Portage & Main

Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Address: Portage & Main Street
Date: October 2014
Website:  history.bmo.com

  Portage & Main is possibly the best known intersection in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  On Sunday, November 24th the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup after a 29 year drought.  Winnipegers flocked to the intersection to celebrate their Canadian Football League victory.  We found ourselves standing at this intersection back in 2014.

  On one corner stands the Bank of Montreal building.  It has been there since 1913.  In front of the bank stands a monument to Bank of Montreal employees who died in World War I.  The statue is modelled after Wynn Bagnall who worked for BMO, went to war and was lucky enough to return to continue working. 

 
  To cross the street you need to take a pedestrian underpass. Once on the other side of the street we encountered some more sculptures.  The first sculpture is called Tree Children and shows four children playing in a tree.  The intersection of Portage & Main is often said to be the coldest and windiest intersection in Canada.  It wasn't too cold but it was windy when we arrived.  Hold on tight children!

  The next sculpture depicted a herd of caribou which are no strangers to wind and cold.  The caribou are navigating the fast moving waters of a river.

  The sculpture is called Seal River Crossing.  Seal River is located in northern Manitoba but thanks to artist Peter Sawatzky we can witness the caribou migration at a lower latitude. 

  The final statue we encountred was called North Watch.  North Watch features a man wearing big boots, sitting and supposedly keeping watch.  The sculpture is created by Ivan Eyre and is similar to another of his sculptures called Icon North.

 The main difference between the two sculptures is that North Watch features a dog which sits behind the man.  The dog is also keeping watch.  One thing we noticed about this sculpture is that the man is facing south.  We wondered if the sculpture had been placed the wrong way around.  We figure that the artist intended the man to be watching from the north.  When visiting Portage & Main be sure to dress warmly and prepare to be blown away.  If not by the architecture, history and sculptures then certainly by the wind.

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Map of Our World
Tree Children , Seal River Crossing , North Watch
BMO Building (Portage & Main)

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Post # 270

Detritus

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  677 Wellington Road West
Date: October 2019
Website:  www.toronto.ca

    Salt both preserves and corrodes at the same time.  The city puts salt on the roads to melt ice, but it also does damage to boots and the roads themselves.  You are more likely to drown in salt water because the salt causes dehydration.  Nuit Blanche comes to Toronto once a year and one of the projects for 2019 was called Detritus by artist Jonathan Schipper.  Detritus means small particles broken away from a mass, much like the salt filling a City of Toronto storage dome.
 

  One of the great things about Nuit Blanche is that you often get to explore places you would never be allowed on other evenings.  Toronto stores its salt for winter inside gigantic domes.  For Detritus we were allowed to venture in and it felt like we had entered another world.

    Looking up at the dome in the middle of the night, it felt like a spacecraft was coming down on top of us.

  The artist had a laptop computer set up at a little table and was using a 3D program to control equipment that was slowly building things out of layers of salt.  The creations would start to deteriorate as the night wore on.

  Most of the salty creations looked like a castle was slowly being built on a salt covered hillside.

   A pathway leading upwards had been packed down into the huge mound of salt.  We double checked what shoes we were wearing and headed up.  We half expected we might slip away into the salt as if we had stepped into quicksand.

   Some other people had already gone before us so we ventured to the top.

   We made it up to the top and realized that we could start to taste the salt in the air.  We looked down as the artist continued to work below us.  We wondered how he could spend 12 hours inside this dome.  Some caution tape kept us back from the edge where we might cause a salty landslide that would destroy his creations.  It was time for us to move on to the next Nuit Blanche exhibit.  Goodbye salt! See you this winter on an icy road somewhere in the city.

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Map of Our World
Detritus

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Post # 266

Everyone Wants A Free Baby

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  100 Garrison Road
Date: October 2019
Website:  www.toronto.ca

Who wants a free baby?  Everyone does apparently.  Nuit Blanche returned to Toronto on Oct 5th to 6th for another evening of artwork and performances.  Our favourite exhibit was the very entertaining Everyone Wants A Free Baby!  A cannon was fired about every 20 minutes.  Inside the cannon was a baby in a parachute.  Nuit Blanche runs from 7 pm until 7 am so that means around 36 babies were launched throughout the night.

  We arrived just as a baby was being launched.  The crowd shouted "Baby! Baby! Baby! "  The baby floated into the sea of people.  We then visited some other exhibits in the area and returned to fully experience the next launch.

  Dramatic music was played and a baby was brought out.  The baby was attached to its parachute and then the parachute was folded up carefully so it would deploy when needed.  Next, the baby was carried over to the cannon where it was inserted.  For some reason Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic was played while the cannon was cranked into position.  A man then came out and ranted. His rant included some French accomplishments that may or may not have been significant.  Finally he shouted,  "This is my amazing atifice.  I want to show you my genius!"  The cannon fired and the baby was launched into the crowd.

  We had chosen the perfect spot to stand.  The chute deployed and the baby slowly fell towards the ground.  It was right above us and we reached out to grab it.  As soon as we touched it, someone ran into us aand snatched the baby.  They then ran off into the night.  The word from other audience members was that the baby snatcher had been trying to get a baby for some time now and was growing more and more determined.  Finally success!  Adoption is usually a difficult process but tonight babies were falling from the sky much like how they are delivered by the stork.

  The babies looked kind of like homemade Cabbage Patch Dolls.  This doll from an earlier launch also found a good home and the couple even posed for a few celebratory photos.  The only thing that would have made this show even better was if they had a little baby nursery set up so you could see all the babies waiting for their turn.  "We have to come back and see little 4:20 AM, look how cute he is."

