165. Chemo Points of Interest (Part 2)

I camped in the Meota Regional Campground. The sites are spacious, mostly treed and well laid out and maintained.  Walking around town a bit towards the edge of the lake, I was impressed that the houses were so well kept.  I couldn't believe it.  What a difference from south of Lake Diefenbaker, where I camped with the boys last time, and where the surroundings looked so forlorn and depressed.  It turns out that the soil around Meota produces good crops and in addition contains an abundance of oil and gas.  No wonder that people in this part of the province are able to make a good living.  And although I am not a big fan of the oil industry (I know, I know, I do drive a car 😳), it was nice to see that the area and the local population is prospering!

Next, onward to a place I had been wanting to visit for a long time!  Near St. Walburg you will find the studio of Count Berthold von Imhoff, an artist known for his religious murals and paintings.  The church Dave and I were married in had paintings by this painter.  Born in Germany, he first emigrated to the United States and then moved to Saskatchewan.  By all acCounts (sorry, couldn't pass this one up 😄), he had an interesting life.  The studio is located on private property belonging to his descendants.  Make an appointment and the lady of the house will give you a tour of the studio and part of the house (a separate building) where the count and his family lived.  The studio is chockful of artwork and the other part of the house is still lived in by the grandson and family and therefor off limits to the public.  The photos are the outside, and a glimpse of the inside, of the studio, not the house.  A modest fee for the tour helps the family toward maintenance costs as the province provides no funding.

164. Chemo Points of Interest (Part 1)

I have been referred to a liver specialist at the University of Alberta (Edmonton) for liver resection.  I haven't received word yet whether they will take me on. There is more waiting ahead and more chemo.

So I went car camping to distract myself from all this medical stuff. I left on Wednesday and was back home Saturday night.  I would have stayed away longer but the incessant wind made me cold and miserable, so I had had enough of that after 4 days.  When Dave and I went camping, we made it a habit of stopping at the Points of Interest: in part because we thought it might reveal something interesting, but also it was a good excuse to stretch our legs and move around a bit.  I do not stop at these signs anymore for the following reason:  it mostly describes a building or an event that is mostly only interesting to folks who live or lived nearby and most of the time, other than the surrounding landscape, there is nothing to see, no building left, some rubble at most.  You need an extra-ordinary portion of imagination and historical interest to picture what would have been there.  So I try and discover my own points of interest on my travels.  Here are some I have come across this summer.  You may like them as well. (or not) 

After visiting my son and grandson I decided to check out the RemaiModern Art Gallery in Saskatoon.  The building is not-so-new anymore but I hadn't been there yet.  There were several exhibits spread out over several floors.  What I preferred were the spinners in the foyer and the very creative photos of the First Nations artist Meryl McMaster: bloodline  And a propos: there also was an exhibit of pottery decorated by Picasso: interesting but not earthshaking, I thought.  Some reproduction tableware with his artwork on it sold for a whopping $ 430.00 a piece in the museum's store...  Are you kidding me?

Next Point of Interest was a tiny gem store in the small town of Raddison (population 505).  The store's owner is 19 year old Judah Tyreman.  This young man is so knowledgeable about stones, fossils and anything else that can be found or dug out the ground.  And he is an excellent salesman to boot.  He sold me a dragon's egg for my grandson.  He just blew me away.  His shop was featured on the Discovery Channel.  Wow!  Impressive!

