When I took the museum photos the other day , I had arranged to meet my wife in the museum parking lot. I had extra time so I looked for other things that might make a good photo. I had gone over to the side walk in the area and then I saw my wife at the end of the street.
I took a number of photos as she was walking toward me. I thought nothing of it. My wife does not like her photo being taken. she didn't know I was taking photos and still doesn't.
The walker turned out to be an interesting photo and I wish I had taken more in the sequence.
So have fun looking at the walker and wondering what's going on. The walker insists that she carries the big bag. You can't separate her from the bag. she also has one of the biggest heaviest handbags you could find. so these two bags overwhelm her and make her look larger than she is.
In my last post I showed you the south side of the museum with the murals made from photos of Canadian people.
Today I'll show the back of the museum and the north side.
Most back entrances are neglected and rather unattractive. Not so with this museum. Large squares make the back walls eye catching.
On the north side they have chosen to cover with local street scenes from the past.
This flag has been seen all over Canada this summer to mark our 150th anniversary.
Our small city built a very attractive museum in the early 1970s. A collection had been slowly accumulating so a good place to exhibit things was needed.
This area has grown quickly from 25000 to 100000 less than 50 years. So a new museum was needed a long time ago.
A proposal was drawn up to construct a new museum for about $30000000.00. This would allow for much more exhibit space and the collection would be under one roof.
Well, a section of the community was strongly against a new museum. They had every excuse in the book for not building a museum and criticized all the points for a museum.
So the project was abandoned.
So plan B. Well, renovate the building we have. Renovations are very expensive and you always find some very expensive surprises. One surprise was to find that the entire north wall was not insulated. You could not regulate the temperature and humidity for proper storage and display of the collection.
So to make the story shorter, almost $300000000.00 spent over ten years and we have the same footprint.
So a few weeks ago finishing touches were done to the exterior. So here's part of the exterior..
These 5 designs are on the south wall. They were made by putting photos of people together to make the design.
I think it's very attractive.
At my place, humming birds are like Santa. They come once a year.
So yesterday I saw a hummingbird at my scarlet runner beans. It checked the red blooms for about 30 seconds and was gone.
Now , surprise , surprise. I saw a hummingbird this morning at the same scarlet runner beans for a full 2 seconds!
Now I'm sure more than one hummingbird visits my yard. I'm sure that I see only a small percentage of all birds that visit my yard. I know that other birders near me see lots of hummingbirds and have very active feeders.
I get envious when I see bloggers showing many hummingbirds at feeders. They show several hummingbirds at one time.
Now I like hummingbirds and would like to have more visit me.
There are four species of hummingbird that spend the breeding season in Alberta. Three of them spend their time in the Rockie Mountains. One , the Ruby-throated spends its summer in central Alberta.
The ruby-throated seems to be a tough little bird as it's sometimes seen at the end of September and beginning of October.
So if I want to see more hummingbirds I'm going to have to move somewhere else or be a very good boy.
Photo by Phil French
Many people are avid antique collectors. It's a very enjoyable and satisfying hobby. Some people are very selective and only collect one precise thing such as type of thing such as cars and they only look for one specific kind of car because it's rare. The same procedure goes with all the other antiques that can be collected. some people just collect everything.
Me? Well, I'm definitely not an antiquer. I may be old and an antique in that way. So far nobody is collecting me. I know I'm worth ten bucks because that's what it cost my dad when I was born.
However, someone in my house has inherited a couple of things and now she would like to part with them.
How do you part with an antique? First of all there is an emotional attachment. But these things have to go and that's serious. So how do you get rid of them and get some value out of them. So hit the Internet and big old eBay hogs the space. Well you find some examples and prices. Now I know that it's not the sale price but what you actually get for it.
Try the local shops. None of them are interested.
So how do I find someone who wants these articles and is willing to pay something for their worth.
I have a feeling that I've got much more to learn on this file.
Wish me luck!
That we have a crisis in world leadership is no secret.
Too many leaders seem to be in the position for all the wrong reasons. Too many leaders are in the game for power. They like the personal power. They have biases that they wish to pursue. Very few seem to get it that they are to serve the population and see that the country's resources benefit the people of the state. Very few leaders seem to think that they should be nice and cooperate with other world leaders so that we have peace and prosperity.
There are so many good and pleasant things for leaders to do that one wonders why it's not done.
World events in the last week or ten days have got me thinking about leadership and how warped it has become.
It's hard to understand why North Korea is so desperately worried that they are unsafe and will be attacked unless it's used by the leader to hold and consolidate power. Saber rattling makes for many very unhappy neighbors.
The weekend's election in Venezuela doesn't look like there will be any positive outcome for a long time. Once opposition leaders are being killed it doesn't look promising.
The situation in Turkey seems to be going from bad to worse. Again somebody is dreadfully afraid that he might lose power so the laws are changed so that it's easier to hold power.
President Trump seems to have very little inclination to help the American people. Well, he makes claims that he will help them but nothing much has happened or will happen. Trump is too tied up in other issues which are not on the agenda of helping American people. Trump has many other world leaders worried. As a Canadian, I know I'm worried.
I haven't mentioned the insane situation in Syria.
Now I've used five examples that took place in the recent past. There are many more very ineffective world leaders.
What has happened that we have world leaders with so little capacity to see that they are to serve the people?
July is an interesting time of year to watch Red squirrels. As I said in my last post they are setting up territory and there's some competition. Sometimes the competitions are a bit odd.
I do my stretching so that I can look out my front room window. I have a bird feeder out in the front yard so it gives me a few minutes to watch the bird feeder and anything else that happens.
So a few days ago an event took place. For some reason a Red squirrel was harassing a magpie. The squirrel would chase the magpie and the magpie would just keep ahead of the squirrel. There seemed to be a half dozen short sprints where the squirrel pursued the magpie. The magpie would hide under car and as soon as he came out the squirrel would chase.
Now a few years ago I saw a different squirrel magpie confrontation. This time there were two magpies and they had a Red squirrel cornered. The squirrel was on the tree trunk and one magpie was above and the other one below the squirrel. The squirrel wanted to gain the branches of the tree where it would be safe. The magpies were hoping the squirrel would make just one mistake and they would have lunch. The squirrel shifted from one side of the tree to another. He couldn't get up or down.
Finally the squirrel took a leap from the tree trunk and set off across the yard and street. The magpies flew above the squirrel, but as long as they were in the air the squirrel was safe. The squirrel ran under a fence and it threw the magpies off their game. They just thought the squirrel somehow disappeared and didn't realize the squirrel was on the other side of the fence.
So the squirrel magpie competition goes both ways.
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| Photo by Bill Heinsen |
