n-1tDxqxXV2k2MKa-LQm5MRIEgMEw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084204%200101_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOpqU7ozd0nr2w4e-JRwfbpgcOxGn6fCAIpDUXGhXdo2x1iIEP9NLVVQuobZPJNp3YmDwm0LskGDSmpNt202yOI0MbUWO7lbWwmsgr2RhNpccavyTZq-z_fZh0kskU9c6loQEVTSFmIXoGmn6cCuB_d6v4cPQWCUCj35ns6UsEy2J_SnWjQ/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084731%200141_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOpqU7ozd0nr2w4e-JRwfbpgcOxGn6fCAIpDUXGhXdo2x1iIEP9NLVVQuobZPJNp3YmDwm0LskGDSmpNt202yOI0MbUWO7lbWwmsgr2RhNpccavyTZq-z_fZh0kskU9c6loQEVTSFmIXoGmn6cCuB_d6v4cPQWCUCj35ns6UsEy2J_SnWjQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084731%200141_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6IwN-Ip5ShFg8iKm6KGqr6yHvwSFwyXQ6rTCTtVETnrHDOpzsjQ0vVQCpn4NLmbMpNWkf0Kts-oe-4NK3BobzM1m-Vq1fF-eKoDgCLsMSQPGPUGIk5G-sHPxT-6IX86gwgRXXVtoqzhag8f5ymf3sCTgDjhHFT2GZXo-ldWtIgIDfcZ7BQ/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084735%200142_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6IwN-Ip5ShFg8iKm6KGqr6yHvwSFwyXQ6rTCTtVETnrHDOpzsjQ0vVQCpn4NLmbMpNWkf0Kts-oe-4NK3BobzM1m-Vq1fF-eKoDgCLsMSQPGPUGIk5G-sHPxT-6IX86gwgRXXVtoqzhag8f5ymf3sCTgDjhHFT2GZXo-ldWtIgIDfcZ7BQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084735%200142_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In order to get any shots of the places, I had to stand on tiptoe with the camera poised over the top of the barrier, and essentially shoot blind.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmMfbYPtEzeDELwUIE3sXE0E0kJsRXPzH4oiBu2ZEl8SgYyw3wbVN_yWk32LZFymBrzsmKV6gqBMTXZqLR3rzMJWOroWQz0FSj9EJ70FKyFTZ42AtZmi0mjd7rvQUFAnmmdbqBlu7CNrQlJXvZnLI7i_paiWrcnO1UZiS0jcbefWOqg93WEg/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3139%2020220612_084226%200102_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmMfbYPtEzeDELwUIE3sXE0E0kJsRXPzH4oiBu2ZEl8SgYyw3wbVN_yWk32LZFymBrzsmKV6gqBMTXZqLR3rzMJWOroWQz0FSj9EJ70FKyFTZ42AtZmi0mjd7rvQUFAnmmdbqBlu7CNrQlJXvZnLI7i_paiWrcnO1UZiS0jcbefWOqg93WEg/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3139%2020220612_084226%200102_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8TDnYHtZQ743jWVUJWm66iWtj4ElMlWbkdT3jQjS2_CDvhlZktYfjkXfCWAdubGaMuL9BKrFhc3c7hUrpI_0yM9J3sfA5X_LdyiicWNF2HdVHyXqFqcba_i5M7rv9pYrLLk8y43HffT8bnWdmqMX7B8phaEfOhCIoFEvSvHH4gCz0rxMhA/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3139%2020220612_084230%200103_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8TDnYHtZQ743jWVUJWm66iWtj4ElMlWbkdT3jQjS2_CDvhlZktYfjkXfCWAdubGaMuL9BKrFhc3c7hUrpI_0yM9J3sfA5X_LdyiicWNF2HdVHyXqFqcba_i5M7rv9pYrLLk8y43HffT8bnWdmqMX7B8phaEfOhCIoFEvSvHH4gCz0rxMhA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3139%2020220612_084230%200103_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnqF3CYFbwT3J7N0LxJQWgGVsAobCpaowRBuGBaTw1NPcGH3y6v9vtynAImTcHzkDeoWb6WFd5LcF5BDezWVlUYUD6ZqkOjIm5X1Gc_MPHQ3LDGDBdAEtKq_PNE_WUfdrNVBPg6J6XdwAO-LgcYu7om8tssxAjOqmBb--0At38wB7y-SDBA/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084142%200098_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnqF3CYFbwT3J7N0LxJQWgGVsAobCpaowRBuGBaTw1NPcGH3y6v9vtynAImTcHzkDeoWb6WFd5LcF5BDezWVlUYUD6ZqkOjIm5X1Gc_MPHQ3LDGDBdAEtKq_PNE_WUfdrNVBPg6J6XdwAO-LgcYu7om8tssxAjOqmBb--0At38wB7y-SDBA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3140%2020220612_084142%200098_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2fL5hEwf8pYY74uQj7x74Y7IXAWoHfyxMaroxI1RVhsrKh0N0P1l24tuAhIi_PspxYqo4CdAvsrX4yAVj9H-KD1ma4XPUIRliHAHghXONDB85FBeJc6L2p7VL0B7fGgZBeZfRNyPbvStMDjlFNq3JRjxuFv3n1wjoxKYU4k_PqBlCKEBzw/s1047/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3141%2020220612_084134%200096_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1047" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2fL5hEwf8pYY74uQj7x74Y7IXAWoHfyxMaroxI1RVhsrKh0N0P1l24tuAhIi_PspxYqo4CdAvsrX4yAVj9H-KD1ma4XPUIRliHAHghXONDB85FBeJc6L2p7VL0B7fGgZBeZfRNyPbvStMDjlFNq3JRjxuFv3n1wjoxKYU4k_PqBlCKEBzw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7772%20-79.3141%2020220612_084134%200096_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We didn't get any shots of the backs of the houses with their driveways that Sunday, so I decided to go back this Sunday just past and do that. Thing is, there, there are other houses, and I was a bit concerned I'd look creepy doing it. But, you have to break some eggs to make an archive, so it's either do it or whine that I didn't once the houses are gone.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I decided to walk it rather than drive. I took one of the W3s and also the S80 I had converted to shooting infrared. It was a bright June morning; just the time for making the ordinary look ethereal.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Getting to the boarded up places involves crossing the 401 on Victoria Park Avenue. This stretch is also designated "The Highway of Heroes" as it's the part returning fallen service men and women take after landing at CFB Trenton and the Don Valley Parkway (oddly enough, about a kilometre behind me in these shots below) that takes them to downtown Toronto to the coroner for certification.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0pnHsRIfU1n1FZa1vGxm4d_aL2UC6IgDvljTjx7RSs6IgEVdn9EeyDdz7RTbwWdYviVVS47tEEA4Lw9CF4jHtizZc1cM624CX4g8MpmqP8YI3FFN2sVQ_33sflTj6-zQdXl19_rAZXJXNs2J9T0IxScHIVvROkpZV2D_0JN3op28iDIcBA/s1049/Scarborough%2043.7677%20-79.3192%2020220619_113226%206469_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1049" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0pnHsRIfU1n1FZa1vGxm4d_aL2UC6IgDvljTjx7RSs6IgEVdn9EeyDdz7RTbwWdYviVVS47tEEA4Lw9CF4jHtizZc1cM624CX4g8MpmqP8YI3FFN2sVQ_33sflTj6-zQdXl19_rAZXJXNs2J9T0IxScHIVvROkpZV2D_0JN3op28iDIcBA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7677%20-79.3192%2020220619_113226%206469_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgafw9Fu3ilLAf2KKgAZH2OPxKcrdVd19ONBkh_LUKSS752FevopctS_N11xm73ARuCTemHenNwz9SGzZK3AuVMg2Phs6PBMnw9OiWmMXwm4C4Ssyx3gtts_YNN8NCDlNEfSFwHPtmZO8QYiiwqRIvTF2jUkcNGcy5yMUENnxUCyFDuuN9A/s979/Scarborough%2043.7681%20-79.3194%2020220619_101205IMG_3889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgafw9Fu3ilLAf2KKgAZH2OPxKcrdVd19ONBkh_LUKSS752FevopctS_N11xm73ARuCTemHenNwz9SGzZK3AuVMg2Phs6PBMnw9OiWmMXwm4C4Ssyx3gtts_YNN8NCDlNEfSFwHPtmZO8QYiiwqRIvTF2jUkcNGcy5yMUENnxUCyFDuuN9A/s320/Scarborough%2043.7681%20-79.3194%2020220619_101205IMG_3889.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Going through the neighbourhood to the south of the houses, I took a number of IR shots. These are the ones I liked best. Oh, I can't wait to be able to do this in 3D... hopefully soon.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMTFqQVnvcTJ2V9y7XNlVyeJy_QCb88Pp16SQ16gd7Dg9hVSimUm9tEFTYQFZh2qM6WUAgbj_Y1AVFo0lvM2YteX6Lp13SjQrvhPHC64Z9OPGamq-s4vGDu_8OwpkpX8NUgUb80Fjda2jAS1MaCy01yu2gpQD0-ambxXWRPSr_aYF4EuhUQ/s979/Scarborough%2043.7716%20-79.3195%2020220619_101957IMG_3898.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMTFqQVnvcTJ2V9y7XNlVyeJy_QCb88Pp16SQ16gd7Dg9hVSimUm9tEFTYQFZh2qM6WUAgbj_Y1AVFo0lvM2YteX6Lp13SjQrvhPHC64Z9OPGamq-s4vGDu_8OwpkpX8NUgUb80Fjda2jAS1MaCy01yu2gpQD0-ambxXWRPSr_aYF4EuhUQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7716%20-79.3195%2020220619_101957IMG_3898.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN43_yxD3-HkuPXZezqbk67PYV3HDq7kx7w_RoJE1tYxnZUOnI3gn7_TYbomNA0aUUhl5StP9ur150cpzQ2Dcd4QWnlvHm00cTJ4rrfbnzzsMaOnrqgXqIcXunIIx8SFVHhLyIHeZv4Pzi9chm1K8odbRUiP8MmO38Ay0OAqv17BBESJM6oQ/s979/Scarborough%2043.7718%20-79.3186%2020220619_102057IMG_3900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN43_yxD3-HkuPXZezqbk67PYV3HDq7kx7w_RoJE1tYxnZUOnI3gn7_TYbomNA0aUUhl5StP9ur150cpzQ2Dcd4QWnlvHm00cTJ4rrfbnzzsMaOnrqgXqIcXunIIx8SFVHhLyIHeZv4Pzi9chm1K8odbRUiP8MmO38Ay0OAqv17BBESJM6oQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7718%20-79.3186%2020220619_102057IMG_3900.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1wM14DIKjTyw3YxLoiMaJuY-FFy34Hf-FlNaL1XtTuEgnJakP3otP3K9J4XIVYMvf1B1456aKRRLZaLTSZTBcNhkwuayopmteGAzYCoMKO_7EsdflsNq7J9gSUcj657MX1L6JdvWo23c5FGxmi4MnXs7y5JEfvt1lDlbUp3u7T8rQ1fD1Ug/s979/Scarborough%2043.7719%20-79.3180%2020220619_102150IMG_3903.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1wM14DIKjTyw3YxLoiMaJuY-FFy34Hf-FlNaL1XtTuEgnJakP3otP3K9J4XIVYMvf1B1456aKRRLZaLTSZTBcNhkwuayopmteGAzYCoMKO_7EsdflsNq7J9gSUcj657MX1L6JdvWo23c5FGxmi4MnXs7y5JEfvt1lDlbUp3u7T8rQ1fD1Ug/s320/Scarborough%2043.7719%20-79.3180%2020220619_102150IMG_3903.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITWnBPcKXiHEF52o8mieY-lDMwPhqT52T-GjTiT6ORTXrRE1CSx7uSu4h7I_fsOSnTtpbDJYZ_jhukO0OgRtkwiqOwlMisPS9u5b2_i_2abBQBsaAm6XDAlfWgfSUx8TPVxlnrSa6Ssm2y_GfOnKit5dswRzTEMMVsRaUbmsYYwg68-9zPA/s979/Scarborough%2043.7747%20-79.3156%2020220619_102953IMG_3911.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITWnBPcKXiHEF52o8mieY-lDMwPhqT52T-GjTiT6ORTXrRE1CSx7uSu4h7I_fsOSnTtpbDJYZ_jhukO0OgRtkwiqOwlMisPS9u5b2_i_2abBQBsaAm6XDAlfWgfSUx8TPVxlnrSa6Ssm2y_GfOnKit5dswRzTEMMVsRaUbmsYYwg68-9zPA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7747%20-79.3156%2020220619_102953IMG_3911.JPG" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The street that the houses back onto, where their driveways were, is called Abbotsfield Gate Lane. It's actually two streets that meet as a cross and all share the same name. The eastward branch was the part in question, and it still has one house extant on it, right on the corner. Sure enough, the people who live there were right outside; a dad and his toddler son and a friend or other family member. While, strictly speaking, it's still a public street, it still felt a little like I was intruding, since there's no real reason to go down there. The road ends in a cul de sac and doesn't have a path leading out... so why are you there, kind of thing? Fortunately they utterly ignored me, didn't ask why I was there, keep the evil eye on me, anything like that. Nah, it's just some old weird guy taking over-the-fence shots of places about to be torn down; a nerd, a harmless crank. If that's what they thought, they totally called it. :)</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is what I saw. Or, more correctly, what my cameras saw for me. (Note: in the shot immediately below, the house just off to the left side there is the one that's still a home, and likely will continue to be.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBGofIfMWa8CuG8x-SCg2tvMViBxwN57gugJFLvG-mgToWrUw0eZpoVmW7zd1PcSI3wsulcVj6aSnGFKPS5nPhPe67Aj37GTPXPhVboA7dgW6JE9XjZNFvjhe3S0ckzsknTeOLCiSmkHO1HqTYGHAGgzBQphH5BU8vsUhrUsKomnz7GNllA/s1200/Scarborough%2043.7768%20-79.3141%2020220619_104711%200.0000%200.0000%2020220619_10471120220619_104710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBGofIfMWa8CuG8x-SCg2tvMViBxwN57gugJFLvG-mgToWrUw0eZpoVmW7zd1PcSI3wsulcVj6aSnGFKPS5nPhPe67Aj37GTPXPhVboA7dgW6JE9XjZNFvjhe3S0ckzsknTeOLCiSmkHO1HqTYGHAGgzBQphH5BU8vsUhrUsKomnz7GNllA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7768%20-79.3141%2020220619_104711%200.0000%200.0000%2020220619_10471120220619_104710.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMmAPrOFW1CjjqT82XaA-c0YRcrfi8mHHKSMQedtc9VFS9F1vPd7HMflL8LxKxcN8T4gJcVWEkGJZgCvoz355KAfNvm2KMjbU8SwzL9YnKndspDlQ2oWVRI1eg15IkuC_7NgI8X565H6P3KtZN9YYmN5KsQudPPudVlmUbnbNpblHK4Sxzw/s1032/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3136%2020220619_103914%206415_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1032" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMmAPrOFW1CjjqT82XaA-c0YRcrfi8mHHKSMQedtc9VFS9F1vPd7HMflL8LxKxcN8T4gJcVWEkGJZgCvoz355KAfNvm2KMjbU8SwzL9YnKndspDlQ2oWVRI1eg15IkuC_7NgI8X565H6P3KtZN9YYmN5KsQudPPudVlmUbnbNpblHK4Sxzw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3136%2020220619_103914%206415_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoj6ZlWujZPebUVFH0AI2YYkrgWh14YfDbME8UARDEWl4Gd6AKuNmXiQQtRew_Lvk54QBCRDAK3a_PRSbW8NGTXpP01TIIRxVoXPhHY5r84aiuJl8KYDRtI8nwchMCbphas7N8jcrVx7NTh-o0HYhBPZkQrB0WC52UViSDbk0ooc1eYpNZoA/s979/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3136%2020220619_103914IMG_3931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoj6ZlWujZPebUVFH0AI2YYkrgWh14YfDbME8UARDEWl4Gd6AKuNmXiQQtRew_Lvk54QBCRDAK3a_PRSbW8NGTXpP01TIIRxVoXPhHY5r84aiuJl8KYDRtI8nwchMCbphas7N8jcrVx7NTh-o0HYhBPZkQrB0WC52UViSDbk0ooc1eYpNZoA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3136%2020220619_103914IMG_3931.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYdFTafmlXuZeMHV7QTEyn-tI90F42nLU6TNmd1ph0RErGYfGEUlqrRqTrYu_olcqLdTdGgUF6E1LlqzDBCXJA3ziqsZ09jShaLgwpBCwQH98H-Htb8-b7Klf7auNIprIy1eDVraxmYXZEkpgsV__n7TwsdYG2_xyHdoGh_XdBfaiyVvuPQ/s1032/Scarborough%2043.7768%20-79.3139%2020220619_103741%206409_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1032" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYdFTafmlXuZeMHV7QTEyn-tI90F42nLU6TNmd1ph0RErGYfGEUlqrRqTrYu_olcqLdTdGgUF6E1LlqzDBCXJA3ziqsZ09jShaLgwpBCwQH98H-Htb8-b7Klf7auNIprIy1eDVraxmYXZEkpgsV__n7TwsdYG2_xyHdoGh_XdBfaiyVvuPQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7768%20-79.3139%2020220619_103741%206409_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4i-obRGQHrsGXVFfsrAwq2HXFD3G4YPwcMRWc6SfZHtm3Ox-kOSz1o0cNaeO9iib4S-SYOZAT7FOtedsQwHbC2ftT3Oh8J6vlcRpHpXJBESha2vqcE7bBDt4H-1UK8V5QpkGWhvqZU5cb6PpvfSqhxbxZ1ai2CbgntxMiQbz-kbe3XjCwQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3141%2020220619_103609IMG_3920.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2b6RhQWq95yEntRG-71XvHobYOAF1U5j3oQt7Yd-PP-BFTLHp6zkHZB80VVYA_SOWm6IjoM_nCEWoupeWu8hk4KI6mU1kZmZ62cLthyVOEEKfg2I3PWQXY87CZiSJmzXFN-AyialuNzYdUZTQPLNGUPhnBsF8tNvXhcS5F0Q9Amrsh5jBRw/s979/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3141%2020220619_103614IMG_3921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2b6RhQWq95yEntRG-71XvHobYOAF1U5j3oQt7Yd-PP-BFTLHp6zkHZB80VVYA_SOWm6IjoM_nCEWoupeWu8hk4KI6mU1kZmZ62cLthyVOEEKfg2I3PWQXY87CZiSJmzXFN-AyialuNzYdUZTQPLNGUPhnBsF8tNvXhcS5F0Q9Amrsh5jBRw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3141%2020220619_103614IMG_3921.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGuXagmDSNcxrgOzo-3xzK70BJZwEb8c_J99cHWo95idjfImboBPpIKAtI3s3PPRLbdhj6uSaYPr-x0aTWc4V2_p6VOD4i_jF9UVJpZfKCDn9CZQAvtGe7YjzrRr_YXzPA0dSJ8SRq6PWCHp3-ulGJvocPH4fWryHZGFvqBdTuhoVedXZ1g/s1038/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3142%2020220619_103647%206408_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1038" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGuXagmDSNcxrgOzo-3xzK70BJZwEb8c_J99cHWo95idjfImboBPpIKAtI3s3PPRLbdhj6uSaYPr-x0aTWc4V2_p6VOD4i_jF9UVJpZfKCDn9CZQAvtGe7YjzrRr_YXzPA0dSJ8SRq6PWCHp3-ulGJvocPH4fWryHZGFvqBdTuhoVedXZ1g/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3142%2020220619_103647%206408_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXmGQ1DHoDiMJxgnbaRXVQfa5lOqwjCWGqImQmoQXOdcWOweyR-BG9vTMrHlaL8LeCRFPnMhpGWzovZ5Vx28u-lv1_DoFgYHHq5Rgci5fmFKLPtUlucNsNKCugtzDYvDYTEBZsHGq1Sd752eFRxIdEa_6w_pGxN8HIP5Ae3SFX696RbYyRQ/s1038/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3137%2020220619_103846%206413_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1038" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXmGQ1DHoDiMJxgnbaRXVQfa5lOqwjCWGqImQmoQXOdcWOweyR-BG9vTMrHlaL8LeCRFPnMhpGWzovZ5Vx28u-lv1_DoFgYHHq5Rgci5fmFKLPtUlucNsNKCugtzDYvDYTEBZsHGq1Sd752eFRxIdEa_6w_pGxN8HIP5Ae3SFX696RbYyRQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3137%2020220619_103846%206413_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2PWHCzt48boDz_otuRuWpMyaNSd3BRvMrfNP9iHp0OKUzDovSCEFnpCiGrRgZY1gD4gYcWMqMabtyqlOsBpb_5m3hbyYBaZ-mlzXUg69sK6ifZTO8nYBWebh9YlD2wj3xvlWNKZgtBCtMm9H1-65Enz8VEPXsa8SZeSPsJ3HKyZI97ybZQ/s1038/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3141%2020220619_103605%206406_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1038" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2PWHCzt48boDz_otuRuWpMyaNSd3BRvMrfNP9iHp0OKUzDovSCEFnpCiGrRgZY1gD4gYcWMqMabtyqlOsBpb_5m3hbyYBaZ-mlzXUg69sK6ifZTO8nYBWebh9YlD2wj3xvlWNKZgtBCtMm9H1-65Enz8VEPXsa8SZeSPsJ3HKyZI97ybZQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3141%2020220619_103605%206406_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1059" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwsmd9b23T03GpADHd-kV0AqWi_mEgq6xzkjY-IA4E5nY_-96m1EkyM1b3bkuggNoUIsiukuK0svsnFnWEbxkfo71yeH7DnsUJjWI4Dt4NN0rpggtYwe1NWPwsrnjds_wpw1ydHTd-KW7Ihntyv0QAHOuQXu0KSuDq3OTw2py0ZgM-lhStDA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7770%20-79.3134%2020220619_104106%206424_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQ4d7jxH_jB5rYg3Z0eaoeVt23nnKn5qkHLB_h0tZBvjAN5f61MF3uNTCJh_8ww1jibt8YaBRCcnWeVtJKfAbc-CrEq0e5raK327F7iztz3S2YD1qCmxAY7UzqRdY9y3AbR4ciE8wLPGALwlu2W7lIKgTKfMSjGcF4tnBlQqR4G2rqL8mpQ/s979/Scarborough%2043.7770%20-79.3134%2020220619_104050IMG_3939.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQ4d7jxH_jB5rYg3Z0eaoeVt23nnKn5qkHLB_h0tZBvjAN5f61MF3uNTCJh_8ww1jibt8YaBRCcnWeVtJKfAbc-CrEq0e5raK327F7iztz3S2YD1qCmxAY7UzqRdY9y3AbR4ciE8wLPGALwlu2W7lIKgTKfMSjGcF4tnBlQqR4G2rqL8mpQ/s320/Scarborough%2043.7770%20-79.3134%2020220619_104050IMG_3939.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9E9o28DnGVOU19a2Q0mfx9TUC9AqCu28lpwzSj_q3qEEjpTFHBEiirOa_DCZDsG3ZjY8t8UTFThj2NJxT_1SxZ3jLbcZNcSsJ52dt5TaPnY959QUcqx5RXws8vypE3HGOw-NDAcFOK4ywyeilMlkWu54CxMcRlmpJ_0YuiPJa3SyzeJfGjw/s979/Scarborough%2043.7770%20-79.3134%2020220619_104031IMG_3937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9E9o28DnGVOU19a2Q0mfx9TUC9AqCu28lpwzSj_q3qEEjpTFHBEiirOa_DCZDsG3ZjY8t8UTFThj2NJxT_1SxZ3jLbcZNcSsJ52dt5TaPnY959QUcqx5RXws8vypE3HGOw-NDAcFOK4ywyeilMlkWu54CxMcRlmpJ_0YuiPJa3SyzeJfGjw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7770%20-79.3134%2020220619_104031IMG_3937.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuwhCI-eMyznW-sKyPv8YCzlxmWSHMYosS75OOeQT0K5MOtwdmywyBaySk-KcfSClVP_l_YgBz_w3zOZBqtSThppwVAoUKP8gQ6ZabIeksmUcSS0p5ccpIzMfqIa661culua2MHrwBhePUii0cY32n142e9-LDCXxsuxYUEnv1MSMbJqpjfg/s979/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3142%2020220619_103651IMG_3924.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="979" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuwhCI-eMyznW-sKyPv8YCzlxmWSHMYosS75OOeQT0K5MOtwdmywyBaySk-KcfSClVP_l_YgBz_w3zOZBqtSThppwVAoUKP8gQ6ZabIeksmUcSS0p5ccpIzMfqIa661culua2MHrwBhePUii0cY32n142e9-LDCXxsuxYUEnv1MSMbJqpjfg/s320/Scarborough%2043.7769%20-79.3142%2020220619_103651IMG_3924.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I took a few shots on my way back, during which I decided to go past my place to the grocery store to pick up some stuff to make soup. The entire walk was 6.4 km, or just about 4 miles. That surprised me; I would have guessed about half that. Anyway, I saw a number of interesting things on the way back, a couple of which I'll share here in passing.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This house is also on Sheppard. For the moment, it's still a home, but I have to wonder how long it will be here. Single family homes are rapidly disappearing from up and down Sheppard Avenue East.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8zZT0eWa6YdI2_gzQFsdhbYnqG__wwQ51rXEPqhzL3-qUa7x3PlyoqO6bgWECddG1GHOdHKfCX3CNM4nDzs47-8CKdv6ZRIfHbrAN0Brw9pT0nd3rEK0YQKSp6G4D0LlGz3J4sFJpil1nnZNBph1pTJ2CiqMeM8lN9Ew9-ky-A6icD4nKw/s1032/Scarborough%2043.7757%20-79.3207%2020220619_105552%206445_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1032" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8zZT0eWa6YdI2_gzQFsdhbYnqG__wwQ51rXEPqhzL3-qUa7x3PlyoqO6bgWECddG1GHOdHKfCX3CNM4nDzs47-8CKdv6ZRIfHbrAN0Brw9pT0nd3rEK0YQKSp6G4D0LlGz3J4sFJpil1nnZNBph1pTJ2CiqMeM8lN9Ew9-ky-A6icD4nKw/s320/Scarborough%2043.7757%20-79.3207%2020220619_105552%206445_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Whatever business this used to be, it's in the process of becoming something else.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKlJCrSroT0Du0rlHz5qrJeL8utMcL0AelZgfn71zv2yuqCWxKq1u_WmEEkmdUiEuPPRipnkW53BJIUpztbqxADyu807VTeuvE6qCmfH5qc3x-PqdNhMTwLqqu1Fv2CEeZ-ovTn9yOmuC1MNey3LOpfx9h_9iAfvC6cQsP0BoW-1oPBgm4A/s1043/Scarborough%2043.7756%20-79.3211%2020220619_105640%206449_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1043" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKlJCrSroT0Du0rlHz5qrJeL8utMcL0AelZgfn71zv2yuqCWxKq1u_WmEEkmdUiEuPPRipnkW53BJIUpztbqxADyu807VTeuvE6qCmfH5qc3x-PqdNhMTwLqqu1Fv2CEeZ-ovTn9yOmuC1MNey3LOpfx9h_9iAfvC6cQsP0BoW-1oPBgm4A/s320/Scarborough%2043.7756%20-79.3211%2020220619_105640%206449_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I suppose The Toronto Sun thinks this is clever. And if you're a) over 50 and b) read at a grade three level, then yeah, I suppose it's a real laff-riot.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tgL0dKsDSp24siWFV95ciMUPkOVY4bD7a_AoKhZO_tAVqeY-_P4f_ULWKzJsTl2xDmnTXOlmpAOSiOHmnZZeqi6v5I-yqEpoZsC1KpfkY1qGmaVwE8aMcnW9-07wrv1UW3i1gCtt2zF5nwxkkGjorjdxSfWiByGiCcYbVPQxKcWnhmB_rA/s1200/Scarborough%2043.7752%20-79.3224%2020220619_111155%200.0000%200.0000%2020220619_11115520220619_111154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tgL0dKsDSp24siWFV95ciMUPkOVY4bD7a_AoKhZO_tAVqeY-_P4f_ULWKzJsTl2xDmnTXOlmpAOSiOHmnZZeqi6v5I-yqEpoZsC1KpfkY1qGmaVwE8aMcnW9-07wrv1UW3i1gCtt2zF5nwxkkGjorjdxSfWiByGiCcYbVPQxKcWnhmB_rA/s320/Scarborough%2043.7752%20-79.3224%2020220619_111155%200.0000%200.0000%2020220619_11115520220619_111154.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's also been my observation that Scarborough, the eastern quarter of Toronto and, for about 200 years, a separate municipality, has been the poor stepchild since it was incorporated into Metro from 1953 to 1998 (after which it became part of the City of Toronto proper along with the rest of Metro). It looks like the people of Scarborough have started to speak up about that, too. This photo was taken on Victoria Park Avenue, which is the border between Scarborough and North York, the part of Toronto where I live.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNzaLZ5JZggfJa2jaJ8P3wISaEi0jH0dyXSmGyKi_fWbgPU8uNiDP6e5FiGXcV2Be7JrLnJViIuydggF37ONmnHZzsNvY4k889FG2CU4OIFkHXV-9-9D8_6h69krBeAA6TFolpRudA39_tLCYJzG73WSiaxsxGk8N9iL9tOpzdICleB0rdg/s1200/Scarborough%2043.7718%20-79.3212%2020220619_112238%200.0000%200.0000%2020220619_11223820220619_112238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="676" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNzaLZ5JZggfJa2jaJ8P3wISaEi0jH0dyXSmGyKi_fWbgPU8uNiDP6e5FiGXcV2Be7JrLnJViIuydggF37ONmnHZzsNvY4k889FG2CU4OIFkHXV-9-9D8_6h69krBeAA6TFolpRudA39_tLCYJzG73WSiaxsxGk8N9iL9tOpzdICleB0rdg/s320/Scarborough%2043.7718%20-79.3212%2020220619_112238%200.0000%200.0000%2020220619_11223820220619_112238.jpg" width="180" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-24448638555602463392022-06-10T15:53:00.002-05:002022-06-10T16:34:40.934-05:00Rose McGee's Journey<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><div class="gmail_default">I'm not sure how I got all this stuff, but it sure tells an interesting story about one woman's course through life. In this case, my mother's mother's mother, Rose McGee.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">The one thing I do know where I got it from is this blue communication from the UK's Ministry of Defence. My grandmother sent it to me from Montreal in the early 80s. She'd written away to Britain for information about her father, William Ilett, who died in the Battle of the Somme, and she thought I, as his only great-grandson, would be interested in having it. I remember I had it on the cork bulletin board in my room for several years.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRwsgHdwCP-RzJws0JvC-lnU8XGFJ47ghvG2DNvkmjKGJhO9gnugbNCckEeW7xLDunVF8BAfRfem8KZIBhsUk9AKl6YY8hrhMCOixOdFZmIWF3C77ctRule0OEvxm20FiKx0faWTbNDiG-exTDDjPtoDtPcacfhivnpSN5MMf151e5xuFx2A"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714493591095730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRwsgHdwCP-RzJws0JvC-lnU8XGFJ47ghvG2DNvkmjKGJhO9gnugbNCckEeW7xLDunVF8BAfRfem8KZIBhsUk9AKl6YY8hrhMCOixOdFZmIWF3C77ctRule0OEvxm20FiKx0faWTbNDiG-exTDDjPtoDtPcacfhivnpSN5MMf151e5xuFx2A=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Edit:</b></i> I found this mention of him on a Wordpress site. Apparently he was 30 when he died.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsnSr5gNHbh0df0QQ2efgyTo_0X_gCFjggI7bwQaZDQGohU_xtKMymn1IPSwiA8nUUoj2FZ8b6oxDMnS1sqm77HJtGvLPXJqM2mgy5Gjil5R9xA_2k293StZ44CV_ygswyd6KPiJ1VMr4ZOG4D4Mbz-4qqc23_WkkXn8JOUKSEW5WpioKh9Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="882" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsnSr5gNHbh0df0QQ2efgyTo_0X_gCFjggI7bwQaZDQGohU_xtKMymn1IPSwiA8nUUoj2FZ8b6oxDMnS1sqm77HJtGvLPXJqM2mgy5Gjil5R9xA_2k293StZ44CV_ygswyd6KPiJ1VMr4ZOG4D4Mbz-4qqc23_WkkXn8JOUKSEW5WpioKh9Q" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Rose McGee, by then Rose Ilett, had three daughters by William. My grandmother, Eileen, was the eldest. My Auntie Vi, who was born in England, was the youngest. Between them was a little girl named Gertrude, I think, who died when she was four. Back in those days, women were very much dependent on men for support and getting through life, and so a couple of years after she was widowed, she married another British soldier, a Scotsman named George Hill. He was the man I knew as my great-grandfather in Montreal when I was a child when we would go back to visit my mother's hometown.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">They were married in Colchester in 1918 in the Catholic St. James Church, which still stands today. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@51.8893535,0.9083639,3a,90y,100.65h,100.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAS41xu66glrz61Bd4Oxa9w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192" target="_blank">You can see it on Google Maps's street view</a>. Isn't all the information here, from a century ago, kind of fascinating? All these people, with their particular lives, brought together by this event commemorated by this old piece of paper I still have.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjI9AOpkHSoqyUoE9XGYB6-7QHnkoU7cTqouerfhoxFslb2GCoL5SYY3HDYHZB8i8HFajFx5Ng94p5jj1HbK9m7sHw2zUr2KAcLWUXVeEc6ekHqysb4-Ca0k0m7ZMaVDMqgAppcfPMUMMC285rqF4W95IIGaNink6G-ywz9z-G231Y7vTtT5Q"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714503001831266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjI9AOpkHSoqyUoE9XGYB6-7QHnkoU7cTqouerfhoxFslb2GCoL5SYY3HDYHZB8i8HFajFx5Ng94p5jj1HbK9m7sHw2zUr2KAcLWUXVeEc6ekHqysb4-Ca0k0m7ZMaVDMqgAppcfPMUMMC285rqF4W95IIGaNink6G-ywz9z-G231Y7vTtT5Q=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Once Poppy Hill was out of the service, they apparently moved back to his hometown of Glasgow, where my great-grandmother received the following note.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-6ATpsbBInHpLjf420Gp_EQvcrNjiPe-_4B7j9lzvbJb7iVo9h_8pBOopWDEOPtNtSOyA5JeU3juC6OcllgYACssnJ6XQL8ogycoWyDvvpUpnLKMKKOd0UE5hH3uFEShVt6EA6vR75ScQu9lITOKthcBvz42XmI23-5HosVVj-NgUlV-3sg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714506159907714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-6ATpsbBInHpLjf420Gp_EQvcrNjiPe-_4B7j9lzvbJb7iVo9h_8pBOopWDEOPtNtSOyA5JeU3juC6OcllgYACssnJ6XQL8ogycoWyDvvpUpnLKMKKOd0UE5hH3uFEShVt6EA6vR75ScQu9lITOKthcBvz42XmI23-5HosVVj-NgUlV-3sg=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">At some point, Poppy and Nana Hill got on the boat and emigrated to Canada, where one or the other or both of them (not too clear on the point) already had family. They settled in Montreal. My grandmother had already been sent over into the care of an aunt over here some years before and had very few memories of life in the British Isles (despite being born over there, she had no accent to my ears). She told my mother that she had long been haunted by the notion that her mother hadn't wanted her and had sent her away. Later on she came to realize that this was simply the way of things back then. Resources were scarce for British families, and you did what you could, including depending on better-heeled relatives abroad.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">I also have my great-grandparents' passports from the early 1940s. They're fascinating all on their own.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT9BpGZljkwtMPrXD5T9U3R_Kir62mys1nTagEIY2Wgb28Kx1alabCamnQa5sYEDmDB32bEN8A4ydPQXBDf3TcZ8YPIPNbF515MkGef9r9QbHph4C4R7Co8H8zBellTpr98zY8pZ0ik4OS4K2YWe1PbPia1cRWQqTdr71bisshn7qM1lL0DQ"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714515187154274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT9BpGZljkwtMPrXD5T9U3R_Kir62mys1nTagEIY2Wgb28Kx1alabCamnQa5sYEDmDB32bEN8A4ydPQXBDf3TcZ8YPIPNbF515MkGef9r9QbHph4C4R7Co8H8zBellTpr98zY8pZ0ik4OS4K2YWe1PbPia1cRWQqTdr71bisshn7qM1lL0DQ=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">For one thing, they're massive compared to the modern passports you see. They're half again as big as the Canadian and Irish passports I have today. They're also sturdy hardcovers. You could practically pound in a nail with these things.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Inside, they're even more interesting. The nigh-illegible fancy script addresses the reader in the name of the Earl of Athlone, a British nobleman who was the Governor-General of Canada at the time. Governor-General around the Empire were typically British nobles back then. Canada didn't appoint a Canadian-born Governor-General until sometime in the late 1950s. Imperial ties were still pretty strong back in the days these documents were issued.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgD4Ia5lk3u9MGFO_2s11wdKl-NpKGXGoi0pCXvlS3lpy0lEa2cwYro6swoGgF8By5ZvOVIErJJ8Vh3BT3Xa4Sl5FlO-8jq_fbN4k3QTqToYqBHTQ_hGGHJd2z6eociO4pocbfMr3e8oI_GTQSNNtrXSad3_Z0QcGN0bBtLYfQcyCWlRBTafw"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714519393136962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgD4Ia5lk3u9MGFO_2s11wdKl-NpKGXGoi0pCXvlS3lpy0lEa2cwYro6swoGgF8By5ZvOVIErJJ8Vh3BT3Xa4Sl5FlO-8jq_fbN4k3QTqToYqBHTQ_hGGHJd2z6eociO4pocbfMr3e8oI_GTQSNNtrXSad3_Z0QcGN0bBtLYfQcyCWlRBTafw=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">For instance... It's interesting, and a little strange, to see "British subject" listed as the nationality status on the interior page here. Canadian citizenship, as distinct from the all-inclusive status of British subject, didn't come into existence until January 1, 1947, so this was the effectively the legal status of everyone in Canada until then, regardless of whether they were born in Canada, Britain, or elsewhere in the Empire... or beyond, if they nationalized.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGKOvVGJlaEE3AbeI-Ag-ZQITWnVnT0aGNVV9zxTSXNmMRxnlnnwLHwaWROgBh9vdZXeDtyYGzNT6P3OqbGWQ2ssMazSgRLzWAn7DD6zSHatV4sRk9PhJd4WNe9Ku1TcEBIV8FVQeyDX1k_TimSOc86VLJFgVAii5W3DjSQUFV6lB2qgiA2g"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714528153182258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGKOvVGJlaEE3AbeI-Ag-ZQITWnVnT0aGNVV9zxTSXNmMRxnlnnwLHwaWROgBh9vdZXeDtyYGzNT6P3OqbGWQ2ssMazSgRLzWAn7DD6zSHatV4sRk9PhJd4WNe9Ku1TcEBIV8FVQeyDX1k_TimSOc86VLJFgVAii5W3DjSQUFV6lB2qgiA2g=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Nana Hill's birthplace is given as Enniskillen, Ireland, which was true at the time. Enniskillen is part of what's now Northern Ireland and is still part of the United Kingdom, but when she was born, all of Ireland was still part of the UK. She must have been still been living there when she met my great-grandfather, William Ilett, because their first daughter, my grandmother, was also born there, which is the reason I was able to register as an Irish citizen. William was already in the army at that time, and must have been stationed in Ulster for some reason. My grandmother was born in June of 1909, so Nana Hill would have been not quite 17 when she gave birth. They sure did marry young in those days.</div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4son1Z5JToVrs6h_KASy4LjBCaAZfhkYJNSGslXQ5zfBt4yAdNHuBoySMBfodErPKgDJ919ONGsZqQQO7gFqrCQw-o5iwLpnNgQh6jIZGL82g6AQyBuPhDorStUNu0KI2Ta5SM61-nIzpnzmVu-cG16rrdOigxND8VYXqOprFUrCewz14aQ"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714912274959378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4son1Z5JToVrs6h_KASy4LjBCaAZfhkYJNSGslXQ5zfBt4yAdNHuBoySMBfodErPKgDJ919ONGsZqQQO7gFqrCQw-o5iwLpnNgQh6jIZGL82g6AQyBuPhDorStUNu0KI2Ta5SM61-nIzpnzmVu-cG16rrdOigxND8VYXqOprFUrCewz14aQ=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Isn't it interesting that the passport appears to be valid only for one country? In this case, the United States. Poppy Hill worked for one of the Canadian railways back then, and they had then, and still have now, extensive property down in the US. He was stationed for a time across the border over in Maine. My mother remembers visiting her grandparents there when she was very young. Eventually they moved back to Montreal.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5Ko3T91_KswVx1TS7s85-o6TAZeoWDG4JCyB0pl7_vPyaDXfyGqqvqNJqOPgmbvznwSNuAs22LwjWtqPdYTFDYN0mf1X5AWwl9NRUhYyeOnCenwk8e1PYRP45Gz8GKIIWVTaF45NSA2FzOL_V7-FX7gRHRXlPQ0mTF6Aal_ZklUPCl5U1gw"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714914566767170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5Ko3T91_KswVx1TS7s85-o6TAZeoWDG4JCyB0pl7_vPyaDXfyGqqvqNJqOPgmbvznwSNuAs22LwjWtqPdYTFDYN0mf1X5AWwl9NRUhYyeOnCenwk8e1PYRP45Gz8GKIIWVTaF45NSA2FzOL_V7-FX7gRHRXlPQ0mTF6Aal_ZklUPCl5U1gw=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Nana Hill's passport includes this interesting resident alien card from the US Dept. of Justice.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2jD48DrvNEelH74XUXg4RFBw_0S0zorn7gXeMxL-dgklqQzetNYDyWtkSerWKZjNxT2s477u6kgwmSsja74_VWxpcupnnLhAZko7ygbiSsvTMXuA-A6C-2s_y047pzVAKCskP3fBOu23dHv3fy3iMM0RiRbbkfibIkO26bRjE8Iq4Qeo_7g"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714918689363474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2jD48DrvNEelH74XUXg4RFBw_0S0zorn7gXeMxL-dgklqQzetNYDyWtkSerWKZjNxT2s477u6kgwmSsja74_VWxpcupnnLhAZko7ygbiSsvTMXuA-A6C-2s_y047pzVAKCskP3fBOu23dHv3fy3iMM0RiRbbkfibIkO26bRjE8Iq4Qeo_7g=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBHlNQTvtCU8Td9nT_htFuMTXfqvltwSYz-tGThj46pwSg_04tYFiU18h5yDnG8axeneGV_gEPyQD2PBfB-guNyPyXSlh_BdLrBgmxhlDHO2EvBmH3MA4Kmp7jPnzn2Z_bQQ800NNRJ9LgR4sIWiFF5lP1Tnsw4G6ijX28idIxJt1NKfYxUg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714927276736930" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBHlNQTvtCU8Td9nT_htFuMTXfqvltwSYz-tGThj46pwSg_04tYFiU18h5yDnG8axeneGV_gEPyQD2PBfB-guNyPyXSlh_BdLrBgmxhlDHO2EvBmH3MA4Kmp7jPnzn2Z_bQQ800NNRJ9LgR4sIWiFF5lP1Tnsw4G6ijX28idIxJt1NKfYxUg=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Poppy Hill's passport is worth a look as well.