New work

These are two of the Van Dyke brown prints I am currently working on.  I have taken a digital photo, manipulated it in photo shop, inverting it and gray scaling it to create a negative.  I print it onto transparency film and use that as my photo negative to print the Van Dyke brown, a 19th century photo process.

Celebration time

We are in Oswego, NY to celebrate my parents 65th wedding anniversary.  For their 60th we had wine glasses inscribed with their names and dates.  It was such a good idea we did it again.  Same names, five more years.  Here are my dad, Lew, and mom, Steve, toasting with their new glasses.  The actual anniversary date is June 21, but we thought the sooner we gave them the glasses, the more wine we could drink from them.

The Erwin clan is gathering.  It's a rolling arrival.  My sister, Linda showed up at our home on Friday, June 14.  My brother, Andy and sister in law, Paige, arrived in Oswego on Saturday.  Lin ,Doug, and I made our appearance on Monday.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, nephews and grandnephew arrives.  Chris and Michelle and their 16 month old son, Colin fly into Rochester.  Meanwhile, Corey will fly into Syracuse.  Dad made Mom a spreadsheet so they could keep track of comings and goings.  We will also do a staggered departure.  More to add to the spreadsheet.

P.S.  It is my birthday today and my sister's too.  She was born 3 years after me.

Train Reflections

Looking back on the train ride across Canada and the very few posts about the day to day experience, I thought a few more thoughts were in order.  We boarded at 10 at night, found our berths, already made up.  This is what we were faced with--a bunk off the aisle.  Doug had the upper and I had the lower.  No floor space, just bed.  The curtains shut for privacy but if you stepped out, you were in the aisle and public view.  There were two berths across the aisle occupied by our new BFFs, Andy and Elsie.  They were single travelers so they were introducing themselves to each other and to us.

 After a welcome on board Champagne, we settled down for the night.  Fortunately, the ticket agent at the train station warned us to check one of our bags because there wasn't a lot of space.  We definitely thanked her on many occasions...

We were traveling light as it was, with a carry on bag each plus our 'personal' item, but consolidating even more was a very good idea.  I ended up taking a few things out so the bag would fit under the bunk.  The only place to put them was inside the bed.  I had a shelf on the lower berth, but all Doug had on the upper was a string hammock for his possessions.  Still, I had to store a couple of things on the bed with me.

The first night we slept, maybe.  We had to get used to the motion of the train.  Not bad, a gentle rocking to start, but then we picked up speed and gentle turned into rock and roll.  Hang on!  Good thing the hallways were narrow because you definitely needed the extra support.  I think I used the term ricochet.   One friend thought rubber suits might be in order.

There were other sounds to get used to (or not), like what sounded like a flock of ducks quacking.  Was I in a duck blind instead or a bunk?  The faster we went the more ducks there were.

We were a few steps from the bathrooms, but you did want to be modestly covered since, remember, at night you stepped out into the aisle.  I did the lie on your back and hitch up your pants routine, raise your rear and hopefully get the pants snapped.  You know position, right?

Meals.  Breakfast was on a first come, first served basis.  Each meal featured several choices.  Breakfast had eggs or an omelet or pancakes or muffins and yogurt.  There were 3 seatings for lunch and dinner, 5, 7, or 9 o'clock.  We managed to eat at either the first or second seating all three days.  The food was quite good and plentiful.  Canadian wines were served.  Our days were taken up with sleeping, eating, reading, looking out the window and any activity that might be put on by the staff.

While we were at breakfast, the porter put our bed away for the day.  At each change from bed to seat and back again, we had to be organized enough to put out the things we needed at night in our berths on the seat.  It would then appear inside our curtained bed. Vice versa in the morning.  I did figure it out eventually--by the last night.  Consolidation and organization was the key.

Here is the interior of my berth.  It took me two nights to discover that the light by my bed had two settings.  I was trying to read by the low light setting and finding it difficult.

Our across the aisle bunk-mate, Andy, was a great help.  He has taken the train across Canada several times so he is an old hand and gave us great advice.

