Menin Gate video

Friday 8 August 2008 at Menin Gate, Belgium
During the Last Post ceremony I thought I would try running video mode on the Panasonic digital camera and was happily trying to hold things steady when I got this flashing warning in the screen that I only had 30 seconds left of battery time. I got this countdown and was hoping that the buglers would finish before my camera stopped.
You can see the result in the video.
Sue has since told us that her and Frank, "scored a really good last post last time...... complete with a brass band from UK and a bag piper...... was very moving and lasted 20 odd mins!

What a challenge it was to get the video uploaded. Left the computer on overnight, with the message 'still uploading'. I hope my data cap has not been exceeded for the month.

Menin Gate

Friday 8 August 2008 at Menin Gate in Belgium
After our visit to Bruges, Frank and Sue drove us to Tyne Cot Cemetry and then to Menin Gate to catch the 'Last Post' ceremony. Quite a moving event and something that Belgium has done every evening since 1929, except during the German occupation of the Second World War. I mentioned this to John Skelton when we met up with him and Deanna in England and he told of his visit with one of his boys to Menin Gate. John's story was from August the previous year (2007) when he was there together with Malcolm and his two sons and they were invited to participate in the daily Last Post memorial service. "There are no more first generation survivors, so it was very significant to have 2nd generation, 3rd generation, and 4th generation members from one family. It was an honour to participate.
Also I am guessing you know that Menin Gate has 5,4896 names, the Tyne Cot Cemetery has 34,984 names and nearly 90,000 have no known grave site."
John also mentioned later he and Deanna were going back to their favourite B & B in Belgium which is now a working farm, and the local history expert had told John that it is a few hundred yards away from the line where the New Zealand Expeditionary Force was during the battle for Passchendaele. John has walked the same area that his dad was in.

le petit Julien

7 August 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
On our way to this little sculpture I was wondering about all this focus on a little boy urinating in signs all over the place - including this shop, photographed over the top of Frank's head. The official website link from Wikipedia has an interesting introduction and there is another link giving a 360 degree scan of the site.

Mysterious little something with a big reputation

7 August 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
Whilst in Brussels that first day, after getting off the train from Amsterdam and meeting Frank and Sue Fesche, we were taken to a mystery location that had a big reputation. Well we were warned, you almost couldn't see it for all the visitors lining up to get their photographs taken in front of this little sculpture.

Grand-Place of Brussels

7 August 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
Across the square from the previous photograph, with the shadow of that building falling on this one.

Grand-Place of Brussels

7 August 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
With attention focused on the Grand-Place of Brussels with the photos sent of the Floral Carpet event of 2008, had me looking again at my photos of the square and the detail in the buildings. As Frank Fesche pointed out, even the high up stone carvings are intricately detailed, although it is unlikely that the person at the street level would be able to see those carvings. Each column has its own story and there are some quite macarbe scenes.

Grand-Place of Brussels

7 August 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
From that aerial view of the Grand-Place of Brussels, in the top right corner was where we were with Frank and Sue on Thursday 7 August, after we had traveled by train from Amsterdam. This was our chance to visit with Frank and Sue when they both had rostered time off. Could we organise ourselves to be there in 2010 to avoid comments from various people who commented along the lines, "wow that is pretty, a shame you guys missed it"
We were also impressed with the effort made to 'screen decoratively' the scaffolding for renovations - see top picture.

Brussels In Bloom

I was sent this email with various photos of Brussels in bloom with the comment, "Wish my garden was this colourful - with my green fingers the ones right in the middle would die before I finished the outside.!!
I IMAGINE THAT THEY WOULD BE PRAYING FOR NO WIND"
I realised we had been there with Frank and Sue Fesche, just the week before. I can vaguely recall Sue telling us about this great event. As Sue later said, "Frank and I missed 2000 and 2008 but have seen 2002, 2004, and 2006. Sue". Sue also pointed us to the relevant website
Sadly this link no longer works

Bike ride in the country

Friday 5 September 2008 in Massey, Auckland
Out riding my bike in the country around Kumeu (in the rain) I stopped for this mother duck taking her brood across the road. There were so many little ones I couldn't count the moving mass, maybe 10 ducklings. Mother Duck turned to me with a serious "leave my fluffy ducklings alone" look - which reminded me of this duck chasing away other ducks from her sleeping brood on the bank at Bosepark in Tempelhof, Berlin.
For other Blog postings since we returned, see the associated Blog Ray and Barb in New Zealand

Framed by First Nation History

Friday 29 August 2008 at the Museum of Anthropology, UBC, Vancouver.

