Renaissance Woman

I've been doing some research for the Royal Alberta Museum.  They are in the process of building a brand new museum and populating it with new displays.  I've been doing some of the research for the displays, looking for the photographs that will help illustrate some of them.  I've been totally blessed to do something that I LOVE to do, and to get paid for it as well.  How lucky am I? In the process of doing this research, I learned about and got to talk to a fascinating woman, Irene Jewell.  I wrote about her very briefly in this earlier blog post .  When I started the research, I only knew that Irene was a burlesque dancer who was born in Alberta and who performed at the 1959 Calgary Stampede.  She was rather famous due to her height of 6 feet 8 inches.  But I've learned more ... Irene Jewell was born Irene Siewert on February 26, 1925 in Alberta - on a homestead north of Edmonton.  She graduated high school in Sangudo.  Her paren...

I am in the midst of reading a book (well, many books, but I'm talking about this one) called Consciousness Beyond Life by Pim Van Lommel.  It is a book written by an MD about the evidence for existence beyond the physical form.  I like these kinds of books. Growing up, I was raised in a non-religious household with parents who were very open to Science.  I'm grateful for that.  I was raised with an open slate as far as spirituality was concerned.  They encouraged us to follow our own curiosity and beliefs - neither encouraging nor discouraging us in any particular spiritual direction.  This has helped shape me greatly. The one thing that this type of upbringing brought out in me, however, was a fear of dying.  I had no religious belief to help guide me with regards to death.  That's okay now, because I have done a lot of reading and soul searching, and have come to my own understanding of all of this.  My point is that it drives m...

100 years ago today, my Great-Grandmother, Nellie Steele, must have been grieving the fact that she had missed the most exciting trip of her life.  Her fiance, my Great-Grandfather, Jack McCurrach, had travelled to Canada 1 1/2 years earlier and was awaiting her arrival so they could marry.  But her sister was very ill and expecting a baby, and as it turned out she died about a month after the baby was born.  My Great-Grandmother stayed behind to support her sister and then take care of the baby girl until she could be adopted out.  The original plan was to take the Titanic to Canada.  Families on both sides of the Atlantic remember the story.  The disappointment that she felt in being delayed in her trip and missing the most celebrated sailing of any ship in history must have been devestating.  And the relief felt when she found out about the sinking of the ship must have knocked the wind out of her.  Talk about feeling somehow blessed -...

Every once in a while we get little reminders of just how good our lives are, how lucky we are, and how fragile our little human lives actually are.  Today, a cement truck was hit by a train just north of the town I live in.  The news says that it happened around 9:45 this morning.  I was driving north of our town at about 9:47 this morning and noticed the train (northbound) stopped and several vehicles parked at the side of the road.  I didn't notice the truck smashed against the front of the train.  But on my way home at about 1:15, I sure noticed it: I was quite certain that no one could have survived this crash - the main part of the truck was a good 500-600m north of the crossing it got hit at (the hood of the truck was still at the crossing).  The really good news is that the driver was okay.  Don't know if he still has a job ... but he's alive. How quickly things can change when you cross the tracks at a rural crossing and don't lo...

I love dragonflies.  Most of you have seen my dragonfly art - it's a reflection of the reverence I have for these amazing creatures: Made this in a jewellery-making course I took at ACAD (in Calgary) 8 years ago.  Just last week I dropped it on the new ceramic kitchen floor and it broke - now to try and fix it without the tools of the classroom. The dragonfly pendants that I make and sell on Etsy . Because dragonflies are so magical to me (and a lot of other, I know), I looked up their symbolic meaning on a great site .  Here's what they had to say about the symbolism of the dragonfly: Maturity and a Depth of character The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life. The traditional association of Dragonflies with water also gives rise to this meaning to this amaz...

I was at the local grocery store yesterday with a limited amount of cash in hand and a need to buy three items.  One of those was toilet paper. On the "end of the aisle" shelf, the store brand t.p. was on sale for $4.97 ($2 off regular price).  24 rolls, 140 sheets per roll.  But not recycled, not at all environmentally friendly.  In the regular aisle, the recycled (100% post-consumer fibre type) was $9.99.  Twice as much for recycled paper.  I just had enough money if I got the smaller block of cheddar.  But I just couldn't justify (yesterday - some days I can) buying the non-recyled paper.  So I sucked it up and picked up the recycled stuff. And then, as I walked past the "regular", on sale t.p., I took a closer look.  And there it was.  The stuff on sale had 140 sheets per roll.  The recycled had 280!  They were the same price (and the sheets are the same size).  Okay, the regular t.p. is probably fluffier an...

Alan Bruce Powley The leadership for the battalion was established early on.   Major Alan Bruce Powley was asked to be the commanding officer of the battalion on December 7, 1915. [1]   He was confirmed in this position by General Sam Hughes on or about the 15 th of December. [2]   Unfortunately, I don't have permission yet to use the photographs, so you'll have to live without them - even though they are the best part of the whole thing. Figure 3:   Lieutenant Colonel Alan Bruce Powley (B.C. Archives 198011-011, Box 27, File 8)  Powley was born on September 25, 1876 in Drayton, Ontario to Canadian-born father, John Brooks Powley, and Irish-born mother Eliza Jane Bruce. [3]   He married Eva Constance Cameron on September 5, 1900, in Brandon, Manitoba.   According to the 1901 census, he was a jeweller in Brandon earning $900 per year, and he was a Methodist.   Sometime between the census of 1901 and May 2, 1904 (when the paper announce...