Would we do it again?  Yes, but not right away.  It was an adventure, especially so since we had no expectations and no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Last of the top 10

I am sitting in the hotel on Sunday night writing about the Corvallis experience, missing Lin and Doug.  We have an early flight tomorrow morning so stay near the airport tonight.  

Back to Saturday.  We went to the Farmer's Market--a very 'happening' place.  Produce, food, crafts, music and more.  Lots of people, good weather.  Then to the Oregon Coffee and Tea shop. I was standing around looking for the photo op when I was asked if I needed help.  I told the kind woman that I was taking photos for the Corvallis Top Ten guide book.  She bit, but she was so nice, I had to tell her the truth, it was just my top ten for this blog.  Below is a drawing her grandchild did of the shop.

Doug holding coffee with shop in background.

Ok, top ten almost done.  Last one is Squirrel's.  We didn't eat there this time but we did the last time we visited.  It is one of Doug R.'s favorite places. Great mural too.

More Corvallis top 10

Friday we went to Garland Nursery to get a plant for the yard.  Lin says it is her peaceful spot and I can see why.  Surrounded by plants of all sorts is very calming.  Then onto Gathering Together Farm for lunch.  Good food and fresh ingredients.  Linda and Doug Moore coming out of the restaurant.

Home to relax and plan for the evening entertainment.  Our cheese man, Doug M. found us a couple of cheeses to accompany the wine we brought from British Columbia, a cab-merlot blend.  Most BC wines stay in Canada so it was fun to treat Lin and Doug to a wine they couldn't normally get.

Saturday was La Patissier.  The last time we visited, after hearing about the wonderful pastries, and getting our palates ready for a taste treat, the shop was closed!  The pastry was decadent and delicious.  The important thing in this picture is the open sign.

To walk off the pastry we went to the Jackson Frazier wetland and strolled the boardwalk.

Then onto Encore physical therapy where Linda teaches Pilates on the Reformer and Cor-a-line equipment.  Here she is helping Doug.

OSU

Both Lin and Doug work at Oregon State University.  Lin teaches yoga and tap dancing in the women's building and Doug is the Gallery Director of the Fairbanks and Memorial Union galleries.  We toured the buildings where they work and saw an exhibit of work by graduating seniors.  Some strong work including two Van Dyke Brown triptychs on wood panels.  Since it is a process I teach in my classes, it caught my attention.

Over the course of our weekend with Lin and Doug Russell, we spent time in Linda's courtyard garden.  Top photo is Doug and me in the back yard.  Doug Russell's studio is behind us.  The bottom photo is Lin's garden.

Doug cooked for us in his Barbecue Pit.  Tuna steaks and lamb kabobs.  Yum

Top 10 Corvallis, OR

For each of the cities we have visited we used  a guide called Top 10...(Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle) so I wondered about the Top 10 sites in Corvallis.  

We took the train from Seattle on Thursday to Albany OR to visit my sister Linda and her husband Doug. Since our arrival, we have been in search of the Corvallis Top 10.  Here is our list (in no particular order):

1. Oregon State University

      a.  Fairbanks Gallery and Memorial Union Gallery

      b.  Women's Building

2. Linda's Courtyard Garden and Doug's Barbecue Pit 

3. Garland Nursery

4. Gathering Together Farm

5. Corvallis Farmer's Market

6. La Patissier

7. Squirrel's Pub

8. Jackson-Frazier Wetland

9. Encore Physical Therapy

10. Oregon Coffee and Tea

Decidedly, it is a personal and somewhat quirky list.  More details and photos will be forth coming.

Seattle

Pike Place Market.  Doug says we have to do it all.  We moseyed through the market, up and down, food stalls, crafters.  Found a couple of tasty morsels.  Wound our way to Pioneer Square, the original city site with restaurants and some galleries. Toured the Klondike National Historic Site.  Seattle was a departure port for the Klondike gold rush in 1897.  One of the 'stampeders' was a fellow named Nordstrom.  He made his money and returned to open a shoe store--the rest is history, as they say.

