April Road Trip #1

As part of my Easter break I headed southwest of Moose Jaw towards Swift Current on a ghost town photo shoot. On the first day I followed highway 363. Here are some of the highlights:

Old Wives - There is not much left in Old Wives save for a couple houses, a collapsed barn, a few sheds, and a wooden quonset.

Courval - has what once was a beautiful Roman Catholic Church. Built in 1928 the church is in relatively sound shape considering it has been dormant since 1981. A bird happened to perch itself on the cross of the church while I was there. My novice bird identification skills tell me that it is a shorebird. I thought maybe a sandpiper or dowitcher. Besides the church, Courval has an abandoned house, business, and a few sheds.

Coderre - still has a fair number of residents. Hidden in brushes is an old United Church moved in from St. Boswell's in 1939 and built in 1925. It closed in 1990.

Shamrock - is still home to a few families. In the school yard is an old wooden swing set and water pump. Downtown Shamrock consists of a few closed businesses. However the RM office and a Co-op are still in operation.
Kelstern - There is very little left of Kelstern. A house and the red garage are all that are standing today.

St. Boswells - A commemorative sign marks the site of St. Boswells. An abandoned old house, sidewalks, and water pump are all that remain. It was a booming town of 300 in the 1920s. By the 1960s the last business had closed.

Bateman - Just southeast of St. Boswells is Bateman. The old brick United Church still stands out remarkable for its age. Construction began in 1919 and was completed in 1926. Although no masses are held the church is still used for weddings and funerals. Bateman's red brick school was demolished in 2008. There are a few empty houses, a Lutheran church, a rink, and a couple old shops left standing in the hamlet. The yellow and white house is on the Bateman grid from highway 19.

Hodgeville - Despite the desolate picture of the garage, Hodgeville is actually a town of some 200 people. It was the only building I photographed in that town.

Hallonquist - was the next stop on my trip. It consists of a neglected church, school, sheds, hall, and an old barn.

Neidpath - I loved visiting Neidpath. It was my favourite place to photograph. When you descend into the valley of the hamlet from the south (highway 363) you get a great view of the elevators and town site. Neidpath is most famous for its two remaining elevators. There is also a church moved into town in 1954, a community hall, a couple houses, foundations, and sheds.

McMahon - was the last ghost town on my trip towards Swift Current. It has a school, three closed businesses on main street, and a house. There looks to be a Co-op still in operation and maybe a farm shop or two. McMahon's three elevators were demolished in 1985, 1996, and 1997.

Fauna of Saskatchewan 4

White-tailed deer
Odocoileus virginianus

Location: northeast of Craven




Interesting facts:

-White-tailed deer can leap as high as 10 feet and as far as 30 feet in a single bound.
- Deer are territorial and will starve themselves rather than leave their territory to search for food.
- These deer are very good swimmers.
- In optimal conditions deer populations can double annually.

Country Roads

Last weekend I headed out on a photo trip west of the city. My travels took me north of Pense towards Lumsden then south to Pasqua. Here are a few of my favorites:

Travel Series #2 - San Francisco

My second travel series takes us to San Francisco, California. The city has numerous attractions which appeal to me. First is Pier 39 - a tourist wharf with restaurants, street performances, and the Aquarium of the Bay where you can see over 20,000 aquatic animals. Some of them you are allowed to touch. Chinatown is another must see for me. It offers vistors stunning architecture, shopping, Chinese festivals, food, games, dancing, and painting.

Third on my list is the Golden Gate Bridge. With its stunning design and susceptibility to fog it is a great landmark to photograph. I would also tour the infamous Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz presents tourists with history and mystery. In addition it is a haven for several species of nesting birds. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, home to over 26,000 works of art, also makes my must visit list.

These are just a few of the attractions San Francisco has to offer. Parks, cable car rides, bus and boat tours, and the San Francisco Zoo would be included in my itinerary.

"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience"

I was first introduced to the ideas of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi last year while reading a magazine article on happiness. I finally read his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Flow "is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter." The process itself provides enjoyment. Csikszentmihalyi developed a theory on the optimal experience based on the concept of flow. He argues that there are several requirements needed to create an optimal experience: it must be challenging and require skill, involve a great deal of focus, provide clear goals and feedback, initiate a loss of self-consciousness, and transform time.

