I’ve seen some rather absurd things today — a house being towed through Georgia Strait and a whale in False Creek — and the day’s not even over yet. Who knows what I’ll see next?
‘Local Colour’ Category
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Moving Day
May 5, 2010 by Gail
Posted in Local Colour | 1 Comment
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The Right Side Of The Tracks
April 27, 2010 by Gail
I have a thing for railroad tracks, although I don’t really have a collection to match (yet). More location scouting last Sunday drew me to these, near the reception venue. I’m hoping to convince the bride and groom (and the weather gods) that this is a good spot for some photos this weekend.
Posted in Local Colour, Out + About, The Great Outdoors | No Comments
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Cathedraltown
April 27, 2010 by Gail
I was driving south along Highway 404 from Markham when I spotted spires jutting into the sky, right in the middle of a new development. Of course, we had to stop and get a closer look! The development is so new that the roads aren’t even finished yet. The whole scene looked bizarre, I had to find out the story.
The cathedral is called Cathedral of the Transfiguration, and it’s not a cathedral anymore — the last service was in 2006. It’s still incomplete!
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
The Cathedral of the Transfiguration is a Slovak Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic former cathedral located in the community of Victoria Square in Markham, Ontario, Canada. The cathedral was built in a rural area north of the city of Toronto and was built to serve Slovak Catholics throughout the Greater Toronto Area. The Cathedral was conceived and funded by Stephen B. Roman, a Slovak immigrant to Canada who had built up the Denison Mines corporation. Roman both funded and designed the building, modeling the structure on the church in Velky Ruskov, the Slovak village he was raised in. The cathedral was built on a donated portion of his Romandale estate.
Among its features is the world’s largest three bell carillon, with the French made bells weighing 32,000 pounds, and 300 cm diameter. The mosaics are reputed to contain about 5 million pieces. The cathedral was built to hold 1000 worshipers serving a community of about 5000 Byzantine Rite Catholics in the GTA and 35,000 across Canada. The central tower rises 63 metres (about 20 storeys) and is topped by a gold onion dome. The church was designed by Donald Buttress, a renowned architect whose claim to fame is overhauling Westminster Abbey.[1] It is a significant landmark east of the 404 highway.
National Post article, 2007: No Mass in Cathedraltown
It’s a shame this magnificent building isn’t finished (although neither is the Sagrada Familia, under construction since 1882), and off-limits to everyone.
Posted in Local Colour, Out + About | No Comments
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Heynabonics
August 23, 2008 by Gail
I’ve spoken about the dialect of northeast Pennsylvania before, but now I’ve got examples! I heard about this YouTube video when I was driving to Philadelphia last weekend and listening to the radio station David and I always tuned into, besides NPR. The DJ mentioned that his friend made this video poking fun of the local dialect, and I just now remembered it and went digging for it on YouTube.
You probably won’t find it amusing unless you’ve heard it from the natives, but I can tell you it is SO SO SO true. (Helma, back me up here! You say “dooper”!) David slipped into this dialect now and again, but never for very long since he actually liked words… and not mashed up word combos. He was pretty good with accents: Yiddish (his grandmother spoke Yiddish), Boston, New York City, even Long Island (his cousins lived there), but he never failed to crack me up with the Heynabonics.
Posted in Humour, Local Colour, Videoclips | No Comments
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Otherworldly
November 16, 2006 by Gail
One of David’s best days during his illness was September 10, 2005, when he had enough strength to attend a model airplane fly-in and airshow in Waymart, a visit to nearby St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, and tuck into the barbecue at Kundla’s Open Pit BBQ.
Dave’s Logbook: OK, back to the fun!
He wrote about St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Monastery, founded in 1905, but I wanted to share a video I shot of the bellringers and the ethereal sounds that surrounded us while we were on the grounds. The volume of the bells took us by surprise, but once we realised where they were, we were struck by the quality of the ringing, the echoes that reverberated through the countryside air. I filmed in a circle, to try and capture some of it.
At the end of the clip is the familiar sight of David with his bright orange 207 CAP hat. Even when it was worn and faded, he still loved to wear it.
I was fascinated by the monks and wanted to photograph the movement of the robes as they walked, but I was too shy to ask if I could take their picture. I tried following one at a distance, but he was too quick for my lens. Maybe I can find a local monastery and do a shoot there.
Technorati tags: Pennsylvania, St. Tikhon’s Monastery, monastery, videoclip, bells, bellringingPosted in David's Writing, Local Colour, Videoclips | 1 Comment
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Irony in Lake Ariel
April 19, 2006 by Gail
I was looking for that photo I mentioned in the previous post, the first one I took of David, and I found this.
It’s a shot I took back in October 2004, the weekend we met. We were on our way to Cherry Ridge to take out the Tri-Pacer, and Lake Ariel is one of the towns we pass through to get there. I don’t remember exactly when the sign was taken down, but I’m certain it isn’t there anymore. In fact, I think the shop does other business now.
This photo is part of my set of signs — bizarre, funny, misspelled, provocative, or just plain eye-catching signs I’ve happened upon.
Posted in Local Colour, Tales of the Absurd | 3 Comments
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Two for Tea
November 11, 2005 by Gail
Taken yesterday in Wilkes-Barre, while David was at work.
I like the whimsy of the photo, that in all the crumbling brick and boarded-up windows, someone had the sense of humour to paint these two figures having a cuppa. (Upon closer investigation, it looks like they’re drinking martinis, not tea, but I like the original concept.)
This is the kind of scene that really excites me about taking photos. It’s a metaphor for living.
Posted in Local Colour, Photography | No Comments
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Steamtown National Historic Site
November 3, 2005 by Gail
To come from a tourism-mad modern city to settle in a former industrial boomtown locked in the early part of the last century means a changing of photographic gears. I have to go looking for the touristy bits to show visitors, and the most touristy place for miles around is the Steamtown National Historic Site.It’s unusual because it was funded by the Feds as a national historic site, which is a designation normally reserved for nature parks, not museums. David says it was called a “pork barrel project” by other senators.
When I first met David, he’d planned on taking me to Steamtown, but in the end we didn’t go inside the museum because we’d run out of time, so we contented ourselves with taking a few exterior photos. I think it’s quite obvious the lower three photos were the ones taken last year, because… they’re crap! (Lighting, contrast, colour all need correcting.) I took the top three and the photo at left last Sunday, and except for the hydrant pic those four were shot with the Pentax K-1000.
Anyway, as is typical with most locals and tourist sites, neither David nor I have gotten around to visit Steamtown yet. It’s one of things we must do soon, especially since David is a history buff and I’m sure we’d could easily while away an afternoon or two in there.
Posted in Local Colour, Photography | No Comments
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Haunted Halloween House
October 31, 2005 by Gail
Posted in Local Colour, Photography | No Comments
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Meet Our Ghoulish Neighbours
October 30, 2005 by Gail
I wasn’t kidding when I said the neighbours took decorating to a whole new level.
Posted in Local Colour, Videoclips | 2 Comments
