Across Canada 2019

Posted on 1st January 2020 in adventure, nature, wandering

In the summer of 2019 my girlfriend, Crystal, and I drove across Canada to pick up a load in a cargo trailer from long term storage to bring back across Canada to our farm. For me, this had been the fourth year in a row to make this exact same trip, but for Crystal it was her first time being past Northern Ontario driving.

We slept in the empty trailer on the way West, which was an absolute luxury. We tried to pull off the side of the road so we wouldn’t have to get a campsite, but it was during the time of the nation wide man hunt for the two young fugitives from Vancouver Island so we were always just a little bit on edge when we’d find a nice place to stop. Nothing like a little danger to keep a trip exciting. I like to put little camp symbols on our oversized map so that in future years we know where a good campsite is. It’s probably not necessary because there are campsites in nearly every town, but sometimes you’re sitting there thinking to yourself: “I know the campsite was somewhere in this part of the country, but I just don’t remember the name of the little adorable town it was located in.” So there, on the map, is a little camp symbol that solves the mystery.

I think one of the more memorable things for me was when we stopped in the Fraser Canyon of BC to look down the canyon on a particularly beautiful turn in the river, and behind us we hear a few rocks tumbling down. I was worried because the truck was below those rocks, but up up up we see some goats following an ancient trail. First a big male goes to show the way, then a few females, then about 5 little kids make their way across! What a sight! Sometimes it’s easy for me to get caught up in our modern industrialized and urbanized world and feel like our wildlife is a thing of the past, that we no longer have any, and then seeing something like this makes me realize that there is still something out there untamed, wild, free, true.

At this point, we were on our way to Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. Seeing the wild Pacific Coast one last time was pretty special for us. I remember growing up I always wanted to live in Vancouver. The wild old growth forests and the gnarly roots everywhere was to me something very special. In fact, it was in the mountains around Vancouver that I really started photographing as I hiked endlessly. For Crystal, it was her first time seeing the giant cedars and firs and the wild, rugged coastline of the open Pacific Ocean.

And just like that, it was time for us to zip back to Atlantic Canada and back to the farm.

Outside Sault St. Marie, Ontario
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Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Posted on 16th June 2019 in adventure, events, foto story, Street Photography

When I arrived in Bangkok in the winter of 2017, I met up with Donovan. He rented a scooter and showed me around like a local. One day while sitting in the restaurant at his swanky hotel he said: “Ned, I have to go see about a job up in Chiang Mai. I think we should catch the night train and head up together. You’d love it up there.”

I balked, hesitated, and deliberated (I guess I was still not in the journey mindset I so love and appreciate). I had just got to Bangkok and was just feeling grounded and my goal was to find a great place and enjoy the winter in peace.

Another friend of mine, Alex, was also up in Chiang Mai for a lantern festival and had told me that was her destination. Generally while traveling I kind of let the forces of the world lead me forth so my research is more along the lines of asking a local what I should do. Lantern festival? What’s this, never heard of it.

Loi Krathong (Thai: ลอยกระทง, pronounced [lɔ̄ːj krā.tʰōŋ]) is a Siamese festival celebrated annually throughout the Kingdom of Thailand and in nearby countries with significant southwestern Tai cultures (Laos, Shan, Mon, Tanintharyi, Kelantan, Kedah and Xishuangbanna). The name could be translated as “to float a basket,” and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river.

Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, thus the exact date of the festival changes every year. In the Western calendar this usually falls in the month of November. In Chang Mai, the festival lasts three days, and in 2018, the dates were 21–23 November.

I arrived three days before Loi Krathong. I watched the city amp up for the celebrations. I saw the quiet city before, I felt the roar coming. It was truly a crazy experience. It was hard to find a place to stay, the main streets were all pedestrian traffic. Locals I’m sure stayed mostly away except to capitalize on the tourists by selling things. And then, just like that, it was all over and the city cleaned up.

At a point in the festival I had stumbled upon a beautiful Wat (temple) that people were allowed to be inside and setting off the lanterns. It was mesmerizing watching everybody set them off. After that moment of brilliance, I suddenly began seeing everybody around me and turned my lens more towards them, all sweaty, tired, drunk, and saturated.

Loi Krathong, Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Building a House

Posted on 20th May 2019 in foto story, photojournalism, Red Spruce

In the Spring of 2018 we began building a new house in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, for my parents. What a process!

We threw around almost all ideas, and finally came up with an ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms from Nudora) house.

(as a side note: the only thing I didn’t like about this choice was that we weren’t able to build the house ourselves because one must be trained to install them right.)

It took what seemed like forever to organize who was actually going to break ground for us, and when. Almost every step after that was the same. Who could we get to commit to helping us put this house together. Our trick card was that my brother, father, and I all wanted to work as much as possible. Many of the contractors wanted to do to lockup. It almost felt like an arm wrestle the whole time with contractors and getting them to come by and do the work they agreed to do. Alas, it’s almost finished now and we’re pretty thrilled every day we get to live in it.

