Random Silliness

I think it is the silly season here. Kids are bored....they keep stealing the "L" from the "Public School" sign on the public school across the street. I have a park bench in front of my house...they lifted it up, and a couple of big stones from my rock garden and blocked the street! Cops knocking on my door at 3 AM wanting to know if I heard anything. This was a change from them rocketing through at 70 mph at 2 AM like they do most mornings with the cops in full siren pursuit.
I keep the park bench for the seniors who like to rest a bit before finishing the walk between the store and the seniors home. I don't think they need the rest as much as they need the chat.

Got myself into something...every Monday the Fraser Highlanders will be bringing over 4 muskets for routine maintenance. Volunteering for this group will be a blast!
Well, because it has been so stinkin' hot lately, I have only been able to get 4 hours work done a day, so I better get to it! Maybe later in the afternoon I will be able to post some pictures.

Sunday...

Well, the Stompin' Tom Connors concert was all I expected it to be! Crowded, hot, and wonderful! The old feller can still belt 'em out, but his trademark board is not stomped through at the end of the night like it used to be!

The set opened with a live version of Bud the Spud.

"I'm Bud the Spud from the bright red mud of good old P. E. I.
Rollin' down the Highway smilin'!"

PEI of course is potato country. I lived there for several years, and have plenty of stories about that place. It is actually where Tom was born, and I have seen his daddy's old pickup truck and homestead. The tune is an old favorite, and it got the crowd going.

Then he went on to his travels in Ontario. Picking tobacco in Tilsonburg, and playing the bars right here in Kemptville.

"Tilsonburg...Tilsonburg. My back still aches when I hear that word, Tilsonburg".
and my favorite..."Big Joe Mufferaw paddled up the Ottawa, all the way to Mattawa in just one day! "

Joe Mufferaw is the original big northern logger, the model for Paul Bunyan. Lots of fun stories told about big Joe Mufferaw around the Ottawa Valley! It would be a feat indeed to paddle a canoe from Mattawa to Ottawa in under a week, and to paddle upriver...yup, that would be worth singing about!

The heat was too intense for Brenda, and my friend Myrna. They were nigh on to fainting from it! We were up high, and the heat from the crowd just got hotter and hotter. But to give them credit, they stuck it out to the end. The set closed with "Sudbury Saturday Night", his "signature" song. He tosses in extra lyrics from time time depending on where he is at, but I think it is his most famous tune. Sudbury is a mining town in Northern Ontario, and they mine nickel there....for the International Nickel Company, known as INCO.

"Weeeeeelllllllll..the girls are out to Bingo, and the guys are getting stinko!
They'll talk no more 'bout INCO, its Saturday tonight"

Everybody was singing along, clapping, and whooping! It sounds a bit like "western" music, and a little like "folk" music, but its not "western", its not "folk". Its Stompin' Tom Connors, and is in a class of its own! Pick up a CD, its worth it!

Stompin' Tom Connors

Looking forward to a Saturday evening in Kemptville enjoying the Stompin' Tom Connors concert. This icon of Canadian entertainment is probably on his last tour...he is what...71 after all! Should be a good time had by all!

http://www.stompintom.com/index.htm

Map of the area

A map of the area in question. When the English eventually won, they gave Fort de la Presentation a new name.....Fort Oswegachi. You can read that name on the map just beside the "N" in New York. On the North Side of the River, you can see the name of another fort, Fort Isle Royale, which is actually still in use as a tourist attraction in Prescott Ontario. It is fairly obvious that whoever controls the narrows at this point will control all the traffic into the Great Lakes.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Battle

Fraser Highlanders in line of battle, they are wearing kilts, red waistcoats and white shirts. Facing them are two regiments of French. The French are wearing red coats (artillery) and grey coats (garrison troops). There is some nice artillery there! To the Fraser's right is a small unit of Rangers dressed in homespun, but with a great big blue flag! The second pic down shows the native allies skirmishing in the trees.


Click on pictures to enlarge...