Visited a couple of galleries one of which is Glassworks where they were blowing glass.  The artisan was fashioning a fish, a realistic looking salmon.  Another gallery (Davidson) featured the work of John Grade who used wood salvaged from a sailing vessel that sailed from Seattle to San Francisco in the nineteenth century.  The ship had reached a point of disintegration that it couldn't be restored so the artist was invited to use what he could for an installation at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.  John Grade, "Core", Wood and resin, below

As we were leaving the galleries and passing an alley, I spied some thing on the brick wall...you be the judge.  Art or trash.  Or does it depend on the setting, gallery or street.  It sort of looks intentional to me...

Victoria and on to Seattle

We woke to rain showers on Monday.  For the rainy coast, we had been fortunate in having sunny (or at least not rainy) skies.  Walked to the Provincial Parliament Building for a tour, then to the Royal British Columbia Museum, a history and natural science museum.  The special exhibit was about the race to the South Pole between Amundsen and Scott. The hardships the expeditions endured are staggering.  It's a wonder they got as far as they did.

Parliament with totem pole.

Tuesday was our travel day to Seattle. Took the passenger ferry from Victoria to Seattle, a two  and half hour trip.  Arrived around 2 and made our way, on foot, to the hotel.  There was a moment of sunshine so we went to the Space Needle for the arial view of Seattle.  As we were in the observation deck, fog and rain rolled in.  You could see it coming in over the water--kinda neat.

Wandered about the Seattle center where the Space Needle is.  Did not go into the Chihuly garden of glass, a fairly new exhibit.  After the Boston MFA exhibit and seeing his museum in St. Pete, I didn't feel the need...

Exploring the neighborhood, we found a cheese and wine shop so went in.  Tasted about 5 or 6 cheeses and had a glass of Washington State wine.  Then upon the recommendation of the cheese shop owner, went to the Tilikum Cafe for a light supper.  Both were good finds.  I am relaxing in our room and Doug is doing a well needed laundry.  What a guy!

Vancouver to Victoria, Sunday

Bus, bus, ferry, bus, walk.  That's the short version and pretty much sums it up.  From the train/bus station in Vancouver you get on a bus which drives 30-45 minutes to the ferry, drives on the ferry.  The ferry takes 1.5 hours, back on the bus for the 30 minutes to Victoria.  About 10 blocks to the hotel.  

Since it was not raining, we got on a different bus for another 30 minute ride to Butchart Gardens.  The gardens are extensive with a Japanese garden, Italian garden, sunken garden, rose garden and more.  We wandered from one magnificent garden to the next for the next 2 or so hours.

Sunken gardens below.

The gardens are on the site of a spent quarry and were planned and planted over several years by the wife of the owner of the quarry.  The gardens have been opened by the same family for 4 generations, each one adding to and improving the garden.

Vancouver, again

Up and out early. So early that nothing was open.  We wandered around the Yaletown section, walked by the Public Library which looks like the Roman Coliseum and the Vancouver Art Gallery which is in the an old courthouse building. Still too early.  So,we went to the Granville Island Public Market.

Lots of shops along the streets that used to be industrial.  There is still a cement plant on the island, otherwise the artisans have taken over.  The fruit and vegetable market has lots of vendors plus eateries and crafters.  I thought the presentation was impressive--all those stacked strawberries.

  

After Granville island, Doug and I went in separate directions, he to the history museum and me to the art museum.  The Vancouver Art Gallery has a rotating permanent collection mostly of the work of Emily Carr, a well known and well loved BC painter and author.  Her watercolors were featured along with Charles John Collings, also a BC water colorist of lesser renown.  Is it a BC sacrilege to say I preferred Collings over Carr?

Another Sunny Day in Vancouver

Once again, we had a plan, but because the weather was so beautiful, we changed to an outdoor activity.  We went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  It features a suspension bridge over a river gorge plus other activities like a treetop adventure which is a series of mini suspension bridges between treetop platforms.  There were other paths through the woods all on boardwalks and with interpretive plaques.  The suspension bride is below.

It was a good thing we had our 'train legs' because the bridge swayed a lot like the moving train.