At the Museum of Anthropology, UBC

Friday 29 August 2008 at MOA, University of British Columbia, Canada Angie of Napier commented that she, "liked the one where you were obviously trying to look like an anthropolgist !!! Had to look hard to see which was you".

One of the signs Jim Watkins organised for Ballina

To kick off Keep Hastings Beautiful month, the Hastings District Council arranged skip bins with art works as an ugly reminder not to drop litter by showing how huge the problem is for the district.

The Council's environmental enhancement officer, Jacqui Barnes, said disposing of litter cost Hastings ratepayers $547,768 each year.

That figure includes the 360 hours of staff time a week, vehicles, transfer station fees and rubbish bag costs but doesn't include the $365,000 it costs for street cleaners.

``It's a cost which could easily be reduced or even avoided if people put their rubbish in public bins or took it home,' Ms Barnes said.

Each month Hastings, Havelock North and Flaxmere produce 100 cubic metres of rubbish, enough to fill the 50m pool at the Frimley Aquatic Centre.

But because council staff were getting out and picking up the litter early most people would not realise the extent of the problem.

Hastings, on a normal day, creates six to seven black rubbish bags of litter and during peak times around 12 bags a day.

All this reminded me of our Host Jim Watkins' involvement in the Ballina Tidy Towns Committee

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii

Friday 29 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
The Bill Reid Sculpture at Vancouver Airport.

Bill Reid Rotunda at UBC

Thursday 28 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Perhaps I should post my other photos of the Bill Reid Sculpture to a Flickr page.

MOA at UBC

Thursday 28 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Bill Reid Rotunda

Bill Reid Rotunda at UBC

Thursday 28 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
The last place of our guided tour of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) of the University of British Columbia, with our Guide in the brown top on the left, at the Bill Reid Rotunda.

Back home and chatting and chatting and ...

Sunday 31 August 2008 back in Auckland, New Zealand
Nikki and Barb getting some sun on their shoulders while the stories flowed after we arrived home before dawn after a 13 hour, 40 minute flight.
Had to buy milk on the way home to make coffee and tea but, no beans to grind for a decent coffee so it was tea bags and powdered coffee. After Kathy and Graham left Nikki stayed and Ray had a Jet Lag Sleep during which time Ann turned up with some essential ingredients that went down well like avocado, tomatoes, a french stick, and some sliced meats - which weren't from the Maple Leaf production line in Toronto that had been closed down with Listerios.

 
The Bill Reid scupture at Vancouver Airport, that Ken and Lydia mentioned we ought to see after having seen the great Raven sculpture at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. I should have waited until there were people leaning forward at that counter with no bag and one person standing to match the sculpture.

We're on our way home

Friday 29 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Last night it was good to get a visit from Terry and Laurie Senft. Lots of interesting stories and got some gaps filled in the Family Tree program.
After trying a smoked Montreal Beef sandwich, it was suggested that maybe we ought to try visiting a Tim Horton's (Similar to the Dunkin Donuts chain in the US) before we left Canada. Well Ken drove around Richmond, with road works involving water mains I guess, making it difficult to turn into side streets when we wanted to - we seemed to cruise around forever before we finally found a Tim Hortons. Ray tried a hot coffee with a maple syrup iced donut and the others went for ice coffee. The food didn't really measure up to the build up - ah well.
Managed to sleep on the plane and arrived to find NO Seagrams Crown Royal whiskey (they had some at Vancouver Duty Free) but there was Cody along with Nikki (out in Nikki's car) plus Graham and Kathy to meet us at Auckland airport.

Purple Death From Afar

Thursday 28 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Spending a wet day scanning Lydia's album of family history and also looking through Ken and Lydia's album of their trip to N.Z. back in 1987. There was a photo of Steve Sapich, pouring his visitors a Sapich treat and no doubt spinning a suitable story.
What happened to the hair Steve? (the same that happened to mine maybe)

Downtown Calgary

Wednesday 27 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Poor Ken, on the bus back to White Rock from the Skytrain terminal this couple who go for the special lunches his church puts on, called out "Hello", then "I know that man" for all the passengers to hear.

The US / Canada border

Tuesday 26 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada

Putting Ken Hollas into the picture

Tuesday 26 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Heading back to the vehicle after visiting the Peace Arch on the US/Canada border near White Rock.

More dramatic sky looking toward North Vancouver

Wednesday 27 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
More dramatic sky from the Vancouver Ferry, Cruise Ship terminal, showing one of the catamaran Ferries heading across.