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEis3d4aOGqc9eZO_8tMB68yS9Oxf1iQIcPkBYpbB7JVTIkWQvwq8OeXULCJSkf51_cmZxy04ARiO9wnhtFYVAF3lSAUSzSUYXRkfzHK-HoJGlOQDTmpAzLDBcv4LlcIpGP1r_Tm37tGod-EY2V-XUY-jguI3IaFOeBwBWtZGGi0Dh9gRHyD_A"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714931863264450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEis3d4aOGqc9eZO_8tMB68yS9Oxf1iQIcPkBYpbB7JVTIkWQvwq8OeXULCJSkf51_cmZxy04ARiO9wnhtFYVAF3lSAUSzSUYXRkfzHK-HoJGlOQDTmpAzLDBcv4LlcIpGP1r_Tm37tGod-EY2V-XUY-jguI3IaFOeBwBWtZGGi0Dh9gRHyD_A=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkbT_uhUGFLFw1vfdktcvytq8oPeo6T9wWZH1t0rU73oe2CEtj9sr3UMIjDgmwGJCfVFn7fwKNERtbbdeO24JR7-JIRu2URgzw_0tr7pVJUq_IS80v9Na1eK0m4NZ7XqvcbAtPutAe8umkXVZ31giQZcEALe4wFAzExCRzI7b3KfxvJeSGBA"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714935471227954" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkbT_uhUGFLFw1vfdktcvytq8oPeo6T9wWZH1t0rU73oe2CEtj9sr3UMIjDgmwGJCfVFn7fwKNERtbbdeO24JR7-JIRu2URgzw_0tr7pVJUq_IS80v9Na1eK0m4NZ7XqvcbAtPutAe8umkXVZ31giQZcEALe4wFAzExCRzI7b3KfxvJeSGBA=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8b4NNM4sYJtX8QETjEaNmqf34FODEU0DZH4QvKjEXCuH3vo-SV9YBXdjMLaoU0z76GFjmhAMyaDpg3dLdSOOW3pWrTOx7Fzbuo36yfZ0U-i10AhC3h55IhHsqE7dyQFS3S0orWInnkZzfHmNTlYEEs4VcrAVjou62xIW1L_z4dfceWjcHmQ"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714943853495106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8b4NNM4sYJtX8QETjEaNmqf34FODEU0DZH4QvKjEXCuH3vo-SV9YBXdjMLaoU0z76GFjmhAMyaDpg3dLdSOOW3pWrTOx7Fzbuo36yfZ0U-i10AhC3h55IhHsqE7dyQFS3S0orWInnkZzfHmNTlYEEs4VcrAVjou62xIW1L_z4dfceWjcHmQ=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0mNRPu6LZSUW1Xb4CoUi2L0xWObp5SnehSP3QV_P3SNvx02RhK0j134eZLVQPBFs3CF14GSYQk7tWyDA30DvqXw5k8IBRwPd0eYbbwsVDLL95e9cSUJLSxeZm3tRMFFfYoU6iL4gOsLJkzHUM9kgImR9hkos6FssCAKsPkcJIwJIQGkmPAA"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714947217638930" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0mNRPu6LZSUW1Xb4CoUi2L0xWObp5SnehSP3QV_P3SNvx02RhK0j134eZLVQPBFs3CF14GSYQk7tWyDA30DvqXw5k8IBRwPd0eYbbwsVDLL95e9cSUJLSxeZm3tRMFFfYoU6iL4gOsLJkzHUM9kgImR9hkos6FssCAKsPkcJIwJIQGkmPAA=s320" /></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">And coming back to that question I asked in my previous post... Here's the photo of the man from the locket side-by-side with the photo of the man I knew as Poppy Hill. Do these look like the same man to you? I don't think they are. Poppy's eyes are very intense, and he's wearing glasses. The man in the locket has a softer looking aspect and he's not wearing glasses. I have a feeling, on balance, that the man in the locket is in fact William Ilett, my biological great-grandather; the man who died in the Somme.</div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1yQCEjovNZLyrYvzUTRGxp8DlY6B8HnOvVnuftG5oBRS7XPenCSw9Y18eA3pn4lMk23EdsjPuehS5GGAlGXnQasBeRFqg8MRO06mWMoN0uYt8qCZOpamr_cJi0xkYr6WjJxAxpJ6Etf6gyG-fgGtUlYAygETTdFzO23pvO29veF35J5YxfQ"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107714951332344178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1yQCEjovNZLyrYvzUTRGxp8DlY6B8HnOvVnuftG5oBRS7XPenCSw9Y18eA3pn4lMk23EdsjPuehS5GGAlGXnQasBeRFqg8MRO06mWMoN0uYt8qCZOpamr_cJi0xkYr6WjJxAxpJ6Etf6gyG-fgGtUlYAygETTdFzO23pvO29veF35J5YxfQ=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default">Nevertheless, George Hill was the man I knew as my great-grandather, my mother knew as her grandfather, and was essentially the only father my grandmother ever knew, since she was barely five when her biological father left for France, never to return. I'm proud of both of these men.</div></div></div></div> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-36846929222525279422022-06-09T19:51:00.007-05:002022-06-28T21:03:42.910-05:00The Next Adventure in Photography (a work in progress...)<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">It's been a long, long time since I've written anything on this blog about a camera, especially a new one. Well, I guess I can't claim this is a post about a <i>new</i> camera per se. I'm actually writing about a camera I've written about here before, quite a long time ago; one I've owned for about 13 years now... the Fujifilm Finepix W1, the first commercial digital 3D camera. I still own that thing.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">It's currently taking a little spa vacation down in the United States. The Seattle area, specifically. When it comes home, it will be able to see in infrared. Yeah. If they can actually do it, in a few weeks, I should have a camera that shoots infrared pictures in 3D. Now won't that be cool.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">How did this come about? Well, back in 2010, I bought the very last of the new, dedicated-camera cameras I've ever bought; the Canon Powershot S100. Sometime around 2014 or so, I got a Samsung S4 as my phone, and the picture and video quality was so good that I just stopped carrying cameras around anymore. So the S100 has been pretty much just sitting around collecting dust for eight years or so.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">I've had three different P&S digital cameras reconverted to infrared photography over the years, all Canon Powershot models... first a G1, then an S70, and finally an S80. For a year or two I've been toying with the idea of getting that done to the S100 and putting it back to work, getting better photos and much better infrared video. The best the S80 can manage is 640 x 480 video, which is rather pathetic by current standards. So I started looking around, found <a href="https://www.lifepixel.com/" target="_blank">Life Pixel</a> out in Washington State. The S100 is one of the models they list, so recently I saved up the fee (more or less) and started the process...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">...And then I remembered the old W1, which, too, has been sitting around doing nothing for a few years now. And I went, <i>Hey... what if I could shoot infrared <b>in 3D</b>...?</i> So I asked them, and they said they'd give it a whirl. So I set that up instead.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">So. Last Wednesday, I went over to the Canada Post outlet in the local Shopper's Drug Mart and bought a box suitable for the purpose. I came home, did the customs form online, went back over, and sent the thing off to Washington. That was about five in the afternoon. I sent it express, insured it for $300, and got a tracking number.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Boy, am I glad I did.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Thursday morning I checked the tracking number. I saw this...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9f6U5BSfayV5J7kXwMyTUHz_cwAzlZuPJyJT-yTs_j14XGfhI2EV7Ozc3biwnzc5WKYiffvb6j58QzER5kHDR2C_fFaK5DR8AduN5jfQmrs58s-sIy7_eXK0BypIzqMBIoAvamGR1iu8HjtSQJWIgn6rWO95ZmvZFtSHZT1MP0V9_6n7I9g"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107407136348844482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9f6U5BSfayV5J7kXwMyTUHz_cwAzlZuPJyJT-yTs_j14XGfhI2EV7Ozc3biwnzc5WKYiffvb6j58QzER5kHDR2C_fFaK5DR8AduN5jfQmrs58s-sIy7_eXK0BypIzqMBIoAvamGR1iu8HjtSQJWIgn6rWO95ZmvZFtSHZT1MP0V9_6n7I9g=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">In other words, less than two hours later, Canada Post attempted to deliver a package, bound for Seattle, in North York, where it was delivered from. I was horrified. I could just imagine some yutz across the street from me, strolling into Shopper's Drug Mart with some package pickup card, and wandering home with my W1. Hey, jackpot, free camera! Ooo, and it's 3D!! Now I knew odds were it was me they were actually trying to deliver it to, mistaking the return address for the delivery address, so I checked my door and then my mailbox... Nothing, no card. So, on my break, over I went to Canada Post.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">The same woman who'd served me the evening before was there, and I asked her to check the tracking number. She looked it up and confirmed the worst; I hadn't made a mistake. She said, "They've left a card for delivery."</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">"It's supposed to be going <i>to Washington</i> in <i>the United States</i>."</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">"...Oh. Right. Yes. Uh..."</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">She gave me the 1-800 number for Canada Post. So, back out in the car in the parking lot, I called them up. Luckily I got through fairly directly. Gave them the tracking number. They got the gist pretty quickly and gave me the delivery number from the card I never got. "It's probably been misdirected and returned to the same location for pickup," the guy advised me. So, back into the building.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Sure as shootin', there it was, on the shelf. It had probably never even left the building. I'm pretty sure this woman just put it into deliveries instead of outgoing mail. Uh-huh... Sigh.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">There was a lot of talk about getting a refund and starting over, but I said, "Can't we just put this thing in outgoing mail and be done with it?" So she scribbled out the delivery card number pasted on the side of the box and did just that.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">On Canada Post's tracking site, the package was now listed as "Delivered". Happy little dot crossing the screen, little green checkmark, tah tah tah-tahhhh! Right. What a farce.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyo597Ri1po_2Rm1I4NfKVeDRGsyMa27VcGshRsYB7YYA478jNZzvQqTMFkXaU8ktIju9DzCNzs0xdNvDyKWZ_MQOykC6yWkGgKIDKXdE_H-Tdj7s4LhNMUG9Arr0jduZeo1q6BfaCi6Soe2mb7TAWVWmShksBZiExrP8tRrx8wbIki0LPXA"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107407144613856802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyo597Ri1po_2Rm1I4NfKVeDRGsyMa27VcGshRsYB7YYA478jNZzvQqTMFkXaU8ktIju9DzCNzs0xdNvDyKWZ_MQOykC6yWkGgKIDKXdE_H-Tdj7s4LhNMUG9Arr0jduZeo1q6BfaCi6Soe2mb7TAWVWmShksBZiExrP8tRrx8wbIki0LPXA=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">I fretted about that most of Friday until the site updated the information, and suddenly my "delivered" package was out in Mississauga for sorting. Shortly afterward, it was dispatched to the "destination country". After that, the tracking info was coming in courtesy of Uncle Sam. It cleared customs in Illinois on Sunday. At that point, I stopped sweating it. No updates till today, when they came pretty much all at once. It was out for delivery this morning, and delivered (to the right ZIP code; I checked) this afternoon.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnnoTuvvPWC0NmT85Ml59eKiFRTJdvAFuusmGaiLvIl0ujZYuGKoCH8RfkV_57KeVozzwie1fHaiw7T41K66k8f9wEsh3A0MHyJCSmmqfr2GcVWivo9RzXj5LcMkg3CK9sdzHeq7wludoWiwx5k1O2aJuUBkC3nQ01L6gLUndrUMYOgEVhbg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107407149453965586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnnoTuvvPWC0NmT85Ml59eKiFRTJdvAFuusmGaiLvIl0ujZYuGKoCH8RfkV_57KeVozzwie1fHaiw7T41K66k8f9wEsh3A0MHyJCSmmqfr2GcVWivo9RzXj5LcMkg3CK9sdzHeq7wludoWiwx5k1O2aJuUBkC3nQ01L6gLUndrUMYOgEVhbg=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">So, presumably, Life Pixel has my W1, and the surgery can begin. They boast a typical turnaround time of 5-10 business days, so if they actually <i>can </i>convert the W1 (which still remains to be seen), I ought to have it back by the end of June. Hopefully CBSA will accept that the camera was only temporarily out of the country for refurb work and not actually a foreign purchase they need to charge me duty on. It happened once with one of the cameras I got converted in Melbourne, and they really dinged me.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Anyway, this represents the first adventure with a camera I've had in quite a long time. I hope it goes according to plan and that this time next month, the W1 is happily back out in the field, doing amazing new work neither it nor I ever dreamed of <a href="https://cityinthetrees.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-camera-new-hero.html" target="_blank">back when I bought it in 2009</a>.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div></div> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-87235980034059401122022-06-09T18:31:00.002-05:002022-06-10T06:30:01.219-05:00Mementos<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"></span>For most of my life I've had this little golden box from the First World War. Without my even realizing it, at some point during my time here in my condo, the thing reached, and quietly slipped past, its centennial. I don't even remember how it came into my possession. I suppose my maternal grandmother gave it to me at some point. But I've kept it, and quietly treasured it, ever since. Every once in a while I spot it in the drawer, and I bring it out, and I wonder over it for a quarter of an hour or so.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV9rp89-scXNvrFjpV0Mo4Cqa3m2DXcajujJ3Nkv2R5sy6KOTcR-7HBKUpR5hNmQzbid3523eHzeZGshjWEvhrhgZ0pYq8TzsxKg78DB9HpvoqyxSZddyIbtdp72b53dVEeqXTpgN_IT4eLmAC3rWNh5XrfULZ3M8h0e5zItA1fETkZNoeiA"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386651947358930" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV9rp89-scXNvrFjpV0Mo4Cqa3m2DXcajujJ3Nkv2R5sy6KOTcR-7HBKUpR5hNmQzbid3523eHzeZGshjWEvhrhgZ0pYq8TzsxKg78DB9HpvoqyxSZddyIbtdp72b53dVEeqXTpgN_IT4eLmAC3rWNh5XrfULZ3M8h0e5zItA1fETkZNoeiA=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">I'm not entirely sure who it originally belonged to, other than it's a safe assumption it belonged to someone in my family. Of my five great-grandfathers (explanation to come), four served in WWI. Both of my mother's grandfathers, and her step-grandfather, served. They were all British. My dad's paternal grandfather, a Canadian, also signed up for King and Country and headed across the ocean to serve. My father's maternal grandfather, a French Canadian, did not serve. I know how that sounds. I have no idea if he refused out of an ethnic stand (neither world war was popular among most of Canada's francophone population), or he simply had other work to do here in Canada. Somebody had to stay behind to get things done, after all.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">I assume this was something handed out to the men of the British Army at Christmas of 1914. It probably had cigarettes and other treats in it. It mentions the names of the Empire's allies at the time; France, Belgium, Russia, Japan, etc., along its borders. A little patriotic wonder. Somebody either sent it home, or carried it around for years. I've stored a lot of things in this interesting little box. I'll start with the things that were in it when it came down to me.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Probably most interesting, at first blush, are the medals (front and back, below)...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPLgV04qtqxXi3VypuO77UQaw9V5ZPX_wJ5eyEE4oG63vOTOyFLFPSJIIeaRwFOSjrvqA2j9_bLU7uCms6DtMgw0O6Q0KN67Ma609OQ9IWUpW7pA9YeKtjjHwe9Hgu_uRaOnEG88fef_p7dVW6Ot1Dl9I5wm7FF9Zwd6b0aQPGpMZ6FSo8ww"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386658853889970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPLgV04qtqxXi3VypuO77UQaw9V5ZPX_wJ5eyEE4oG63vOTOyFLFPSJIIeaRwFOSjrvqA2j9_bLU7uCms6DtMgw0O6Q0KN67Ma609OQ9IWUpW7pA9YeKtjjHwe9Hgu_uRaOnEG88fef_p7dVW6Ot1Dl9I5wm7FF9Zwd6b0aQPGpMZ6FSo8ww=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAZeuKz4skucAzqTYQNv9wi5P0Sg5KH6MtUcrAY3ODDS5Zypl5RciMY5EYuNvt-V4vGi1UpPNVbuO4i4-ORLwMrJhcHrbXJKSUK-eJwTuLe2d_zb9vdNw3NNHKbowqo4PCuMC4184UAHbsgTdqZH-yychxvZxZcQjIvAe0nLrOPJwMsOTggQ"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386667935250178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAZeuKz4skucAzqTYQNv9wi5P0Sg5KH6MtUcrAY3ODDS5Zypl5RciMY5EYuNvt-V4vGi1UpPNVbuO4i4-ORLwMrJhcHrbXJKSUK-eJwTuLe2d_zb9vdNw3NNHKbowqo4PCuMC4184UAHbsgTdqZH-yychxvZxZcQjIvAe0nLrOPJwMsOTggQ=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">For a long time, I assumed these belonged to my mother's maternal grandfather, a young man from Hampshire (Winchester, I believe) who was to die at the very beginning of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916. His name was William Ilett. The name Ilett looks French to my eye and I thought perhaps it was Norman, but it's actually a name far older in Britain. It's actually Anglo-Saxon. Hampshire being in Wessex, there's a good chance his ancestors fought alongside Alfred the Great, and dwelt in the area ever after, until William Ilett of the Hampshire Regiment got on a boat for France in 1914 and never returned. William's wife, an Irishwoman (Rose Ilett, nee McGee) left widowed with their three daughters, eventually remarried another British soldier, a Scotsman named George Hill, whose medals these actually are. I remember him as my Poppy Hill, a jovial, doting man in Montreal, who survived my great-grandmother by many years, but as the only father my grandmother ever knew, was bolted securely onto her family as close as blood. Poppy passed away in the late 70s, around the time I was 9 or 10.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">My mother's other grandfather, another William, this one a Scot named Byers (from whom she ultimately inherited her maiden name), also fought in WWI. I never met him or his wife, Ann, but my mother remembers them well; British immigrants to Montreal who arrived between the wars. I don't know very much about him. I wish I knew more. I don't really have anything of his that I'm aware of.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Another interesting thing from the box is this over-the-top whistle. When I blow it, it sounds exactly like the ones you hear in the movies that sends the Tommies up out of their trenches and to their deaths. It's a chilling sound, even now. I can't help wondering who had to blow it, and what happened when he did.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEQ-2Gv_u6ifWGVUpVCEdG8Wiz8keGwPZkmwHsRJdZjvUwu9NBG9XRmION9cRBirwU9D-CPBoPBSbYpOEU5HOHDddPpYuDFPFbfq_xKyeY8MfhDszje_vqUaJ5LhuyJtrvRxs0bchSrKlFSU-MPdltRvRg0h0O-CHAg236lKVjsbjRUVdkSw"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386673133829698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEQ-2Gv_u6ifWGVUpVCEdG8Wiz8keGwPZkmwHsRJdZjvUwu9NBG9XRmION9cRBirwU9D-CPBoPBSbYpOEU5HOHDddPpYuDFPFbfq_xKyeY8MfhDszje_vqUaJ5LhuyJtrvRxs0bchSrKlFSU-MPdltRvRg0h0O-CHAg236lKVjsbjRUVdkSw=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">And then there's this unsettling little momento. A twisted, deformed bullet. I can't help wondering if it was the bullet that killed my great-grandfather at the Somme. Probably not, but I'll never know. Still, it's in there. Why? It meant that much to someone, once. I wish I knew its story.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8QqEfCG83QTb4R0eXbwFj_Nbwm95AypFydGgY48hIzlTcQ5tQ9Ol5SnO0ieks98hBu4ne3AYpFDT4BuqARiqgcH9rP-R70KqZiNmVeEI5nUPLPe7LxbCt266cs9jdKIbAwzJmmxBz2A6KSTa1Ps7y7CFxfg5pE4a3XTFfzW5ASNci9Eu5dg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386674744567826" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8QqEfCG83QTb4R0eXbwFj_Nbwm95AypFydGgY48hIzlTcQ5tQ9Ol5SnO0ieks98hBu4ne3AYpFDT4BuqARiqgcH9rP-R70KqZiNmVeEI5nUPLPe7LxbCt266cs9jdKIbAwzJmmxBz2A6KSTa1Ps7y7CFxfg5pE4a3XTFfzW5ASNci9Eu5dg=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgySoB8RRwHVE33XMQev2MxTRgiurzcENmshHfzUVyZdxMrTXFCOLAov-MMOpxtLrUzUkcu2YrwSIL3sDHDH_9nAZrQPdtmwctMG9baGYMXRE6ri37W5RsKWgDD_fjcPB-fivIUyfe4U7P9FHbgTLrz9TcIMFIRfPnVdsVgmpJ3vt4xxijMzw"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386685741426786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgySoB8RRwHVE33XMQev2MxTRgiurzcENmshHfzUVyZdxMrTXFCOLAov-MMOpxtLrUzUkcu2YrwSIL3sDHDH_9nAZrQPdtmwctMG9baGYMXRE6ri37W5RsKWgDD_fjcPB-fivIUyfe4U7P9FHbgTLrz9TcIMFIRfPnVdsVgmpJ3vt4xxijMzw=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Finally, there's this locket...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEge0DybybannVBczWXvGnfxOip9B_OMJWvmOT7kdI_bqAo1YlFb330QHVOVtAA21r0vdnjt_cIkAsw5JhgarVRPT3l63TqoJq4bVUI5_k0p2DkXLzMlCy-wMgJYcyMuegnPDLXu5lzWV93agbX6I55pIx6p4fTAADehCN6i8YmWzdBD9_dn7w"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386690843512994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEge0DybybannVBczWXvGnfxOip9B_OMJWvmOT7kdI_bqAo1YlFb330QHVOVtAA21r0vdnjt_cIkAsw5JhgarVRPT3l63TqoJq4bVUI5_k0p2DkXLzMlCy-wMgJYcyMuegnPDLXu5lzWV93agbX6I55pIx6p4fTAADehCN6i8YmWzdBD9_dn7w=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_1u104uZRqyqfr1PETFEWpTX6sxpYvH-7djBR-OzKk1G7iY-kSfdZn1zXnA7gHlvrJWCec_9uC-mj-OCLUQWa8KjxTrK-iWXzf761h6YUOnyNkeKyFDO541K-ZLth-hBwBmu4PycCpdd7FJZXpLOQxpoQNTRE9QX1Zl7HyxxquHYi6p5eUA"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386692417538290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_1u104uZRqyqfr1PETFEWpTX6sxpYvH-7djBR-OzKk1G7iY-kSfdZn1zXnA7gHlvrJWCec_9uC-mj-OCLUQWa8KjxTrK-iWXzf761h6YUOnyNkeKyFDO541K-ZLth-hBwBmu4PycCpdd7FJZXpLOQxpoQNTRE9QX1Zl7HyxxquHYi6p5eUA=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">I know for sure that the woman on the left is my great-grandmother, Rose McGee/Ilett/Hill. I have her Canadian passport from the 1940s with that same cheery smile on a rather older face. I had long assumed the man on the right to be William Ilett. I believed it to be a keepsake he took with him to France that was returned to her when he died, but now I'm not so sure. It's just as likely that's my step-great-grandfather, George Hill. I suppose I could ask Mom, but the man there looks so young, it's possible even she won't be able to say for sure. That said, the man here doesn't look especially like the photo in George Hill's 1940 passport... so maybe this is William Ilett after all. I'll try to find out.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">So the couple of other things in the box are things I added when I was young. First, there's this medal...</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMI_5nzAB2CYjjPgS7vjTubB1CIOBneqV0Zc-SWgIHMTwrsAt3PXad1DF4BzDl7kfxSuBd6kukDCAQHYo20fFh3vtHsxjprtUlL3xJEMS0pMuW9BW5K4I5WAgyWtpL0812I37_ryVungO5iB10lsp3ogVsoKA3heTwwYYtuJROGsIHEE2UrQ"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386704041424690" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMI_5nzAB2CYjjPgS7vjTubB1CIOBneqV0Zc-SWgIHMTwrsAt3PXad1DF4BzDl7kfxSuBd6kukDCAQHYo20fFh3vtHsxjprtUlL3xJEMS0pMuW9BW5K4I5WAgyWtpL0812I37_ryVungO5iB10lsp3ogVsoKA3heTwwYYtuJROGsIHEE2UrQ=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">This was my paternal grandfather's medal from World War II. He served in Britain, France, and Italy, if I'm not mistaken. He was from northern Ontario and sailed off in early 1941, as his father before him did in World War I. My dad was born a few months later while he was away. There's about a four year gap between my dad and his next brother as a result of the war. My mother's father (also a Scottish immigrant) didn't serve in WWII, so this is really all I have in terms of family ties to that titanic struggle.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">My dad left the north as a teenager to spend the next twenty-two years in the Royal Canadian Navy, stationed for part of that time in Montreal, which is how he met my mother. Ironically, it's Dad who has French Canadian roots (his mother); my mother's parents and grandparents were all British immigrants. Anyway, stored in the box is a whole slew of these brass buttons; replacements meant to be sewn onto the cuffs of his uniforms. This same lion can be seen on the standard of the Governor-General of Canada and surmounting the Canadian coat of arms.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdrHdbhZAU0Bqh3kaJj9SNlIvfYnw5t-t0ILKstOwiP9vdE3Dfr_bEvcY_z11B-I7fFPLp3zP80uGccsefcwqoLsOBTu80jeDdKznGcsavufQFCPrEs1455W7CEXfvVXfyIAzvOqXH7EuM2hwGVXZwk3oUtmQHV4JEn1tyC8t1oqcni7khNw"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7107386705987899794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdrHdbhZAU0Bqh3kaJj9SNlIvfYnw5t-t0ILKstOwiP9vdE3Dfr_bEvcY_z11B-I7fFPLp3zP80uGccsefcwqoLsOBTu80jeDdKznGcsavufQFCPrEs1455W7CEXfvVXfyIAzvOqXH7EuM2hwGVXZwk3oUtmQHV4JEn1tyC8t1oqcni7khNw=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">I have a few other mementos of my dad's service in the Navy... dog tags and bosun whistle and such... but they're in another small box mostly full of his things.</div></div> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-3387321585198766642022-06-07T07:50:00.002-05:002022-06-07T07:50:50.843-05:00What do you think of this?<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">This is a test post. Apparently you can post via email, and I hadn't realized that. I'm just testing it to see if it works. Let's have a look. If it's really keen, this might be a good way to go ahead and post stuff in the future.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixMYAdO1n_sJTZuzpwHxgptwIH9R2Mfruc7lO5jaWSq8mOm3pjWmcId5U2ZbqOVW0NabQilOQLH5J-rYX_CtPQ0mU9gzj2nMduv6_mJgmleWEQNf8iyHCzblpVPuO9SvFwvGA_myAwSHOxh9zabiQKW_s4nKZGCUvEITd6ePpn_hlFJ1Q83g"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_7106479393668187810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixMYAdO1n_sJTZuzpwHxgptwIH9R2Mfruc7lO5jaWSq8mOm3pjWmcId5U2ZbqOVW0NabQilOQLH5J-rYX_CtPQ0mU9gzj2nMduv6_mJgmleWEQNf8iyHCzblpVPuO9SvFwvGA_myAwSHOxh9zabiQKW_s4nKZGCUvEITd6ePpn_hlFJ1Q83g=s320" /></a><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Isn't it gorgeous? You bet! Sure is! Abandoned house in Pickering.</div></div> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-56437392460512003632022-05-17T21:03:00.003-05:002022-05-17T21:14:26.319-05:00Books of My Childhood—Part 4/4 Later Science/Serious<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If You Lived In the Days of the Wild Mammoth Hunters</span></h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtEvtrZy9tJzsLdjjxfYDSMKgUtK0_nGew30htCkP-9hXGQyQuFTCaVPVvv4T7XU5amcAvelI8x6t0tT1Fa5qYkNKdFYLjHUo4vcE2ZzU7kilR-Fv32J2QZOBcMaqa_4qQhITaxloWirsAABUKcv8oDMRiV20RilyoFmthEWnHl88x-YmzYw=s1203" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1203" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtEvtrZy9tJzsLdjjxfYDSMKgUtK0_nGew30htCkP-9hXGQyQuFTCaVPVvv4T7XU5amcAvelI8x6t0tT1Fa5qYkNKdFYLjHUo4vcE2ZzU7kilR-Fv32J2QZOBcMaqa_4qQhITaxloWirsAABUKcv8oDMRiV20RilyoFmthEWnHl88x-YmzYw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">I remember seeing this book in the equivalent of middle school, when I was 12 or 13. It's largely about the first people to populate and inhabit the Americas... which is to say, I suppose, the ancestors of the First Nations, as we call them in Canada. Aside from the revelations about how they lived and hunted, which were all on their own fascinating, the artwork was striking. Pastels or chalk, overlaid with just enough inkwork to provide force, direction, and definition. I'd never seen anything like it and the effect was singular. It was one of those perfect little gems that still stands out in my mind. Years later I was able to find a copy of it in, if I remember correctly, a used book store. Pure, delightful serendipity.</span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cosmos</span></h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixQChA-Xfs0d7LY1gnkjEWrMlv_UhJw-QfnzFURv62ppv06jpFJ_zmrjVnzp_JwV9PzyD3pR0djgrO4K5F2zWUusnrmwJmxzaF94LP5eNjqWfYmMC12CPzB2ubjv8VwybQodPaRXblL-XiNBfhLt_J3mvdhlXjBPAuODc0T2Wu_EcuGssX5g=s1489" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1489" data-original-width="1229" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixQChA-Xfs0d7LY1gnkjEWrMlv_UhJw-QfnzFURv62ppv06jpFJ_zmrjVnzp_JwV9PzyD3pR0djgrO4K5F2zWUusnrmwJmxzaF94LP5eNjqWfYmMC12CPzB2ubjv8VwybQodPaRXblL-XiNBfhLt_J3mvdhlXjBPAuODc0T2Wu_EcuGssX5g=s320" width="264" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There's no overstating the impact of this book on me. A companion to the series that ran on PBS back in 1981, it might be the first hardcover book that I ever saved up for and bought on my own. As I recall, it cost me something like $13 or $14 at the time; something around $40-50 today, I'd guess. In a day when we didn't have a VCR yet, this was as close as I could come to having the series in my hands.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cosmos was a revelation to me. It literally helped me to understand the universe in a way I hadn't before. It made it all bright and exciting and fascinating. I think the most remarkable realization that ever came out of it, for me, was the fact that just about every element heavier that hydrogen in our bodies was created in the forge of stars; stars that long, long ago blew themselves up in titanic supernovae that seeded the galaxy with the heavier elements from which the planets, and ultimately, we, formed. When Carl Sagan said that we were all literally "star-stuff", I was enthralled and enchanted. That we come from the most titanic of events, and probably dozens of them, is still an idea that can give me goosebumps. If I could only hand down a half a dozen books to a future generation that had forgotten everything about us, this would unquestionably be among them.</span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">SuperWorlds</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhz3hT18S0c5C44TpaOiGWBQgP3cfWfxdC3OjB2C71O1Oh-2yf_lvMeosSCqrlnvpMUxWivCTaL0v5o4LTodPBs8mMnIK-ZIbRkKdABy6Ew3_A6oEc_-7v40gyoLUxhe3V1q6a9mMYAv2Ejo85leoT-myZt10SkBe9g5iQES_XUbx5Wbm-NoQ=s1390" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1390" data-original-width="1093" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhz3hT18S0c5C44TpaOiGWBQgP3cfWfxdC3OjB2C71O1Oh-2yf_lvMeosSCqrlnvpMUxWivCTaL0v5o4LTodPBs8mMnIK-ZIbRkKdABy6Ew3_A6oEc_-7v40gyoLUxhe3V1q6a9mMYAv2Ejo85leoT-myZt10SkBe9g5iQES_XUbx5Wbm-NoQ=s320" width="252" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My Aunt Betty gave me this book for my 13th birthday. That was less than a year after we moved to Hamilton, and that was the first year in my life we actually had family close enough to us to see on a regular basis. As a kid who, until then, had grown up with relatives as a once-or-twice-a-year (if that) kind of thing, finally having them just across town, or a few hours up the highway, was a gift of inestimable price. This book is very much a symbol of all that for me.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's a book in the same vein as Cosmos, but a little more speculative. In part, it talks about what advanced civilization on other worlds might be like, but it also has a deep, respectful grounding in physics. Oddly enough, it's this book, rather than Cosmos, that I remember introducing me to the concept of stellar "generations"; that is to say, stars that arise from the ashes of previous ones. A first generation star can be gleaned by checking its spectrum and finding no markers for any element as heavy as iron, or heavier. This means it's an original star... not one that arose from the guts of some other supernova event(s) that strewed such elements across space. Our own sun has iron in it, but it can't be iron fused in the sun itself... the sun is both too young and too small to fuse iron, and as soon as a star begins to fuse iron, it begins to die, because that process consumes more energy than it creates. That's how we know the sun is a second or third generation star in our galaxy. Fascinating idea even now. So the book has great value to me, both instructional and sentimental.</span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The History of the Atomic Bomb</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4fVYuJTaf7JDrf0zmsD2rkdqDd7H8sH7CqNF7RBOWJKSi3EyB7ZSpdQ_D83vbJJ-J-HKcAuSRcHNCggvmtKaoYLLyyu0gT9ehRC76FdqrWs3vWoT2WUYouBZFl_RYwaqBulzxNq7VlA7THmUg0CEPgA4ioGRUbNPT_fgTk0Idawiln04afw=s1500" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1097" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4fVYuJTaf7JDrf0zmsD2rkdqDd7H8sH7CqNF7RBOWJKSi3EyB7ZSpdQ_D83vbJJ-J-HKcAuSRcHNCggvmtKaoYLLyyu0gT9ehRC76FdqrWs3vWoT2WUYouBZFl_RYwaqBulzxNq7VlA7THmUg0CEPgA4ioGRUbNPT_fgTk0Idawiln04afw=s320" width="234" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I saw this book in the same school library as the mammoth hunters one above. This was a fascinating book that told the story of the Manhattan Project, the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and how Klaus Fuchs gave it all away to the Russians to put us all on the brink ever since. In its early chapters, it also tells the story of how modern atomic theory was developed; the discovery and use of x-rays; the work of the Curies; and the amazingly casualness of the creation of the first atomic pile at the University of Chicago under Enrico Fermi's guidance. Still a fantastic book, and one that I found on eBay nearly 20 years ago now, and still have.</span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Steven Truscott Story</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4CKwQ_onBBqS3gCNO28tkdbzO4RDrC2hf7SOMDkuZs3FhmfTj9EbgHBFbImEl01UsFWnN82FHcOBdwgKqGRkZdZNCuAQrw0ADntP0qnMylpGnVuD4hTtwGtP-r35NI2MScYsEBVsnZFAgAgdJq-bCMknnCE6X2jk-AY7F_Nwy0O-3htmVoA=s1030" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1030" data-original-width="619" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4CKwQ_onBBqS3gCNO28tkdbzO4RDrC2hf7SOMDkuZs3FhmfTj9EbgHBFbImEl01UsFWnN82FHcOBdwgKqGRkZdZNCuAQrw0ADntP0qnMylpGnVuD4hTtwGtP-r35NI2MScYsEBVsnZFAgAgdJq-bCMknnCE6X2jk-AY7F_Nwy0O-3htmVoA=s320" width="192" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I read this back in grade nine in the early 80s. It's the story of one of the great modern miscarriages of justice in Canada. Steven Truscott was a 14-year-old boy in southwestern Ontario accused and convicted of the rape and murder of classmate Lynn Harper in 1959. He was essentially railroaded, and despite his youth, sentenced to hang (to spare you the suspense, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Diefenbaker not long his imprisonment). The book tells of his watching leaves falling off the tree outside his cell in the autumn of 1959, making a wager with himself that if any of them were still on the tree by a certain date (not sure if it was Christmas or New Year's), his life would be spared, and rising each day to see how many "traitors" among the leaves had deserted him. His case was reviewed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1966, but it found no fundamental error in the trial; jurisprudence being what it was at the time. A model prisoner, he was released in 1969 and lived for a time with the family of the prison chaplain before changing his name and settling down to a steady job and raising a family of his own.