York Boats

Here are the pics which go with the narrative below. For reasons known only to the great Bird of the Galaxy, I could NOT upload those pics onto the post below where they belong! Well, they are here now, and click on them to see them full size. Some of them have droplets of water on the lens...well, it WAS raining!

The fellows built their own York Boats, some taking as much as three years to do it. The scene is the St Lawrence River, at the site of Fort de la Presentation, with the great bridge from Canada to the USA in the background. I have it on fairly good authority that that bridge antedates the French-Indian War by a few decades. The USA is the right half of that bridge, and my beloved Canada is to the left.

The British have Landed...

Here are a couple of York boats, British ships which have navigated up the thousand Islands to land at Fort de la Presentation, and preparing to attack the French, with their 3000 Indian allies at the fort. The French would build a second fort on one of the Islands after Presentation falls...Fort de Levis on what is now called "Chimney Island"... so called because all you can see of it nowadays is a lone fireplace and chimney on a poor exposed rock that is all that is left of the Island after the flooding of the St. Lawrence River to support the great Seaway. Although I have seen that Island many times, I don't have a picture of it...it really is not very impressive...but it IS the last stand of the French in North America.

The British consisted of Black Watch, Fraser Highlanders, regular infantry (what everybody called "lobsters" because of their red coats, and Rangers such as Rogers and Butler's Rangers who wore more sensible rifle green coats. When you look at them, you wonder why anybody would wear bright red coats into battle. Well, three reasons. 1. Political. You want to be seen to be doing the King's business. The same reason police cars are easily recognized nowadays. 2. You want to be easily recognized by your own allies who are sneaking around in the woods taking pot shots at anybody who doesn't look like a lobster. 3. Those muskets can't hit the broad side of a barn door, so may as well look like a barn door!

There is a great myth that during the Revolutionary War the British were all in Red Coats and the Americans were wearing dun coloured clothing, hiding behind trees and things. Stories like the battle of Breed's Hill (called Bunker hill by the unknowing) where you didn't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes were true enough for pitched land battles, but the Rebel's were actually trained by the Prussians to look spit and polished, while the British were trained by the Natives to sneak around and hide behind trees and things. Sneaky Ranger units such as were made famous by the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" like Butler's Rangers were VERY effective, and Roger's Ranger's actually still exists as a regiment in Toronto.

I have included a few pictures of the Fraser Highlanders moving up into battle. No pipes, but a drum, and swirling kilts. The camp followers were swooning at the handsome lads in kilts. (You know why they call them kilts don't you? Well the last man that called it a skirt was kilt.....da dum dum)

(I see that blogger is being difficult...I'll try to post these pictures later today. Or email me and I'll send them to you directly! I have a lot of battle pictures to put up still!)

7 years war, March to Fort de la Presentation

Here are some of the native re-enactors. Their costumes are as carefully researched and designed as any of the rest of the re-enactors. I asked the big fellow if he was cold (it was a drizzling day...) and he said that when he started to feel the chill, he would just run around the field a few times. He did too!


The bottom pic shows them in action later in the day as they hid behind the embankment ready to take on those pesky British! As usual, click on the images to enlarge.

Seven Years War...arrival by boat

Technically speaking, the seven years war was in Europe. The war in North America was actually created and sustained by natives, so it is called the "French and Indian War". The Since France and England were at war in Europe, it didn't take much to get them squabbling in the New World. When in 1754, a young British Colonel ambushed a party of French near Fort Duquesne, he was attempting to further British interests in the French controlled Ohio Valley. This started the war, which spread rather quickly to Europe, and became the "Seven Years War". This unprovoked attack which led to the deaths of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians is only one issue of many that us Canadians have against Colonel Washington. Maaan! What a trouble maker! (I mean this in the nicest possible way of course.) The seven years war lasted from 1756 until 1763. The French and Indian war was a little earlier, 1754 to 1763, which makes it a 9 years war don't it? It all ended of course in 1763 when Fortress Louisbourg, Quebec City, Fort Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga), Fort Frontnac, Fort York and many others fell to the British.
These pictures are of the re-enactment of Sieur de la Montcalm arriving by "Bateau" to a reception committee of Iriquois and French Regular Infantrymen. Note the Mohican in Blue, and the Iriquois in red ochered shirts. The Onadaga are in ochered all over, in their finest war paint! (Most of these native re-enactors are actually real natives from the area, they think this is hoot!)