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Map of Our World
Everyone Wants A Free Baby

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Post # 265

Holodomor Memorial Project

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  Canada Blvd.
Date: July 2019
Website:  https://www.explace.on.ca

  On the grounds of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in the Ukraine is a statue of a small girl.  There is now also a copy of this statue in Toronto just steps from the Princes' Gates.  Other Canadian cities have a statue too, such as Winnipeg and Regina. The statue represents a horrible event where millions of Ukrainians starved to death in 1932 and 1933.  Canada believes that this genocide was caused by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin who created a man-made famine in the region.

  When you see the face of this thin girl you can't help but feel for anyone affected by hunger.  The statue is called Bittersweet Memory of Childhood.  Millions more people continue to die of starvation all around the world.  Hopefully this memorial causes us not to forget what has happened and to see how we can help those in need right now.

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Map of Our World
Holodomor Memorial

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Post # 264

Hornets Buzz At Canadian International Air Show

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  210 Princes' Blvd.
Date: September 2014
Website:  theex.com

  Each Labour Day weekend in Toronto thousands of people crane their necks and look to the sky.  They shield their eyes and squint as they stare into the sun.  They also jump when they see something shoot past followed by an almighty roar.  The Canadian International Air Show rips up the sky over Lake Ontario once again.  This post pays tribute to one of our favourites, the CF-18 Hornet which is the loudest thing at the lake this weekend.

  The CF-18 is the Canadian Forces version of the American fighter aircraft the F/A-18 Hornet.  It can travel up to Mach 1.8  (1,814 km an hour).  Mach 1 is the speed of sound.  At that speed, if the performing hornet kept on going it would be traveling through Saskatchewan an hour from now.

 
  If we left during the show and drove our car, we would probably still be stuck on Lakeshore Boulevard trying to merge onto the Gardiner Expressway an hour from now.

  Now running at such high speeds and using afterburners uses a lot of fuel so running at Mach 1.8 the jet would probably be out of fuel in less than 20 minutes.  Afterburners are an exhaust system that increases thrust of the aircraft for takeoffs, increased speed and quick maneuvers.

  Whatever the science is behind how these machines work, we like them because they are fast and they are loud. The CF-18 Hornet also likes to fly upside down, hover in place and point straight up and fly into the sun.

  Sometimes they like to get all dressed up for a special occasion like Canada's 150th Birthday.  It is always a special occasion when the CF-18 Hornet flies overhead at the Canadian International Air Show.  It is sure to get your attention.  Watch some video highlights below.

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Map of Our World
Canadian International Air Show

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Post # 261

Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge

Location: Campbellford, Ontario
Address:  Ferris Provincial Park
Date: Aug 2019
Website: www.visittrenthills.ca

    On the August long weekend we took a road trip to Bancroft, Ontario.   We went up in search of precious gems.  The Rockhound Gemboree was being held in Bancroft that weekend and we hoped to find something special.  We didn't find exactly what we were looking for but also didn't leave empty-handed.  We managed to get a few gifts from the show.

     The Gemboree is the biggest gem and minerals show in Canada and Bancroft is often called the "Mineral Capital of Canada".   The Bancroft community centre, curling rink and hockey rink were filled with vendors.  A lot of the sparkling rocks had come from nearby areas. 

  After attending the show we headed across the York River and stopped at The Granite for lunch.  We both had wraps and shared some truffle root fries which were delicious covered in parmesan cheese.  In a town known for minerals the restaurant was aptly named.

  Our journey continued south west towards Ferris Provincial Park.  Ranney Gorge suspension bridge is located on the western side of Ferris Provincial Park and offers some great views over the Trent River.

 

  To the south you can see the river cutting through the gorge.  To the north is a small waterfall.

  The metal bridge hangs 30 feet over the river and is 300 feet long.  As people walk on the bridge you can feel it moving beneath you.

 After making it safely across the bridge we noticed several large birds circling above.  Closer inspection revealed the markings of an osprey.  The brown face mark that goes across their eyes and then curves up onto the back of their necks is the most obvious identifier. Osprey love to fish so the nearby river passing through the gorge is a great place to spot one.

  We crossed back over the bridge once more to continue our trip home.  We had tried our luck hunting for precious minerals, enjoyed a nice meal and swung over a gorge.  All in all it was a beautiful day.

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Map of Our World
Rockhound Gemboree
Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge
The Granite

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Post # 259

Safety Orange Swimmers

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  Harbour Square Park
Date: July 2019
Website: annhirschstudio.com

  S.O.S usually stands for Save Our Souls and is a cry for help.  In Boston, in the fall of 2016 it stood for Safety Orange Swimmers.  It is still a cry for help.  The art exhibit included 22 bright orange people holding onto inner tubes.  It was created by artists Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier.

  The art exhibit will be in Toronto until September 2019.  It now includes 25 orange swimmers.  Each person represents more than one million refugees.  There are estimated to be nearly 26 million refugees risking their lives crossing oceans and dangerous terrain to reach safety and freedom for their families.

  The orange figures all look identical and are only torsos.  As they get caught in the wake of a boat you can clearly see that there is no mid section or legs attached.  The figures cling to their inner tubes but are anchored so they do not drift away further into Lake Ontario.

  The artwork represents people who are so desperate to flee their country that they leave everything behind and  risk death by drowning or dehydration as they cling to homemade rafts.  A boat approached and we imagined what these orange people would be thinking as they faced an uncertain future in a new land.

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Map of Our World
Safety Orange Swimmers

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Post # 258