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I read this book in the early 80s, what happened to Steven Truscott shook me up. It was hard to believe this country would let all that happen to a boy pretty much exactly my age at the time.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Steven Truscott never stopped proclaiming his innocence and spent years trying to get his case reopened. In 2000, CBC's documentary program, The Fifth Estate, produced an hour-long show about the case and re-introduced Truscott to the country. It reviewed the mistakes made in the case, the flawed logic used to implicate Steven in Lynn's murder, the eyewitnesses to his innocence among other children who were ignored, and a strong suspect overlooked at the time. Largely as a result of that, his case was reviewed, and while too much evidence had been lost, destroyed, or degraded over the years to proclaim his actual innocence, the court was able to declare Steven Truscott not guilty in law, which at least removes the stain and the conviction. He's still alive today and makes periodic appearances to speak out for the wrongly-convicted.</span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Usborne Book of the Future</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhjGbFnZw3oNxF5fUZoLyWd-eTKzrG524NYf3X8eLmShUVISRa2gGUNEoZK28fkqGVwhuFe76VA5il5Ga5Wgt6AzTjGxa57JwGlyY6zu-LVGUDHf0kw06zOr0j-oj4F6Y80XIGkU526P6PmJv0i9W9eqpo_e0wuIX7Gel5HW5Sop8WVt2fyg=s1645" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1645" data-original-width="1240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhjGbFnZw3oNxF5fUZoLyWd-eTKzrG524NYf3X8eLmShUVISRa2gGUNEoZK28fkqGVwhuFe76VA5il5Ga5Wgt6AzTjGxa57JwGlyY6zu-LVGUDHf0kw06zOr0j-oj4F6Y80XIGkU526P6PmJv0i9W9eqpo_e0wuIX7Gel5HW5Sop8WVt2fyg=s320" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This was actually a compendium of three books put out by the British children's publisher Usborne... Future Cities, Robots, and Star Travel. The timelines in the book were, as these things typically are, somewhat optimistic. For example, it predicted the advent of electric cars in the 1990s, a revolution that's really only just kicking in right now. But it did give a kid in the early 80s a glimpse of what to look forward to on the way to middle age. The one thing that particularly and consistently surprises me is how no one really seemed to see the internet coming. That seems to be something no one quite predicted, at least not as the single, convergent-technological phenomenon that suddenly appeared in the early 90s and is so ubiquitous and indispensable today. Just one of those blind spots, I guess. Given how much of life seems very much the same as what it was when I was a kid in the 70s, it's surprising how much really hasn't changed, and how vastly different life is in small but highly significant ways thanks to the net.</span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Six Seconds In Dallas</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYuEMyMeGZeKo5tNVpsBpQsgDw79oZK0f4Fvkeb42JU-rmMOBo93q7PwE9argtFBklpFNj5Lks2XyIZ1n_AMRwRpVXuubGj12dEGPlA3jcUgeNIavA2gx6eJUJ8rVBnZKPWFUhUX30zLqD44ehnnahNmqfY4vblm1of2q93ML4SGGI83ZOdA=s460" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYuEMyMeGZeKo5tNVpsBpQsgDw79oZK0f4Fvkeb42JU-rmMOBo93q7PwE9argtFBklpFNj5Lks2XyIZ1n_AMRwRpVXuubGj12dEGPlA3jcUgeNIavA2gx6eJUJ8rVBnZKPWFUhUX30zLqD44ehnnahNmqfY4vblm1of2q93ML4SGGI83ZOdA=s320" width="221" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And finally, there's this one. This is a bit of a cheat, because I wasn't really a "child" when I encountered it. I was 19 and just starting university when I found this book in the campus library. It dates from 1967 and was one of the first books to lay out the problems, inconsistencies, and oversights of the Warren Commission's findings. I practically owned this book for the four years I was in university; I almost always had it signed out except in the summer when I had to, well, y'know, give it back. I won't labour the point by going over all the things Josiah Thompson laid out in the book (which has had a recently-published sequel by the same author, which I also own, reviewing new information while putting some of the older theories to bed). I'll only say that, while I'm no conspiracy nut, I am persuaded that there was more going on in John Kennedy's assassination than the Warren Report concludes, and regardless of who did or didn't pull the trigger(s), that he almost certainly died as the result of a conspiracy, probably at the hands of the mafia working at the behest of rogue elements of the US intelligence community. We'll probably never know, but to me, that's the likeliest explanation for how it was accomplished and covered up. I think it's not insignificant that CIA director Allan Dulles was fired by Kennedy, and then wound up in the Warren Commission, directing aspects of the investigation and questioning of witnesses. Just sayin'.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, these have been many of the major books that helped shape who I am today, in various ways and to different degrees, from the wistful to the profound. If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for your time and attention, and I hope that one or two have piqued your interest enough to go looking. :)</span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-38124814063053510742022-03-29T10:48:00.001-05:002022-03-29T10:48:24.985-05:00A Moment in Time<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I recently acquired a 1965 set of the Encyclopedia Britannica that came with a set of yearbooks from 1963 (covering 1962) to 1980 (covering 1979). Beautiful volumes. The original owners seem to have kept everything that accompanied them, so the yearbooks frequently have various offers tucked into the back cover. Some of them are elaborate foldouts, promising one free volume you can keep at no obligation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Perusing the yearbook covering 1962, I came across an insert card. The offering itself—<i>The Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking</i>—didn't interest me much, but the nature of the card itself did...</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCRITuBFcvVGatqABWjdESQmC0hCzm37abFEdQq2H7CKjn4V7V0-XPVj0ipLB8kGVQojbjnzdWQ71RogqM0L-wIPkSAUkLc5xeeslvkpBwKym22CSTgWOCA0c886P1sqXuKYdY6QD0Up4Hi2OYbBFJO0zQRHAlvWsb1H9263gvTIwoUq72kg/s2210/Scan-2022-03-29_10-50-52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="2210" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCRITuBFcvVGatqABWjdESQmC0hCzm37abFEdQq2H7CKjn4V7V0-XPVj0ipLB8kGVQojbjnzdWQ71RogqM0L-wIPkSAUkLc5xeeslvkpBwKym22CSTgWOCA0c886P1sqXuKYdY6QD0Up4Hi2OYbBFJO0zQRHAlvWsb1H9263gvTIwoUq72kg/s320/Scan-2022-03-29_10-50-52.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8chPcRlIHzQr3M7poQaGuISmqOIJnlk9hqh5fJ3m-WDRmp4vLpvfDopXmASkV7-VCQ23_09dC9bDvEo68eGrGb3WP25B4o0JxJOkeCeZyZVedEYDz2Oh1LJwEL9JDg5b0tWjQwekhOmcOBMqirhnNG7BdMsNcAKbPeEiB2EvQtcG3pLI6aw/s2193/Scan-2022-03-29_10-51-41.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="2193" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8chPcRlIHzQr3M7poQaGuISmqOIJnlk9hqh5fJ3m-WDRmp4vLpvfDopXmASkV7-VCQ23_09dC9bDvEo68eGrGb3WP25B4o0JxJOkeCeZyZVedEYDz2Oh1LJwEL9JDg5b0tWjQwekhOmcOBMqirhnNG7BdMsNcAKbPeEiB2EvQtcG3pLI6aw/s320/Scan-2022-03-29_10-51-41.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I think these are so charming. First, the postage back in 1962 was a mere 6¢.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Secondly, the postal address back then was "Toronto 5", which I suppose was some particular, general region of the then-City of Toronto. According to Wikipedia, the modern postal code system we use rolled out from 1972-1974. Prior to that, the big cities were divided into postal zones... "<i>As of 1943, Toronto was divided into 14 zones, numbered from 1 to 15, except that 7 and 11 were unused, and there was a 2B zone.</i>" For what it's worth, the postal code for 151 Bloor St. W. today is M5S 1S4, and that address houses, among other things, the Consulate General of Ecuador for Toronto. Britannica is long gone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So the cost of this two-volume set, back in the day, was apparently $6. There appeared to be 60¢ postage and handling fee, which would be waived if you sent the full $6 (rather than the two installments of $3). I wonder how you did that using a business reply card. I guess you needed to use an envelope and you were on the hook for a 6¢ stamp. The other thing that surprises me is there's no mention of tax of any kind. There was no point-of-sale federal sales tax in Canada in 1962. I don't know if Ontario had a provincial sales tax in 1962; I suspect we did, but I really couldn't say. In any case, I don't believe it did then, or does now, apply to books. But the federal GST certainly does. In any case, it's still kind of... freeing, somehow?... not to see tax mentioned in the middle of something like this. At all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I wondered what that kind of money all of this would represent to us today. I went to the online CPI inflation calculator, and it tells me that $6.60 in 1962 would be about $59.90 today... a dime short of sixty bucks. It's strange to think of six dollars and change being the equivalent of a good meal or an afternoon in the pub today. That 6¢ would be worth 54¢ today, which I think is actually considerably less than the actual cost of a stamp these days. Well, so much for the vaunted efficiencies of technology, I guess. :)<br /><br /></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-65180496097716862412022-03-20T20:11:00.002-05:002022-03-20T20:12:49.339-05:00Books of My Childhood—Part 3/4 Later Fiction<p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">The following are books of fiction that came to my attention during adolescence and teenage years.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Runaway Robot</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVQjX9WSMgto6s4TBidpzaZx6TeHHXInIl_EKSubaXLUb6189DLhSU8rR6BYP0GBuBFGJPGpK7ZuR4-rt2wQMAe_LFVufi8SxMZ0oMCSfRSDGD94Ft7CW9bQiU50zKlIgYOu31nvTqbBVMeP6f-OpUxBCTzGlr7UeqDOubIbW2iSghJroTgg=s1137" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1137" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVQjX9WSMgto6s4TBidpzaZx6TeHHXInIl_EKSubaXLUb6189DLhSU8rR6BYP0GBuBFGJPGpK7ZuR4-rt2wQMAe_LFVufi8SxMZ0oMCSfRSDGD94Ft7CW9bQiU50zKlIgYOu31nvTqbBVMeP6f-OpUxBCTzGlr7UeqDOubIbW2iSghJroTgg=s320" width="215" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What I mainly remember from <i>The Runaway Robot</i> was the faint sense of injustice I felt on behalf of the robot. He was at least as intelligent as the kid he served, and was portrayed as having emotions, desires, and apprehensions, but remained an object. Property. Even as middle schooler, I had the sense this wasn't right; that this was slavery by another name; and that if we were ever empowered to create such beings, that they had the right to autonomy, inasmuch as we ourselves have it. It was an open door to other, more troubled musings on the nature of the animals around us that, while not as mentally capable as us, are still possessed of love, joy, fear, anger, varying degrees of empathy, and the capacity to suffer.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Gift of Winter</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2EUUe9F4sr6LlDSrnfNle4TJx8BmZztjtpMyqLPn0nnUD5sCBHe2V64DCEm6e1FJZcV3hKOhBg-B7F3JlKX6Ga-BYasef8aqz9fGRoyzdfLmWAv4MWp61pBvujCiCrNeB8EV5I2rghfMiOtAy_S01WyN7CCrBjC5G2Uf7dc_5rZnKS7OtyA=s1381" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1381" data-original-width="1086" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2EUUe9F4sr6LlDSrnfNle4TJx8BmZztjtpMyqLPn0nnUD5sCBHe2V64DCEm6e1FJZcV3hKOhBg-B7F3JlKX6Ga-BYasef8aqz9fGRoyzdfLmWAv4MWp61pBvujCiCrNeB8EV5I2rghfMiOtAy_S01WyN7CCrBjC5G2Uf7dc_5rZnKS7OtyA=s320" width="252" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This one's kind of a cheat, actually. It's one that's very special to me. It's the book version of a story that was animated by a Canadian company in early 1970s, Rankin-Leach, and I remember seeing it one winter day when I was in grade four... I want to say it had something to do with the solar eclipse that year; I think we were all off that day so we wouldn't risk being outdoors to blind ourselves by staring at it or something. Anyway, I remember that no one else in my class remembered seeing it. It was a very strange story. A bunch of people in some town, all of whom had names that broadstroked their personalities (Nicely, Goodly, Rotten, Malicious, Small, Tender, and Bazooey) are tired of winter and set off on a march through the wilderness to reach the Ministry of Winter, where Winter himself rules the season with the aid of various iceberg-like people, notably the Secretary of Cold. They make their pitch and get shown the door. The three kids are overheard by Winter as they theorize why he's so mean, which brings him to tears. The tears become snow, and that is the eponymous "gift". Thanks. Thanks a lot. :) I saw it again on Christmas morning, 1980, and this time I knew it was coming on so I open-air recorded it on my Radio Shack tape recorder. I still have that recording, with all its background noises, my 12-year-old comments and singing, and even some of the station breaks. Many many years later, possibly into my 30s, I actually found this delight on VHS. But I remember seeing the book in a library and I looked for it for many years on eBay and finally found it. There's something even more real about having it as a book. It's strange, I know; the thing itself is an animated half hour. But in book form, you can touch it. It's real. It could arguably persist for centuries.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Incidentally, that special featured the voices of several Second City alumni at the dawn of their careers. Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Valri Bromfield, and Gerry Salsberg are all featured voices in it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The War for the Lot</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggwM1XHnpQqf33Y4aUFgoFijsJYsLCUUIt0JsGG6GozgwFRjhYEYy5ZWU1RqGMrKfNvmf2gcO8UxlTfFKxtzCPJkrA6ZkdadSIacZ84eNNK9dHiNYeMPbLPwLPcCchO16HuweE3NDE4w25NllELhnN-jjbcnUXbz54DXbHghGxNWztptVnSg=s1325" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="889" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggwM1XHnpQqf33Y4aUFgoFijsJYsLCUUIt0JsGG6GozgwFRjhYEYy5ZWU1RqGMrKfNvmf2gcO8UxlTfFKxtzCPJkrA6ZkdadSIacZ84eNNK9dHiNYeMPbLPwLPcCchO16HuweE3NDE4w25NllELhnN-jjbcnUXbz54DXbHghGxNWztptVnSg=s320" width="215" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This story really captivated me back when I was 13 or so. It tells the story of a lonely boy named Alec who discovers he can converse with the wild animals in a lot near the home he's staying at. The animals live in fear of being overrun by a horde of rats. They convince Alec to become their general, and together they plot out their battle strategy. I remember it being surprisingly frank and violent for a book ostensibly aimed at children. For me, the ending was very sad. Mission accomplished, Alec loses not only the ability to communicate with the animals, but the very knowledge and memory of what he's accomplished. His deeds, his friendships, his heartfelt struggles, triumphs, and losses all evaporate and he goes back to being this average kid with no memory of how extraordinary the events around him have been and his part in them. I suppose the one silver lining from this ending is that any one of us could suppose himself to have been another Alec, a hero who's forgotten the role he played, but the notion you could do all that and still lose yourself continues to sadden me. Older but wiser, I suppose.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Watership Down</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1ZabHO5_HFx73Vrg5GqqLlKCJ88LFCtGWVcGFt8aSvfOgG3RM9QA83_kSqG7-YXG4vIcNtcKu2HNTDmlH5Ta92_qhcdiz9Ly1ZdEcXWZ6A1hIQ1EuvIXjIP4XEIQt6O0wYmmIHw1NRRZHfS_tDnev6t_ypEPFVvlXknQStxO0HXYKI6VPJA=s1440" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="1440" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1ZabHO5_HFx73Vrg5GqqLlKCJ88LFCtGWVcGFt8aSvfOgG3RM9QA83_kSqG7-YXG4vIcNtcKu2HNTDmlH5Ta92_qhcdiz9Ly1ZdEcXWZ6A1hIQ1EuvIXjIP4XEIQt6O0wYmmIHw1NRRZHfS_tDnev6t_ypEPFVvlXknQStxO0HXYKI6VPJA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Watership Down</i> was a huge big deal for me when I was about 15. The CBS affiliate in Buffalo played the movie across two evenings and I was absolutely enthralled. I borrowed the book from the school library and took it with me on our trip to Florida that spring. Later I found out that my friend Dave had the picture book; stills from the movie that, with the text, told the story. I traded something to him for it, and I cherished that book for years and years. Later on he happened to mention that it had, back in the day, been a birthday present to him from his mother, a charming, hard-working woman whom I admired and who passed away in the years in between. I gave the book back to him. Somewhat later on I was able to find another copy of the picture book on eBay and I still have that copy today, as well as the novel's less-notable sequel.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you're aware of the book or the movie, they tell the story of a warren of rabbits whose destruction is foretold by one of the, a clairvoyant runt named Fiver. He and his older brother, Hazel, convince about a dozen other rabbits to escape. Fiver turns out to have been correct, and their warren is blithely destroyed by humans for a building project. Tracking across country, they eventually come to a huge hill, the eponymous Watership Down, where they make their home. The problem is, they're all male, and have no mates. Nearby is a Sparta-like warren headed by General Woundwart, and with the help of a wounded seagull named Keehar that they befriend and who becomes their one-bird air force, they set out to free as many as will join them. Can brains defeat brawn? Spoiler alert: eventually, yes. :)</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Maybe more than any other story I ever read or watched, <i>Watership Down</i> made me want to become a writer. I was truly inspired by it. I've seen the movie upwards of a hundred times, and quotes from it live in my mind and spring to life on my tongue from time to time to this very day.<br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-26098542939266091142021-12-28T09:36:00.008-05:002021-12-28T09:54:23.567-05:00Books of My Childhood—Part 2/4 Early Science<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And so now we move on to the science portion of our show. These were the books that impressed me during the first decade or so of my life and helped shape my understanding of the world.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Science Book of Volcanoes</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBySXH48ppZhSWtMc10QPaW2up2FyorGgA9kDLZMVroRW0p6nq0BitGBlbF0D2yGNicgWEIywnC7CInD3V2cYX5hIk1eaBkh1sN44ST1hGh8uwEnj3VtxCiYwCWl1z6rQhYRv-Q3ChoOWyCswWU60JwOirj3xOFJM9n9xaOAaB4L11aIRIHQ=s419" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBySXH48ppZhSWtMc10QPaW2up2FyorGgA9kDLZMVroRW0p6nq0BitGBlbF0D2yGNicgWEIywnC7CInD3V2cYX5hIk1eaBkh1sN44ST1hGh8uwEnj3VtxCiYwCWl1z6rQhYRv-Q3ChoOWyCswWU60JwOirj3xOFJM9n9xaOAaB4L11aIRIHQ=s320" width="243" /></span></a></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This book absolutely fascinated me back in grade three and started a long obsession with volcanoes. It focused, in part, on the story of the eruption of Vesuvius, and the dooming of the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum... one of those morbid things that seem to really sink hooks into certain kids. In fact, it led more or less directly to me creating one of the first stories I ever finished: a comic, drawn in grade four on lined paper in a notebook, called K.K.V., "King Killer Volcano". In it, an evil scientist brings a volcano to life; it grows a face and arms and legs of lava, and proceeds to terrorize the world while challenging other volcanoes to duels, and finally losing to the might of Vesuvius. I still have that comic. It's just awful. But it's mine. :)</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the Days of the Dinosaurs</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAf5iEqIlFBIxDnogNz5_pRkfEkDLjnJMGVWCoqZUieigoKjtLajbADgq3CNGgS-s-UHwwS177N5G4DNxqD48d-TWOxowl2fBS40rTvTpWTkpQj-Wdy7c_JWsWnYmReyJ7Ml_JIjjc7TIjTDmE603v561VOMA5Lnwqxe3DEQ5i67jnJPyp2g=s1216" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="888" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAf5iEqIlFBIxDnogNz5_pRkfEkDLjnJMGVWCoqZUieigoKjtLajbADgq3CNGgS-s-UHwwS177N5G4DNxqD48d-TWOxowl2fBS40rTvTpWTkpQj-Wdy7c_JWsWnYmReyJ7Ml_JIjjc7TIjTDmE603v561VOMA5Lnwqxe3DEQ5i67jnJPyp2g=s320" width="234" /></span></a></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What kid doesn't go through a phase where they're fascinated with dinosaurs? Just about the time you realize monsters aren't real, you discover that, yeah, for a while, they actually were! This book was practically the Bible for the boys in my third grade class. There's a lot of information in this book that's now outdated, but we ingrained every fact, name, and dimension into our memories through constant and repeated readings. On days when it was too cold or rainy to go outside for recess, there we'd be, huddled in the corner on the floor, making dinosaurs out of plasticine.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are facts from this book I still remember. The earliest discovery of dinosaurs being equated to roughly the time of the death of George Washington. The sad, then-mysterious ending of the age the dinosaurs ruled. That dinosaurs came from huge eggs, often laid in great clusters, which always made me think of giant chickens... ironic, given that by the time I was in my twenties, I was hearing the astonishing idea that birds are, in fact, the last extant line of the dinosaurs, and those things wheeling in the sky and looking so delicious on the plate are <i>actually</i> dinosaurs. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that tyrannosaurus (among others) probably wandered the world wreathed in feathers. I think the thing that really stayed with me, though, was the idea that that ancient world, in which they were the overlords for so, so long, had to move aside in order for us to be here, and what we are, now. The idea that our existence might not have been inevitable was a truly profound revelation at the age of 8.</span></p><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stars and Planets</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi67yq8VD3F7Z89o0ASp6EhWRT5B90DTLkqLDkjgtV5W6RSbspLyv2_hhQOwdQf61dw2iduBzyOHsJxudxmuon98rnGIpAfuLQywj53HBGr3a6YKTeR16EYyNVvNq5G7sm1XwgEokrEz98yTOj-wfjGmQNqCeUaxx2hRoVWgYZvIWU__2e-iQ=s1605" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1605" data-original-width="1238" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi67yq8VD3F7Z89o0ASp6EhWRT5B90DTLkqLDkjgtV5W6RSbspLyv2_hhQOwdQf61dw2iduBzyOHsJxudxmuon98rnGIpAfuLQywj53HBGr3a6YKTeR16EYyNVvNq5G7sm1XwgEokrEz98yTOj-wfjGmQNqCeUaxx2hRoVWgYZvIWU__2e-iQ=s320" width="247" /></span></a></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For a couple of years, I lugged this book everywhere. It came with four pages of perforated stickers you had to lick and stick in the appropriate boxes. Each page had a separate topic, along with a line drawing suitable for colouring... which I did. I loved the <i>hell</i> out of this book when I was 7 and 8. I was mostly interested in the topics about the planets in our solar system; less interested in the other aspects of astronomy such as stars and galaxies. That seems natural enough to me now; it was a moment in time when the US and the Soviet Union were actively sending probes to the planets, so that was in the news a lot. I remember Pioneers 10 and 11, and not long afterwards Voyagers 1 and 2, beginning the exploration of the outer planets; at about the same time, Vikings 1 and 2 had landed on Mars. These were all real places; when I was a child, for the first time in human history, you could actually see photographs of them, just as real as ones of Paris or Tokyo or Rio de Janeiro. That was new, and it was happening right then. This book was my portable little piece of all that.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I found a copy of it a year or two ago and bought it. I scanned all the pages, including the stickers, and then "pasted" the stickers onto the scanned pages in Photoshop. I coalesced the whole thing together into a PDF that I shared with a buddy who also had a fascination with such things as a boy. I guess you don't grow out of <i>everything</i> as you get older. :)<br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stars</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkfseRnscJuO6kdPdGYwvkArVkEGveb5jvkRYEP4CZIpLR9-VLzYE36EiI_hoSIRUI2CefqxkF7AFBX4uOPKdYuXzcEZLK3Z1dUlUhMd0N-xBj3o_epEZKUEeYUxdCmr0hhh9drNWnzs-TNyb2MmxI1lWXexPuSVHdjELoIFt1FfAbDE7Psg=s899" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="586" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkfseRnscJuO6kdPdGYwvkArVkEGveb5jvkRYEP4CZIpLR9-VLzYE36EiI_hoSIRUI2CefqxkF7AFBX4uOPKdYuXzcEZLK3Z1dUlUhMd0N-xBj3o_epEZKUEeYUxdCmr0hhh9drNWnzs-TNyb2MmxI1lWXexPuSVHdjELoIFt1FfAbDE7Psg=s320" width="209" /></span></a></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This was a rather more sophisticated version of <i>Stars and Planets</i>; a field guide to amateur astronomy. It was the kind of thing a kid with a little telescope (not that I had one) out in a field on a summer night would have found useful. Again, I was mostly interested in what it had to say about the planets of our solar system, although there was enough of interest about other topics to finally get me at least passingly interested. I think the thing that really caught my attention was the suggestion that the pole star changes over time as the 'point' of the Earth's axis of rotation itself turns, over many, many thousands of years... That while it is, today, Polaris, that is has been in the past Vega, and eventually will be again. Something about that made me feel tied to a universe greater than me. It wasn't all just here to support me; quite the opposite: I was just a momentary bubble on a great wave passing through that had existed long before me and would carry on long after I was gone.<br /></span></p></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Extinct Animals</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqt3u_8V9R4gGt6NfaM37EVfgVBNm2dJ88bACe_ZUC0ovZjxrtbhMnt2oKRWc1BIEMshg1bQ-22F7PB0rjZlJ3ajIPg4JzxaSjcjs3oXRcbpDAUj_fnDKLKKT12aMHL2bBgDLjepH35PcHSArz9D94USZFvgWBqMTgg2_qt2YvnWz3dZVfLw=s1625" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1625" data-original-width="1227" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqt3u_8V9R4gGt6NfaM37EVfgVBNm2dJ88bACe_ZUC0ovZjxrtbhMnt2oKRWc1BIEMshg1bQ-22F7PB0rjZlJ3ajIPg4JzxaSjcjs3oXRcbpDAUj_fnDKLKKT12aMHL2bBgDLjepH35PcHSArz9D94USZFvgWBqMTgg2_qt2YvnWz3dZVfLw=s320" width="242" /></span></a></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I still remember the ride home from the mall, poring over this book in the back seat. It was the first time the fragility of life was really impressed upon me; the first time I ever realized that extinction wasn't just something that happened to the dinosaurs millions of years ago, but had happened in the <i>very</i> recent past, and was potentially still going on around me even then.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Two stories really stood out for me. One was the tale of the passenger pigeon. The idea that the most abundant species of bird in North America had, all in space of a single human lifetime, gone from the billions to none at all, was sobering... if I can say that of a 10-year-old boy. That they could even identify the last living individual, a bird named Martha in the Cincinnati Zoo, and the very day and hour the species became literally extinct, gripped me in a way little else has.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The other story was the utter extermination of the native people of Tasmania, including the horrifying illustration of a white settler shooting a nude, black-skinned man in the back. It seems kind of inappropriate to me now to number a race of human beings among extinct "animals", even if it is taxonomologically valid. However, I can't say I'm sorry I was exposed to the realization... it was an important one, and was one more thing that helped to shape the person I became and the values that matter to me.<br /></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Primitive Man</span></h2><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguMTED6iFXmcjVtm4Axl3f1vVruqYIu5bblhDzoEK0Xg_JBWyfCDSBReAWpPbFgbeg5d0Z8QDqJiPuqzpXUf7ZOzbhTfG2x-AJTFjgwOOmInKVAEZEFHGigTQCJEzXRWLn7tKOZNOXgmeMVmkgr_de-K2yEQT_cg_nmq9n4HY3JmqFAEng4A=s1612" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1612" data-original-width="1227" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguMTED6iFXmcjVtm4Axl3f1vVruqYIu5bblhDzoEK0Xg_JBWyfCDSBReAWpPbFgbeg5d0Z8QDqJiPuqzpXUf7ZOzbhTfG2x-AJTFjgwOOmInKVAEZEFHGigTQCJEzXRWLn7tKOZNOXgmeMVmkgr_de-K2yEQT_cg_nmq9n4HY3JmqFAEng4A=s320" width="244" /></span></a></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>This is one of the few childhood keepsakes I have. It's not one of the books I've managed to find and buy retrospectively as an adult, but actually one I've managed to keep hold of through myriad moves and upheavals since 1977. I'm pretty sure it's the earliest book I still possess of which I am the original owner.<br /></span></span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span>I was, if I remember correctly</span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">, 9 when I got this book, probably in a supermarket as we shopped for groceries. I absorbed myself in the book in the back of the car on the way home, and I was blown away by the revelations in it. The world and how it worked were coming into real focus as I went through the pages. But it was also kind of unsettling. The world that I knew simply just was. It had always been like this and always would be; the only real changes were the new things we invented. Now I was starting to understand that no long ago, nothing I knew from my world would have existed... even the people in it.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Nature wasn't just all the stuff <i>around</i> the human world; the human world, and human beings themselves, were a part of nature and necessarily embedded <i>in</i> it; that we are, for all our special abilities, actually just another species of animal.</span></span></span> But as I read along, I came to a passage that was kind of a lifeline. It was a simple line; just a few words, but somehow, it made everything else okay. It somehow remoored everything to a foundation, and safely so emboldened, I felt free to explore more. I'll quote the passage from the book, and highlight in blue where the author encapsulated my fears, and then in red the words that still resonate with me more than forty years later...</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-553547f7-7fff-f5be-953e-bfbe2d06e93a"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><b><i>Do all people believe the theory of evolution</i></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><i>When Darwin's books on evolution were printed a hundred years ago, many people said Darwin did not believe in God's plan, but in <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">a horrible universe run by lucky accidents and greedy fighting. They said he was making man out to be nothing more than a smart ape.</span> But these people need not have worried. The theory of evolution says certain things happened. It does not say, and it could not say, <b>why </b>those things happened. <span style="background-color: #ea9999;">If God made the world and runs the world, then evolution <b>is </b>God's plan.</span> And it is a majestic and beautiful plan. With evolution, even accidents are part of the plan of life, and even the lowest creature is part of the family life. The theory of evolution does not say man is only a smart kind of ape. It says that for two billion years living forms were tried and improved and tried in improved in preparation for the arrival of man as we know him upon the scene of life upon the earth.</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></p></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, this more or less rounds out the books that really affected me in some key, important way up to the time I was 12 and we moved from Nova Scotia to Ontario. Moving on, I'll be looking at the books that helped shape my opinions and understanding in my teenage years. Coming up next! :)</span></span></span></p></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-60435976250062791112021-12-27T21:14:00.001-05:002021-12-27T21:27:29.269-05:00Books of My Childhood—Part 1/4 Early Fiction<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Think back to the favourite books of your youth. Which ones shaped who you are? Influenced you? Or just impressed you with some particular detail? I thought it would be interesting to go over some of the ones that stand out for me.