I didn’t actually move into the house until sometime in February or so, which means I was in the chicken coop for most of the winter with Ruu (dog) and Strawberry (cat). Mom and dad were in the house way earlier. Thinking back, it was mostly the ICF and the roof that we required the most help doing. The rest we did mostly ourselves with the help of a local business, Turnkey, specifically carpenter Tyler Miller, Dave and Jonah. Alex Knicker was here for a great spell helping, plumbing was done with Blair Falconer of Falcon Plumbing, and electrical by Michael George and Jim Fraser. This means external siding, 4ply laminate structural 64′ beam, floor joists, sub floor, hardwood flooring, framing, windows and doors, drywall, bathroom waterproofing and tiling, painting, air exchange, and most of the electrical we did ourselves.

It is really nice to have this building nearly done now. It was really a stressful year for everybody with organizing and trying to time everything perfectly and smoothly so there was no sitting around waiting – yet of course that still happened plenty in spite all the worrying! I have noticed more grey hairs in my hair and beard.. Granted, we did have a tonne of fun doing it and learned a whole hell of a lot, so much so that we feel confident building more houses soon.

I took lots of photographs with my phone camera – my main office – throughout the whole process. I haven’t really shared phone camera photographs on my fotoblog as I’ve always been skeptical about the quality. I’m sure if I looked back in my earlier archives I’d see I’d never had quality images! Almost all the time my hands were so dirty I didn’t want to take out my DSLR camera often. I guess, since there’s 42 images I’ve put into this fotoblog, I took it out more often than I thought. At some point I’ll put together some character shots from my phone camera to give a bit more insight into this build. I’m happy I did capture what I did.

view of future homestead site
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comments: 2 » tags: building, construction, house

Our New Farm, Red Spruce

Posted on 6th January 2019 in nature, photojournalism, Red Spruce

This year has been a year of building, that’s for sure. Almost everything has really taken a back seat to building. I’ve only now had a chance to take a look at some of the photographs I’ve taken over the time.

Let me step back a second.

In 2017 we bought land in Nova Scotia in Pictou County. We live in Poplar Hill. In 2018, dad and I arrived to meet Bart here in late April and we at once began planning and building.

It took quite a while to really get things rolling. There was brainstorming, frustration dealing with last minute contractor cancellations, permits, and schedules to deal with – the ever ominous: “I should be able to make it there next week.” But with the three of us, joined by mom in the early part of summer, we kept moving forward. When we weren’t able to work on the house, we worked on out buildings. In those early days we would drive into town almost every day to pick up supplies, which was frustrating for all of us. It took us quite a while to get into the mindset of anticipating what things we needed to buy to keep us busy for a few days rather than just one or two days, and also buying enough supplies for the full job at once, rather than one step at a time. We also had to head into town nearly daily for groceries since we were living in a small cabin with no electricity, and a shower at the Pictou County rec center (which we are still doing to this day).

So many things have happened that I’ll kind of just rattle off here. Perhaps it would be better suited in the intro of a photobook.

We got a dog, an Australian Shepherd, we named Ruu. Alex Knicker joined us for so much of the summer giving her more than willing helping hand; I’m sure her blood has been imprinted in the planks used here many times over. We bought a tractor to use with our new-to-us disc harrow, sickle bar mower, wood chipper/shredder, and successfully spread lime and seeded the working land (~30 acres) we have here – yes, I did get the tractor stuck a few times which Bart, like a champion, helped me dig out. Bart bought a 4-wheeler, I bought a dual-sport motorbike. The tools, oh the tools! We build two 8’x12′ cabins, and one 12’x16′ chicken coop), one outhouse, and we are now almost complete building a 1800sq.ft (main floor) insulated concrete form (ICF) house (just about finished hardwood flooring and tiling the bathrooms). There are deer that cross our field daily now, and a few days ago we saw a coyote looking curious. There is a group of white breasted snow birds that are regular here now this winter. The raccoons have hibernated, as have the pheasants.

What a learning experience.

I still sleep in the chicken coop. There’s definitely a few reasons why I do, but the biggest two are that the house isn’t quite ready for living nor do we have a live-in inspection done, also, in the coop I sleep with the dog (and sometimes cat) on my legs.

Spring at the creek
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comments: 6 » tags: autumn, dog, land, red spruce, spring, summer

In Chiang Mai

Posted on 29th October 2018 in adventure, architecture

For the winter of 2017-2018 I went to Thailand to… I guess find the cheapest rent and learn about a new culture. Truth be told, I really just wanted to be on the land of our farm building, but as it was, going to Thailand was an incredibly beautiful experience that I would not change for the world.

I spent about 5 months in Thailand, and most of my time was in Chiang Mai. I arrived in Bangkok and immediately met up with my friend Donovan. He invited me to join him on a train trip up to Chiang Mai where he was going to see about work. Most people take the sleeper train over night, but it was sold out so we took the day train. I actually really liked it since we were able to watch the city as we rolled on by.

I came to know Chiang Mai quite well. The cafés I came across astounded me. The people I met blew me away with kindness and generosity. The landscape was as expected. And I had a scooter and motorcycle to cruise around on the whole time! I was, I guess, in heaven. My family is still now hearing stories I remember as we go about our daily, and each time the stories come to mind, I smile a deeply felt smile.

The next few posts will be devoted to the time I spent in Chiang Mai. Please say hello if you’d like to talk more about any of the photos and I will do my best to caption them.

Donovan renting a scooter

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comments: 0 » tags: chiang mai, thailand