North Vancouver from the Vancouver side

Wednesday 27 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
A visit 'downtown Vancouver' after taking the bus and Skytrain and then taking the Ferry across to North Vancouver for lunch. This was taken from back at the Vancouver side at the Cruise Ships berth near the Ferry Terminal/

"GYAANA" Haida Pole

Tuesday 26 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
The Totem Poles at White Rock

At the White Rock

Tuesday 26 August 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
Lydia and Barb at the White Rock, which having been 'tagged' a number of times is now painted white at least once a year to freshen it up.

Calgary to Vancouver

Monday 25 August 2008 in Calgary, then Vancouver, Canada
Shauna mentioned how there weren't many waiting at this security line but, after a little more talking we looked around and whoops where did all these people come from? This line was really slow with only two security lines for the x-ray machine for the laptops, and things metal and people were getting anxious they would miss the plane. The guy supervising the line assured us that the plane would not go without us as there were quite a number of us from our flight in this slow line.
The plane was late leaving and the flight was uneventful and there were Lydia and Ken waiting for us. They took us out to their suburb of White Rock and for lunch at one of their favourite dining spots and then it was a walk around in the warm sunshine.
Next morning it was a off to White Rock itself and were shown this special 'something' - upon which we sat after noting the inscription.
ENA SENFT 1910-1993 HENRY SENFT 1903-1996
Loving Parents, Grandparents And Great Grandparents

Calgary Airport

Monday 25 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Time to move from Calgary to Vancouver. On the way to the airport Ernie found a spot for Ray to get out and get some shots of the Calgary skyline – we got some of the mountains in the background after the camera was swung to the left (West) away from Downtown. Barb had been in touch with Shauna and they arranged that Shauna and Jill would meet us at the airport at 9am for a coffee. 9 o'clock was the earliest we could check our luggage in but, it was taking so long that Barb went off and found Shauna and Jill, along with Wendy and Ernie after they parked their vehicle, and it was hugs over the rope barrier while Ray wheeled the luggage trolley in the baggage check in line. With the bags out of the way it was up one level to for a coffee and chat until 10:30 when it was time to go through security.

Wendy and Ernie's gang at Tanya's

Sunday 24 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
L to r; Carlo, Tanya, Ernie, Wendy with Snoopy the dog, Amy and Craig.

Lunch at Tanya and Carlo's

Sunday 24 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
One pensive luncher muncher, by the name of Naomi. I hope she won't be annoyed with me in years to come.

'Family lunch at Tanya and Carlo's

Sunday 24 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
After that diversion to Mount Royal suburb, we called by a Sobey's Store for the deserts that we were taking as our contribution to lunch.
The place was buzzing with conversation and kids and plenty of food - so it was a process of digesting food and information in a leisurely manner, with the sun hanging in there, against the approaching high cloud off the mountains.

After lunch Judy helped me update her family tree details but my attempts at photos didn't work too well with her group of Larry and Judy's girls and their kids. The flash didn't seem to go at the time of opening the shutter so I got blurred photos, so perhaps I can get some shots from Wendy or Carlo's camera.
This one is of Deanna and Barb with 'Charlie' or Charlotte leaning out the door.

Family lunch at Tanya and Carlo's

Sunday 24 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Wendy and Ernie were planning another 'Tiki Tour' of various old haunts before we got to Tanya and Carlo's for lunch but Ernie had work requirements with son Ian taking the van doing some stuff and so 9:30 became 10:30 and finally we hit the road at 11:30. On the way we called in again to Vercheres Street so we could get some photos in the sunshine. While Ray was out composing various angles, Barb chatted to a neighbour watering her garden and she recommended that we try knocking on the door. Well George answered and kindly let us into the lounge to look and said he was the third owner and thought the Patterson's were the first. He also mentioned he thought we might have been photographing the house because of its slate roof – one of few in the area. Suggesting 'The slate roof will still be there even after the house has collapsed in ruin.' For details on that neighbourhood

The Red Document

Saturday 23 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Our Saturday was not all spent inside, Cindy felt well enough after her recent surgery to pay a short visit. Out to sunshine in the backyard with coffee mugs in hand and it was good to get a catch up. By evening Ernie was feeling like having steak on the barbeque and he won out over Chicken On The Way, but this meant he had to go fetch the beast and do the cooking. Excellent prime rib steak under the Gazebo.

Then - it is the big day, Sunday, with the Family Lunch at Tanya and Carlo's place. We understand Tanya has been preparing salad after salad!