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>My parents were always really indulgent with me where books were concerned. I often came back from trips for groceries with some science-based 79-cent paperback, and whenever those little Scholastic Books order forms arrived in class, I always got to order two or three. A good deal of my allowance went on reading material of one sort or another. I had quite a little library of my own by the time I was eight or nine.<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>I spent the first twelve years of my life in suburban Halifax, Nova Scotia. After that, we moved to the northwest shores of Lake Ontario, where I lived in various cities. I decided it might be best to divide the books both by theme (fiction vs. science/reality) and period (Nova Scotia vs. Ontario). So these are the books slotted into each cross-section.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Most of these books I actually own. The great majority of them are ones I tracked down over the years on eBay or Amazon and picked up mainly for reasons of nostalgia. The upshot of that is I was able to scan the covers and give this little presentation a splash of colour. Now, to quote The Friendly Giant, "Are you ready? Here's my castle!..."<br /></span></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Crosspatch</span></span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="959" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQd0jAIGN78uPvmNd3aTI08Lwk5GGBgQtwPST89hffiWLyrzgpWnaf12xs6nz2XOQzl3Na_pLz4pn0O-IB0mpEbbJpeRrHmWgFtnIIWw0u5_6HM8oindDmKm4kKF4BXNZHUpkZjQt8g-uuUdv7IB2K7-PLzdmaBJSpE8nHz8it9LJ6yOMTZw=s320" width="247" /></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i>Crosspatch</i> was a very early book in my collection; really, the first one I remember. I was two or three when I got this book; it tells the story of a lion cub in a zoo who's so thoroughly unpleasant that visitors begin avoiding his cage, leading him to become very lonely. He learns his lesson and becomes frolicsome and fun to watch and quickly attracts a large following of friends. It's an easy enough lesson for even a child of that age to take onboard. But the thing I remember most was a broad two-page spread that depicted a large panorama of the zoo, showing many animals in their habitats, featuring a tall flamingo and clusters of colourful balloons that fascinated me and became seared in my imagination... sufficiently so that I went looking for the book again many years later and gave it a home on my shelf.<br /></span></span></p></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>The Witch's Catalog</span></span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU3T4rY1hbmRb97wVKA6P_GbcIOZEGTA51BF8fBGw-PZYTRePgdv0cPYYmcXJ505cawmSgtCzdQD8S8nhh3Uj1xP8XmOqB0bu_eNeTLVRXtTRChP-PR3FCTO7KjTJoCgOQMFxBJGBkV8pHqQ_4sWjvvKsUzDPZXfJbVPCm_xJQyQE1Ed8BgQ=s1318" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="1119" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU3T4rY1hbmRb97wVKA6P_GbcIOZEGTA51BF8fBGw-PZYTRePgdv0cPYYmcXJ505cawmSgtCzdQD8S8nhh3Uj1xP8XmOqB0bu_eNeTLVRXtTRChP-PR3FCTO7KjTJoCgOQMFxBJGBkV8pHqQ_4sWjvvKsUzDPZXfJbVPCm_xJQyQE1Ed8BgQ=s320" width="272" /></span></a></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i>The Witch's Catalog</i> was one of those Scholastic Books I mentioned. I think I was in grade three when I ordered it (this is not that original copy, though). It was written by Norman Bridwell, and was part of his series of books about a friendly witch who served as a sort of fairy godmother to a couple of kids and their friends. If I remember correctly, he was also the author of the Clifford the Big Red Dog series.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>It's worth noting here that while this was a surprisingly popular book among my crowd at the time, it's truly become a collector's item in the intervening decades. When I went looking for it, I had to look long and hard to find a copy affordable enough to be justified as a boon purchase. Copies of this book are often offered north of a hundred bucks; sometimes more. <br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>I may have blogged about this particular book previously. It occupies a very special, very particular place in my life and my psyche. The book catalogs a variety of magical items that any red-blooded kid would give his or her eyeteeth to get hold of. A portable faucet with an endless supply of pop. A balloon that keeps monsters and bullies at bay. Invisibility-granting fabrics. Things like that.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>But what makes it special to me is that it represents the moment in my life where I was right on the bubble of having to decide, for myself, if these things formed an actual part of reality or not. There was an order form in the back, and I was back and forth in my mind about whether or not filling it out and following its instructions would result in me acquiring the things I wanted to order. No money was required; you were to fill out the form, rub it with bat fat and flea's tears, and then hide it in the hollow of a tree at midnight under a full moon or something like that. I remember that what unravelled the whole thing for me, right on down to finally making me realize that magic must not be real, was that I couldn't imagine where you would get bat fat and flea tears. It strikes me now as funny that I could accept all the wildest claims of the book only for what tripped it all up for me to be the tiniest, least significant details at the last hurdle. But I guess I was who I was the following year in grade four because of that, and ever since.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>It also occurs to me now, looking around at anti-vaxxers, MAGA hat wearers, and Brexit voters, that some grown-up people are still looking for the bat fat and flea tears to rub on the order form.<br /></span></span></p><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Tom Eaton's Book of Marvels</span></span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0iKCJLUIBRT2MR5hAd1NAVkt3lgcMVMKcZdnNkTC6HYlxj2MSLfFYLHKF-0j2XBSeTiLqYKf32DXT2c471wncaDLPdm2v-KnQk-R2Cz1BEz_ySLNfUVorPEl9IkMBTyjmNWAIbnyDsQn7Qbdz6r7jxXpjZ1pUz0aGlGBvcAWHRxTGcFa6_Q=s1041" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="597" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0iKCJLUIBRT2MR5hAd1NAVkt3lgcMVMKcZdnNkTC6HYlxj2MSLfFYLHKF-0j2XBSeTiLqYKf32DXT2c471wncaDLPdm2v-KnQk-R2Cz1BEz_ySLNfUVorPEl9IkMBTyjmNWAIbnyDsQn7Qbdz6r7jxXpjZ1pUz0aGlGBvcAWHRxTGcFa6_Q=s320" width="184" /></span></a></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another Scholastic Book, but not one I ordered myself. I bought this at a rummage sale in my school one Saturday when I was in grade five or six. The humour in this little tome is actually rather sophisticated for a kids' book. For instance, it includes a rather cynical send-up of The Waltons, a show I was very familiar with. It also featured a very broad interpretation of Archie comics, set in a page-by-page contrast with an average teenager's boring real existence.</span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I loved the art style and I still find the humour engaging. I gather Tom Eaton, who passed away just a few years ago, had an extensive career writing and illustrating Boys' Life magazine. Personally, I think he could have done just fine with Mad or Cracked. He was that good. I suppose the crucial takeaway I have from this book, though, that I still carry with me today as practical advice, was from a set of updated Aesop's fables, where the moral of one story was "You can't please some people, and after a certain point, you shouldn't try."<br /></span></p></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Arrow Book of Ghost Stories</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0KRG3GkOmpCnuR3TH5OSmhNzNTPUJo5cG7htcPbJDyK0ro3O6rPcr0hDcK4sCnKUbnR-3X7qE-3-AVdGZddeYSj0H4xk8bPmc8h322w2LmuCMw0hWhZCTnVmlc43ieeps781nlxv6NIkAYwA4ke5VFnUqt3tc5Nr1Ghc79momkxpH1Ft_4A=s1132" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="764" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0KRG3GkOmpCnuR3TH5OSmhNzNTPUJo5cG7htcPbJDyK0ro3O6rPcr0hDcK4sCnKUbnR-3X7qE-3-AVdGZddeYSj0H4xk8bPmc8h322w2LmuCMw0hWhZCTnVmlc43ieeps781nlxv6NIkAYwA4ke5VFnUqt3tc5Nr1Ghc79momkxpH1Ft_4A=s320" width="216" /></span></a></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A got this book in a trade with a friend, if I remember correctly. It was an anthology of creepy ghost stories. There were two that really stand out in my mind. One was about a "teeny-tiny" woman who finds a "teeny-tiny" bone that she takes to her teeny-tiny home to make her teeny-tiny soup, etc., etc. During the night she is haunted by an ever-closer voice demanding "Give me back my bone!" It ends with her just yelling "Take it!"; nothing really happens to her. But it was so creepily written, ramping up the suspense in an air of isolation, that it genuinely scared me, and it was a kind of guilty pleasure to dare myself to read it from time to time and risk the bad dreams. The other was about a genial 19-century ghost who befriends two boys. A murder victim, he asks the boys to dig up his bones and rebury them in a church yard so that he can rest properly. The boys do so, and it's implied at the end of the story that he becomes quite a good friend to have moving forward. It was an unusual but oddly happy ghost story and I think it made an impression on me for that reason. I certainly enjoyed re-reading it when I got hold of another copy many years later.<br /></span></p></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ghosts Who Went to School</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQ6gkDDhT_jKz6q5WemXWOJ_S7CFJT91YXUzoEwupdXZv7IvTNJKOa9dyBhgZYINFgRioQNQ74uretBAIcMyzrUTeZ8uxkpo1liEHBPqee8D58B8pWiSN4RZkOMtUA5UnE-w-DUILKDRAYGB-Aqkc1jPnmqnhIHTTKWgOrftPenIffN5cVyw=s1128" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="755" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQ6gkDDhT_jKz6q5WemXWOJ_S7CFJT91YXUzoEwupdXZv7IvTNJKOa9dyBhgZYINFgRioQNQ74uretBAIcMyzrUTeZ8uxkpo1liEHBPqee8D58B8pWiSN4RZkOMtUA5UnE-w-DUILKDRAYGB-Aqkc1jPnmqnhIHTTKWgOrftPenIffN5cVyw=s320" width="214" /></span></a></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another rummage-sale pick-up, or perhaps a trade; I'm not sure anymore. In any case... this is a fun story, but I think what really sold me on it was its illustrations. I simply loved the art style, and I still do. It tells the story of a family of ghosts, quietly haunting their abandoned house after having died quite some time before... turn of the last century, I think; the story is set circa 1960. The two boys get bored and decided to start going out in the world, culminating in them materializing and beginning to attend classes at the local elementary school as a pair of ordinary kids. The part I remember that kind of shook me up was one of the boys, Mortimer, privately demonstrating to one of his new friends that he actually is a ghost by appearing to the boy "in his bones", which was illustrated with a grinning skeleton appearing before a kid with his hair raised stock straight up. There's a sequel to this book, illustrated by the same artist, that I'd dearly love to get but it's considerably rarer and hideously expensive. Any copy you're likely to find is priced into three figures. Alas.<br /></span></p></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Riddle of Raven Hollow</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPXVrdAGNrSV5P9UQMtIC8rBBC3ji8QvyW6WNDzrQfLUvSaS6f_4-lvNjEpBBNb20C2m2OU_swTO1KLcYufgrsGGZzDxgXZNuZVtMx6dE2LKX37DLo9nzwMErvHEvfIO0slyYHB6wFMB44CqhZMv7Lza2DtCgat_8GChLcVNiWt1ooZU-4oQ=s1040" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="614" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPXVrdAGNrSV5P9UQMtIC8rBBC3ji8QvyW6WNDzrQfLUvSaS6f_4-lvNjEpBBNb20C2m2OU_swTO1KLcYufgrsGGZzDxgXZNuZVtMx6dE2LKX37DLo9nzwMErvHEvfIO0slyYHB6wFMB44CqhZMv7Lza2DtCgat_8GChLcVNiWt1ooZU-4oQ=s320" width="189" /></span></a></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Funny to say, I never actually <i>owned</i> this book as a kid; at least, not at the time. This book was in our school library, and I pretty much had it out on permanent loan for years; renewing it again and again. This book was the one that made me want to become a writer.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>It's the story of a boy named Bart who lives in Nebraska with his widowed mother and older sister. Bart was 12 or 13, a few years older than I was at the time, and he had a paper route in order to help his family make ends meet. In the course of his rounds, he begins seeing odd goings-on in the early morning, culminating in him meeting a mysterious, belligerent boy who, in the fullness of time, turns out to be a girl who is hiding out because her grandfather has been kidnapped (if I remember correctly). There's actual existential danger for these kids in the story, and I recall being totally impressed that kids could actually get caught up in situations that might see them murdered just like any adult. Makes you feel like part of the club once you understand that kind of thing. I was infatuated with Bart and I made up a couple of boy detectives of my own and started writing stories about them. I don't think I ever finished any of them, but I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with ideas and taking them as far as imagination at the time would permit me. I was lucky enough to have a couple of teachers who were willing to read them and gave me considerable encouragement, and my heart and warm thoughts still go out to them. I really ought to read this book again.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>So, that's it for the fiction portion of our show. Tune in next time when we move on to blinding you with science!<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-20621569408120151012021-09-08T20:32:00.005-05:002021-09-09T13:46:34.201-05:00As universes go by...<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There's a short documentary by the National Film Board of Canada, from 1960, that's sort of haunted me for a while now. Called <i>Universe</i>, in about half an hour, it frames our understanding of the cosmos at the dawn of the Space Age, and bookends the work of an astronomer at <a href="https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.8624402,-79.4225065,619m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4" target="_blank">the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario</a>, one of the most important in North America at the time. It still exists. In 1960, it was half an hour or more out in the countryside. Today, it's surrounded by suburbs.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are two moments in the documentary that speak to me personally. The first occurs a little over eight minutes in. Speaking of the planet Mars, the narrator tells us that "It is reasonably certain that the markings on it surface, bluish-green in the Martian summer, turning rusty brown in the autumn, indicate vegetation..."</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_FTl5rSBong/YTldflgQRRI/AAAAAAAA02M/tIAOQF0sf6IUdvZbp-Ew8vW7lXt1cjdlQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2B2021-09-08%2B21-03-48.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_FTl5rSBong/YTldflgQRRI/AAAAAAAA02M/tIAOQF0sf6IUdvZbp-Ew8vW7lXt1cjdlQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2B2021-09-08%2B21-03-48.png" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And it does haunt me. This is a moment in history when we could still imagine there was complex, multicellular life on Mars. Only five years later, those millennia-old illusions would be dashed forever by the fly-by of Mariner 4. But in 1960, when my parents and some of my friends were already alive, less than a decade before I was born, you could still dream. And what dreams they were.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The other is a more earthbound moment. At the very end of the documentary, as the astronomer is rubbing his tired eyes at the end of a long night in the light of dawn, there is a shot of Hwy 401 at the Leslie Street interchange. I know this interchange well; I've lived walking distance from it for 21 years now. In fact, I know it well enough to tell you that the NFB was cheating; that the view faces west, so is in fact an <i>evening</i> shot, not a morning shot. It was taken from the vicinity of the on-ramp from southbound Woodbine Avenue, which no longer exists... <a href="https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.7689178,-79.3472551,1867m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4" target="_blank">it's now Hwy 404 north of the 401</a> and the Don Valley Parkway south of it. My guess is that the NFB crew stopped (that's probably their car on parked on the right there) and took video of it on their way out of the downtown north to the observatory. Two lanes on either side, the 401 back then was out in the countryside, bypassing the city, and had it been a human child, would have been facing the prospect of starting kindergarten at the time.<br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QYN9JIhMoTY/YTlfSvzbEcI/AAAAAAAA02U/KucjFyRvIrU-RyHaVzGiLma7Dwn4ToutACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2B2021-09-08%2B20-59-33.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QYN9JIhMoTY/YTlfSvzbEcI/AAAAAAAA02U/KucjFyRvIrU-RyHaVzGiLma7Dwn4ToutACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2B2021-09-08%2B20-59-33.png" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For comparison, I took a video of nearly the same location in 2008 at night, shot from the bridge of Don Mills Road (not to be confused with the Don Valley Parkway), which would have been visible in the shot above except that it Don Mills Road didn't cross the 401 until about 1965.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4Y8ZWhscz8/YTlgTVVh7II/AAAAAAAA02c/GPiB5vxgH9wh0WLCvBKZ_tZdFoapwe6QgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2B2021-09-08%2B21-12-36.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4Y8ZWhscz8/YTlgTVVh7II/AAAAAAAA02c/GPiB5vxgH9wh0WLCvBKZ_tZdFoapwe6QgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2B2021-09-08%2B21-12-36.png" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Universe</i> had some interesting ramifications. Ostensibly, Stanley Kubrik was inspired by aspects of it when he went on to film <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>. As well, it was narrated by Douglas Rain, whom Kubrik chose to voice HAL, the computer from 2001 and its 1980s sequel, 2010. If you're at all interested in seeing it, it's a pleasant 28 minutes of what-was and what-if, <a href="https://youtu.be/48gIN4hGOdI" target="_blank">and can be viewed here</a>. It amazes me that people still alive today took this as the state of things, and have had the universe itself change around them.</span></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-7676124594095893832021-06-21T10:56:00.003-05:002021-06-21T11:20:20.022-05:00Adventures in dentistry: Invisalign<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">For the past year and a half, I've been undergoing a six-month course in tooth-realignment. That's right. Eighteen months of a six month therapy. So let me explain...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let me take you way back to tell you the whole story. In March of 2019, my weight had reached something in the neighbourhood of 330 lbs. I'd been trying everything for years to get that down again, but will power and the tide of biology conspired against me. Finally one morning at work, sitting there alone, I remembered the wife of a friend had had bariatric surgery and it had been literally transformational for her. And for the first time, I decided maybe I needed to give that a try. For what it's worth, I had the surgery not quite a year and a half ago, and I'm glad I did. So much has changed... including what I'm about to write about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One thing led to another. Getting onto that program, which is a long process nearly a year from start to finish, meant that I had to see a cardiologist. He sent me to a sleep clinic. They told me I stopped breathing during sleep somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80 times an hour. Think about that. So, they recommended I get a CPAP machine to keep my airway open during sleep. I got it in November of 2019 and I've used it every night ever since. But one morning I woke up with a terrible ache in my jaw. I wondered if I'd fractured it. For days, I could barely chew. Back when I was in my 20s and I had my wisdom teeth extracted, my dentist advised me I should get braces because my teeth were badly misaligned and by the time I reached my 50s and 60s, I might start getting hairline cracks in my jaw. Well, this experience sobered me up to that, and so I started looking around for an affordable program.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I found Invisalign, which promised to do the job for somewhere around two grand; a lot less than other programs and with the added bonus that it was being done with transparent plastic rather than wires. So I went to see them, they showed me what they could do over 6 months, and I signed on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The 18 pairs of aligners arrived in January, 2020. Here's how it works. You put a set it and, other than eating, leave them in all the time. You wear each set for a week, but every third set you wear for two weeks. So, 18 pairs comes out to 24 weeks, just about six months. Starting in mid-January, my therapy would have been completed around early July last year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I started out, my teeth were fairly crowded. I had buck teeth in the uppers (the left one out further than the right), with the outer incisors slightly tucked in behind the inner ones. My bottom teeth were worse. The two incisors on the right were pretty much okay, but the front left one was turned almost sideways, facing toward the left, and the outer left incisor was tucked in behind that one. Generally, you couldn't even see it. I looked like I had three bottom incisors because one was almost completely hidden behind another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is a picture of what my teeth looked like when I put my first aligners in. Please excuse the coffee stains. :)</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xMAm-om50Kw/YNClTxLSdCI/AAAAAAAA0k0/TEDhNKkVySMZ5upUL58QIoutbUXtaaxqwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2020/20200117_221608.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2020" data-original-width="1682" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xMAm-om50Kw/YNClTxLSdCI/AAAAAAAA0k0/TEDhNKkVySMZ5upUL58QIoutbUXtaaxqwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/20200117_221608.jpg" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Left is right and right is left here, of course. So, as you can see, only three incisors are visible along the bottom. There's an eyetooth there on the right (my left) that seems to be in its place. Space needed to be added there to move it forward. As well, on the top, you can see how the teeth overlap somewhat, almost like a poker hand. This is the mouth I've lived in since I was a tween.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Each Sunday night I would switch to the next set of aligners. They're tight, and they take a minute or two to seat properly using little tubes of plastic they call "chewies" that help you gently bite down and sit the aligners down over your teeth. Early on, they ached quite a bit for a day or so, but as the process went on, that really lessened. Maybe the therapy simply accustomed the teeth to moving as time went by. All I can tell you is, at some point, I stopped waking up Monday mornings still feeling it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This was a fairly simple process at first. The first two or three sets were no problem. Then one Sunday night I found I was having a really rough time getting the aligners on; especially the bottom one. I was getting this pronounced wow in the inner arch, folding the plastic such that it formed a salient that poked at my tongue. I mean, I'm talking about something like a quarter of an inch here. It was very noticeable. I thought maybe my teeth weren't keeping up with the therapy, and I hoped they would catch up. In coping with that, I ended up getting an inexpensive Dremel tool to buff the wow and the edges of the aligners down (they can be fairly sharp). The aligners ship with a nail file for doing this, but I needed that Dremel to really get anywhere. It became a weekly thing for a while. Put in the aligners, let them deform, then Dremel the point down to a sort of inverted U gap behind my incisors.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">About half way through the process, this was where we were at. You can see the bottom front left incisor has been turned to at least face more or less the same way as the others, and some room has been opened up in the hopes of bringing that outer one out from behind it. So, you know, decent progress...</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NomYYEd3Wp4/YNCwf-OOBBI/AAAAAAAA0lI/i3HIg45b-5st7WIl8fv6pVkiJc7thZJPQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1992/20200413_090758.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1535" data-original-width="1992" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NomYYEd3Wp4/YNCwf-OOBBI/AAAAAAAA0lI/i3HIg45b-5st7WIl8fv6pVkiJc7thZJPQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/20200413_090758.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The set and week is actually printed onto most of the sets I had, and at one point, around the start of June, I happened to look at them and I noticed the numbers for the upper aligners and the lower ones didn't match. The lower set I was wearing was several weeks in advance of where I was in the therapy. Well, that would explain why they hadn't fit and deformed so badly for some time. But the upper one was actually a couple of weeks behind where I'd gotten to... <i>they were actually moving my teeth <b>back </b>where they'd been before!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Do I need to say I was livid? I got in touch with them and demanded they reassess my therapy. I told them I'd start putting the payments in escrow if I didn't get some action. I told them that, in my opinion, having a therapy that <i>reversed </i>the course of the treatment verged on malpractice. They sent me an impressions kit to make new molds of my teeth and advised me to keep wearing the current set at night so my teeth wouldn't start reverting to their old positions. I wore that set for about six weeks waiting for the new ones. They were pretty shagged out by the time the new ones arrived.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was an entirely new set of 18 aligners. I was starting over again. This time I opened every set and checked the numbers, making sure they were in sequence and matching. They all were. I sealed each set in a sandwich bag and labeled it, and started over. This set arrived in August, which meant the new therapy would send in February. Now they were a lot easier to seat on Sunday nights and I pretty much stopped with the Dremel, not even bothering to buff off the edges unless they were particularly sharp.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You have to order retainers at some point, and just as I was about to do so, I broke one of the points of my lower left 12-year molar. I guess there'd been a crack there for a long time, because it broke while I was chewing bread. I went to the dentist who suggested I wait till the end of the Invisalign therapy to repair the gap, which was essentially just cosmetic, and to let Invisalign know they'd need more impressions to get the retainers right. So, that's what I did.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is where my lower teeth were at just prior to the break in the back molar (it's the one with the white filling; the forward interior point is the one that would shortly break off). You can see that hidden incisor was really coming forward by then.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRhe7MbLEn8/YNCys1JY9wI/AAAAAAAA0lQ/DmEGzl8DCDkFb6utnGFacivB7wzILQLSQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1718/20201202_213526.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="1718" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRhe7MbLEn8/YNCys1JY9wI/AAAAAAAA0lQ/DmEGzl8DCDkFb6utnGFacivB7wzILQLSQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/20201202_213526.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fast forward to February. Filling is in and the point is reshaped. I get my impressions kit. Send it in. I'm doing this to get my retainers made. They send me back an email saying they'd received my request for a "touch-up" and were evaluating it. I nearly sent back an email saying, "Oh, no, I'm just ordering my retainers," but I stopped. Touch-up, you say...? Well, let's just keep our powder dry and out mouth shut till we hear back from them. If they want another thousand dollars, I'll just say "retainers, please". But if it's part of the therapy I'm already paying for, well...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As it turned out, it was, and they sent me another nine sets. So, another three months of tooth-straightening above and beyond the... oh, I can't even do the math anymore. This time, though, the numbers on the aligners were strictly Week 1, Week 2, Week 3/4, over and over. Each set of three was numbered exactly the same. I had to essentially trust them that they'd ordered them correctly. But in checking the first set against the last, I could see very clearly the progress between them, and so I sealed them all up again, labeled them, and got back to it.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, that was late March. It's now mid-June, and last night, I put in what will almost certainly be the last of all those sets of aligners. I have to wear these another two weeks (at least), or however long it takes for the retainers to show up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The last time they asked me to check in on my progress, a couple of weeks ago, this is where we were at...</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rg-0HYwATSg/YNCzpuUZ7ZI/AAAAAAAA0lY/6iN4SickdOww_XPvxcMXnFkmBtb1r1MkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1944/20210502_094356.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1310" data-original-width="1944" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rg-0HYwATSg/YNCzpuUZ7ZI/AAAAAAAA0lY/6iN4SickdOww_XPvxcMXnFkmBtb1r1MkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/20210502_094356.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Forgive the little red arrow; I drew that on there to show a friend which tooth had seemingly come out of nowhere in the past year or so. Yeah, that one is finally visible without you needing an angled dental mirror to see it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's been a long time, this "six month" therapy that's gone on for seventeen. But for all that, the results really are remarkable. I can't show you the original animations from last year anymore; they're long gone from the site—which is too bad, because those were <i>profound</i>. But I can show you what just these last three months represent...</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzu02AHvPXTD4wfLLaV2Hfsh_geU3v-QXY5LywPddGtK1K-9jx-Cax0qeef_TdVNWPrxrLHuO-8XSE' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's been a long haul; a lot longer than I imagined. There were some real ups and downs at first, but aside from the original screw-up, I'd have to say that Invisalign has treated me with respect and addressed my concerns and, if I'm being honest, gone the extra mile for me. Would I recommend the process to friends I care about? Yes, I would. I don't imagine my experience with the misnumbered aligners was typical. Stuff happens. But when I told them about it, they made it right. I'm hoping that, aside from making me less ashamed when I smile, that maybe this will head off those "hairline cracks" warnings my dentist gave me 30 years ago.</span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-41693412755181562752021-06-16T16:46:00.003-05:002022-06-10T18:04:29.179-05:00How to destroy a closed road<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So from what I’ve come to understand, this all started with
a landslide in the early 1990s.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kirby Road is a sideroad that runs across a certain portion
of York Region (which is immediately north of the City of Toronto) in its west
end. It crosses the region, with the odd dog’s leg here and there, from
Dufferin Street at the east end to the regional border at Albion-Vaughan Road
at the west. There is today, however, a gap in the road, from Huntington Road
on the west side to about half way to Hwy 27 on the east. Along this run, Kirby
Road’s course was substantially shaped by the course of the Humber River, and
at some point in the early 1990s, about 30 metres (100 feet or so) of Kirby
Road fell into the river below, causing the closure of that stretch to vehicle
traffic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a newer, single-lane track that Google purports to
be “Kirby Road”, but I honestly don’t know if it were ever actually a stretch
intended for casual traffic. I have a feeling it was mainly there as a
convenience to Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) vehicles
looking after the area.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s kind of a shame, because almost immediately east of
Huntington Road, Kirby is carried over the Humber by a bow arch bridge,
designed by the locally renowned Frank Barber, that’s verging on a century old.
