Mer Bleue Bog

Mer Bleue Bog, Ottawa, May 28, 2005
On what was without doubt the first summer-like day of the year, we went for a walk in the bog. The authorities had thoughtfully provided a solid boardwalk for our meander over the Sphagnum moss. It is very quiet in the bog, except for the rumble of Boeings and Airbuses coming in for a landing at the airport a few miles to the west.







Chamaedaphne calyculata (Leatherleaf)
Or is it? Can anybody help me here?


Trois Cousines - Sylvie, Josée et Loulou

Lilac Blossom Time

Lilacs at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, May 28, 2005.

The lilacs were in full bloom at the Experimental Farm this weekend. There are 125 varieties growing there, each meticulously identified with its own little plaque. My favourites originated in Manitoba, although there were many from other places like France, Holland and the USA.

Black, White (and Red?)

the world of penguins is just as precarious as our own. apparently these little fellows are too light to set off the mines, thankfully, or we'd have some kind of mess to clean up (from BBC News online).

Apple Blossom Time

Mer Bleue

Got a new toy... a 7.1 Megapixel Olympus C-7070 digital camera. This is one of my first pictures with it, out in the woods along Dolman Ridge Road on the Victoria Day weekend. The lilacs were not in bloom yet, but the apple blossoms were magnificent.

Dr. Zhivago

Czesław Sejfried, my grandfather (on the right), as a young officer in the 14th His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Prussia's Mitau Hussar Regiment (14-i Gusarskii Mitavskii Ego Korolevskago Vysochestva Printsa Prusskago Al'berta polk) of the 14th Cavalry Division of the Russian Army, with his nephew Jan Ficenes, a student at the Rostov Medical Academy. Photo taken in Moscow sometime before WWI.

The Chateau

Last night, at sunset, I went for a short walk by the canal. Louise was at her Polish class and wouldn't be back for a few hours. I didn't capture the sound, but a guy was playing a flute nearby, and it seemed like a magical moment.

Alien Hosers in Space Suits

Evidence that the first half of the 1970's was a truly bizarre period in history. Somehow, between working on my B.A. and hunkering down in Kaszowo, I managed to miss a good part of it. It appears that the same can not be said for my father and brother. Sunshine [?], 1973.

[Almost] Back in the USSR

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich faces defiantly left.

Comrades with 100th birthday anniversary poster of the bald bolshevik bacillus, Częstochowa, just before May Day (that's a distress call, isn't it?), 1970.

Jurek was a legendary boulevardier, Malinka a student at the Politechnic, and I a callow colonial boy on his first international adventure.

Airports I've Been Through

Amsterdam Schiphol, Atlin, Austin, Baltimore, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin Schoenfeld, Bermuda, Boston, Brussels, Calgary, Cancun, Chicago Ohare, Copenhagen, Dallas-Fort Worth, Edinburgh Turnhouse, Edmonton Municipal, Edmonton Nisku, Flores, Frankfurt-am-Main, Gdansk, Glasgow Prestwick, Guatemala City, Halifax, Hangzhou, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Ontario, Madrid, Miami, Montreal Dorval, Montreal Mirabel, New York Kennedy, New York Laguardia, Ottawa, Paris DeGaulle, Paris Orly, Pointe-a-Pitre, Quebec City, Regina, Rome Fiumicino, Rosseau Dominica, Saskatoon, Shanghai, St. John's, St. Louis, Stockholm, Sundsvall, Tokyo Narita, Toronto Island, Toronton Pearson, Vancouver, Victoria, Vienna, Warsaw Okęcie, Washington Dulles, Washington National, Whitehorse, Winnipeg, Wrocław, Wuhan, Zagreb.

Of course, if you put all this into perspective, it only represents about 27, or about 12% of the world's countries. Which makes me think...gdybym tylko przestał łazić po tym Krakowskim Przedmieściu, może by mi się udało jeszcze trochę świata poznać.

Христос Воскрес

Happy Easter to all my Orthodox friends!