A sunny day spent inside

Saturday 23 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Another sunny day but spent mostly inside going over photos and scanning them. We started off with breakfast under the Gazebo with Ernie's suggestion of the day before, of blueberry pancakes and ham. Then Barb and Wendy went through the various photos of their parents' time and Ray managed (without instructions) to work our how to scan with Wendy's new HP Scanner. This took quite some time but we got a lot of David and Heather Patterson's photos done plus those Audrey with Barb when Audrey made her first visit home with her new baby. Next it was some of their Grandfather Charlie Patterson's Scouting certificates and photos – was that a photograph of Baden Powell in that group?
One challenging scan was of the documents supporting Madge's claim for Charlie's Pension and especially this deep red 'Workers Red Permit', which said (in part) 'The person named below has permission to work among the British Troops at' (handwritten – looks like) “Paris”
Name (handwritten) "Patterson, Charles Robert"
Institution (handwritten) "Canadian YMCA"
The typed letter on pink paper said in part; “The widow states she was married to the late Mr. Patterson on 2.7.45.”
That certainly was not their wedding date, so perhaps it was a time fixing date showing that she was married at the time before the 2nd World War ended.

Our gracious host

Thursday 21 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Wendy and 'Snoopy' the dog observing the photo session in their back yard

The Cousins Three

Thursday 21 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Glenda also got another cousin Bernice and husband Dennis Ott to come over to visit us at Wendy's. It was really good of Barbara's first cousin Wendy, to allow me to have my third cousins visit and looking after the food and drink and doing the background support.

Barb, Ray, Wendy and Glenda

Thursday 21 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
It was good to meet Glenda and Howard who traveled all that way to see us and we spent a pleasant afternoon chatting and comparing family history. Glenda had also provided a basket of goodies of Canadian momentoes along with an album summary of the Canadian Manklow's. They all dropped the 'e' when they got to Canada from England, except for Harry Mankelow, who had written an article we had seen back in 1974.

Glenda and Howard Nelson visit from 'Prince'

Thursday 21 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Ray's third cousin Glenda, with husband Howard Nelson, drive all the way from Prince George to visit with Ray and Barb at Wendy and Ernie's place in Calgary. Here Glenda and Howard are getting ready for our photo session.

Vercheres Street, Calgary

Wednesday 20 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Difficult to see the house with the trees in front but this made for a great looking street and Barb said the house looked just the same as it did in the old photos at her parent's place. Next stop was an old High School but the rain meant I opted to forgo the photo opportunity. Then it was back to Carolyn's to pick up Ray's computer bag and DVDs (ran out of time for those), drop off Shirley and the twins and so back to Wendy's place.
Wendy had tickets to a musical Theatre Show with Dinner, that started at 6pm and so we had to get back and didn't have time for recorded some oral history with Shirley. Poor Ernie had finished his work and driven back to near Carolyn's place but not being sure quite where it was that he dropped us off, he waited at a nearby Shell Station for the call from Wendy. When the call came, it was to say Carolyn had dropped us back. This made for a bothersome end to his frustationg work day as it meant a slow commute in the rush hour.
No time for a relaxing shower for Ernie so after a quick cigarette it was off to Jubilations Calgary for 'A Buddy Holly BIRTHDAY BASH'.
This involved audience participation and banter with actor/waiters but luckily for us, with Ernie telling the actors who came to our table that we were visitors from New Zealand and I was a 'DJ', we weren't called up front. The basic plot was that Buddy Holly was having his 18th birthday and he had to choose between his mother's planned 'family' get together and performing at this talent show in town to find the 'Next Big Thing'. All done with the script leading to some actor saying the the title of a Buddy Holly song, which led to the song being performed. The Dinner Theatre Menu had 'Starters' of Red Velvet - a blend of beets, carrots and fennel topped with yoghurt. While this was being served the various actors and waiters engaged in fun banter and then it was time for the Stage Show to begin.
For some reason the main course was called Entree and three of us had the 'Big Boppers Beef' (Choice Alberta Prime Rib slow cooked to medium) while Wendy went for the 'Col Cowbells Chicken Delight' (breaded chicken breast stuffed with apple and fig fushion). I imagine all meals were designed to be ready at once and quickly rushed out by the waiters to all the patrons after the lights came back up at the end of an Act.
At the conclusion of the Show all patrons were invited to fill in a little satisfaction survey with the incentive to win a draw for a future show. This allowed time for the bar tabs to be settled, as the meal was prepaid with the show.

Charlie and Madge's old Vercheres Street home

Wednesday 20 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
The rain was starting to get more serious by the time we got to this splendid leafy lane, where Wendy was able to (by opening her side door) photograph from inside the vehicle but I quickly dashed from spot to spot to get a series of shots of the house and street before getting too wet.

Nana takes a photo of Joshua and Patrick

Thursday 21 August 2008 in Calgary, Canada
Shirley captures her twin grandsons in their 'photo opportunity' for the visitors.

The United Church in Calgary

The Church as it was then, when Madge was in the choir