I’ve heard it referred to as McEwen Bridge, and supposedly, it was built in 1923.
It’s in rough shape, frankly, and the region probably didn’t need much excuse
to close it to vehicular traffic in the first place. The landslide was
certainly justification, since the bridge served no other purpose at the time
than perhaps field access to a local farmer, and even that’s no longer an issue
anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The bridge is kind of key to this, because it’s the main
reason I dropped in on the road from time to time over the years. It was one of
three such Frank Barber bow arch bridges over the Humber that I’m aware of, all
of which were still drivable well into the late 20<sup>th</sup> century. The
one on Langstaff Road was, I believe, the first to close; made redundant by a
road realignment at some point in the 70s or 80s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The next to close was, I believe, the one on Major Mackenzie
Drive, sometime around 1990; again, due to road realignment. I’ve blogged about
that bridge more recently. It was completely demolished last autumn, without
replacement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The last to close, I think, is the bridge in question; the one
on Kirby Road, which closed sometime in the early 1990s due to the landslide.
While the one on Langstaff seems to have a future as a quasi-official
pedestrian crossing, McEwen Bridge’s days might be numbered. That’s not really
my main point here, but it’s related to it directly, and I’ll come to that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I was first out there in September of 2006, <a href="https://cityinthetrees.blogspot.com/2006/09/rainy-day-on-forgotten-road.html" target="_blank">and I blogged about it here</a>. Quite a while ago now; more time’s passed since then, probably,
than between when I was there and the original closure. I was there one rainy
late summer Saturday morning, by myself. I took the track sight-unseen, heading
down from the far east end to trek down to the bridge, if I could, at the far
west end. A round trip of about 2.5 km as the crow flies, though there’s a
non-inconsequential descent/climb about the halfway mark.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’m reasonably sure this section was never paved (though apparently I formed just the opposite opinion back in 2006). It was
probably always a dirt road that could be considered two-laned only in the most
generous sense: if you were careful, you could probably avoid hitting someone
coming the other way. It would never have been a very travelled stretch at the
best of times.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before I go on, let me give you a small sample of what I'm talking about... what's being lost. Here's a short video I shot in July of 2007 when I was out there with Larry. This is us heading down the wooded trail of the hillside down into the floodplain where the bridge is to be found. A bit of a challenge, but hardly Mount Everest. Look how beautiful it is. Shaded by trees. A clear, smooth, soft path. Interesting bits of nature within arm's reach all the way down.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DRuNngKNJp0" width="320" youtube-src-id="DRuNngKNJp0"></iframe></div><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oyKMYk2H3M4/YMpj21aORtI/AAAAAAAA0cY/FAl-5qUWP34H5CHVwVbcmxBzY4oshxRpgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8388.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oyKMYk2H3M4/YMpj21aORtI/AAAAAAAA0cY/FAl-5qUWP34H5CHVwVbcmxBzY4oshxRpgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8388.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cbVdnpfsFAQ/YMpj24SSzOI/AAAAAAAA0cU/FivRUC9JbSsAkVmiZlWyoO44PEelTcKSgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8390.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cbVdnpfsFAQ/YMpj24SSzOI/AAAAAAAA0cU/FivRUC9JbSsAkVmiZlWyoO44PEelTcKSgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8390.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>Did you enjoy it? Don't get too fond of it. What you just saw has been destroyed.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is what it looks like now...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Le2EvQdEVE/YMplBvZkxXI/AAAAAAAA0co/lkXDhy6pgLUfncXa97-VB9G1eZsVNxc7wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m49s432.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Le2EvQdEVE/YMplBvZkxXI/AAAAAAAA0co/lkXDhy6pgLUfncXa97-VB9G1eZsVNxc7wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m49s432.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A bit off to the side, you can actually glimpse the remnants of the trail, like some snake that's been run over by a truck full of boulders. Look, you can even see one of the old white rectangular trail markers painted onto that tree left of centre.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G6Aem0CUXQY/YMpk6nmjg8I/AAAAAAAA0ck/EHH2x0JokikZ0WJ1WPjelrDH5aVTq3zGwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h10m57s202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G6Aem0CUXQY/YMpk6nmjg8I/AAAAAAAA0ck/EHH2x0JokikZ0WJ1WPjelrDH5aVTq3zGwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h10m57s202.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The first time I was there, I never saw another soul in the
two or three hours it took me to walk it and linger at the bridge. I felt
almost like I’d discovered something. I came back about a week later, partly to
pull a joke involving a ruined truck left on the old roadside, and partly to
explore a field on the north side of the river that’s subsequently been planted
for reforestation. That time I did see other people there, from a distance.
Every other time I’ve been there, as far as I can recall, I’ve been in the
company of someone else, and encountered at least one other hiker. But it was
always a narrow, natural trail through forest and fields; one benign enough
that you could—and I, for one, typically did—take the entire route barefoot
without much issue. Clay, mud, hard packed soil, soft pine needles, grass… the
river itself, if you so chose. It was a genuine cornucopia of pleasant tactile
variety on a trail that I’d characterize as moderately challenging, but
rewarding. Others must have thought so as well, because the trail became
increasingly popular as time went by. It became rare not to see half a dozen
cars parked haphazardly at the Huntington Road end on any given weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But apparently, that wasn’t good enough for York Region and
the TRCA; oh, no. A moderately challenging nature walk on nature’s own terms?
Oh, Lord, we can’t have that! So right now, this very moment, the entire route
is in the process of being formalized. Sanitized. Wrapped in plastic and
for-your-protection paper cordoned like a hotel bathroom. This pearl of nature,
the gem in the raw, is being carved and shined up to be cast before swine…
widened, paved, guard railed, diverted. Y’know… “improved”. The pretty,
single-lane wander up and down the hillside, tricky as it was in wet weather…
it’s been eviscerated; the hillside scrapped out, replaced by some twisty
contrived granite intestine with hand rails that sits like a fat, spikey snake
on the face of the land. A shaded stroll once roofed by towering trees is now a
baking meander under unrelenting open sky. Awash with either asphalt or, worse,
pea gravel, it’s certainly no place for grounding anymore. No, if you want to
encounter nature here anymore, you’d better do it hermetically sealed in boots.
Pea gravel’s no fun even in sandals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">They’ve turned a quiet, slightly obscure two-hour hike, a
real communion with nature, into a half-hour forced march where nature intrudes
on a tongue of the city thrust into it. It’s no longer a place your kids wander
slowly, stopping to encounter flowers or interesting bugs right at their elbow;
it’s a place where they screech and run and get hustled through and nature is a
quaint remnant safely out of reach on either side of a ribbon of street. It’s
now a dog toilet for the kind of suburbanites who show up in 4-wheel drive SUVs
they wouldn’t dream of taking onto so much as a gravel road for fear they’d
chip the paint. Meanwhile, chain link fencing has been put up at either end of
McEwen Bridge. Fortunately, hikers have insisted their way through it, though
it remains as a grievous eyesore. The implication, to me, is that the bridge’s
days are numbered, and when the third phase of this vast “improvement” takes
place, its ancient rugged charm will probably be replaced by some pre-rusted
steel yawn dropped in situ; yes, you’re welcome; thank you very much Your
Majesty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I hate what they’re doing to this trail. What they’ve done
to it. What they’re going to do. And it’s happening all over the fringe of
Toronto. Something not unlike it just happened not far to the west in the
vicinity of Bolton along Duffy’s Lane. Sporadic “improvements” have happened
along the closed section of Concession 11 on the Humber’s north side.
Meanwhile, they do everything they can to make it difficult to simply walk the
closed course of Huntington Road just north of the Kirby Road intersection.
They’re either “improving” the trails, or trying to make them impassible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Can you people just not leave the trails alone? Let us enjoy
them for what they are? Limit yourselves to coming in every four or five years
to trim the overgrowth back and keep them passable? Must every trail either
have the charm officially formalized right out of it, or else be shuttered up
VERBOTTEN because it’s too expensive or impractical for you to ruin it? Can you
not JUST LET IT BE…?</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Okay, that was my screed. Let me put my photos where my mouth is. Judge for yourself. Which of these experiences looks more like the one you'd like to have? If you were going to drive 30 to 90 minutes to get out here on a weekend, which views would you want ready to greet you when you stepped out of the car...?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's what the beginning of the hike at the east end of the road closure used to look like.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9qTuBi1FfzU/YMpnsjv9phI/AAAAAAAA0c0/1-frZF00Kq46naaKYDGo07bjYJ2lvTCPQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0665.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9qTuBi1FfzU/YMpnsjv9phI/AAAAAAAA0c0/1-frZF00Kq46naaKYDGo07bjYJ2lvTCPQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0665.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f3DAA-iC8o4/YMpodaQLWGI/AAAAAAAA0c8/Jq0gu4Ek2XEszb6pbJD8b6bTeNvld_CXwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7844.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f3DAA-iC8o4/YMpodaQLWGI/AAAAAAAA0c8/Jq0gu4Ek2XEszb6pbJD8b6bTeNvld_CXwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7844.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's how it looks now...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6dde6Q3_UY/YMppHLdIY3I/AAAAAAAA0dE/V79e7aIXMkg444elpw30VbyP7Vr7z1-xACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h09m44s136.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6dde6Q3_UY/YMppHLdIY3I/AAAAAAAA0dE/V79e7aIXMkg444elpw30VbyP7Vr7z1-xACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h09m44s136.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The rest of the trail to the hillside descent looks pretty much just the same. But here's what you used to see as you went along...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-whtar2YOLPo/YMpqad6oRFI/AAAAAAAA0dM/_tbe9CjyGQM-lxaZri9i6TJmlSf_FVZtgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7851.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-whtar2YOLPo/YMpqad6oRFI/AAAAAAAA0dM/_tbe9CjyGQM-lxaZri9i6TJmlSf_FVZtgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7851.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yFpzZqIg0cA/YMpqacm_GtI/AAAAAAAA0dQ/jL-GAap2K146H3vmfJT5C75-9ewUkRnfQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7853.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yFpzZqIg0cA/YMpqacm_GtI/AAAAAAAA0dQ/jL-GAap2K146H3vmfJT5C75-9ewUkRnfQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7853.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUpPj7I_mho/YMpqbbDUN1I/AAAAAAAA0dY/ZKyKzEKqkWQsNymKGHJIfVo4kvKSo6UwQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7855.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUpPj7I_mho/YMpqbbDUN1I/AAAAAAAA0dY/ZKyKzEKqkWQsNymKGHJIfVo4kvKSo6UwQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7855.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92Bk7nblXLE/YMpqb5_cFQI/AAAAAAAA0dc/XSFOtWRcCy0ahktLGhTnVbfTn2zJRKDvACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9045.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92Bk7nblXLE/YMpqb5_cFQI/AAAAAAAA0dc/XSFOtWRcCy0ahktLGhTnVbfTn2zJRKDvACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9045.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-entdXwLwgR4/YMpqac6oF6I/AAAAAAAA0dU/wHdHS-ypyEcSK0dYwMCCBN-RL2iqDKKkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7845.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-entdXwLwgR4/YMpqac6oF6I/AAAAAAAA0dU/wHdHS-ypyEcSK0dYwMCCBN-RL2iqDKKkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7845.JPG" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The now-eviscerated hillside, a sea of organized gravel and granite to push back the unseemly chaos of nature, used to look like this...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NFsbAPpilgs/YMprFoAYwsI/AAAAAAAA0dw/iaF-9OZhPAgg7ojuArYTuBJmG2jq3QUowCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9060.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NFsbAPpilgs/YMprFoAYwsI/AAAAAAAA0dw/iaF-9OZhPAgg7ojuArYTuBJmG2jq3QUowCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9060.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kEWsumn8Nfk/YMprFnx1iHI/AAAAAAAA0d4/R34HozyjwxowszERcxzdBFjr2gdau8NHwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9064.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kEWsumn8Nfk/YMprFnx1iHI/AAAAAAAA0d4/R34HozyjwxowszERcxzdBFjr2gdau8NHwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9064.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XsX2ck6MPLI/YMprFoROuvI/AAAAAAAA0d0/XMcmVxkbN1Er5HQcAWwAahE-DS2hRJx2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9066.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XsX2ck6MPLI/YMprFoROuvI/AAAAAAAA0d0/XMcmVxkbN1Er5HQcAWwAahE-DS2hRJx2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9066.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mwo3nBQU2oU/YMprGyGM7SI/AAAAAAAA0d8/nB7GkRBUxOglA5bTKAleHfrNAzhVoY7UQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9067.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mwo3nBQU2oU/YMprGyGM7SI/AAAAAAAA0d8/nB7GkRBUxOglA5bTKAleHfrNAzhVoY7UQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9067.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XLC1MKc5OUg/YMprHnu3EmI/AAAAAAAA0eA/2GSfWn8z67wwdn849ALuj87FLsKpLtY8wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9068.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XLC1MKc5OUg/YMprHnu3EmI/AAAAAAAA0eA/2GSfWn8z67wwdn849ALuj87FLsKpLtY8wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9068.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1hnPUKzPT8/YMprH0FmeSI/AAAAAAAA0eE/wHUvXOgRlgYI2lDfXVsXLGDeToWaTKQjQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9072.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1hnPUKzPT8/YMprH0FmeSI/AAAAAAAA0eE/wHUvXOgRlgYI2lDfXVsXLGDeToWaTKQjQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9072.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nmFdMeNLAkA/YMprIcUpqpI/AAAAAAAA0eI/e4xyQitaIfgFwVcg17Oe98TISPakzpEXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9074.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nmFdMeNLAkA/YMprIcUpqpI/AAAAAAAA0eI/e4xyQitaIfgFwVcg17Oe98TISPakzpEXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9074.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3nqqTH2qxs/YMprI_fkh3I/AAAAAAAA0eM/SpLIQ3Aec6USDYUyu1xqgsgc2fABc6ieQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9075.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3nqqTH2qxs/YMprI_fkh3I/AAAAAAAA0eM/SpLIQ3Aec6USDYUyu1xqgsgc2fABc6ieQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9075.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>...Instead of this...</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WdncWy-yf14/YMpre61A4PI/AAAAAAAA0ek/nSZaCQI7Y18UqtkFkBzZSYHAnaeatWMowCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h10m40s332.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WdncWy-yf14/YMpre61A4PI/AAAAAAAA0ek/nSZaCQI7Y18UqtkFkBzZSYHAnaeatWMowCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h10m40s332.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zkizhfsEghk/YMprfFKVkLI/AAAAAAAA0eo/k2xmYfJzJRQ-pF4Bvh2aKiNNXVklsYKBgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h10m44s186.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zkizhfsEghk/YMprfFKVkLI/AAAAAAAA0eo/k2xmYfJzJRQ-pF4Bvh2aKiNNXVklsYKBgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h10m44s186.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubfv5H4MyGQ/YMprfNu2uqI/AAAAAAAA0es/SJLntK917dg6LDOYSK76fJOVCm7IP18ewCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m20s568.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubfv5H4MyGQ/YMprfNu2uqI/AAAAAAAA0es/SJLntK917dg6LDOYSK76fJOVCm7IP18ewCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m20s568.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v3VdMyQrIxQ/YMprfsloD6I/AAAAAAAA0ew/faGcrQALs0YgGKiv8lzoPiwJhjZRKp92QCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m34s508.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v3VdMyQrIxQ/YMprfsloD6I/AAAAAAAA0ew/faGcrQALs0YgGKiv8lzoPiwJhjZRKp92QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m34s508.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHk8xMvDQz4/YMprgMTQs3I/AAAAAAAA0e0/r5aQTwhpumMjyhTPwqDNZYXlse4qU7J2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m57s979.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHk8xMvDQz4/YMprgMTQs3I/AAAAAAAA0e0/r5aQTwhpumMjyhTPwqDNZYXlse4qU7J2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h11m57s979.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pRWYBFE81rs/YMprgCz3BSI/AAAAAAAA0e4/LA7E8NtHAWYiLssiJ9KX7r_1R1EJQ0gXACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h12m08s658.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pRWYBFE81rs/YMprgCz3BSI/AAAAAAAA0e4/LA7E8NtHAWYiLssiJ9KX7r_1R1EJQ0gXACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h12m08s658.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The walk along the bottom land to the river and McEwen Bridge used to look like this...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OHRDtUzxTIw/YMpsF-F7F0I/AAAAAAAA0fU/RumIVORsHwAm6ZijoF0UcRNdLJwA635IgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9078.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OHRDtUzxTIw/YMpsF-F7F0I/AAAAAAAA0fU/RumIVORsHwAm6ZijoF0UcRNdLJwA635IgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9078.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N1ElUwx8MTA/YMpsFmZQ5zI/AAAAAAAA0fM/JfCxFTtlg_MUL8_qw6u3ts6-_mgFrelsQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9079.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N1ElUwx8MTA/YMpsFmZQ5zI/AAAAAAAA0fM/JfCxFTtlg_MUL8_qw6u3ts6-_mgFrelsQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9079.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkwOfC9VJbM/YMpsFj7kmZI/AAAAAAAA0fQ/vDv_f8nGU_4QIiT51SkaF0b9aQ5OMPodwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9080.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkwOfC9VJbM/YMpsFj7kmZI/AAAAAAAA0fQ/vDv_f8nGU_4QIiT51SkaF0b9aQ5OMPodwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9080.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjAp33JFUEQ/YMpsG2s1K_I/AAAAAAAA0fY/E6eOaBNisoMqyxHUfH2HTX6JLF3UQROcwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9087.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjAp33JFUEQ/YMpsG2s1K_I/AAAAAAAA0fY/E6eOaBNisoMqyxHUfH2HTX6JLF3UQROcwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9087.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GuosKY1bDWI/YMpsG0T_8PI/AAAAAAAA0fc/m6k7JZd2wu4NhIFcY5eBDUAIfHj5hFfHwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9088.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GuosKY1bDWI/YMpsG0T_8PI/AAAAAAAA0fc/m6k7JZd2wu4NhIFcY5eBDUAIfHj5hFfHwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9088.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZCcZC6KQrQ/YMpsHLL7GaI/AAAAAAAA0fg/QcWrCR8dBrcghij7dEubjLnb_VL0Q1KiACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9092.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZCcZC6KQrQ/YMpsHLL7GaI/AAAAAAAA0fg/QcWrCR8dBrcghij7dEubjLnb_VL0Q1KiACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9092.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ie1FGVmpw0E/YMpsJDCbssI/AAAAAAAA0fk/XutZbePvbqoTct-ePUPrZvvGTtdCtXIQgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9110.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ie1FGVmpw0E/YMpsJDCbssI/AAAAAAAA0fk/XutZbePvbqoTct-ePUPrZvvGTtdCtXIQgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9110.JPG" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RQdxZyUXSkI/YMpsJJc69bI/AAAAAAAA0fo/3C-hkdiqySAa-Q-OLm8GTCk_vdqAZgD0QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9113.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RQdxZyUXSkI/YMpsJJc69bI/AAAAAAAA0fo/3C-hkdiqySAa-Q-OLm8GTCk_vdqAZgD0QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9113.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n1p9zqhc-LY/YMpsJWlVKDI/AAAAAAAA0fs/8DpIPcrt7KgWvR8Vr8q--dg4z_MQ2wzEACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9117.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n1p9zqhc-LY/YMpsJWlVKDI/AAAAAAAA0fs/8DpIPcrt7KgWvR8Vr8q--dg4z_MQ2wzEACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9117.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>...Instead of this...</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pyVi6VUZkeo/YMpstUWU2gI/AAAAAAAA0gQ/A41spwGrV2st2YMRCz-6Crvh3ssjyq3zgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h12m08s658.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pyVi6VUZkeo/YMpstUWU2gI/AAAAAAAA0gQ/A41spwGrV2st2YMRCz-6Crvh3ssjyq3zgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h12m08s658.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qlupFeCJVpU/YMpssvl404I/AAAAAAAA0gE/Fz8U0FDWaVEoNPiByb6272j9k_8u5OclACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h06m10s705.png" width="320" /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fHHsHn04914/YMpsst3nWoI/AAAAAAAA0gI/Q_H0gG40vVofThzecteg1xglLpwM7f9ewCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h06m37s617.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fHHsHn04914/YMpsst3nWoI/AAAAAAAA0gI/Q_H0gG40vVofThzecteg1xglLpwM7f9ewCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h06m37s617.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-6y9CQTYQA/YMpstVtonCI/AAAAAAAA0gU/KEuQeaUyz8QcI_wJq92Ta-cW4UezJKupACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h12m21s259.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-6y9CQTYQA/YMpstVtonCI/AAAAAAAA0gU/KEuQeaUyz8QcI_wJq92Ta-cW4UezJKupACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h12m21s259.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e6bCHBsoRYI/YMpssn1USEI/AAAAAAAA0gM/gI3_zKkNwE8KodxmSp5gMVFTCDz9db2pACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h07m22s412.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e6bCHBsoRYI/YMpssn1USEI/AAAAAAAA0gM/gI3_zKkNwE8KodxmSp5gMVFTCDz9db2pACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h07m22s412.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>Finally, let me show you a real gem. This is the climb up the old road course to where the landslide that closed the road happened. It's gorgeous. Wide, well-packed, tree-covered, and historic. People once drove here on their daily business. Here are a few shots of it from 2006, a dozen years or more after it was closed to vehicle traffic...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZSiGySaWRk/YMpt8llm8hI/AAAAAAAA0gw/1IZkG6DNyD0cObDysvLobzTkE-yLgkxZACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9282.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZSiGySaWRk/YMpt8llm8hI/AAAAAAAA0gw/1IZkG6DNyD0cObDysvLobzTkE-yLgkxZACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9282.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZFtK-DCu0s/YMpt8itDjoI/AAAAAAAA0g0/6Lghm9QXWDs05ZUtF5qGhhJNK0guxKGpQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9283.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZFtK-DCu0s/YMpt8itDjoI/AAAAAAAA0g0/6Lghm9QXWDs05ZUtF5qGhhJNK0guxKGpQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9283.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dN1y4MkTN-8/YMpt7xaVoPI/AAAAAAAA0gs/wfqZoiHcpC0HRW0umPmfYY5OQkIFH1SAQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9284.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dN1y4MkTN-8/YMpt7xaVoPI/AAAAAAAA0gs/wfqZoiHcpC0HRW0umPmfYY5OQkIFH1SAQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9284.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6aLkmo_PPNc/YMpt-OH0jnI/AAAAAAAA0g4/WdBvD7kOp2wdoVLT44u5Ek7-JVFiFBwiwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9286.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6aLkmo_PPNc/YMpt-OH0jnI/AAAAAAAA0g4/WdBvD7kOp2wdoVLT44u5Ek7-JVFiFBwiwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9286.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYHOj7R5SE0/YMpt-lpzqhI/AAAAAAAA0hA/STibtrSXPes8FlOkdxBM-uuZzZQbwv1gwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9289.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYHOj7R5SE0/YMpt-lpzqhI/AAAAAAAA0hA/STibtrSXPes8FlOkdxBM-uuZzZQbwv1gwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9289.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yErgQH1oUPQ/YMpt-uR7hsI/AAAAAAAA0g8/dwXFFBksyJ4DjPDxaZdMlnGyIlNOGO8cQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9292.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yErgQH1oUPQ/YMpt-uR7hsI/AAAAAAAA0g8/dwXFFBksyJ4DjPDxaZdMlnGyIlNOGO8cQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9292.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's still there. But it's become far more occluded. I'd go so far as to say I believe they'd been deliberately letting trees fall across it to frustrate climbers...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JALtmkaG2tk/YMpulQrpETI/AAAAAAAA0hc/FLfbB1gyH0884UNV6i_ZmYQH-TtSdLnWACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m07s855.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JALtmkaG2tk/YMpulQrpETI/AAAAAAAA0hc/FLfbB1gyH0884UNV6i_ZmYQH-TtSdLnWACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m07s855.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wvUEK-BTIqo/YMpulGlF5PI/AAAAAAAA0hY/u_H2-aJq24AoBLq6ivbJbDLvp_HsVkgewCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m28s443.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wvUEK-BTIqo/YMpulGlF5PI/AAAAAAAA0hY/u_H2-aJq24AoBLq6ivbJbDLvp_HsVkgewCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m28s443.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aXqBcSICF7w/YMpulJ9dyFI/AAAAAAAA0hU/Re9Qc763Y5w-mdMMQY_FUh6TMHEWU9nkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m40s800.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aXqBcSICF7w/YMpulJ9dyFI/AAAAAAAA0hU/Re9Qc763Y5w-mdMMQY_FUh6TMHEWU9nkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m40s800.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tWReyPph8iY/YMpul4Yc2rI/AAAAAAAA0hg/-i2tzqFEDHsLMfaW15kNZT0V5jA7ky6mgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m49s957.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tWReyPph8iY/YMpul4Yc2rI/AAAAAAAA0hg/-i2tzqFEDHsLMfaW15kNZT0V5jA7ky6mgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m49s957.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h9JAADrsiac/YMpumISltrI/AAAAAAAA0hk/ezPnbErQ7uAQ-NrlfxeZ1JQLZ43Y13EDQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m58s745.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h9JAADrsiac/YMpumISltrI/AAAAAAAA0hk/ezPnbErQ7uAQ-NrlfxeZ1JQLZ43Y13EDQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h13m58s745.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tQ6u3F7BlAI/YMpumfz2fGI/AAAAAAAA0ho/L8-4o46tjmcAe5BF18hRPT4hGtIIV7IFgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h14m05s255.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tQ6u3F7BlAI/YMpumfz2fGI/AAAAAAAA0ho/L8-4o46tjmcAe5BF18hRPT4hGtIIV7IFgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h14m05s255.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e3pt8ahpjdo/YMpumhb_1qI/AAAAAAAA0hs/M3_Yztp18SkFu6aMszelGhAwR_OsiobuACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h14m35s439.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e3pt8ahpjdo/YMpumhb_1qI/AAAAAAAA0hs/M3_Yztp18SkFu6aMszelGhAwR_OsiobuACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h14m35s439.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UAXb8gwCZJg/YMpumrQMYTI/AAAAAAAA0hw/_QHqyE9XwiAVnBbZIzvC5ULuh4H7UkQ6gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h14m51s138.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UAXb8gwCZJg/YMpumrQMYTI/AAAAAAAA0hw/_QHqyE9XwiAVnBbZIzvC5ULuh4H7UkQ6gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h14m51s138.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UCetCiGibmI/YMpunO0pYUI/AAAAAAAA0h0/M0viHGw7G-kz801mvSUWGyXqsQc7WwlbACNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h15m59s484.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UCetCiGibmI/YMpunO0pYUI/AAAAAAAA0h0/M0viHGw7G-kz801mvSUWGyXqsQc7WwlbACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h15m59s484.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eAM6bWAVWbA/YMpunGb_rkI/AAAAAAAA0h4/kpuuGrzQC_QwkMQLVOt7k6oxv6CfgQV0wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h16m21s920.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eAM6bWAVWbA/YMpunGb_rkI/AAAAAAAA0h4/kpuuGrzQC_QwkMQLVOt7k6oxv6CfgQV0wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h16m21s920.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>Why couldn't we take just one tenth, one <i>twentieth</i>, of the money we're wasting making the place look fugly, and simply clear some of that detritus out? Keep this trail open? Sure, it's dangerous at the top, but look at this...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JTGq3YlGpAM/YMpu_nZTm6I/AAAAAAAA0iU/oaSsZAuDVZYS2cEs1UYJ2zxQSaieUqGMwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1920/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h17m05s955.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JTGq3YlGpAM/YMpu_nZTm6I/AAAAAAAA0iU/oaSsZAuDVZYS2cEs1UYJ2zxQSaieUqGMwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/vlcsnap-2021-06-15-06h17m05s955.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">They went and added this, a bench and a big stone slab, overlooking an even <i>longer</i> drop at the top of the hill! Now, why couldn't they have put something like that near the edge of the landslide at the top of a much more beautiful and natural trail? A sure way of preventing people from failing to take notice and falling, and much more spectacular and direct view, overlooking the river itself? If it occurs to me, why didn't it occur to them?<br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anyway, I hope I've made my case. These "improvements" are no improvements at all. They're simply the gelding of nature. Taming it. Taking away what little power even a relatively benign little walk like this has to surprise and challenge us. Pave paradise; put up a parking lot.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GVETPZoS38E/YMpwZSswRaI/AAAAAAAA0ic/iydyEJbdd54s83GW0WRzzK1mYOu8eCJBACNcBGAsYHQ/s500/ab928d5cc4bf095a4b56f2150245c0df.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="413" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GVETPZoS38E/YMpwZSswRaI/AAAAAAAA0ic/iydyEJbdd54s83GW0WRzzK1mYOu8eCJBACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/ab928d5cc4bf095a4b56f2150245c0df.png" /></span></a></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-37955341072620663402021-06-04T16:52:00.001-05:002021-06-04T16:53:22.286-05:00The return to McKinnon Bridge<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cityinthetrees.blogspot.com/2009/05/mckinnon-at-last.html" target="_blank">Back in May of 2009, P-Doug and I took this trek into the Minesing Wetlands</a> with our ultimate goal being to glimpse a bridge apparently out in the middle of nowhere across the Nottawasaga River. That trek was apparently a second attempt all on its own.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Since that time, we've made two subsequent attempts at it that failed. Once was in August a few years ago, when the grasses had simply become positively Amazonian and they turned us back. Another attempt was earlier in the year, sometime in May again, but it was a wet May and the foliage turned us back again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We decided to take another crack at it, and Wednesday afternoon just past, we finally succeeded in making our second expedition to the iron bridge on old abandoned McKinnon Road.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The whole thing has a bit of a personal significance to me. You might notice my handle is "barefoot hiker". Well, that's a real thing. I like to take the trails that way, if I can. It's called "grounding", and it's got a bit of a following here in North America. It's considerably more popular in Europe, especially Germany. I mention this because that first successful trek to McKinnon bridge, way back in May, 2009, wasn't the first time I ever hiked barefoot; not by a long shot... but it was the first time I ever dared to do it leaving my sandals behind. "Sydney or the bush!", as Charles M. Schulz used to have the kids say in Peanuts; all or nothing. So, of course, I absolutely had to take this trek the same way, no matter what. And I did. Somewhat challenging in places; especially over the dry cellulose of last year's dead reed grass; but I came through it just fine. At the end of it all, I measured the hike on Google Maps and was pleased to discovered we'd gone 4.3 km, or roughly 2 2/3 miles.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So here is the route. Today...</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShPm38ELmNg/YLqfmtG4njI/AAAAAAAA0Vg/oE-VaUqJN2YRF68LqE8meUUFex-7ethqgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2799/McKinnon%2BRoad%2B2021%2Bwriteup.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2799" data-original-width="1123" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShPm38ELmNg/YLqfmtG4njI/AAAAAAAA0Vg/oE-VaUqJN2YRF68LqE8meUUFex-7ethqgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/McKinnon%2BRoad%2B2021%2Bwriteup.png" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And in 1954.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TFy89gc-9zg/YLqgBkdj3TI/AAAAAAAA0Vs/d0UkOVGcAm04FxJQRweRaFNQx2dyJmFxwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/McKinnon%2BRoad%2B1954%2Bwriteup.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TFy89gc-9zg/YLqgBkdj3TI/AAAAAAAA0Vs/d0UkOVGcAm04FxJQRweRaFNQx2dyJmFxwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/McKinnon%2BRoad%2B1954%2Bwriteup.png" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So without further ado, here's a condensed digest of our trek to the bridge.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dG4FqHkzK7I" width="480"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L-P48fdfQQA/YLqbcMlbemI/AAAAAAAA0UE/csH7CXv3T5Q6J7pwea2HJBRog5dxCI6SgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_131622.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L-P48fdfQQA/YLqbcMlbemI/AAAAAAAA0UE/csH7CXv3T5Q6J7pwea2HJBRog5dxCI6SgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_131622.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84yiuAbFt9w/YLqbcJVFBYI/AAAAAAAA0UM/eVafhgVM484mdRWFzvVQRruk7wQN0ZIvgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_132912.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84yiuAbFt9w/YLqbcJVFBYI/AAAAAAAA0UM/eVafhgVM484mdRWFzvVQRruk7wQN0ZIvgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_132912.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tKTKgCu-8pc/YLqbcHs2WdI/AAAAAAAA0UI/hNqUeCBDlFswZLrJa_ZDqTrYJGWkQNSMwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_133144.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tKTKgCu-8pc/YLqbcHs2WdI/AAAAAAAA0UI/hNqUeCBDlFswZLrJa_ZDqTrYJGWkQNSMwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_133144.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oX4-KqkcVoQ/YLqbchCB8qI/AAAAAAAA0UQ/QkmH-gkVlf4CkDf73vztGvce1KCf3kn5gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_133244.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oX4-KqkcVoQ/YLqbchCB8qI/AAAAAAAA0UQ/QkmH-gkVlf4CkDf73vztGvce1KCf3kn5gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_133244.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3S6OK29r88s/YLqbcwRFMoI/AAAAAAAA0UU/WtJ-05LCZ8AJIqFqPCSXU4YRO-6h_vhJwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_134558.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3S6OK29r88s/YLqbcwRFMoI/AAAAAAAA0UU/WtJ-05LCZ8AJIqFqPCSXU4YRO-6h_vhJwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_134558.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiqhsSAHEX0/YLqbc9bsETI/AAAAAAAA0UY/WpBwvXPISZY8m8iznnh5m1anVvQfreQBwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_134704.