Here we are in the canopy.

We spent several hours there but still had some time for another activity so we went to a Classical Chinese Garden in downtown Vancouver.  It is one of 4 classical Chinese gardens in North America.  We actually visited the one in Portland OR in 2010.  It is truly an oasis in a busy and noisy city.

Vancouver, Day Two

We got on the bus, got off at the train/bus station to get more information about transport to Victoria.  Doug had a plan for the day, but as we were waiting for the #3 bus to take us to Chinatown, the bus to Stanley Park arrived and we decided to go there instead.  It was a beautiful day and apparently you grab them while you can--the weather is unpredictable, they say.

We walked most of the sea wall around the perimeter of the park along the Pacific and Burrard Inlet, about 4 plus miles. This iconic rock, Siwash Rock, is about one half of the way around by our route. We ate lunch at theTeahouse Restaurant overlooking the ocean.

Since we had so much energy left, we decided to go to Canada Place and view an outdoor self-guided history exhibit about Canada.  We were so close to the Gaslight District that we wandered through there.  Most stores were closing, but we go a sense of the area.  It was the original settlement and is now a revitalized historic district with many shops and restaurants.

Find our bus back, relax a bit before going to a local restaurant for dinner. Then crash.

Arrival in Vancouver

We arrived about 10:30am, 45 minutes later than the published arrival time.  This photo was taken from the train window.  Tracks, train, and city.  

As we traveled across Canada, there were innumerable slow downs and stops to allow the freight trains to go by.  Most of the line is single track meaning that one train has to go on a siding to allow the other train to pass.  The passenger train usually was the one that was delayed.  I think we were behind schedule about 4 hours at one point.  We made up time on long straight aways on the plains.  At some points the train was rocking so that you ricocheted down the passageways as you made your way from car to car.  Our berth was right next to the dining car, but we had to go through several cars to get to the dome cars and activity cars.  There were 24 cars plus three engines, 240 passengers, 26 staff including porters and dining/kitchen staff.

Once we found our hotel, we went to the Anthropology Museum at the University of British Columbia which has an extensive collection of First Nations Artifacts.  It is located on the waterfront with views of the Pacific.  Below is a detail of an historic totem pole.

In order to get there, we took public transportation and mastered at least one bus route.

Jasper

Arrived in Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. Only a few minutes to stroll around. More about our train adventure later

Train camping

Inside my berth

Outside at night

Day time. Seats convert to upper and lower berths for sleeping. Very compact. 

Saturday

Checked out of the hotel and brought our bags to the train station. We don't board until after 8 pm and leave at 10. Then wandered the waterfront, finally. Here we were on Lake Ontario and for all the exploring we were doing, the only time we actually saw the lake was when we landed.

We then did the tourist thing and we up in CN Tower, 2nd highest free standing tower and one of the 7 wonders of the modern world according to the America Society of Civil Engineering. It is fun to get above it all. We opted NOT to do the walk around outside the observation deck, attached with harnesses.

I don't know what the Internet connection will be on the train. I suspect I will be off line until arriving in Vancouver on Wednesday. If I can snap a photo of the sleeping accommodations and get it off before we depart, I will. Other wise it will be in a few days.

Friday in Toronto

A tour of the Distillery district with art galleries! It is an historic area that was once a distillery. Now it's trendy with shops and galleries. More interesting than the upscale shopping area. We wondered around the St. Lawrence Market and found an exhibit of Toronto history. The person staffing the desk was very knowledgeable and gave us a comprehensive view of the rebellion of 1837. It seems reformers were ready to kidnap the royal governor and seize arms in order to take over the government. Sound familiar? This plan met with abject failure, but the reforms were put in place with 10 years. Remember taxation without representation? That was one of the complaints. The British got the message, though.

More walking wore us out but not before we happened upon a Chartres-style labyrinth hidden next to the Eaton Center ( a major downtown shopping center) and a church. We walked it and every time Doug and I passed each other we touched hands. Nice.

Found respite in another garden filled with tulips.