Csikzsentmihalyi goes on to explain that since the optimal experience depends on the capacity to control what occurs in our consciousness we all have the ability to achieve flow and therefore create happiness at anytime. "Attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience" because it determines what appears in our consciousness. He labels attention psychic energy and explains that "we create ourselves by how we invest this energy." Any information that enters our consciousness will be interpreted and evaluated. If it conflicts with our intentions it will create psychic entropy or disorder in our consciousness - i.e: fear, anxiety, anger, or jealousy. If it reinforces our aims order is maintained and psychic energy is not wasted because there is "no threat for the self to defend against."

In his research on the conditions of flow, Csikszentmihalyi found that every flow experience "provided a sense of discovery...and pushed the person to higher levels of performance. It transformed the self by making it more complex." This growth of the self is the key to flow. The following diagram demonstrates this process. When you learn a new sport or activity you will engage in flow because the challenge matches your novice skill level (A1). If you keep practicing and introduce new challenges you will maintain flow (A4). However when we aren't challenged we become bored (A2) and when we don't practice to develop skills new challenges will create anxiety (A3). Notice that A1 and A4 are both flow, yet are quite different because A4 is a more complex experience as it involves greater challenges and skills.

We can create flow in any experience in any aspect of our lives. There are literally thousands of opportunities to expand ourselves physically, mentally, at work, with family or friends, and when we are alone. The formula for flow is constant. Any experience can be transformed at will because it is the result of our channeled attention. The irony is that despite the astounding number of opportunities within our reach, "most of us go on being bored and vaguely frustrated." New challenges are avoided and inner discipline suffers.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is well written and researched by Csikszentmihalyi and his staff. The concept of flow is relatively simple but can be applied to every facet of our lives. I thoroughly enjoyed Flow. As a result, I highly recommended that you read this book. I look forward to reading more books by Csikszentmihalyi.

"Amnesty International After 50 Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward"

On March 4th, nearly a hundred people came out to hear Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, discuss the past and future of the movement. Neve began in 1961 where Peter Benenson sat on a bench in London reading that two Portuguese citizens had been jailed for giving a toast to freedom. Beyond rage, Benenson decided that there must be a way to bring our voices together and channel our anger to make a difference. This idea began as a short appeal but soon launched into a worldwide movement.

"Do we celebrate this anniversary?" asked Neve. When we look at all that has gone wrong how can we celebrate? From ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, militant dictatorship in Chile, Apartheid in South Africa, and the effects of the Cold War it clearly has been a long, hard half century of human rights suffering.

In the fiftieth anniversary there is a lot to to hang our heads in shame and grieve. But there is also a great deal to celebrate. Human rights has come a long way since Benenson's time:

• There is "an impressive machinery of human rights instruments" - global webs of treaties, codes, tribunals, and conventions in place to protect individuals and groups.
  
• Three of the past five United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights have been women.
  
• The establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002
  
• Dozens of African countries have been freed from colonial rule and the end of Apartheid in South Africa.
  
• Democratization of former dictatorial countries - Chile, Philippines, Portugal...
  
• An estimated 44,000 individuals have been freed from prison and/or torture worldwide.
  

Nonetheless, Neve argued that the "most glorious human rights achievement" in the last fifty years has been the mobilization of millions of people lobbying, organizing, and fighting for the rights of all. There are currently 2.8 - 3 million Amnesty members globally.

Neve then delved into Canada's role in all of this. Canada has an enviable human rights record which is a source of our pride. Our nation has shown tremendous leadership from John Humphrey who drafted the UN Declaration on Human Rights, to Louise Arbour a former UN Commissioner for Human Rights, to Lester B. Pearson who won the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for arranging the UN Emergency Force to settle the Suez Canal Crisis.

Recently, however, Canada has been coming up short in several areas. The failure to protect Omar Khadr, women's rights, Aboriginal rights (see Shameful Chapter in Canadian History - September 2009), our refusal to recognize water as a human right, the mishandling of Afghan prisoners, Canada's pro-Israel approach to the crisis in Egypt, and the inadequancy of regulating the conduct of Canadian businesses abroad.

So today we stand at a crossroads in a world much better and much different that Benenson's. We are often reminded that human rights are fragile and "it is crucial that we stand ready to act." There are still many issues that require our energy and attention. Just remember "Your voice matters."

Fauna of Saskatchewan 3

Cabbage White Butterfly
Pieris rapae


Location: Wascana March








Interesting facts:

- Among the first butterfly to appear in the spring.
- White butterflies are not eaten by predators because of their bad taste.
- White butterflies prefer mustards as their food plants. They find plants in the mustard family with the help of chemicals and colours.
- These butterflies bask in the sun in a unique position. They orient their wings toward the sun at an angle so that rays are reflected off their white wings and onto their darker bodies.