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiqhsSAHEX0/YLqbc9bsETI/AAAAAAAA0UY/WpBwvXPISZY8m8iznnh5m1anVvQfreQBwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_134704.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here we are at the bridge itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AFrmuoti8_I" width="480"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-18KJjZBY0kQ/YLqbto7DKAI/AAAAAAAA0Us/ktleagpajbovu-0UvRBxoSZ8357M47H6ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_141034%25280%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-18KJjZBY0kQ/YLqbto7DKAI/AAAAAAAA0Us/ktleagpajbovu-0UvRBxoSZ8357M47H6ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_141034%25280%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7LUKQJ0iF8/YLqbtqfvg1I/AAAAAAAA0Uw/JGuaE4NUjWgXaqJN-eA9FOPELYsh7mAlgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_160250.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7LUKQJ0iF8/YLqbtqfvg1I/AAAAAAAA0Uw/JGuaE4NUjWgXaqJN-eA9FOPELYsh7mAlgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_160250.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G9UA1Rrmnwk/YLqbtgMsImI/AAAAAAAA0Uo/Km7eeQgJig8b_O9mrJ8-bWy6JYqa7qQwACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_160257.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G9UA1Rrmnwk/YLqbtgMsImI/AAAAAAAA0Uo/Km7eeQgJig8b_O9mrJ8-bWy6JYqa7qQwACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_160257.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4hZLcFrzyd4/YLqbuJTRhMI/AAAAAAAA0U0/vDgdvDvwe8w_8T7Y9EfsslXaK2B7vXuRQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_160312.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4hZLcFrzyd4/YLqbuJTRhMI/AAAAAAAA0U0/vDgdvDvwe8w_8T7Y9EfsslXaK2B7vXuRQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_160312.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And on the way back, we stopped to have a look at the old ruins beside the river.</span></div></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mA_4G7y3u5E" width="480"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W32ZvUJz9ms/YLqb5i5VkTI/AAAAAAAA0U4/BQI35FVawlsi2xruC8k_ztOShCwONxIYgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_162502.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W32ZvUJz9ms/YLqb5i5VkTI/AAAAAAAA0U4/BQI35FVawlsi2xruC8k_ztOShCwONxIYgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/20210602_162502.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gTSsB1J7LsM/YLqb5hDRIgI/AAAAAAAA0U8/6PKrLxsn29UA9QxtCG_YsobKsra1hW1rwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_163124.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gTSsB1J7LsM/YLqb5hDRIgI/AAAAAAAA0U8/6PKrLxsn29UA9QxtCG_YsobKsra1hW1rwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_163124.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9HytiN5RPnI/YLqb5rykcNI/AAAAAAAA0VA/_RHIIVbR7eM_JeLSvAMH8ZaaNEjGSPp9gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_163143.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9HytiN5RPnI/YLqb5rykcNI/AAAAAAAA0VA/_RHIIVbR7eM_JeLSvAMH8ZaaNEjGSPp9gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_163143.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5vus5zijVCA/YLqb5-G5imI/AAAAAAAA0VE/x4mmevXzuBk93svySIpD-b3HCcVlDN6KACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_163227.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5vus5zijVCA/YLqb5-G5imI/AAAAAAAA0VE/x4mmevXzuBk93svySIpD-b3HCcVlDN6KACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_163227.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-49644750649088924282021-06-03T22:00:00.000-05:002021-06-03T22:00:16.986-05:00Exploring the old course of Lloydtown-Aurora Road<div class="separator"><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So to any of you who still read this thing... (hi, Jim! Maybe?) ...here's how it happened. :)</span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">P-Doug and I were up in Pottageville in York Region on Sunday to hike the closed part of 7th Concession. It's a broad, smooth trail that I've valued for years and it's particularly lovely in the fall. In the course of it, we were travelling along Lloydtown-Aurora Road, a fairly minor and yet reasonably-travelled road with an interchange with the 400 a few kilometres to the east. The first thing that happened was that P-Doug pointed out a small stretch of old asphalt to the north side that suggested a minor course correction at some point in the past. Shortly after that, I happened to glance to the north and caught sight of a tiny but striking little bridge across a creek a few dozen metres away. Now that was exciting. We even went off the main road to drive the old stretch to the north, which is still open and in pretty good shape. We drove across the little bridge and out to the other side.<br /></span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Getting home, I checked out the aerial view on Google Maps, and sure enough, it was obvious there were little roads off to the side. I also noticed, to the south of the road, there was another curve of lost asphalt. I surmised there'd been a fairly major realignment at some point in the past.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is what the area looks like today...</span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5O0001gSqRI/YLkZG-sND-I/AAAAAAAA0O8/wdgoerc7dq8t8ARr2Qtnc36eYRbQ5ImtgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1768/2021-06-03_9-52-05.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1768" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5O0001gSqRI/YLkZG-sND-I/AAAAAAAA0O8/wdgoerc7dq8t8ARr2Qtnc36eYRbQ5ImtgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h216/2021-06-03_9-52-05.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Playing a hunch, I looked up the 1954 aerials of southern Ontario the University of Waterloo makes available and saw that this was what the same area looked like back in the mid-1950s.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jOo3DPBQ5Fg/YLkZGvw0qKI/AAAAAAAA0O0/UNEZci2GDYUvaPKMDh0eHx0IYj64fll-wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1768/2021-06-03_10-24-39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1768" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jOo3DPBQ5Fg/YLkZGvw0qKI/AAAAAAAA0O0/UNEZci2GDYUvaPKMDh0eHx0IYj64fll-wCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h216/2021-06-03_10-24-39.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I was delighted to see I'd called the shot. I'd taken Wednesday off, so yesterday we went back out there to have a look. The image below shows the old course of Lloydtown-Aurora Road (as seen above) in red. The rest of the images here are the shots we took of the old little bridge, and then walking the closed and decaying curve to the south. <br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4GY3CKBJEzw/YLkdHb4SULI/AAAAAAAA0Rk/5vIGsLf9-tsd1Bzva91HFapEwwCzLpepQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1768/2021-06-03_9-52-05%2Bwith%2Bline%2B2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1768" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4GY3CKBJEzw/YLkdHb4SULI/AAAAAAAA0Rk/5vIGsLf9-tsd1Bzva91HFapEwwCzLpepQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h216/2021-06-03_9-52-05%2Bwith%2Bline%2B2.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Heading west from the 400, we actually managed to miss the road the first time. Turning around at Hwy 27, we headed back east and found the eastern access to the old road on the north. We indulged in crossing the bridge and driving the old stretch a couple of times before parking to take shots of the old bridge itself.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div>
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</div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The view below faces south from just north of the current course of Lloydtown-Aurora Road.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OoVHw-2VkdM/YLkZdwUWUkI/AAAAAAAA0Po/_RioiDIQX5MUnKXX58J4q-exIp9GXEVuwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5093.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OoVHw-2VkdM/YLkZdwUWUkI/AAAAAAAA0Po/_RioiDIQX5MUnKXX58J4q-exIp9GXEVuwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5093.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just around the curve is the old bridge itself.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eE7_TqzWF30/YLkZdhcooFI/AAAAAAAA0Pk/W4YFfhYPZHke9ZHgR3UkBfoSzEzvKCxnQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5092.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eE7_TqzWF30/YLkZdhcooFI/AAAAAAAA0Pk/W4YFfhYPZHke9ZHgR3UkBfoSzEzvKCxnQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5092.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zu0T1b0aWto/YLkZl7P6bQI/AAAAAAAA0Qk/P6cTdzERKZsbwbfcTy2pvfUEMCoPKwc9ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9204.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zu0T1b0aWto/YLkZl7P6bQI/AAAAAAAA0Qk/P6cTdzERKZsbwbfcTy2pvfUEMCoPKwc9ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9204.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ZFYowkaaNk/YLkZddFuf2I/AAAAAAAA0Pg/uQ1hIQP3Ri8TB7nHKqIfO4-ysozINRzlQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_110332.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ZFYowkaaNk/YLkZddFuf2I/AAAAAAAA0Pg/uQ1hIQP3Ri8TB7nHKqIfO4-ysozINRzlQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_110332.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I stepped down off the old road to take photos of the south side of the bridge over the creek (the name of which I have no idea).</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d1xkBG5VMIs/YLkZcqvbNuI/AAAAAAAA0PU/b5Q-XJYvGu0XzH97_FsyTiFcIM-QHvJqwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2669/20210602_105949.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1178" data-original-width="2669" height="176" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d1xkBG5VMIs/YLkZcqvbNuI/AAAAAAAA0PU/b5Q-XJYvGu0XzH97_FsyTiFcIM-QHvJqwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h176/20210602_105949.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LT18rn374bQ/YLkZcmYe_JI/AAAAAAAA0PM/j4wzhaK6_esUQuUuKotpIrQU71Ngx6SSgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_110027.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LT18rn374bQ/YLkZcmYe_JI/AAAAAAAA0PM/j4wzhaK6_esUQuUuKotpIrQU71Ngx6SSgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_110027.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUQFs7Ka48w/YLkZe7XOZ4I/AAAAAAAA0Ps/ri6u03ysAzwlTEOeQ3VQ4hco8EZTGiXLACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5094.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUQFs7Ka48w/YLkZe7XOZ4I/AAAAAAAA0Ps/ri6u03ysAzwlTEOeQ3VQ4hco8EZTGiXLACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5094.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywXtD6psL1o/YLkZfYXkcuI/AAAAAAAA0Pw/wNNohry_RWQzp7uqQvhdAIPDQovFUwiNgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5095.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywXtD6psL1o/YLkZfYXkcuI/AAAAAAAA0Pw/wNNohry_RWQzp7uqQvhdAIPDQovFUwiNgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5095.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bqIoUouKcuk/YLkZfzcUNHI/AAAAAAAA0P0/vmibcsGUauYyFWqpmwLqqVG6wsOmFEmQwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5097.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bqIoUouKcuk/YLkZfzcUNHI/AAAAAAAA0P0/vmibcsGUauYyFWqpmwLqqVG6wsOmFEmQwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5097.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbpvzRuyZhQ/YLkZgboH4TI/AAAAAAAA0P4/D9S6YQqLZ6ctbwBLPXxW2djZkVVc4TJBQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5098.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbpvzRuyZhQ/YLkZgboH4TI/AAAAAAAA0P4/D9S6YQqLZ6ctbwBLPXxW2djZkVVc4TJBQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5098.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FyqIb4aAIpM/YLkZgxay03I/AAAAAAAA0P8/S_ycnELG5Cg98HDdo4vdS6iyTZWglmb-ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5100.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FyqIb4aAIpM/YLkZgxay03I/AAAAAAAA0P8/S_ycnELG5Cg98HDdo4vdS6iyTZWglmb-ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5100.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Xcr0weJhDU/YLkZhyUgj5I/AAAAAAAA0QE/88wQUvBs0Z8DD4ySk3zGujZddT7nWwClgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5102.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Xcr0weJhDU/YLkZhyUgj5I/AAAAAAAA0QE/88wQUvBs0Z8DD4ySk3zGujZddT7nWwClgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5102.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXPMtstttmk/YLkZiYXlfMI/AAAAAAAA0QI/CCvZPA3_zGkYq8BmJLZEztUSfQ9-BW38gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5103.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXPMtstttmk/YLkZiYXlfMI/AAAAAAAA0QI/CCvZPA3_zGkYq8BmJLZEztUSfQ9-BW38gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5103.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Returning to the road, I shot the north side of the bridge from across the road.<br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKvQQAbQ4Y8/YLkZi_RaZOI/AAAAAAAA0QM/6G5zOZJRQYQe6rP1GRKTXWCLhGmZ37zkACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5106.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKvQQAbQ4Y8/YLkZi_RaZOI/AAAAAAAA0QM/6G5zOZJRQYQe6rP1GRKTXWCLhGmZ37zkACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5106.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last shots of the south side as I came back up.<br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRSZOCm77uY/YLkZjXj2sOI/AAAAAAAA0QQ/mMmfB5SjK7wYsh9LPs_qoOcX6EQZMTr1QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5107.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRSZOCm77uY/YLkZjXj2sOI/AAAAAAAA0QQ/mMmfB5SjK7wYsh9LPs_qoOcX6EQZMTr1QCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5107.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-viypkcu4_dU/YLkZnYxSH_I/AAAAAAAA0Qw/oVkmiYlwoSwp1GF5AaEcCbW-IBHfHpjKQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9215.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-viypkcu4_dU/YLkZnYxSH_I/AAAAAAAA0Qw/oVkmiYlwoSwp1GF5AaEcCbW-IBHfHpjKQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9215.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYQUQdsik6A/YLkZj7RcfjI/AAAAAAAA0QU/_zx4h_oi2-U94r1Kzm3tcA45d0x3mwDKACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5109.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYQUQdsik6A/YLkZj7RcfjI/AAAAAAAA0QU/_zx4h_oi2-U94r1Kzm3tcA45d0x3mwDKACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5109.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I missed getting video of this guy crossing the bridge. I think a lot of people just gratuitously slip off the current route of Lloydtown-Aurora Road to indulge themselves in this short little trip back to a simpler time for 30 seconds or so. I know I would if I lived around there.<br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zRKZHcq2y2s/YLkZk5f_P-I/AAAAAAAA0Qc/Q4rYDVVL5dwqn1yF-V9786n-uFxS9F5dQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5111.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zRKZHcq2y2s/YLkZk5f_P-I/AAAAAAAA0Qc/Q4rYDVVL5dwqn1yF-V9786n-uFxS9F5dQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5111.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meanwhile, P-Doug was getting shots of the bridge and the north side...<br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HE1ebUlmEL0/YLkZcl5PtNI/AAAAAAAA0PQ/7pkF0XJdSjwvunX0gYJnqjKpJz-AkVyGACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_110301.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HE1ebUlmEL0/YLkZcl5PtNI/AAAAAAAA0PQ/7pkF0XJdSjwvunX0gYJnqjKpJz-AkVyGACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_110301.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RPthMpdr2HQ/YLkZdRNw0WI/AAAAAAAA0PY/L0eLJNlMvukh3S8iXUd6E7TeUiSYpTkcwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210602_110314.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RPthMpdr2HQ/YLkZdRNw0WI/AAAAAAAA0PY/L0eLJNlMvukh3S8iXUd6E7TeUiSYpTkcwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/20210602_110314.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It would seem the bridge was built in 1916. I have no real idea when the new realignment was built, but given what I know about the province and the area, I'd put a hefty wager on sometime in the 1960s. I'd be surprised if it were even as late as the 1970s.<br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NxDAxKKvHwA/YLkZn8H6pmI/AAAAAAAA0Q0/g7-V2zPduZ4GxqFh7LMl_QScdiHRGX55wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9216.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NxDAxKKvHwA/YLkZn8H6pmI/AAAAAAAA0Q0/g7-V2zPduZ4GxqFh7LMl_QScdiHRGX55wCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9216.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jfyov47Sdo0/YLkZmdDoH_I/AAAAAAAA0Qo/3cq2RgB7JdANvuunoxYwqSstHQ-moes7wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9208.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jfyov47Sdo0/YLkZmdDoH_I/AAAAAAAA0Qo/3cq2RgB7JdANvuunoxYwqSstHQ-moes7wCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9208.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCLvwlAwDrQ/YLkZm_kbb1I/AAAAAAAA0Qs/5naycTx5TtoVUZ372qu05vOLX4cuzaD5ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9211.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCLvwlAwDrQ/YLkZm_kbb1I/AAAAAAAA0Qs/5naycTx5TtoVUZ372qu05vOLX4cuzaD5ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9211.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">P-Doug surmised that this little building once housed a mechanism for monitoring the flow of the creek here. It appears to have been gutted for some time.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ppJ2_zQXbEs/YLkZlQzMq5I/AAAAAAAA0Qg/EaPRrpdX0U0tVbOsx5V1E3LcmIBc6c9-ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5120.JPG" style="color: #0000ee;" width="400" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVjGgptRxTU/YLkZoUHsw3I/AAAAAAAA0Q4/Vz9gJg23ZJwsBNo1Gz3THm7yn1tqj4LEwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9218.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVjGgptRxTU/YLkZoUHsw3I/AAAAAAAA0Q4/Vz9gJg23ZJwsBNo1Gz3THm7yn1tqj4LEwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9218.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K45Tv-0ALIo/YLkZo5gb8OI/AAAAAAAA0Q8/S1nuDWeCFI0zvNvcMDeql8Ftm34j211DACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9219.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K45Tv-0ALIo/YLkZo5gb8OI/AAAAAAAA0Q8/S1nuDWeCFI0zvNvcMDeql8Ftm34j211DACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9219.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">A look southward from the old alignment to the current one at the crest of the rise.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6QyGXicRw9A/YLkZp_1ptCI/AAAAAAAA0RE/yeTUCvnj7K07yQY7z4MJee7G7304g2UkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9226.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6QyGXicRw9A/YLkZp_1ptCI/AAAAAAAA0RE/yeTUCvnj7K07yQY7z4MJee7G7304g2UkQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9226.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Your humble correspondent, doing his thing for the blog and posterity. :)<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kWw2b52wNJk/YLkZpbKhFqI/AAAAAAAA0RA/8Ix1ZC0ICtoTHwGk9OaaspoF7CpR0rj2gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9223.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kWw2b52wNJk/YLkZpbKhFqI/AAAAAAAA0RA/8Ix1ZC0ICtoTHwGk9OaaspoF7CpR0rj2gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9223.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After this, we crossed Lloyd-Aurora Road and headed east a few dozen metres to a driveway intersecting the old southern swoop of the original alignment, deciding to see if we could find the old road course visible on the aerial shots. It seemed a bit iffy at first, but once we reached the driveway, we saw the old course and realized we could.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This view is from the driveway, looking back east to the current alignment.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jcGoNogXBZI/YLkg1ShcW2I/AAAAAAAA0R0/T77lSzc0pFs7XdwjtlYxQySjzC-QpjpegCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5129.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jcGoNogXBZI/YLkg1ShcW2I/AAAAAAAA0R0/T77lSzc0pFs7XdwjtlYxQySjzC-QpjpegCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5129.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">P-Doug took the two shots below, looking back from the old course toward the current one. I was in front of him, and apparently he had the presence of mind to shoot mostly looking back the way we'd come, while I was focused on shooting straight ahead.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VCdzNgRVT_Y/YLkg9SNJFTI/AAAAAAAA0S8/85Rp4pf-lOsAqKmNq0GDMo3JFAeE9PeGACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9228.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VCdzNgRVT_Y/YLkg9SNJFTI/AAAAAAAA0S8/85Rp4pf-lOsAqKmNq0GDMo3JFAeE9PeGACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9228.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IP1Ka1TzS-M/YLkg93s849I/AAAAAAAA0TA/5954oZrfm58tVeCl786JRIIv95Rybf-KACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9230.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IP1Ka1TzS-M/YLkg93s849I/AAAAAAAA0TA/5954oZrfm58tVeCl786JRIIv95Rybf-KACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9230.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">A shot of mine looking westward from the same location.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dJvV7ALiyqo/YLkg1vVEvPI/AAAAAAAA0R8/GkktZQUrgVIO57Vxmv1ZK0smVS4lqEpzgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5130.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dJvV7ALiyqo/YLkg1vVEvPI/AAAAAAAA0R8/GkktZQUrgVIO57Vxmv1ZK0smVS4lqEpzgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5130.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8OXdYrwnBWw/YLkg1gyGSyI/AAAAAAAA0R4/jfTL1NdjwlU9OKvLG-f4xI7iH0P7WaQHwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5131.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8OXdYrwnBWw/YLkg1gyGSyI/AAAAAAAA0R4/jfTL1NdjwlU9OKvLG-f4xI7iH0P7WaQHwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5131.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-INg10S4BP_g/YLkg15AfA_I/AAAAAAAA0SA/FMO0k7HcCDIiz6yO4_rebKZCkGxfgX_FQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5132.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-INg10S4BP_g/YLkg15AfA_I/AAAAAAAA0SA/FMO0k7HcCDIiz6yO4_rebKZCkGxfgX_FQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5132.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gx8cv0X9weU/YLkg2YjjtrI/AAAAAAAA0SE/JFcUM2Itn9QC9We0MDLNmdOXscXZu06sgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5133.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gx8cv0X9weU/YLkg2YjjtrI/AAAAAAAA0SE/JFcUM2Itn9QC9We0MDLNmdOXscXZu06sgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5133.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1yLmmgj2Qg0/YLkg281tbJI/AAAAAAAA0SI/wdcMhC2YXTwYnUkzbPUEKcZNRoDcfRSpwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5135.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1yLmmgj2Qg0/YLkg281tbJI/AAAAAAAA0SI/wdcMhC2YXTwYnUkzbPUEKcZNRoDcfRSpwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5135.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6hDfifOFTcw/YLkg3fHf84I/AAAAAAAA0SM/CJzaVZRGJ6E4LVGZ3H9jhKZdUKi3k-tbgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5136.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6hDfifOFTcw/YLkg3fHf84I/AAAAAAAA0SM/CJzaVZRGJ6E4LVGZ3H9jhKZdUKi3k-tbgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5136.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ogxano2K9Cc/YLkg34A7LnI/AAAAAAAA0SQ/BAWeSXIPPGwzF_HNV8g8Em09_RWjh857gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5138.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ogxano2K9Cc/YLkg34A7LnI/AAAAAAAA0SQ/BAWeSXIPPGwzF_HNV8g8Em09_RWjh857gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5138.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-st9U3d41BHw/YLkg4aLAzOI/AAAAAAAA0SU/b3zlhG9kZBca4MtzDAQJUDWf_5_EnO-BACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5142.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-st9U3d41BHw/YLkg4aLAzOI/AAAAAAAA0SU/b3zlhG9kZBca4MtzDAQJUDWf_5_EnO-BACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5142.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nvKQk7RpkWI/YLkg-bh-3aI/AAAAAAAA0TE/MTvm7GZdLjgOkQTt1J9vwZMIBnQhr3qDgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9235.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nvKQk7RpkWI/YLkg-bh-3aI/AAAAAAAA0TE/MTvm7GZdLjgOkQTt1J9vwZMIBnQhr3qDgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9235.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aD5gMIR0XLU/YLkg4892YtI/AAAAAAAA0SY/gkrbsVzeFhIuOmdzFtyDRibcxnlKyaN6QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5146.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aD5gMIR0XLU/YLkg4892YtI/AAAAAAAA0SY/gkrbsVzeFhIuOmdzFtyDRibcxnlKyaN6QCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5146.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LHhiGzQQfxs/YLkg5dVFWGI/AAAAAAAA0Sc/tPQz4K6z39w4w-NHqfNkb-ehcYaEWYP_wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5147.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LHhiGzQQfxs/YLkg5dVFWGI/AAAAAAAA0Sc/tPQz4K6z39w4w-NHqfNkb-ehcYaEWYP_wCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5147.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0OrWcwmoHEc/YLkg5-kDymI/AAAAAAAA0Sg/FFvXw2MOIroNUqkUpNCqyRxIPjvAXTaSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5150.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0OrWcwmoHEc/YLkg5-kDymI/AAAAAAAA0Sg/FFvXw2MOIroNUqkUpNCqyRxIPjvAXTaSwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5150.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">A rare backward shot of mine, capturing P-Doug capturing stuff looking forward.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g6uDFiQf7gQ/YLkg6bWkNhI/AAAAAAAA0Sk/1ZdK7sb3pFQn_6tM73u7Tv7i3Dn617ApQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5155.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g6uDFiQf7gQ/YLkg6bWkNhI/AAAAAAAA0Sk/1ZdK7sb3pFQn_6tM73u7Tv7i3Dn617ApQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5155.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of his backward-looking shots, below.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--pT-D_w7Mtk/YLkg-8zZgSI/AAAAAAAA0TI/yyXdV6T9IHoir_BpZO77eLYcMBtDfg-FACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9239.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--pT-D_w7Mtk/YLkg-8zZgSI/AAAAAAAA0TI/yyXdV6T9IHoir_BpZO77eLYcMBtDfg-FACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9239.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of my shots again, facing west, nearing the end of the course.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bxI-FrZmxb8/YLkg6ySiBLI/AAAAAAAA0So/_dD02A94NAQwezHZrT9vxMolNpWQX1vnACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5156.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bxI-FrZmxb8/YLkg6ySiBLI/AAAAAAAA0So/_dD02A94NAQwezHZrT9vxMolNpWQX1vnACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5156.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another shot looking back.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rKbgBVnfkR4/YLkg_aJPUHI/AAAAAAAA0TM/c47IjUwN6Z8uld44v4DVA99WOIdq0LuxwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9241.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rKbgBVnfkR4/YLkg_aJPUHI/AAAAAAAA0TM/c47IjUwN6Z8uld44v4DVA99WOIdq0LuxwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9241.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Approaching the end of the old alignment and the intersection with the current one.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TLiZeBDxK8c/YLkg7vFEZRI/AAAAAAAA0Ss/qTy1PCPFM7AD7b-oKGNG7QhdANUbFeYlQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5159.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TLiZeBDxK8c/YLkg7vFEZRI/AAAAAAAA0Ss/qTy1PCPFM7AD7b-oKGNG7QhdANUbFeYlQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5159.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tYzLKInAZLs/YLkg79O9jQI/AAAAAAAA0Sw/qjqws3y6YswGoQCcGMekDIQpTWfqG2GowCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5162.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tYzLKInAZLs/YLkg79O9jQI/AAAAAAAA0Sw/qjqws3y6YswGoQCcGMekDIQpTWfqG2GowCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5162.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Shots looking back the way we'd come...<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6_8LSRb6GGI/YLkg_-1n3WI/AAAAAAAA0TQ/HsdWj29du7oMvfMtzf-83uaoO9chwUS5QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9243.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6_8LSRb6GGI/YLkg_-1n3WI/AAAAAAAA0TQ/HsdWj29du7oMvfMtzf-83uaoO9chwUS5QCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9243.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJVei0Wq8iU/YLkhAfzI4CI/AAAAAAAA0TU/SF7vrLcA74spGl7AkCD-butJRUCAKnW3QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9244.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJVei0Wq8iU/YLkhAfzI4CI/AAAAAAAA0TU/SF7vrLcA74spGl7AkCD-butJRUCAKnW3QCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9244.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Arriving at the current course of Lloydtown-Aurora road. This view looks easterly.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--UMrYB5FgQ4/YLkg8YB2kdI/AAAAAAAA0S0/9UDDRatw7f0F7FbfPblMZ5hJRqVn9v_0wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5170.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--UMrYB5FgQ4/YLkg8YB2kdI/AAAAAAAA0S0/9UDDRatw7f0F7FbfPblMZ5hJRqVn9v_0wCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5170.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking across the current alignment to the old one. That's the place where we turned in off the road to drive to the little 1916 bridge.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVxdaYpOXro/YLkg86Ye_sI/AAAAAAAA0S4/i0skgwJPH7s25w48LVINS4wpiDDCvCq8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF5173.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVxdaYpOXro/YLkg86Ye_sI/AAAAAAAA0S4/i0skgwJPH7s25w48LVINS4wpiDDCvCq8ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/DSCF5173.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yigg7kk9WQ4/YLkhAyrfmJI/AAAAAAAA0TY/08kHagnIuUAXp9e5CgCZaaBhf3HbwFw5ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9247.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yigg7kk9WQ4/YLkhAyrfmJI/AAAAAAAA0TY/08kHagnIuUAXp9e5CgCZaaBhf3HbwFw5ACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9247.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking back from the northern half of the old alignment across the new one to the course we'd just walked through the trees.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bh1m5KPbi_w/YLkhBZec_VI/AAAAAAAA0Tc/0CO9uElgi0QevAI4wU064pVRHTXEVhBTwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF9248.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bh1m5KPbi_w/YLkhBZec_VI/AAAAAAAA0Tc/0CO9uElgi0QevAI4wU064pVRHTXEVhBTwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSCF9248.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally, I asked P-Doug to let me video him driving across the bridge. Who knows how much longer this will be possible? A hundred years? Fifty? Ten? Pottageville is already attracting new development. In any case, I'm glad we have this.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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<span><br /></span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-52634325961153440442021-02-14T16:56:00.003-05:002021-02-14T16:58:45.749-05:00So I give up...<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm not a fan of Apple. Never have been. I hate almost everything they stand for. They spout "Think different", but cater to people who line up for their every new gee-gah like Beetle Bailey in a chow line. More often than not these days, they're late coming out with things that Windows or Android started doing last year, and yet their fans will still shell out a 25-50% premium just to catch up and be seen in public conspicuously consuming a logo that already had a bite out of it when they acquired it. I don't get it. I really don't. Let me explain why I take this personally.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because Apple let me down on trying to hold onto my youth.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here's the story. Back in the mid 90s, for about three years, I worked in the animation industry. It seemed like a long time back then, when I was in my mid-to-late 20s. I worked in two places. The first, which was also the last, bookended my animation career; a place called The Animation House where I did traditional in-betweening on TV commercials, mostly for cereal. It was what people now call gig work. They called me in when they needed me, and left me twiddling my thumbs when they didn't. In the midst of all that, though, I landed a job at a placed called Isabel Hoffmann & Associates, where we did digital animation on a series of children's educational CDs.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was a strange place. Isabel was one of those people who would have fit right in in the upper echelons of Enron. Jobs were constantly under threat. The pay for most of us wasn't great. I couldn't afford to get out on my own on what they were paying us, so I did the long commute from the suburbs downtown everyday. But it was a jog, a real job, full time, and... it was fun. In spite of everything else, I enjoyed the people I was working with and the things we were doing. I got to animate, do voice work, and even assemble a few minor creative efforts of my own. I was there for a little over a year before I got too big for my britches and quit. I was a rat abandoning a ship that was leaky, but didn't quite sink for another couple of years. But, sink it did. My career in animation, back at the A-House, lasted about another six months till work got scarce and sixteen months of unemployment humbled me.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anyway... Since everything we did at Hoffmann was digital, I have copies of the open files, even after all these years. We were using a program called Macromedia Director, the raster-based precursor of Flash (which I believe was also theirs), eventually acquired by Adobe. We were created cast members in Photoshop, cutting and pasting them in. Weird, clunky way to work, but it got the job done. This being 1996/1997, most of this stuff was still being made for Macs first, and PCs later. I guess it's not surprising, since we'd only just landed Windows 95 at that point. The Windows version of Director, for God knows whatever reason, will only export movies in AVI format, <i>without sound</i>. I mention this because around this time last year, I succumbed to this periodic urge I've had over the years to buckle down for a couple of weeks, go through the old disks, export all the movies, and put them up on YouTube for people to enjoy. Some of them are up there now, but people typically just post the straight read-throughs of the stories... none of the cool, fun, kicky little animations you could enjoy when you clicked on elements on the page. I wanted to share all that. I and my friends put a lot of work into those and I thought they deserved to be appreciated again.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Director has been deprecated for over a decade now. I can find it in various places online. We were working in Director versions 4 and 5. The earliest version of Director that will still run on Windows, and open files from those versions, is Director 6. Same problem, though. You can export the movie, but not the sound. So the magic answer seemed to be get hold of a Mac old enough to run the old software and export the movies right.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Around that time, the up-and-coming Mac was the iMac. I managed to find one reasonably cheaply. But it was so underpowered that it couldn't even manage a USB drive. I had no way to either install Director on it, or transfer my Director files to it. The thing was a lime green boat anchor. Fine. I went looking again and a G6 Mac. The guy had to bump the OS back a few notches for it to run those old versions of Director, but I managed to get them installed. Then I decided to get started.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the two projects that dominated most of my time at Hoffmann was something called Nikolai's Mysteries. Colloquially, we referred to it as "Black Windows", because one of the characters in the story supplied windows that were painted black. This was the one that was the most fun, so I decided to start with that one. Director was glitchy, and one of the pages, 11, simply refused to export properly. I never figured out why. I managed to export its individual animations one by one, except for one of them, which was probably the one holding up the show for the whole thing. So, after a couple of weeks of this eating up my spared time, I wanted to transfer them over and assemble them using a modern computer. But most of the portable drives that could handle it were too big for the Mac to recognize. I had to make umpteen partitions on the drive and format them back to formats from the late 90s to get anywhere. Once I finally got them on the drive, I plugged it into Windows, only to find that the MOV files I'd exported were utterly unrecognizable to it. Something the Mac had done in creating them made them useless for any other application. All that work down the tubes.