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

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

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.

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 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.

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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.

Heather and I have just arrived in Port Moody, BC. It was likely our first cross-country air trip for several years. Things have changed.

We left Paradise, Annapolis County on Christmas Day. It was a bright, clear day. Very little traffic. We decided to stay at the airport hotel. This gives us parking, while we are in BC.

Boxing Day, up early. We had everything packed in carry-on luggage. This avoids the likelihood of lost luggage, especially if there are travel delays because of the weather.

The air travel was essentially uneventful. Air Canada from Halifax to Ottawa. Air Canada from Ottawa to Vancouver. Nic picked us up at Vancouver airport and drove us to Port Moody.

Some observations. Air travel has changed with the technology.

1. All passengers are using their devices: watching movies, playing electronic games. I had forgotten the need for headsets. Rectified, after an hour or two.
2. Food is ordered, and placed on your credit card.
3. Carry-on baggage was on the aircraft. No worries there except that it ended up on the baggage carousel.

The next leg may prove more complex. We fly to Kelowna, rent a car, and drive to Rossland. That is likely a separate blog.

After the Rossland visit, we fly Kelowna to Toronto; Toronto to Halifax.

Besides coffee, we can be tempted to pick up a savoury pie or the curry of the day. The cafe is in the same building as the Library.

This week, at the kitchen, I picked up a brochure on Meguma Canoe.

They provide rentals for trips on the Annapolis River. Later, I learned that Don MacLean at COGS is the person behind the new venture. The brochure includes a map showing the routes on the Annapolis River between Nictaux and Hebbs Landing.

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At the Annapolis Royal library there are used books for sale.

From the back cover, Raymond Mortimer, Sunday Times:
”I do not think that he has ever written anything more persuasive, more deeply-felt or more powerful.”

”In a despairing fling to have done with the world and women and fame a well-known architect buries himself at an isolated leper colony in the Belgian Congo. He is recognizable, by his mutilated mind, as a ‘burnt-out case’ – a mental leper through whom the disease has run its course.

In his relations with his native servant, with the colony’s doctor, and its Catholic fathers, Querry discovers a sort of sunset peace. But the outside world is tragically incapable of leaving the story there.”

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This week, as part of Plannapolis, there are a series of community meetings.

Stantec and municipal staff will be presenting the proposed Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use bylaw for public input. (see posts 2022 “Lawrencetown Event“, “A Vision for the Annapolis Region“, “Home Place“)

Will they be addressing no spraying of Glyphosate in Annapolis County? (see posts “A Green Future?“, “Habitat Destruction“, and “Citizen Celebration in Burlington“)

Acknowledgements

Edward has returned from Cape Breton.

References

Graham Greene, 1960, A Burnt-Out Case, Penguin Books.

Meguma Canoe. explore@megumacanoe.com or megumacanoe.com

John Wightman invited us to pick blackberries from his garden. This week, we made blackberry jam, following Jane’s recipe.

Afterwards, we decided to attend the Liberal Annual Picnic at the Legion in Bridgetown. Guest speaker was Stephen McNeil, former Nova Scotia Premier. He described his work in marketing Nova Scotia’s Resources to the world. For the current government he agreed that the issues were health services, housing and inflation. Our current Liberal MLA is Carman Kerr. I hope to meet with him later this week. My concerns would be quality versus quantity. And in particular leveraging our intellectual resources.

Within this context, I had a useful video chat with members of ESRI Press, Catherine and Stacy. The general topic was the application of StoryMap software to my blog. A more specific issue was the representation of rural Geography to a global audience.

I found it revealing that I had been anticipating a conversation between rural Nova Scotia and urban California. In reality, Catherine was located in Maine, Stacy in New Jersey.

This week, aside from a conversation with Carman (face to face). I will meet with Edward Wedler to discuss the technicalities of connecting my blog to online GIS software. More later.

After attending the Annapolis Valley Exhibition, I remain concerned about the linkage between the education Resources at COGS and the need to provide agricultural education in the Annapolis Valley.

We need creative application of the technology to maintain the agricultural lifestyle in rural Nova Scotia. This means leadership.

Acknowledgements

John Wightman shared his blackberry patch, and encouraged our attendance at the Liberal Party picnic. Carman Kerr shows his continual support for the community. Catherine Ortiz and Stacy Krieg from ESRI Press for the video chat. Feedback came from Edward Wedler, Brian Arnott and Heather Stewart.

This week, it is the Annapolis Valley Exhibition, established in 1926, in Lawrencetown. Heather and I have fond memories of our boys showing calves and chickens at 4H in the 1980’s.

We visited the Ex. on a quiet Wednesday afternoon. We heard the voice of Phil Milo giving the commentary for participants in the main arena.

Our overall impression, aside from the beautiful hooked rugs and quilts, was less engagement from 4H, less engagement in terms of fruit and vegetable displays.

The Exhibition should be a showcase for agriculture in the Valley; an opportunity for wider public education on new trends in the farming community.

On a different note, this week, I have had conversations about land administration in the Annapolis Valley. I recall the days of collaboration between COGS and the Planning community on the application of GIS. There was the CLICK project, a collaboration between Roger Sturtevant, Eric Melanson and others. The initiative seems to have vanished. Including the data.

I wonder how effectively we are monitoring and managing land use change in the County. The tools exist, and are increasingly accessible to the wider public.

In the words of ESRI, if we want to be ‘valuing place and purpose’ in Annapolis County (or beyond, the Annapolis Valley) it is essential that the educational community engage with the land management community. COGS, the agricultural sector (including the Exhibition), the forestry sector, the mining sector, the fisheries sector need to work together to ‘organize Nature’ ( reference Cohen and Biro).

Acknowledgements

John Wightman suggested that I talk to Roger Sturtevant. Catherine Ortiz at ESRI Press. Heather Stewart shared the Exhibition visit.

References.

Brent Jones, Keith Mann (ed.) 2022. Applying GIS. Land Administration. Valuing Place and Purpose. ESRI Press.

Alice Cohen and Andrew Biro. 2023. Organizing Nature. U of T Press.

On Saturday night in New Glasgow, we took the opportunity to watch Maine PBS. There were two notable shows.

In both cases, the music brought back a flood of memories. Ready Steady Go ! features the British music scene between 1963-67. A time when I went up to the University of Birmingham to study Geography. Watching Ready, Steady, Go I was impressed by the informality of the studio, the camera work, the audience, and the accessibility of the musicians.

Country Pop legends offered corresponding insight into the history of country music in the United States. Both programs showed the value of public broadcasting, and the engagement of citizens and communities. This is a different experience to the CBC in Canada.

On Sunday, heading back down the Valley, we stopped at River John to see the Berkshire piglets being raised by Sandy (Heather’s sister) and Don. Afterwards, we cut down through the hardwood forests of Colchester County – Sheree Fitch/ Read by the Sea country. Also Mable Murple’s Book Shoppe and Dreamery. We also stopped at the Lismore Sheep Farm and the Earltown General Store. All reminders of the beauty and uniqueness of the Sunrise Trail region. From Truro, we followed our traditional route through the Rawdon Hills to Windsor, and then Highway 101 home.

Acknowledgements

John Stewart provided access to Maine PBS on Cable TV. Heather shared her latest reading. Edward checked out the video links.

References

Hilde Ostby and Ylva Ostby, 2918, Adventures in Memory: The Science and Secrets of Remembering and Forgetting, Greystone Press.

Country Pop Legends (My Music), Maine PBS, Saturday June 5, 2021, 7 pm.

Best of the 60s: Ready, Steady, Go!, Maine PBS, Saturday, June 5, 2021, 9 pm.