More encampment

click on images to enlarge
The fellow in the red is a French Artillary Yoeman, the light blue is Mr. Montcalm's native interpreter, and the fellow smiling at us is Sieur de la Montcalm himself. Intendent of all of New France, de-facto governor of everything from Newfoundland to New Orleans. Capo del Capo!
A man to be reconed with fer sure.
(I wonder if that is his car in the background.....)
(But we are not supposed to notice the modern stuff!)

7 Year War part 1 The Encampment

This may take several posts! This event is an annual event which is held in Ogdensburg New York. At the time, this whole area was owned by the Onedaga, Mohican, Iriquois, and a few others, all of whom figured that if they got the French on their side, they could control most of their known world. After all, the French had muskets, powder, ball, and a market for all those beaver skins. The French also had Christianity, and were not afraid to use it! They established an "abbie", (a combination church, hospital, and trading post) at a point about half way between the rapids of Montreal, and Fort Frontenac (Kingston Ontario), right at the mouth of a river which you could canoe South to (eventually) get to the Hudson, and Virginia Colonies. Because those pesky British would use the Oswegatchi river to try and raid French territory, the French army decided to fortify that spot, with a simple palisade fort called "Fort La Presentation". It was also a really good place to assemble raiding parties to "define their borders".

This small fort was founded by Abbe Francoise Picquete on the day of the Presentation of the Virgin in 1749. Hence the name. These pics show random pictures of the tents, encampments and re-enactors at the site of Fort de la Presentation in July of 2006, the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War. As usual, click on the images to see them full size.

Trip to Ogdensburg

The "Og" is not a spectuacular town, but it is pretty enough in a time worn way. There was lots of money there once, but, like so many town in upstate New York, industry has sort of passed it by this last century. It's high points include the Fredrick Remington Museum, the bridge to the USA, and the 7 years war re-enactment this weekend. If you get a chance to visit the Fredrick Remington museum, I believe you will find it was worth the trip! Remington was one of the foremost "western" painters and sculptors, and I'll bet you have seen his work decorating hotel lobbies and fine homes all your lives! All the originals are there at the museum...a converted home. Pride of place is the huge painting of Teddy Rooseveldt charging up San Juan Hill. But, like I said, you gotta see it in person! http://www.fredericremington.org/house_legacy_collection.htm


Now...off to the re-enactment! I'll have some great pics tomorrow! woo hoo!

Dream Book

http://sh1ft.org/shutterbug/archives.html

(A stunning site with stunning pictures. Please visit him. He takes cool pictures.)

This is a Malaysian Dreambook. You find what you dream about, and it corresponds to a number, which is your lucky number.

July

(click on image to enlarge)

The Limbourgs represent here the rustic activities of the month of July, the harvest and sheep shearing, in the vicinity of the Château du Clain in Poitiers. Poitiers was, in fact, one of the Duc de Berry's habitual homes, a part of his appanage like Berry and Auvergne.Two peasants reap, not with scythes as in the haymaking, but with sickles. One, closely resembling a harvester in the month of June, wears a straw hat and a simple shirt under which appear his drawers or petits draps as they were then called. Every detail of the wheat is minutely rendered. The heads are more golden than the stalks and both are speckled with flowers; on the ground lies the mown wheat, not yet bound in sheaves but already drier than the rest.At lower right a man and woman proceed with the sheep shearing. Each holding an animal on one knee, they cut the wool with a kind of shears called forces; the shorn wool accumulates at their feet.This miniature is a precious document of a château that no longer exists. The Duke had reconstructed the triangular building thirty or forty years hefore.This view is from the right hank of the Clain. A wooden footbridge leads to the right tower, resting on three stonework piers that still stand in the riverbed; at one end a moveable bridge leads to a rectangular entrance tower, and at the other a drawbridge is attached to the château.We glimpse a chapel to the right of the château amid buildings separated from it by an arm of the river. The towers are constructed in the style favored by the Duke and evident in his various châteaus: corbelled with machicolations and crenatures, and decorated in the interior courtyard with high windows.In the background the artists have painted conventionally shaped mountains, the asymmetrical cones often found in their works.