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I suppose the reason I was really upset was that so much time had passed me by. When I moved out on my own, it was just three years after I left Hoffmann. Suddenly I find that, almost without my noticing it, over 20 years have passed. Hoffmann was one of those places that, despite the down sides, I never quite left. I've drifted back to it in dreams. I sometimes yearn to reconnect with the people who worked there, though I imagine beyond half an hour of "remember when?" talk, we'd have nothing to say to each other anymore. I suppose it was all just an attempt to hang onto a moment, pretend it wasn't quite over.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I sold the iMac about a month ago. I have an ad up for G6, but no takers so far. About a week ago I disconnected it and shoved it into the spare room. I highly doubt it'll ever get used again. Odds are I'll get fed up looking at it sometime this summer and just leave it at a Goodwill depot or something.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's not really over, though. I still have Director 6, which will run on Windows 10. If I really want to, I can export them to soundless AVIs, make notes of which sound files I need to drop in, and resync them all in Premiere. I could make it all live again, if I want to. I might yet. I just might.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meanwhile, I can share with you the few little things I do still have. I have four things up on YouTube. So, just for fun, here they are.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This first one is a "serious" piece; something I was tasked to animate that actually made it onto the disk in Nikolai's Pirates. On one page, you clicked on the family of jaguars, and this happened...</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qGJ_cSI4jM0" width="320" youtube-src-id="qGJ_cSI4jM0"></iframe></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The next three are all just goofy stuff we did on the side. Screwing around with the elements on the pages. It probably goes without saying that these didn't go out on the disks.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nikolai's dad (yes, Nikolai was real), Uno, was a big fan of Apocalypse Now, and even had the sound track. I did this in about half an hour screwing around one afternoon. One of the other animators showed it to him, and to my relief, he got a big kick out of it. The elements were from a page on Nikolai's Treats.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A0MSNzR-78I" width="320" youtube-src-id="A0MSNzR-78I"></iframe></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This next one was from Nikolai's Pirates. The cats were supposed to toss pepper into the pirate's face to escape, causing him to sneeze. I animated the sneeze. I couldn't help taking it one step further.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iCPEXK5KtW8" width="320" youtube-src-id="iCPEXK5KtW8"></iframe></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally, topping them all, there's this one. A couple of the guys came in on the weekend just to do this. It's from a page on Nikolai's Mysteries ("Black Windows"). They shopped it around to us on Monday. Our creative director was pissed that they came in and screwed around all weekend when they could have been getting something serious done (not that they got paid for being in on the weekend, mind you), so the guy who had the file deleted it... but not before I managed to just barely snag a copy. And so, the world still has this hilarious little masterpiece, with cameos by another of the animators and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The voice of Neow Neow (the cat), by the way, was Uno, Isabel's husband and Nikolai's dad.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZJWULpsyQkM" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZJWULpsyQkM"></iframe></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And that's all she wrote, folks. :)</span></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-6678059408587592182020-08-18T20:54:00.004-05:002020-08-19T06:36:52.487-05:00Like a Troubled Bridge Over Water<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This summer, as I've been finding it easier to get around and having more energy to do so, I've made a virtue of getting back out and visiting old bridges I've documented in the past, as well as a few I've never been to before. I'd like to share with you now a little of what I've seen.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Wiley Bridge on Gorewood Drive</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7487191,-79.6552164,202m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm not exactly sure when this bridge in Peel Region was essentially removed from the road grid; at a guess, I'd say the 1960s or 1970s. Technically speaking, it can still be accessed by Conservation Area vehicles; I suppose if you were sneaky and bold enough, it would still be possible to get your car onto it. Given that it's essentially a pedestrian bridge now, I wouldn't advise it, though. Despite being an arch bridge on the Humber River, this one wasn't designed and built by Frank Barber, but by Langton and Bartho around 1924. A number of homes still exist on this road just a five minute walk or so back up the hill behind you in the view below.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G8uHgxGijSE/Xzxtp4I4gAI/AAAAAAAAwbY/sr96CSkQfSw-E6fFdoMR17QS4MmYWwOSACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200619_114618.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G8uHgxGijSE/Xzxtp4I4gAI/AAAAAAAAwbY/sr96CSkQfSw-E6fFdoMR17QS4MmYWwOSACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200619_114618.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lqz_FQtNIw0/Xzxtp9gH20I/AAAAAAAAwbc/t-SqJWJ7ZcwmPxOpiN4AGuQTNhS9o7W4gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200619_114820.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lqz_FQtNIw0/Xzxtp9gH20I/AAAAAAAAwbc/t-SqJWJ7ZcwmPxOpiN4AGuQTNhS9o7W4gCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200619_114820.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qvYLD99ikHA/XzxtqF8XKqI/AAAAAAAAwbg/9UZ9FIcsQqcDU9h3lDkvMdyc_zg6n13zwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200619_114828.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qvYLD99ikHA/XzxtqF8XKqI/AAAAAAAAwbg/9UZ9FIcsQqcDU9h3lDkvMdyc_zg6n13zwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200619_114828.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f68SdaRENCc/Xzxttn-cdLI/AAAAAAAAwb0/Kx3ykBbWyhUDvOq6QTNMsrY7JoABLryZwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2718/20200619_115330.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1157" data-original-width="2718" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f68SdaRENCc/Xzxttn-cdLI/AAAAAAAAwb0/Kx3ykBbWyhUDvOq6QTNMsrY7JoABLryZwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200619_115330.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9rZd3SfP0lI/XzxtsQX8fJI/AAAAAAAAwbs/8ZGCnZShcK0zJC0zbGM8m6MAHBePbAawgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200619_115353.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9rZd3SfP0lI/XzxtsQX8fJI/AAAAAAAAwbs/8ZGCnZShcK0zJC0zbGM8m6MAHBePbAawgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200619_115353.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DXrZVeqOe7U/XzxtsBcjfgI/AAAAAAAAwbo/C5cEyUUgEIAJ8jyzAG75kecYX6bCSoOqwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200619_115411.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DXrZVeqOe7U/XzxtsBcjfgI/AAAAAAAAwbo/C5cEyUUgEIAJ8jyzAG75kecYX6bCSoOqwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200619_115411.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sb7pENq15eo/XzxttkS6mnI/AAAAAAAAwbw/3A5YcPR_aEI4dZO9DIfUeFPLZ_gk5gOlACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2367.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sb7pENq15eo/XzxttkS6mnI/AAAAAAAAwbw/3A5YcPR_aEI4dZO9DIfUeFPLZ_gk5gOlACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2367.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byteeYWfBe0/XzxttzBveAI/AAAAAAAAwb4/yqsvhr7t01gZdIFmmvq4do94nW-E2rhGQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2371.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byteeYWfBe0/XzxttzBveAI/AAAAAAAAwb4/yqsvhr7t01gZdIFmmvq4do94nW-E2rhGQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2371.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hvC33diaKqw/XzxtujKVK5I/AAAAAAAAwb8/BmT7mAuTnHk2o9i2G7baxYuASBfrLGm6QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2372.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hvC33diaKqw/XzxtujKVK5I/AAAAAAAAwb8/BmT7mAuTnHk2o9i2G7baxYuASBfrLGm6QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2372.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0eO3UAaSow/Xzxtv_ZOisI/AAAAAAAAwcE/W6GuSnZDVM8CUMsBJEJRckPuk1PpVZ1wACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2842.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0eO3UAaSow/Xzxtv_ZOisI/AAAAAAAAwcE/W6GuSnZDVM8CUMsBJEJRckPuk1PpVZ1wACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2842.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-INDQGNzMSsY/Xzxtvu2C70I/AAAAAAAAwcA/YQ54ZnrIJiMPKDaM_UgSLA5LY9jRCXakwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2843.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-INDQGNzMSsY/Xzxtvu2C70I/AAAAAAAAwcA/YQ54ZnrIJiMPKDaM_UgSLA5LY9jRCXakwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2843.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mg35RcNHnqE/Xzxtyo92egI/AAAAAAAAwcI/VvCLuvrlOPUc-Vrgo-BZJZ_H000RQoqUACNcBGAsYHQ/s3138/Wiley%2BBridge%2Bon%2BGorewood%2BDrive%2Bon%2Bthe%2BHumber%2BRiver.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="3138" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mg35RcNHnqE/Xzxtyo92egI/AAAAAAAAwcI/VvCLuvrlOPUc-Vrgo-BZJZ_H000RQoqUACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Wiley%2BBridge%2Bon%2BGorewood%2BDrive%2Bon%2Bthe%2BHumber%2BRiver.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Vigo Bridge on Flos Road 4</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4812083,-79.9318252,404m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Encountering it for the first time on July 26, I missed driving on this Simcoe County bridge only by a year or two. It's been superseded by a new bridge about 50 metres to the north. I don't know if they're going to keep this bridge around or tear it down, but either way, I've documented it as it existed in the summer of 2020.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywm1_MphE4Y/XzxuCT5G46I/AAAAAAAAwck/qPSHNz3HweAuqoaxtUMZF670Ms9ZMgvbwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200726_112336.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywm1_MphE4Y/XzxuCT5G46I/AAAAAAAAwck/qPSHNz3HweAuqoaxtUMZF670Ms9ZMgvbwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200726_112336.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zSlJ0m6GSrA/XzxuCKNohJI/AAAAAAAAwcc/BDu5VYvlD18UijOCdlJHgb7UlBI5gK_9wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4094_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zSlJ0m6GSrA/XzxuCKNohJI/AAAAAAAAwcc/BDu5VYvlD18UijOCdlJHgb7UlBI5gK_9wCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4094_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-euf-X5t_Lww/XzxuCP5e-AI/AAAAAAAAwcg/fgKO_4MQKkQTu5VFS0xFxy8PmUHmBXkLwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4095_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-euf-X5t_Lww/XzxuCP5e-AI/AAAAAAAAwcg/fgKO_4MQKkQTu5VFS0xFxy8PmUHmBXkLwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4095_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-SbOf6Kdj4/XzxuEuGwY0I/AAAAAAAAwcw/0V5MPe-wUnAu696LednsQsqHHt7w0J1RACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4096_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-SbOf6Kdj4/XzxuEuGwY0I/AAAAAAAAwcw/0V5MPe-wUnAu696LednsQsqHHt7w0J1RACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4096_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k59xInyDHiU/XzxuE9kllGI/AAAAAAAAwc0/pgViPxKsJJc4rOA9Qs6kvgOeIVYcbDh6gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4097_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k59xInyDHiU/XzxuE9kllGI/AAAAAAAAwc0/pgViPxKsJJc4rOA9Qs6kvgOeIVYcbDh6gCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4097_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AZMnsMUlvI/XzxuE0I_b0I/AAAAAAAAwc4/RNIv11J3X9w3zaZ_II4RTclGRr7Xe2jfACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4098_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AZMnsMUlvI/XzxuE0I_b0I/AAAAAAAAwc4/RNIv11J3X9w3zaZ_II4RTclGRr7Xe2jfACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4098_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yXFxOJ-dfGE/XzxuGilGnXI/AAAAAAAAwc8/ui_dwZcZJHMchNBDKP7wooJa_QoEhfa0QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4103_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yXFxOJ-dfGE/XzxuGilGnXI/AAAAAAAAwc8/ui_dwZcZJHMchNBDKP7wooJa_QoEhfa0QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4103_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-em-LEU8JWT0/XzxuHF6AXII/AAAAAAAAwdA/bJZcVif4e9EsbR0oVcXFS_EXfC2iV_-oACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4112_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-em-LEU8JWT0/XzxuHF6AXII/AAAAAAAAwdA/bJZcVif4e9EsbR0oVcXFS_EXfC2iV_-oACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4112_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7_PicNnp2U/XzxuHFi1DvI/AAAAAAAAwdE/Iw4J5v_59IsBAvLbcPdMXxZF0b9pBniMwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4113_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7_PicNnp2U/XzxuHFi1DvI/AAAAAAAAwdE/Iw4J5v_59IsBAvLbcPdMXxZF0b9pBniMwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4113_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PaU2CTejwII/XzxuImxT7cI/AAAAAAAAwdI/IeO0CG9feBAyLUeTqn6rQ428olYG4CidgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4135_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PaU2CTejwII/XzxuImxT7cI/AAAAAAAAwdI/IeO0CG9feBAyLUeTqn6rQ428olYG4CidgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4135_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8gaybeWtOUA/XzxuJXtqsdI/AAAAAAAAwdM/wcslN6ulFYQDWiSX28stqyy8TdeTZJ6_wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4154_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8gaybeWtOUA/XzxuJXtqsdI/AAAAAAAAwdM/wcslN6ulFYQDWiSX28stqyy8TdeTZJ6_wCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4154_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pGYBFNLiXg0/XzxuJWTWosI/AAAAAAAAwdQ/-TFJocIKphgGPd13t9x12ANHW3J97diDgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4179_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pGYBFNLiXg0/XzxuJWTWosI/AAAAAAAAwdQ/-TFJocIKphgGPd13t9x12ANHW3J97diDgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4179_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gthp5D7kN-Y/XzxuKH71RYI/AAAAAAAAwdU/5YOLrLvdiaIoC5w7RfPoMO0JuTOVlD41QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3297.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gthp5D7kN-Y/XzxuKH71RYI/AAAAAAAAwdU/5YOLrLvdiaIoC5w7RfPoMO0JuTOVlD41QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3297.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OqopdHTub4M/XzxuKv4QPyI/AAAAAAAAwdY/xMKAbggrgIA5yOLQTrSyTNoMZy-xYe6GQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IR%2BNottawasaga%2BRiver%2Band%2BVigo%2BBridge%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OqopdHTub4M/XzxuKv4QPyI/AAAAAAAAwdY/xMKAbggrgIA5yOLQTrSyTNoMZy-xYe6GQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IR%2BNottawasaga%2BRiver%2Band%2BVigo%2BBridge%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Old Shiloh Road Bridge</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2673808,-79.1948328,160m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Old Shiloh Road bridge is still in use in the extreme northeast of York Region. While I was there on August 3, it was crossed by some car or truck every minute or two. Sooner or later, as the area grows more suburban, this bridge will be replaced, but as far as I know, it's safe for now.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOJ6k6Mae_c/XzxufQkMwwI/AAAAAAAAwd4/KX-FaOW84AQwRNpK-qEgENSDTAFAEk8VACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200803_111710.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOJ6k6Mae_c/XzxufQkMwwI/AAAAAAAAwd4/KX-FaOW84AQwRNpK-qEgENSDTAFAEk8VACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200803_111710.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J9ycdPQv90A/Xzxue1Pax-I/AAAAAAAAwdw/ob6Uh_tlkfoTLCNhKbXmHLg6edZ_U_sxQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4411_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J9ycdPQv90A/Xzxue1Pax-I/AAAAAAAAwdw/ob6Uh_tlkfoTLCNhKbXmHLg6edZ_U_sxQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4411_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XDrmw7GICNc/Xzxue3uF7GI/AAAAAAAAwd0/mwSaGytw4NERJCn-YR-pxRWRMwG1ZFCRwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4412_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XDrmw7GICNc/Xzxue3uF7GI/AAAAAAAAwd0/mwSaGytw4NERJCn-YR-pxRWRMwG1ZFCRwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4412_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yPypcaZEV2U/Xzxugy8DzOI/AAAAAAAAweA/T7W1Y7rLXR48Vn4zhIUk0sq2KfgHRcs-QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4416_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yPypcaZEV2U/Xzxugy8DzOI/AAAAAAAAweA/T7W1Y7rLXR48Vn4zhIUk0sq2KfgHRcs-QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4416_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--daSYbWzUcg/Xzxug4aUIwI/AAAAAAAAweE/uL9WLXWVNAcFth_zciDYTehuQuDSLX7fgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4417_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--daSYbWzUcg/Xzxug4aUIwI/AAAAAAAAweE/uL9WLXWVNAcFth_zciDYTehuQuDSLX7fgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4417_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9KyweNpX13c/XzxuhA-WnlI/AAAAAAAAweI/DFse6dat_zYPC__DoZiyf3GpbDlzb4_3wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4429_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9KyweNpX13c/XzxuhA-WnlI/AAAAAAAAweI/DFse6dat_zYPC__DoZiyf3GpbDlzb4_3wCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4429_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ8IbE-IrWY/XzxuizjmN2I/AAAAAAAAweQ/jkrJOuLp5IwnFXjrz5eG2l9i8xjrF0cxACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4438_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ8IbE-IrWY/XzxuizjmN2I/AAAAAAAAweQ/jkrJOuLp5IwnFXjrz5eG2l9i8xjrF0cxACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4438_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JGdxfIHymtc/Xzxui1V3GSI/AAAAAAAAweM/vvh_Q8cX1p0VzhkHjFvmQqXVZvgf8YQ7QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4441_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JGdxfIHymtc/Xzxui1V3GSI/AAAAAAAAweM/vvh_Q8cX1p0VzhkHjFvmQqXVZvgf8YQ7QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4441_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nCm4IoiXfOM/XzxujIX4DaI/AAAAAAAAweU/vgDJ5XURz9Qb6bxXmB3lvfaii_0uf9HyQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4452_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nCm4IoiXfOM/XzxujIX4DaI/AAAAAAAAweU/vgDJ5XURz9Qb6bxXmB3lvfaii_0uf9HyQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4452_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">River Street Bridge</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2002333,-78.9495962,214m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Found in Seagrave near Port Perry in Durham Region, this pony truss bridge once carried Simcoe Street traffic, until it was superseded. But this bridge remained in use. In fact, it's a rare instance of one where the municipality really went to bat to keep it in use. Just a couple of years ago, it was removed, refurbished, and then set back into place with a new lease on life.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6iOdsuXybig/XzyAMnki9vI/AAAAAAAAwnk/N2Av8qX4DosVFUCFdmlnon6h-KVV5KdEQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1698/River%2BStreet%2Bbridge%2Brefurbishment.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1698" data-original-width="833" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6iOdsuXybig/XzyAMnki9vI/AAAAAAAAwnk/N2Av8qX4DosVFUCFdmlnon6h-KVV5KdEQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/River%2BStreet%2Bbridge%2Brefurbishment.png" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I went out to see the bridge for myself on August 3.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dE_1Tc9Dc1A/XzxuzPNjpEI/AAAAAAAAwes/afhbsswEe20o_On8nYGyBxkUMigVZRX4gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200803_122428.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dE_1Tc9Dc1A/XzxuzPNjpEI/AAAAAAAAwes/afhbsswEe20o_On8nYGyBxkUMigVZRX4gCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200803_122428.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CAx6HndcSkA/XzxuyVuaIiI/AAAAAAAAweg/wZsy29Lexgw456A0Dw61jy-3xUDXzplGQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4468_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CAx6HndcSkA/XzxuyVuaIiI/AAAAAAAAweg/wZsy29Lexgw456A0Dw61jy-3xUDXzplGQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4468_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y7KwYkrwb6k/Xzxuzx3drhI/AAAAAAAAwew/U-Qwadjp38k4HbA2KHrcI73LPY3-hfMXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4474_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y7KwYkrwb6k/Xzxuzx3drhI/AAAAAAAAwew/U-Qwadjp38k4HbA2KHrcI73LPY3-hfMXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4474_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CNtUm73WgOw/Xzxu07gLB2I/AAAAAAAAwe4/ZImlmHNIF_g5jGgn9R4xaEwCyiVy28yggCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4483_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1672" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CNtUm73WgOw/Xzxu07gLB2I/AAAAAAAAwe4/ZImlmHNIF_g5jGgn9R4xaEwCyiVy28yggCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4483_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oWo4bVJTFp4/Xzxu2FDd5sI/AAAAAAAAwfA/m3hBw9Rk5R4YGORAS5BgrjQKh45DvPfAwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4484_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1718" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oWo4bVJTFp4/Xzxu2FDd5sI/AAAAAAAAwfA/m3hBw9Rk5R4YGORAS5BgrjQKh45DvPfAwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4484_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QsyEJpq4Hbw/Xzxu2hs4XfI/AAAAAAAAwfE/axyW0QP1RzQOqL5K6RNPygShO4tzD-3QwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4485_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1555" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QsyEJpq4Hbw/Xzxu2hs4XfI/AAAAAAAAwfE/axyW0QP1RzQOqL5K6RNPygShO4tzD-3QwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4485_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lYcG9BL_VBg/Xzxu3pVv3TI/AAAAAAAAwfI/oBlFT2rHl9IwYsKN-In5J9x0UbkK1iL0gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4486_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lYcG9BL_VBg/Xzxu3pVv3TI/AAAAAAAAwfI/oBlFT2rHl9IwYsKN-In5J9x0UbkK1iL0gCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4486_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TX4G-abtmTg/Xzxuy6BQ_GI/AAAAAAAAweo/3_u6G_LENTQHHitukq_ux3LI2sZGgzwdQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200803_123120.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TX4G-abtmTg/Xzxuy6BQ_GI/AAAAAAAAweo/3_u6G_LENTQHHitukq_ux3LI2sZGgzwdQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200803_123120.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></span></div><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K7uyPkoyhFI/Xzxu4TJ_3wI/AAAAAAAAwfM/XxR7PAVZ5nAdROIQIESq1-Ch-nn5obuzgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4488_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K7uyPkoyhFI/Xzxu4TJ_3wI/AAAAAAAAwfM/XxR7PAVZ5nAdROIQIESq1-Ch-nn5obuzgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4488_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Imo0Hnq3ZEE/Xzxu4XX1fBI/AAAAAAAAwfQ/59Q6W5gW1MEtFZuXoibV-K48j3AdX4rSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3456.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Imo0Hnq3ZEE/Xzxu4XX1fBI/AAAAAAAAwfQ/59Q6W5gW1MEtFZuXoibV-K48j3AdX4rSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3456.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nBVkyjTxyKk/Xzxu41ccfOI/AAAAAAAAwfU/ChdJQDsNgIA3dRuXbVLhwc3VFbJhmCyzwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3457.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nBVkyjTxyKk/Xzxu41ccfOI/AAAAAAAAwfU/ChdJQDsNgIA3dRuXbVLhwc3VFbJhmCyzwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3457.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4LB5WLBDFk/Xzxu5Rd3FLI/AAAAAAAAwfY/yp9mEnS_UGA8OV4sel2Lfsv2ehPUxUcOgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3463.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4LB5WLBDFk/Xzxu5Rd3FLI/AAAAAAAAwfY/yp9mEnS_UGA8OV4sel2Lfsv2ehPUxUcOgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3463.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Old Langstaff Road Bridge</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8048392,-79.5825644,122m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Despite its being the closest of the three to my home, I visited this bridge for the first time only this summer, on August 1. Built around 1923, this is one of three Frank Barber bow arch bridges still existing on the Humber River, and, as far as I can tell, the only one for which no active plans to demolish it exist. This bridge carried Langstaff Road east from Islington Avenue till it was replaced by a modern span about 100 metres south sometime in the 1970s, at which point, I assume, it was removed from the road grid.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm surprised York Region isn't taking the refurbishment of this bridge and the trails associated with it more seriously. It's in the middle of a populous suburb, and is at the immediate south end of the Boyd Conservation Area, which is extremely popular with the locals. Clearly they're using this bridge to access it, however unofficially. It seems to me it would make a wonderful pedestrian access if only the region would put a little money into it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-14t4ii4Nu5Y/XzxvI_o_c5I/AAAAAAAAwf8/FhAPbWX2XmcxoM5pjmNIjfuIp-qcS3zPACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200801_111802.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-14t4ii4Nu5Y/XzxvI_o_c5I/AAAAAAAAwf8/FhAPbWX2XmcxoM5pjmNIjfuIp-qcS3zPACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200801_111802.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I_W4yPSveXg/XzxvIgZPS7I/AAAAAAAAwfw/kE9d-dhJ5XcRhu1wDsA6vmGJ_UjDRajnwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200801_112014.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I_W4yPSveXg/XzxvIgZPS7I/AAAAAAAAwfw/kE9d-dhJ5XcRhu1wDsA6vmGJ_UjDRajnwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200801_112014.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SuSQmRXG9Dg/XzxvWofrUBI/AAAAAAAAwhE/607TbtVI9ZINPlZnKht_65KncHsePN7xACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4267_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SuSQmRXG9Dg/XzxvWofrUBI/AAAAAAAAwhE/607TbtVI9ZINPlZnKht_65KncHsePN7xACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4267_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TKSP8sbL2SA/XzxvWq9eCpI/AAAAAAAAwhA/QxVyntGimEwiAZLtyYuSUZLpqAPHSzKBACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4268_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1606" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TKSP8sbL2SA/XzxvWq9eCpI/AAAAAAAAwhA/QxVyntGimEwiAZLtyYuSUZLpqAPHSzKBACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4268_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--vtmC69jxHY/XzxvXU9sUbI/AAAAAAAAwhI/BziKlyTkBacS29wB4Ho4gp_FdfQicpuvACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3363.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--vtmC69jxHY/XzxvXU9sUbI/AAAAAAAAwhI/BziKlyTkBacS29wB4Ho4gp_FdfQicpuvACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3363.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bLOFXIrc-vI/XzxvYNQaSqI/AAAAAAAAwhM/kmLsh7_vtwQ78PzJwX1if5ihYxuxsr-ZACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3378.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bLOFXIrc-vI/XzxvYNQaSqI/AAAAAAAAwhM/kmLsh7_vtwQ78PzJwX1if5ihYxuxsr-ZACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3378.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QkD54X5PF7w/XzxvYcd-ioI/AAAAAAAAwhQ/QHOCRMGN90EaXFK3x3i1pRygkQB2I334QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3379.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QkD54X5PF7w/XzxvYcd-ioI/AAAAAAAAwhQ/QHOCRMGN90EaXFK3x3i1pRygkQB2I334QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3379.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">McEwen Bridge on Kirby Road</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8604401,-79.6665083,147m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is another Frank Barber bow arch on the Humber. I was first out to see it on a rainy September Saturday back in 2006. Built around 1923, this bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic since the 1970s when a landslide dropped part of Kirby Road down into the Humber River below. Reading between the lines on the sign at the trail head, it appears that, despite being in comparatively good shape (at least to my eye), this bridge looks like it's about to be pulled down and replaced by some modern pedestrian bridge in support of the trail that this stretch of Kirby Road has become. This bridge is now closed off by mesh fencing at both ends, but it hardly presents a real obstacle to crossing the bridge by foot. I was down there on August 1, and was actually just a few dozen steps behind another photographer.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fIy2lx38xpE/XzxvuIkR6fI/AAAAAAAAwhw/uYoPWeoRLC09nldBxCi14ycTo3oqgBQJQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200801_124744.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fIy2lx38xpE/XzxvuIkR6fI/AAAAAAAAwhw/uYoPWeoRLC09nldBxCi14ycTo3oqgBQJQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200801_124744.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WvlTM6f3OGk/XzxvvjY5-dI/AAAAAAAAwh4/KcgKwodicWUv0f9Cqbpdf7RXcB2T76-AACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200801_125457.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WvlTM6f3OGk/XzxvvjY5-dI/AAAAAAAAwh4/KcgKwodicWUv0f9Cqbpdf7RXcB2T76-AACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200801_125457.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3usdvDoWc8/Xzxv5wqjywI/AAAAAAAAwi4/Y6y44qgp9NowusleNPtZjHIxQFQiMaffgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4364_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S3usdvDoWc8/Xzxv5wqjywI/AAAAAAAAwi4/Y6y44qgp9NowusleNPtZjHIxQFQiMaffgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4364_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MtOlMimwaW8/Xzxv67aBmCI/AAAAAAAAwi8/NuEXWu4GYrovqLzhtAaMoExZY3N6NGN7QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4366_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MtOlMimwaW8/Xzxv67aBmCI/AAAAAAAAwi8/NuEXWu4GYrovqLzhtAaMoExZY3N6NGN7QCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4366_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KrWlFETevR8/Xzxv7qScALI/AAAAAAAAwjA/iEDq9AZKCmYf7B7N5WiqcCPRt6ZHuaojQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4369_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KrWlFETevR8/Xzxv7qScALI/AAAAAAAAwjA/iEDq9AZKCmYf7B7N5WiqcCPRt6ZHuaojQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4369_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2qFSalBYIM/Xzxv77zsxhI/AAAAAAAAwjE/5QZh6TmJKz0eccoE5v2LPNzeeMjL2nYJACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3398.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2qFSalBYIM/Xzxv77zsxhI/AAAAAAAAwjE/5QZh6TmJKz0eccoE5v2LPNzeeMjL2nYJACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3398.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JJ1unXBUNn8/Xzxv8nDW8AI/AAAAAAAAwjI/BCiRCzbAUioUQho2nRpBb63NTH0u2gS_wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3404.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JJ1unXBUNn8/Xzxv8nDW8AI/AAAAAAAAwjI/BCiRCzbAUioUQho2nRpBb63NTH0u2gS_wCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3404.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kr6M6_zVwOI/Xzxv85LASbI/AAAAAAAAwjM/gZ455aXm71kUvukt6BF7m4SaUACsJYslwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3412.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kr6M6_zVwOI/Xzxv85LASbI/AAAAAAAAwjM/gZ455aXm71kUvukt6BF7m4SaUACsJYslwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3412.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Old Major Mackenzie Bridge on Humber Bridge Trail</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8301859,-79.6286167,265m/data=!3m1!1e3" target="_blank">See it here...</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've been out to this bridge something like a dozen times since 2013 or so. Up until 2018, you could actually drive across it. Prior to about 1990, this was the original course of Major Mackenzie Drive, which has since bypassed it about a kilometre to the south, creating a dogleg at Hwy 27, a new course correction of which is currently under construction and will open soon. A terrible sharp switchback, running immediately to the left of the house below, used to carry traffic down to the river to the one-lane bow arch designed and built by Frank Barber around 1914. Since 1990, the bridge has existed merely to serve the people living at the house, number 5789, shown below. The bridge was in bad shape, and York Region could either have spent an estimated $800 thousand to $1.7 million to refurbish it, or buy the house and tear it and the bridge down. They opted for the latter, and in 2017, the region bought the house for $1.28 million. This summer, they are both being torn down.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">P-Doug and I were out there on April 11, where a guy living just the other side of the river broke the news to us that he'd heard the house and bridge were going to be demolished.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cORHKtM1d-Y/XzxwmdudakI/AAAAAAAAwkw/k1rbDSEUkgYXGDY3STqcUe7_7lKO9fe2ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF7523_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cORHKtM1d-Y/XzxwmdudakI/AAAAAAAAwkw/k1rbDSEUkgYXGDY3STqcUe7_7lKO9fe2ACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF7523_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-voVJTVywkPg/XzxwmRAUuBI/AAAAAAAAwk0/CbuRphgn7Bof4suCeTohORxH3ljbm7VCgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF7526_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-voVJTVywkPg/XzxwmRAUuBI/AAAAAAAAwk0/CbuRphgn7Bof4suCeTohORxH3ljbm7VCgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF7526_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHAWDqicTdU/XzxwmwihHqI/AAAAAAAAwk4/X71eK2Gj5FEklRyi40_xrLVyQ0Zmt-d_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF7542_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHAWDqicTdU/XzxwmwihHqI/AAAAAAAAwk4/X71eK2Gj5FEklRyi40_xrLVyQ0Zmt-d_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF7542_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wz4DM4Shwyw/XzxwuyKzZ8I/AAAAAAAAwlw/Bq0ov6SaTPckRt0fpDlmZIsmyuwb5rdXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8682_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wz4DM4Shwyw/XzxwuyKzZ8I/AAAAAAAAwlw/Bq0ov6SaTPckRt0fpDlmZIsmyuwb5rdXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8682_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br style="text-align: left;" /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VA99413IFEM/Xzxwva2cCdI/AAAAAAAAwl0/Z3t5jzIJnG4K2pVrPxtpLkionid2TWmTgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8687_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1555" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VA99413IFEM/Xzxwva2cCdI/AAAAAAAAwl0/Z3t5jzIJnG4K2pVrPxtpLkionid2TWmTgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8687_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br style="text-align: left;" /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-302BarNcYow/XzxwwdNYKOI/AAAAAAAAwl4/bZVqF4sXemQoHrMEbFqvzybLcQ29xOjcgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8689_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-302BarNcYow/XzxwwdNYKOI/AAAAAAAAwl4/bZVqF4sXemQoHrMEbFqvzybLcQ29xOjcgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8689_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br style="text-align: left;" /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TbaxtAdTe4I/XzxwxQArAZI/AAAAAAAAwl8/EfufzWoikHguDki4OkLIQahCuCOKBEMMgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8692_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TbaxtAdTe4I/XzxwxQArAZI/AAAAAAAAwl8/EfufzWoikHguDki4OkLIQahCuCOKBEMMgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8692_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3iHSEVr_cE0/XzxwqWKztnI/AAAAAAAAwlM/DqVi6vA2cCIYwTtoWd8GjHuAfQMNYZGhgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF7557_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3iHSEVr_cE0/XzxwqWKztnI/AAAAAAAAwlM/DqVi6vA2cCIYwTtoWd8GjHuAfQMNYZGhgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF7557_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">P-Doug and I went back on August 1st. Sure enough, there was construction... or maybe "deconstruction" would be more appropriate... equipment was on site. It appeared that what we'd heard in April was indeed the case. This venerable old bridge, one of the remaining few designed by Frank Barber, was, apparently, about to be torn down.