Author: maherrv

After attending the industry expo, I was moved to write the story of COGS (again).

I wanted to ensure that the current students are aware of the importance of ‘story telling’ and ‘a sense of place’.

This blog post is a short précis; top of mind.

It starts with Major Church and his survey school in Lawrencetown, after the Second World War (see post Never Retire).

This led to the addition of Cartography, the hiring of Walter Morrison and John Wightman (pic shown).

At the industry expo, the librarian Andrew Hannam had prepared an excellent display in the Boardroom of Walter’s antique map collection (see post Map Stories).

From John Wightman, we link to Roger Tomlinson who was teaching at Acadia University and is remembered as the ‘father of GIS’ (see post Journey Back in Time).

In the 1980’s it was recognized that there was a need for computer technology and GIS. This was when I stepped onto the stage. This step created a strong link between COGS and ESRI/ESRI Canada. The story has unfolded from there.

For today’s student. I would encourage them to understand this place and landscape. Read the local story tellers, especially David Manners, Ernest Buckler and, more recently, Bob Bent. Take the drive up the Morse Road from Bridgetown to West Dalhousie. Walk through Valley View Park, above Bridgetown, and head across North Mountain towards Middleton. Get on your bicycle, ride the Harvest Moon trail to Annapolis Royal. Stop at Grand Pre and admire the cartography of Marcel Morin. Take a drive to Port George on the Bay of Fundy.

Enjoy!

Postscript

This evening (Wednesday), Heather and I are joining Jeannie Barteaux to see the fantasy movie, The Boy and the Heron at the Kings Theatre, Annapolis Royal animated by Hayao Miyazaki. Thanks, Jeannie.

After returning home from British Columbia, there remain a few loose ends. On our drive between Rossland and Kelowna, there were trucks on the highway, salting and spreading gravel. We sustained a flying rock to the windscreen. This week, I was dealing with the car rental company and my auto insurance.

I also found on my return that I was unable to update the operating system on my iPad. It required more space. After conversations with Kyle at Bridgetown Computing, it seems that I am destined to update my ‘go to’ technology.

This week, I have been thinking about long distance walks. This started with Emergence Magazine, an interview with Paul Salopek. He has been on a 24,000 mile journey retracing the migration pathways of the earliest humans who migrated out of Africa in the Stone Age.

This coincided with an interview on the CBC with Rory Stewart. This led me to Lawrencetown library and his book ‘How not to be a politician : a memoir (published in the UK as Politics on the Edge).

Finally, in this week’s Guardian Weekly, ‘English coastal route on the path to completion’.

’To date, 616 km are awaiting approval while 3697 km have been signed off. Of those 2019 have work in hand and 1673 km completed’. To circumnavigate the country would be a wonderful achievement. See the Guardian’s King Charles III England Coast Path article).

Postscript

While away from home over the Christmas break, the Bridgetown Reader has morphed from a handy-sized record of local events into a full-sized newspaper. Fortunately, it contains the same valuable community content.

Acknowledgements

Kyle at Bridgetown Computing helped diagnose the limitations of my trusty iPad. Heather shared the harrowing drive through the Kootenays. Edward added the graphic content and links.

References

Emergence Magazine, Sunday January 14, 2024, A Path Older than Memory: an interview with Paul Salopek.

Rory Stewart, 2023, Politics on the Edge: a Memoir from Within, Penguin Books

The Guardian Weekly, January 5, 2024. p9, English coastal route on the path to completion.
The Guardian Weekly, December 28, 2023, Path of Much Resistance

This weekend, we headed up to New Glasgow. There remained a few presents under the Christmas tree from Patrick’s family. They were unable to join us in British Columbia.

Patrick has spent time in Scandinavia. For Christmas, he sent:
Connect with Nature, the Norwegian Way, Friluftsliv.

In his 1859 poem “Paa Vidderne” Norwegian playwright, Henrick Ibsen expresses the concept of living a ‘free air life’ as our basic human need to be outside and connect with nature. He describes the need for time in solitude in nature to clarify one’s thoughts.’

The second item in the parcel was the amazing Swedish dishcloth. In this case, it showed the place names of the geography around Peterborough, Ontario.

The third item was a packet of red velvet cocoa.

Heather also received a parcel. It contained The Mindfulness Doodles Coloring Book and ten coloured pencils, chocolate cocoa, and Burts’ Bees hand cream.

In response to my previous blog ‘Place Matters’ Edward sent me a link to a video ‘Landscape Looking’ by UK artist Oliver Pyle. Edward also posed the question:

’How do others such as geographers, mycologists, botanists, foresters, hydrologists, geologists, historians, architects etc conduct “Landscape Looking “? Also artists, and photographers.

Postscript

Meanwhile, we are working away at 1000 piece puzzle, Songbirds Tree. Perhaps we will finish it, next time we come for a visit.

References

Oliver Luke Delorie, 2020, Connect with Nature the Norwegian Way, Friluftsliv, Sterling Ethos, NY.
Mario Martin, 2023, The Mindfulness Doodles Coloring Book, The Experiment, NY.
Oliver Pyle, Landscape Looking, YouTube Video.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Patrick, Emily, Fraser and Logan for the Christmas present selection. Edward for his feedback and link to the work of Oliver Pyle, UK artist.

Home, sweet home !
We arrived back in Paradise last night at 12:30 am (Monday). It proved to be a three day return trip. On Friday, Andrew escorted us down from Rossland to Grand Forks. Afterwards, we were on our own, until we returned the car rental at the Kelowna airport on Saturday morning.

The flight to Toronto was scheduled for midnight. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed. This meant that we did not make our connecting flight to Halifax. We arrived back in Halifax around 6 pm Sunday. It was snowing, and the roads were slick. The road conditions improved as we headed west beyond Windsor to exit #19 Lawrencetown.

Lessons

Andrew had made the travel arrangements. Talking, and watching other passengers, those with cell phones seemed able to reschedule, ‘on the fly’. Could we have obtained an earlier flight to Halifax?

If passengers can use their cell phones to intervene without going through an agent at the airport does that result in a two tier system — those of us who are cell-phone-savvy versus those who need the intervention of an agent?

I don’t know the answer. I DO know that there is a generation of ‘seniors’ who have not grown up with the technology of the day.

Fortunately, I was in the company of the book by Roger Lewis’ ‘Identity Matters’. I will write a separate book review, once we have our lifestyle back to normal.

What is salient about Roger is that he has spent time teaching English Literature at Acadia University. He now lives in the Slocan Valley, BC.

His collection of short stories cover both geographies.

For now, from the cover, I will only quote Canadian thinker, Northrop Frye who declared ‘that the real question defining Canadian identity is not‘ what are we?’ But ‘where is here?’ Lewis explores both questions.

Acknowledgements

I appreciate the support of both my BC families: Laurel and Nic in Port Moody; Andrew and Julia in Rossland. They provided remarkable insight into the two BC geographies. Heather shared with me the two, very different landscapes and cultures. Edward added the illustrations and links.

Reference
Roger C, Lewis, 2017, Identity Matters, Custom Book Publications.