It is a shame that pretty chateau is no longer standing. But the country side is still awfully pretty. The above is all lifted from http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/berry1.html
As the tourism brochure for Pontiers says....

PoitiersLes chemins de Notre-Dame. Au fil du chemin Rouge Amateurs de nature et de grands espaces, cette visite vous conduira jusqu'au parc de Blossac dessiné au XVIIIè siècle sur les remparts de la ville. Le jardin anglais ajouté au XIXe siècle et Grand Pré complètent cet îlot de verdure. Vous admirerez aussi, dans le quartier Saint-Hilaire, le Doyenné -où a vécu Geoffroy d’Estissac, le protecteur de Rabelais- et l'imposante église Saint-Hilaire, construite sur le tombeau du saint et décorée de peintures murales au Moyen Age. Au retour, vous passerez devant les vestiges des arènes romaines et vous pourrez entrer dans la chapelle Saint-Louis du collège Henri IV. Elle possède un somptueux retable incrusté de marqueterie en marbre, ivoire et ébène. La sacristie, également du XVIIe siècle, présente un bel ensemble de portraits d’évangélistes.

storm....

click on images to enlarge. The storms over Toronto.

Toronto Trek 4

From the top down....The security staff. A fine bunch of pretty much exhausted folks. In the centre, is Adam, in the heart of his fine leather working business. I believe that is a picture of him pulling his hair out...and the bottom picture is Brenda doing a grip and grin with Garrett Wang. Somewhat changed from his days as "Ensign Kim" on Star Trek Voyager. He was a really nice fellow, very approachable. Looks pretty lethal with that hatchet he picked up off my table!

Toronto Trek 3

Well, as promised, here are some tattoos, and other pics. Activities which made the trip bearable. As usual, click on the images to enlarge. For some reason, there were no guys with particularly interesting tats. These fancy pictures seem to be a "girl thing". That good, since as a red blooded guy, I like looking at the "girl thing". Enjoy! (oh, the things a 50 year old sword maker gets up to!)

Toronto Trek 2

There were a fair number of male hall costumes...though you would not know it by my selection! They tend to be randome Klingons and Star Fleet officers for the most part. The He-Man, in the previous post, was one of the few worth the pixils.
The bottom pic shows Brenda in the background minding the table while I drool over the babes. The second from the bottom shows one of my armours, as well as an anime character I have no idea about! the top pic of course is me being assimilated by Six of Nine...

Toronto Trek 1

This was the twentieth year for Toronto Trek. This is a Star Trek convention, and is much more mainstream than your average Science Fiction Convention. However, it still seems a lot like the movie "Galaxie Quest". Like the Comix Shop guy on the Simpson's says..."What idiot sells a size MEDIUM star trek utility belt here"?

It wasn't quite that bad, but the "hall costumes" were very much in evidence. Many of them are not just Star Trek, but anime, buffy, angel, stargate, Deep Space Nine, and so forth. Its a never ending parade of cool things to see! I took pictures of some of them...and they are here. I got permission from every single person to publish their images here.

This is going to take a few posts....grin! I think this one will be just hall costumes. The next one will be more hall costumes, and then one on tatoos!. Click on images to enlarge.

Showing off

These are the bayonettes all done, and in the display box. Didn't turn out too bad. (as ususal, click on the images to enlarge.)

I think this project has got to be the most difficult, complex, and successful project I have ever done! They don't know they are getting the display box. Should be a nice surprise. This was Brenda's contribution to the cause. I discovered an interesting product..."noodle boards". They are like flat versions of the common "pool noodles", closed cell foam which kids would normally play with in a backyard pool. It cuts like a dream with the razor knife, and Brenda cut a couple of them in the shape of the box, then tucked a sheet of black velvet in around it. They nestle neatly into the cutouts, forming a sort of cushion. The top and sides were just cardboard with the velvet glued on with spray adhesive. Worked a treat!