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8jYV--UDCAw/Xzxwbd9y-FI/AAAAAAAAwj0/IXCQTcDrdK0uUTZ3xpPvoMb_gkQq5UObgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200801_121705.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8jYV--UDCAw/Xzxwbd9y-FI/AAAAAAAAwj0/IXCQTcDrdK0uUTZ3xpPvoMb_gkQq5UObgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200801_121705.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb9vIyhwZ24/Xzxwb3IblDI/AAAAAAAAwj8/Z8d6aUnGJOEvRfPK7BSppQGY7QAISfNggCNcBGAsYHQ/s2541/20200801_122329.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1237" data-original-width="2541" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb9vIyhwZ24/Xzxwb3IblDI/AAAAAAAAwj8/Z8d6aUnGJOEvRfPK7BSppQGY7QAISfNggCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200801_122329.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The house at 5789 was still standing, but of course, if the bridge was due to be removed, the house had to go first. The closed part of the original course of Major Mackenzie Drive (faintly visible here as the rise to the left of the trees) had been closed around 1990, so the bridge was the only remaining way to get at the house.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DDhripV8Pl8/XzxwaddnN1I/AAAAAAAAwjw/9NDMnK2NXNAzmFh_AYnVumq2IfTzIgWxgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4276_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DDhripV8Pl8/XzxwaddnN1I/AAAAAAAAwjw/9NDMnK2NXNAzmFh_AYnVumq2IfTzIgWxgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4276_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbEILx9Jisc/Xzxwxu8EANI/AAAAAAAAwmA/6nvRb_NGTuQ0gvTn_dqE3DKtF9HfHdg7ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3391.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbEILx9Jisc/Xzxwxu8EANI/AAAAAAAAwmA/6nvRb_NGTuQ0gvTn_dqE3DKtF9HfHdg7ACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3391.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igjvYwKS33s/Xzxwcpzoc_I/AAAAAAAAwkA/lY1mkVHWynsnYuwThklc11vZdbjwwiOqACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4290_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igjvYwKS33s/Xzxwcpzoc_I/AAAAAAAAwkA/lY1mkVHWynsnYuwThklc11vZdbjwwiOqACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4290_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFn3YHpS-i8/Xzxwd3XtLgI/AAAAAAAAwkE/cfZmoStEi90_WJTsZf-VuPEbCAQwVlpqQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4292_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFn3YHpS-i8/Xzxwd3XtLgI/AAAAAAAAwkE/cfZmoStEi90_WJTsZf-VuPEbCAQwVlpqQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4292_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K2kcQzkdTN0/XzxwfZSnoaI/AAAAAAAAwkI/voUG3FpI8_U3R1DgQ0ux8jwn8OnuG_OSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4301_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K2kcQzkdTN0/XzxwfZSnoaI/AAAAAAAAwkI/voUG3FpI8_U3R1DgQ0ux8jwn8OnuG_OSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4301_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">After being out there, I searched the net to see if there was any news backing all this up. Turned out there was.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gta1hCkuGVY/Xzx5zvtXudI/AAAAAAAAwnE/um3PnC83D9IubDWtfCd0H2-Io_NKvUASQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1118/Bridge%2Bdemo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="827" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gta1hCkuGVY/Xzx5zvtXudI/AAAAAAAAwnE/um3PnC83D9IubDWtfCd0H2-Io_NKvUASQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Bridge%2Bdemo.png" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I also found other corroborating information from the region itself revealing the plan to be definite. </span>Knowing we had to keep an eye on things, we returned on August 15. The bridge was in its shroud.</div><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JYUGi_VhBdY/XzxwfnYKSoI/AAAAAAAAwkM/GnJC5gMjzGct-ThgX1nlAnJLQeTr6K2DACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4521_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JYUGi_VhBdY/XzxwfnYKSoI/AAAAAAAAwkM/GnJC5gMjzGct-ThgX1nlAnJLQeTr6K2DACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4521_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KlsQgyCG_84/Xzxwf0tPROI/AAAAAAAAwkQ/dRJl43TOE_w2vny7-TKx3f-S2bo8ufLYACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4523_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KlsQgyCG_84/Xzxwf0tPROI/AAAAAAAAwkQ/dRJl43TOE_w2vny7-TKx3f-S2bo8ufLYACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4523_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAFhPdfyFTU/XzxwhWx4mTI/AAAAAAAAwkU/st4tZcNYzwM35NbXM79hcGNoX6E54KX2ACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4537_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAFhPdfyFTU/XzxwhWx4mTI/AAAAAAAAwkU/st4tZcNYzwM35NbXM79hcGNoX6E54KX2ACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4537_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The house, which had been built sometime in the 1960s, had been torn down.</span></div><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g8tMdccClBk/XzxwiMbruHI/AAAAAAAAwkY/9TgwSJmP2uIRmg96qhfJphBzUrE9YA_VwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4551_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g8tMdccClBk/XzxwiMbruHI/AAAAAAAAwkY/9TgwSJmP2uIRmg96qhfJphBzUrE9YA_VwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4551_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XIxnokAJoQ/XzxwigA497I/AAAAAAAAwkc/M9uDmR3wzUc7HM26fh26zQNFsKh1kSTOQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4563_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XIxnokAJoQ/XzxwigA497I/AAAAAAAAwkc/M9uDmR3wzUc7HM26fh26zQNFsKh1kSTOQCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4563_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTIb-7TkeXE/Xzxwj_9e_qI/AAAAAAAAwkg/XRAs-oh5_ykATRMLeyKKP2XNKtmjYdtlgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4594_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTIb-7TkeXE/Xzxwj_9e_qI/AAAAAAAAwkg/XRAs-oh5_ykATRMLeyKKP2XNKtmjYdtlgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4594_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back in late 2013, I tried to hike up the old closed switchback of the original course of Major Mackenzie drive. It was rough going then, and fallen trees stopped me about 2/3 of the way up. This time, it was hard to tell there'd ever been a road at all, and I didn't get more than a a few dozen yards up the lower slope before I simply had to stop. I don't think anyone will ever again follow the original course of Major Mack up the slope to the neighbourhood just off to the left, high above.</span></div><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mGYEUKh9kMs/XzxwksobJRI/AAAAAAAAwkk/aki4UA6NTpQY9wtf1gHrlQgd3Qxs1ukDwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4597_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1545" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mGYEUKh9kMs/XzxwksobJRI/AAAAAAAAwkk/aki4UA6NTpQY9wtf1gHrlQgd3Qxs1ukDwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4597_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">At one time, this was something like the view you'd have had turning from the bottom of the switchback onto the straight course of Major Mack again. That's the bridge in the medium distance. The driveway to 5789 is just there on the left.</span></div><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--CJ9V-bbQrk/XzxwlCG6FyI/AAAAAAAAwko/xUgx3Z7ZBfc07fjXQ6YlbQB9pPKmwDY5wCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4612_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--CJ9V-bbQrk/XzxwlCG6FyI/AAAAAAAAwko/xUgx3Z7ZBfc07fjXQ6YlbQB9pPKmwDY5wCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4612_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0u5xaDuiSxE/XzxwmGs3FeI/AAAAAAAAwks/UO4FsKETxlYl0_ZCG_1uP0nr1PIbA3GbwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF4621_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0u5xaDuiSxE/XzxwmGs3FeI/AAAAAAAAwks/UO4FsKETxlYl0_ZCG_1uP0nr1PIbA3GbwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF4621_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">P-Doug went to clean the mud off his sandals and discovered the intricate scaffolding holding the bridge up to support the heavy equipment crossing it... the last traffic it will ever carry. This bridge is due to be gone by October, according to the contract.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ji9hExxJhIA/Xzxwq03-q9I/AAAAAAAAwlQ/Cjg2yIrZ3IsOqkAEbPTCdI_CAdDIAtLAACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8599_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1730" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ji9hExxJhIA/Xzxwq03-q9I/AAAAAAAAwlQ/Cjg2yIrZ3IsOqkAEbPTCdI_CAdDIAtLAACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8599_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMxZsuWTnos/XzxwrLY1bFI/AAAAAAAAwlU/TS27LEFw3_I6iS4JiS1U3dRzA-z1ixPOwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8600_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMxZsuWTnos/XzxwrLY1bFI/AAAAAAAAwlU/TS27LEFw3_I6iS4JiS1U3dRzA-z1ixPOwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8600_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fv5sxCwWcTQ/Xzxwscu18II/AAAAAAAAwlY/UJd88H2AHF08QGtfxagyW8LPP6ygZLfuwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8601_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fv5sxCwWcTQ/Xzxwscu18II/AAAAAAAAwlY/UJd88H2AHF08QGtfxagyW8LPP6ygZLfuwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8601_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kp0VRt2Ca_A/Xzxws_FPnyI/AAAAAAAAwlc/SSDXaGMJxzIfWW5U6SwKp5Wi3cvUeolZgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8602_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kp0VRt2Ca_A/Xzxws_FPnyI/AAAAAAAAwlc/SSDXaGMJxzIfWW5U6SwKp5Wi3cvUeolZgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8602_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C8SSn_wwMng/XzxwtPVw3wI/AAAAAAAAwlg/6p68siuwoEAZMGn6NDMISpraRlxzSNXNACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8605_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1545" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C8SSn_wwMng/XzxwtPVw3wI/AAAAAAAAwlg/6p68siuwoEAZMGn6NDMISpraRlxzSNXNACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8605_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aMpPYl7diSo/XzxwuEdcHUI/AAAAAAAAwlk/sfvzZv8z2FAYpToNZge6oKH-LZM3xntSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8606_l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aMpPYl7diSo/XzxwuEdcHUI/AAAAAAAAwlk/sfvzZv8z2FAYpToNZge6oKH-LZM3xntSwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8606_l.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L8-cvww8UpY/XzxwuyzfP9I/AAAAAAAAwls/HaFBRRS9_2M16pWhxcsbJ_h7_jJGORydwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCF8607_r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L8-cvww8UpY/XzxwuyzfP9I/AAAAAAAAwls/HaFBRRS9_2M16pWhxcsbJ_h7_jJGORydwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSCF8607_r.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-27762685189200660192020-05-27T14:28:00.000-05:002020-05-27T14:28:02.221-05:00The New Ways<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's now the end of May, and my surgery was three months ago yesterday if you go by dates, or thirteen weeks ago today if you're counting that way. We're in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was just a rumour when I was having my surgery (I think, but I'm not sure, that case #1 in Canada was detected that day, in British Columbia). I've been working from home since March 13th. We've had a really awful spring, right up to scatterings of snow as late as May 9th... something I've never seen before... but at last, the warm weather is here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can't tell you might weight now. I threw my scales out just before things really got going. I knew I'd just be stepping on the things every day or even more, checking checking checking. Getting depressed if the numbers stayed the same or went up a bit, and getting cocky if they went down. So, this time, I'm just trying to eat sensibly, and once a week or so, going into the spare room to the closet there to see that fits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For about 15 years, I maintained what I came to call my "hope chest". This was cardboard box of clothes I'd gotten too fat to wear, but wanted to hold onto so I could wear again, one day. Slowly, some of these shirts and pants are moving from impossible to too tight to wear in public to hmm, yes, I think I could just wear these now. Every few weeks, something else moves into the realm of a hope fulfilled. That's the only real measure I have.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are other ones. I don't mind moderate-length walks anything like I used to. Now that the good weather's finally here, I really enjoy them if the setting is nice. A friend of mine in Hamilton has for a while now been suggesting we should hike Mt. Albion Road, a street that holds some interest for me because I'd driven it in the past but its upper portion has been closed to traffic for several years now. This was a daunting prospect for me because it gets fairly steep towards the end. But a couple of weekends ago he and I and another of our friends took it on, and though I was a bit winded by the time we made it to the top, I could still speak on the way up. Now, that's something I really don't think I could have done last autumn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I was getting pretty rough by the end of 2019. I had a job interview downtown at the beginning of December (oddly enough, for the job I have now). Getting there involved climbing a couple of flights of stairs (let's say 30-40 steps, maybe?) out of the subway station, and then a walk of three short blocks to the office. I had to stop part way and catch my breath. My lower back was in agony. When I arrived, it took me five minutes to catch my breath. That was genuinely disturbing, even a little scary. I was glad I'd started the ball rolling on bariatric surgery a half a year earlier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I got the job. Now I was faced with the same thing every morning! I realized pride was not my friend here and I reluctantly bought a back brace... a sort of girdle... to manage my bad back. I took the bus to the parallel line downtown and the subway up to the station on the other side of the office... It has an elevator, and it's only two blocks to the office. It added another 10 minutes to the commute, but it made it possible. Even with the brace, the first couple of weeks my back was shot, both going to work and walking home from the bus stop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wore the brace for the first five weeks on the job. By that time, I was taking Optifast four times a day as my meals. Weight came off reasonably quickly. Eventually I could manage without the back brace. I suppose that was two or three weeks before the surgery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Almost immediately after my surgery, though, COVID-19 reared its head and aside from four days, I haven't been back downtown to the office since. Now, though, I'm wondering about taking the subway to the first station again and seeing if I can manage the stairs. Maybe even forget the subway and walk from the bus stop to the office... it's about a mile, I think. Good moderate exercise, and if I follow the line, I always have the option if I think it's too much for me. I don't think it would be, now, though. I think I might be able to manage it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Interesting things along the way... Well, the most interesting thing, if I can call it that. There's something you're prone to after R en Y surgery called "dumping syndrome". It's probably not what you're thinking. What it refers to is eating too much, or too fast, and your smaller stomach being forced to dump food right into the small intestine. If it's too fatty, or more particularly, too sugary, your small intestine has a problem dealing with it. The sugar causes an insulin reaction and that draws water out of the walls of your intestine while the food makes its way through. Well, that happened to me two weeks to the day after the surgery. I waited too late to eat; my eyes were bigger than my stomach; and bang. Around 8 p.m. I started feeling it. Really bad cramps. I could feel the food slowly making its way along. It was a somewhat sharper pain than I'm used to in abdominal cramps. I went to bed and tossed and turned and moaned. It was not fun. It was tolerable, but only just. It was past 11 before it eased up enough that I could sleep. I do keep a close eye on the sugar content of things now, and I do my best not to drink anything till half an hour after a meal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile, complicating things a little, I'm also wearing Invisaligns at the moment. These are clear plastic braces, if you will. Every week, sometimes every two, you put in a new set, and they slowly conduct your teeth into new, straighter positions. My teeth have always been a bit crooked, and on the bottom, very crowded, even since I started getting my adult teeth. One morning in December I woke up with a severe pain in my right jaw that made it very hard to chew for about three days. It probably had something to do with the CPAP machine (another big change, since November), but I was reminded of advice in my 20s that I should get my teeth straightened because otherwise, I could start developing hairline cracks in my jaw in my 60s. Well, I was 51 going on 52 when that happened, so I finally got serious about getting this done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's weird having these things in your mouth pretty much all the time, but at the same time, you kind of get used to it. There are a lot of small inconveniences you just eventually adapt to, I suppose, and this turns out to be one of them. I'm a bit past half way right now, and I can't complain much about the upper teeth. My left front tooth used to slightly overlap the right and I felt it always gave me a country bumpkin kind of look that made me embarrassed to smile. The four upper front teeth are now pretty close to being in line, and I'm genuinely pleased with how much better they look. The bottom ones are still crowded, and even when this is over at the end of 6 months, they still won't be completely straight. But they'll be much closer to it.That should be good enough, I think.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The bottom trays tend to warp on me. I think they've gotten a little ahead of where they've actually managed to drag the teeth, so the company is currently reworking the therapy (ostensibly) on the basis of moulds I made for them about a week ago and sent back. It was interesting. They sent this package with four U-shaped trays and four sets of two little tubs of silly putty kinda stuff. You knead the two substances together over 30 seconds, and then roll it into a snake and put it into the trays. Then you put your teeth into it for two and a half minutes. The stuff starts to set 90 seconds after you start kneading it, so this is more or less a 4-minute process. I did this four times; two for the upper teeth and two for the bottoms. They were pretty firm by the time I drew them out. Then I FedExed them back. We'll see what becomes of all this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, anyway, there you go. Three different projects all at the same time in the hopes of improving my health: sleeping using a CPAP machine, straightening and uncrowding my teeth with Invisaligns, and trying to shed as much of my extra weight as I can with better eating and a smaller stomach. Every one of them has paid some dividends.</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-17235892533200242882020-02-28T15:24:00.003-05:002020-02-28T15:24:45.373-05:00On the other sideWell, it's done. Done and done. As I sit here, I've been home just shy of 24 hours now. Starting to feel a little bit like normal. Most of the gas seems to have subsided, which was the main discomfort.<br />
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I'm home with a fair number of prescriptions. I have these needles that inject blood-thinner, but they're really fine and you inject your lower belly so you don't really feel it. Done it twice now; have seven more to go. I have these capsules I have to break open and spread on yogurt or apple sauce each morning for 6 months as a preventative to ulcers. After that, it's pretty much just vitamins. A daily multivitamin I've been taking anyway, a B12 every two days, and calcium citrate and D3 three times a day. Ehn, okay. So I'm a pill guy now. At least none it's prescriptions after 6 months. Oh, and children's Tylenol syrup for the next two weeks, as needed. For the moment, I'm taking it every 8 hours needed or not, just to be on the safe side.<br />
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It's kind of astonishing how quickly all this went, now that I think about it. 48 hours ago right now, I'd already been out of surgery for nearly a six hours, and in my own room for about 3. I went in at pretty much exactly 8. My folks and P-Doug were there and P-Doug was getting updates on his phone, so I know that surgery started at 8:13, and I was sewn up at 9:35, I think. That's amazingly quick. I remember the anesthesiologist saying "you're going to start feeling a little drowsy", and looking around, thinking about stuff. I never felt drowsy. It was like a light switch. About 11:15 I woke up. Saw my mom about 11:45. Got moved to my room just after noon, when my folks both came in to see me before heading home to Hamilton.<br />
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That room was pretty great. It was just for one person. I thought you had to pay extra for that kind of thing. Had its own bathroom/shower. I watched CP24 for a little over a day so I was all up on the local news. The cat up the phone pole who had to be rescued in Etobicoke. The shitty weather. The folks running to head the federal Conservative Party and the Ontario Liberal Party. The guy who went postal at the brewery in Milwaukee. And umpteen commercials for guys who want your gold, chase ambulances, or counsel your debt.<br />
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My heartbeat was fairly elevated in the evening, between 90 and 115, and they were concerned, but I was like, "My heart always races when I have gas pains; it make me anxious." The fact that the machine was going off every time it got above 90 only made the anxiety worse; it was a vicious circle. When they came in every hour hours to check me at night, yeah, it was between 66 and 72. Of course. I wasn't worked up. I was asleep. I couldn't believe this was something unusual to them. The blood pressure was good; in the 110s to 120 over 70s. Even I'm surprised I've managed to hold onto that, and I'm hoping having done this lets me keep it. I think I mentioned I found out recently that Larry had something like 225 over something, which is astonishing. He's managed to get his weight back down under 200.<br />
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My first meal? Cream of Wheat and some berry Greek yogurt. Managed to eat about a third of it with no problems. Lunch was cream of tomato soup and chocolate pudding. I got through most of the soup, and nibbled at the pudding. I didn't want to go crazy, but I had to have me some of that pudding. :) Around 1:30 they officially released me, so I called P-Doug and he arrive a bit before 3. Got in my civvies and checked out, then got my prescriptions. Then came home. P-Doug and I shot the breeze till 7 or so, tried some of the pho broth I bought, and then I hit the hay about 8. Woke up a few times, sipped water, got up for good a little after 6. I'm feeling sort of back to normal at the moment.<br />
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Anyway, in the meantime, I lost 20 lbs, most of it during the Optifast regimen. So there's that, anyway. I have to say, I enjoyed the Optifast. It was like drinking thin cake mix. :) I only departed from it a few times. I had two cups of the chili I made... I just had to chew something... had a 750 ml tub of no fat no sugar Greek yogurt I experimented with with my syrups and stuff; and last weekend when I was out with P-Doug and Larry I had a Greek salad with some slicked chicken on it. A farewell to solid food for a while, but not some guilt-ridden blow-out like a couple Apache burgers or something. :) I felt fine about it. It helped 'move things along', too, if you know what I mean. Otherwise, I was pretty much true to the Optifast.<br />
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Anyway, blah blah blah. So, that's that. It's actually done. Not just speculation, not just something a few months down the road... it's an irrevocable part of life moving forward. Time to make the best of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-62984493171563319422020-02-24T14:24:00.002-05:002020-02-24T14:30:47.011-05:00On the verge of bariatric surgeryWell, here we are.<br />
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I meant, as always over the past six or seven years, to be a more frequent flier on this blog. But, hey, I’m back.<br />
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I think the last thing I had to say here was that I was getting my ducks in a row for bariatric surgery. Those ducks hatch on Wednesday, a little less than 48 hours from now. I’m a little nervous, of course. By tomorrow night I’ll be a wreck. But by Thursday afternoon, if all goes well, it’ll be a matter of healing and adapting to the new normal. And concentrating on using that advantage to lose the weight.<br />
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I look back at this blog 15 years to when I was telling myself to get serious about swatting the weight away back when I was 215 lbs. Part of me is angry at myself for not doing that. But I’ve grown older and more realistic and I’ve come to realize that yes, part of my problem is the way my body works. During those years, even when I was careful, my weight typically went up about 5-10 lbs a year. Waist size went up every couple of years. Every time I went on a diet and hit a plateau, it simply seemed to exacerbate the problem and the propensity to regain the weight.<br />
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As recently as 2016, I had my weight back down to the 250s. But I plateaued, as always, couldn’t face the scale, and went back to eating “normally”. Now I want to be clear here. I eat the same sized portions as everyone else. I don’t keep snacks and desserts around my place because I know better. I almost never order dessert when I’m out, either. But I drink beer with the guys on the weekends. I eat fries on the weekends. There were places where, yeah, I’m responsible for being overweight. But not this overweight. I learned recently that when I first started this process, I was weighing in at 330 lbs. It was mortifying to find that out and I’m reluctant to even admit it. That’s the fattest I’ve ever been, to my knowledge.<br />
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And it doesn’t seem fair to me, and it doesn’t seem right. I don’t eat a lot of rich food. I don’t take sugar in anything… pop, coffee, tea; nothing. I typically have one sandwich (and I mean cold cuts between two slices of bread, not something huge) for lunch. I look at the things other people eat and I wonder why, how, they can do that and not look like me. But this is my cross to bear.<br />
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So, surgery on Wednesday. And keeping an eye on everything from then on, partly enforced by the twin cops of a smaller stomach and the threat of dumping syndrome, which I’m led to understand is highly unpleasant.<br />
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So what was the course to getting here? I guess things got rolling for real around August or September, when I started going to Humber River Hospital for various appointments. One was with a cardiologist, who set me up with a sleep study, which led to my being told I have very severe sleep apnea. Not really a surprise. To be honest, I should have done something about that on my own years ago. Anyway, that was addressed, and I wound up with CPAP machine that I’ve been using ever since November (actually, initially, it was a spare in Ohio a friend brought me on a visit). I’ve been sleeping better, not dozing off during the day, and even things like my psoriasis largely clearing up have been benefits. It was getting bad, though. I was dozing off during lulls in conversations. People were noticing. They were concerned. So was I, to tell the truth.<br />
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Related to that, one morning I woke up with the left side of my jaw so sore I could barely chew for three or four days. I remembered a dentist telling me in my 20s I needed to get my teeth straightened, or I risked getting hairline fractures in my jaw in my 60s. That kind of scared me, so despite being unemployed at the time (a story for a different time), I looked into Invisalign. As it turned out, a US-based company that did it for a lot less had recently come to Canada. Their model is to 3d-model your teeth, design the aligners you’ll need for 4-10 months, and send them to you all at once. The savings is that you’re not constantly going in for expensive consultations. So, I signed up, and I’m 5 weeks in. My program lasts 6 months, till the end of August. After that, I’ll wear a retainer at night.<br />
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Okay, so. All the other things I needed to do were out of the way, so the cardiologist signed off early in December, and later that week I was given my surgery date: February 26th. Which is Wednesday, now. For the past three weeks, I’ve been living largely off Optifast (aside from two cups of chili, 750 ml of Greek yogurt, and a Greek salad with a couple ounces of chicken breast). The idea here is to de-fat my liver so that they can get under it more easily. Hopefully that’s been accomplished. I have to say, though, I think I’m going to miss Optifast. It’s not bad. It’s like drinking thin cake mix. I’ve certainly had worse.<br />
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The surgery I’m getting is roux-en-y (often abbreviated to “RNY”). This is the one where most of the stomach is sectioned off, leaving a much smaller one (initially about the size of an egg, though eventually it expands to hold about 2 cups, I’m told) that connects directly to the small intestine. The rest of the stomach is connected to the small intestine further down. This is the surgery that’s supposed to give the best results and can help you lose 70% of the weight you have and helps you to keep it off by limiting the amount of food you can eat, and how fast you can stuff it down. The process of the surgery itself is larposcopic. This means rather than cutting you wide open, a series of small incisions is made, and the surgery is done using small tools and cameras, promoting faster healing and a lot less scarring.<br />
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I’m going to be about a month getting back to eating “real” solid food again. Then the process of figuring out what I can eat and tolerate begins. Reputedly, the weight loss for the first 6 months is pretty rapid. I have to say, that’s the one thing in all of this I’m looking forward to. I want to be willing and able to get out and get around this summer in the way I used to. I used to really enjoy getting out in the summer, and I still do, but not as much or as often or with the same gusto as before. And it’s not just because I’m older. It’s because moving around at this weight isn’t that much fun. Getting winded from things you used to take for granted isn’t, either.<br />
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I intend, and I believe I will be true to this, not to torture myself by using a scale. I mean to completely ignore it. I have a boatload of old clothes that I’ve been dying to get back into for years, and that’s how I’m going to measure progress. When X fits, I’ll know the weight’s gone down. The scale is just numbers, and they can vary widely and be off because of water retention, and the discouragement can send you fleeing to bad habits again. But what you can wear and what you can do are objective, practical realities, and that’s where my focus is going to be. I’m going to throw out my bathroom scale(s) and not be bothered by that temptation. I’ll just do the very best I can and let the life changes be the indicators.<br />
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So, if you happen by this, please wish me well, and remind me to update this thing more often. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-79602953058748179152019-05-31T06:33:00.004-05:002019-05-31T06:33:23.082-05:00Bathurst Street gap, Holland Marsh/East GwillimburyRather than completely restate myself, I would like to direct you who pass by to the following entry I made on Urban Toronto recently...<br />
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<a href="https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/bathurst-street-gap-holland-marsh-east-gwillimbury.30025/" target="_blank">Bathurst Street gap, Holland Marsh/East Gwillimbury</a></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-8535427631269611192019-05-22T08:06:00.000-05:002019-05-22T09:28:46.330-05:00Of Labour and LardWhen last we left our hero, namely me, he was taking about a dream of being in the US Senate. In a previous entry, mentioned working contract for a government ministry. Okay. Well, when the Senate dream happened, I’d already moved on to working contract for CIBC, one of the banks here in Canada. I did that from the beginning of August to the end of November, by which time I’d landed my first full-time job in a couple of years. Currently I’m working as a tech writer at a small software company in central Mississauga, about 20 miles west of where I live in Toronto.<br /><br />Toronto’s not an easy city to get around in, and this drive is a bear, especially on the way home. Between you and me, I have my eye on another position that’s somewhat closer to home. They’ve said they’re interested and are ‘putting an offer together’, but a long weekend and a workday later, I still haven’t seen anything. The drive’s not that much better, and unless they bump my salary up considerably, I’ll probably stay put and keep looking.<br /><br />Okay, that’s the job thing. The more personal aspect is my weight. If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you’ll know that’s a perennial favourite topic. I’m embarrassed to tell you what I weigh now. Maybe someday I’ll fess up. Suffice it to say, it’s awful. Will power’s just been a rollercoaster for me ever since I got my weight down to something sensible with Harvey Brooker back in the early days of the century. But I’ve never been able to keep it there.<br /><br />I came to realization in, well, March, I guess, that I really need help above and beyond. For the first time, I thought seriously about bariatric surgery. Stomach bypass. So, I went into a clinic near my house to see if they’d take me on and give me a recommendation to the clinics who do these things. They referred me to another clinic nearby that actually does serve as a family doctor. So over I went a couple of weeks later.<br /><br />They did take me on and the doctor agreed, I fit the profile and he’d give me a recommendation. Asked for some bloodwork to be done. Never easy for me; I’m so phobic about blood I nearly pass out whenever I do this, but got through it. Everything was fine, aside from some protein leakage into my urine and my blood pressure being a little high (no surprises there), but apparently not so high that he gave me a prescription for anything.<br /><br />Ever since then, though, it’s been rolling a rock up a hill to get this party started. I had to do all the research for the clinic to find a place. Then they buggered off on a two-week vacation without forwarding my recommendation. Finally, when they got back, they sent it in it (or, at least, told me they did). From what I understand, the Ontario Bariatric Network is supposed to contact me and start the process. But as yet, I haven’t heard a word.<br /><br />The OBN is a set of hospitals across Ontario, but mostly in Toronto, who do bariatric surgery. They were organized by the Ministry of Health back sometime ago, because the province recognizes that helping people get their weight down can head off a lot of expensive and debilitating illnesses, which I am hoping to avoid by doing so. OHIP covers the surgery in Ontario, so it’s very much in my interests to get things moving. I know I’m never going to be some Adonis, but getting back to, and staying at, a weight where I’m comfortable again and I can buy clothes off the rack in regular stores again... that’s going to be like a miracle. I just wish they’d get in touch with me and let me know that, yeah, I’m in the system, and things are now moving ahead, no matter how slowly.<br /><br />Meanwhile, once again, I’m endevouring to take hold of my problem and try to get my weight down a little in anticipation of the surgery and all the tests that lead up to it. God only knows how far I’ll get, but I’ve got do something while I wait.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2