161. Chemo A Song with Scandalous Sound Effects

Jane Birkin passed away a few days ago.  Being a former French Immersion Teacher and music lover, I payed attention to such an event.  Naturally it got me thinking of the 1969 song "Je t'aime moi non plus" that she is famous for, duetting with it's creator Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote the song for, and at the request of, French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot.  I was only 13 then, but remember said song for a couple of reasons: it caused an uproar when first released, and, whenever DJs would play it in dance halls in Belgium, the floors would fill up fast and furious with couples dancing very slowly and extremely close and personal. 😉  I'm not sure if in North America any of this would have been tolerated.  I may be wrong of course.  While the French tend to have a reputation for eroticism, the Americans on the other hand tend to prefer other forms of action.  At great peril of alienating the only two U.S. people who read my blog, most movies originating south of us invariably contain the obligatory car chases, explosions and roll-overs and of course gun violence as well.  Different strokes for different folks!  Now hold on a minute:  "Age-adjusted firearm homicide rates in the US are 13 times greater than they are in France", taken from healthdata.org.  Both are some examples of each country's culture and what is deemed important I guess.  Jane Birkin: Rest In Peace!

Feel free to blame my ranting on the steroids and accompanying insomnia due to the 9th chemo treatment.  Although a bit of social commentary is healthy in my opinion.  Maybe the above comparison is a bit harsh toward the Americans.  After all in 1969 they were fighting their own battles with the Vietnam War.  Still to date the country is an outlier as far as gun violence is concerned.  

In a few days a post on Cold Capping.  Stay Tuned!  Good Night or rather Good Morning already!

62. Chemo Waking Angel

I happened to spot this statue called "Waking Angel" on our way to an appointment in the city.  Just noticed it recently.  Maybe it has been there for a long time already.  If you happen to be in the vicinity, take a look.  It is a Gorgeous piece, just Fa Bu Lous and life-size.  Looks like it has been carved in one piece, but not likely.  On the north side of College Avenue between Broad and Albert but more towards Albert.  It is on private property however.  So I was trespassing when I took the picture.  Oops.  Looks like it could be a fountain also?  I think every town or city should have a (waking) angel.  Too bad it is not on city property and more accessible.  Waking Angel by Scott Chandler McLeod, sculptor, 1990 or 1999.  The wings aren't very visible in my photo.

53. Chemo Chilly Eh?

Dalal Chuaqui and I worked in housekeeping at the hotel.  My first impression of her was that she was an older, energetic, meddle-some, short busy-body who dabbled a bit in paintings in her spare time.  One day she asked me to do some modelling for her, after numerous co-workers had turned her down.  She would pay.  Cash.  Getting paid for just sitting there?  I quickly jumped at the chance!  It was then that I got to know her better...

She rented an apartment in the Madrid building on the corner of Broad and College (still there), a place with creaky hardwood floors, high ceilings and a lot of ambience.  She would start each session by pouring us a cup of tea (English culture infiltrated Chilean culture).  Then, while painting, she would play her favorite Chilean or classical music, talk about her previous life, talk about arts and culture and feed me Chilean food, home-made beef empanadas in particular.  Yummy!  Throughout our painting sessions I would learn that she had studied drawing, composition and painting at the University of Santiago, that she had Arabic origins and that her father had owned a nylon stocking factory in Santiago.  She left Chile in 1971.  After a brief stay in Germany she settled in our city in 1973 the year of the coup by Augusto Pinochet.  She had a great sense of humor and liked to play tricks on people.  For instance:  every time a newcomer started at the hotel by way of introduction, she would say: "I met this lady on the sidewalk today on my way to work and she said to me: "Chilly Eh?".  I was so very surprised!  I thought to myself:  How does she know??"  

My parents were patrons.  So were the late Morris and Jacqui Shumiatcher among many others in our city.

Dalal moved to Ottawa in 1978.  The loss was ours.  She was generous, kind, social and talented with a mischievous sense of humor.  She never married.  When she died in Ottawa in 2010 at the age of 81 from terminal cancer, she left behind numerous nieces and nephews, memories and art work in Canada and elsewhere and all her pre-1971 art work in Chile because she never went back there.

So I was curious whether or not there was indeed an Arabic connection.  That's when I found this...  (see next post) 

Two old-fashioned "selfies" produced by Dalal.  😄  (she and I)

14. What Gwen found

This is what my friend Gwen found on her driveway this Valentine's Day morning!  We are both baffled but delighted!   👏👏👏  Kudos to the creator!!!