I cut my trip short so I could deliver these scabbards today. Unfortunately, they are needed.

More ride

Here are a few more pics from Canada Day. The pipe band, the cute little dancers, the dogs...and remember all this is completely separate from the "ride" itself. I tried to get pictures of the musical ride, however the light failed by the time they rode out! All that fancy dressage being done in the twilight!

We all sang "Oh Canada" as the flag was coming down. There are two main versions of that song...an English one and a French one, and every musical director and stage manager makes his own "artistic" jumble of English and French lines. As a consequence, Canada is the only country in the world that the citizens cannot sing along with impressario with the microphone on centre ice.....grumble...

I got my "mountie" shot. I suddendly realized that here I have lived in Ottawa for what...twenty years, and never got the typical tourist shot of the mountie in uniform! Well, here he is, my kind of guy! Tired. Been a long day. Too many screaming kids, fat folks dripping hot sauce on his shoes...Wondering if those bulges in her shirt might be contraband....

click on images to enlarge

This weekend...Toronto Trek....the Star Trek convention. Though lately, it has turned into the "transformers", "anime", "stargate", and whatever convention. Regardless...it is nice to be able to have a place to sell my armour. Afterwards, a little tour through the Niagara Wine region. We are all packed up, and ready to head out as soon as I hit "publish post". See you on Wednesday...

Musical Ride

My Canada Day included a full days work in the shop, a steak barbeque, a visit to my friend Myrna's place on the motorcycle, a surprisingly lovely ride home in the rain, a tip to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police barracks to watch the sunset ceremony, and of course, fireworks on Parliament Hill afterwards. Wild Day!!

The musical ride is entirely an RCMP production. The ride itself is a fancy cottillion of lines of horses going in fancy circles, charges, and needle threading. They are world famous for the horsemanship, and many of the horses were presents from the Queen. The horses are all black, and trained to handle noise, gunshots, bands playing and so forth. Considering how spooky most horses are, this is amazing.

Posted here are a few pics of the sunset ceremony. The Musical Ride is only a small part of the sunset ceremony, which includes police dog demos, ring lancing, pistol shooting from horseback, and sword work. (click on images to enlarge)

From the top down....Constable Macy going for the ring with his lance at full gallop

Constable Macy stabbing the bad guy (the straw filled sack) with a sword

Minister and his wife being escorted in the carriage.

The largest number of red coats I have seen outside of the set of "Zulu".
(Kind of like that pic...there are several uniforms on display)

The bottom pic is Constable LeClaire holding a pistol, which he will be shooting balloons with during the jump. I believe they use wax bullets.

These action shots are a little blurry, but they are kind of exciting. They also do "tent pegging" with their lances. I could not get any good pics of that because they were tent pegging in front of the dias across the way!

Personally, I find the stuff these guys do for fun to be more interesting that the musical ride itself.

Happy Canada Day!

Canadian Trivia.

What animal is on the Canadian Nickel? The beaver, the buffalo, or the elk?
What animal is on the Canadian Quarter? The Elk, the Caribou, or the Whitetail Deer?
What animal is on the Loonie? The Tern (seagull!) , the Blue Jay, the Loon?
What famous stuffed bear is named after a Canadian City? Panda? Winnie? Paddington?
What is a Perogie?
What are bear paws? (in addition to the obvious...)
Which harbour vanished in an explosion?
Where in Europe is the Sheldt Estuary and why is it important?
Why do we have thousands of tulips in Ottawa every spring?
What are beaver tails (aside from the obvious...)
What are "square tires" and why?
What is that plug in you see coming out from under every Canadian car's hood?
How many provinces and territories are there?
George Etienne Cartier worked with what Canadian Prime Minister?
What was the result of their collaboration?
Canada's official game is: Lacrosse, Soccer, Hockey?