At AGO

Enjoying a break at the espresso bar at the museum on Wednesday

Just Around the Corner

Today we walked and walked and walked. Just around the corner (he said), miles and miles (she said). As always it was some where in between. Toronto Public Library for an exhibit about the War of 1812; Chinatown and the Kensington market area, Queen Street past the Osgoode Hall and Old City Hall; on to Eaton Place. Aside from sore feet, no worries. It was a beautiful day to be out walking.

Kensington market has lots of fruit and vegetable vendors and all sorts of small ethnic shops. Fun to wander and poke in and out of shops.

Osgoode Hall built in 1832 and added to over the years houses the Upper Law Courts of Upper Canada. Impressive from both inside and out. Old City Hall is a Richardsonian Romanesque building built in 1899 and is now a courthouse. The new city hall was built in the '60's. It was controversial at the time as so many modern public buildings of the era were. There is a Henry Moore sculpture out in front, and that, too, was controversial.

When we were at the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday, I noted that I hadn't seen so many Henry Moore sculptures in one place. It turns out he gave the museum over 300 objects from drawings to maquettes to full size sculptures.

Toronto day one

Flew Porter Air from Boston to Toronto. Roomy and friendly and they land at the airport close to downtown on an island. Ferry and shuttle got us to the train station. After a few moments of confusion figured out the subway and found our hotel.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is open late on Wednesday so we headed that way. As is Doug's style, he suggested we walk. It's only about a kilometer, he says. Thirty five minutes later we finally arrived-a bit longer than estimated.

The exhibit that we wanted to see was Early Renaissance in Florentine Art. We had been in Florence a year and a half ago so we were excited to return in spirit, if not in fact. The exhibit brought together many paintings, alters and illuminated manuscripts from the early 1300's. Some hadn't been together for centuries. The Laudario of Sant'agnes is one example. It is a book of songs of praise or laudes compiled by a singing confraternity and it is lavishly illuminated. The book had been taken apart in the early 1800's and sold to separate collectors. Twenty eight pages survive and all but two are in 16 collections across Europe and the US. This exhibit is the first time these 26 pages have been together since the book was dismantled. Impressive. I didn't take photos, but the you can visit the museum website. www.ago.net

While waiting for our timed entry, we saw an exhibit of photos by Patti Smith. The title of the show is Camera Solo. Smith sees taking a photo as a solitary experience. The meaning in Italian is a room of one's own. The small black an white photos were taken with a Polaroid camera then printed in limited editions as gelatin silver prints. Images of intimate objects like 'my father's cup' and images of graves and tombstones are part of the exhibit. There is one of a 'bear with calling card at Tolstoy's house.' The poet Rimbaud was one of Smith's muses and there is an homage to him with her installation of photos, drawings, poems and ephemera of him, including a replica of a litter used to carry Rimbaud to his burial site.

Roughing It?

As we get ready for our trip across Canada via Rail and our sleeping berths--upper and lower,  I thought I would review recent accommodations.  Originally we were scheduled to travel last fall so would have had experienced aqua camping, rustic cabins and train camping all within a couple of months.




Some of our relations are appalled at our 'rough' accomodations.  When our niece and nephew were young, they were leery of vacationing like their uncle.  No camping for them--on boat, land or train.

The theme is minimal accommodations.  Above and at right are views of our room at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Rustic, no heat, but with electricity.  We go to Haystack as part of the Massachusetts College of Art Alumni Retreat in late September, early October.  It can get cold at night so comforters are welcome.  Towels never quite dry or are perpetually cold.  We love it though.  Lots of art and camaraderie.





Below are views of our berth on the Schooner Mary Day, another spartan room.  This one had a sink, but the head was on deck, and we had to climb a ladder to get up on deck.  Challenging in the middle of the night--but fun.

Every thing in its place..

Keep posted for pictures of our train sleeping quarters.

Getting ready for our next trip

We are getting ready to finally take the trip we started planning a year ago. Originally scheduled to travel in October 2012, we had to cancel because Doug fell and injured his knee. He had to have surgery so wasn't able to travel. Departure date--May 15.