Boissevain

On the way back from the Peace Park we stopped for 45 minutes in a tiny Prairies town to look at its attempt at tourist attraction. Its main industry was serving grain growers, and it had several large silos.

Then, like many small Australian towns, it had some large replica of a key local feature, in this case a turtle reflecting the name of the local national park.

But the main attraction was nicely quaint and well-done ... a whole lot of wall murals! Three of a large number are shown here. Following the photography, we all headed for a local pub. It was a hot day remember!

AS

49th Parallel

Hey everyone, I've moved a long way since my last post and here I am on the 49th Parallel. This is the border between the USA and Canada, and it is the longest undefended border in the world! More precisely, I am about 100km south of the town of Brandon in Manitoba, where I'm attending a conference. And Brandon (population c. 50,000) is the second largest town in the province out there alone on the endless Prairies. It is, of course, high summer and temperatures are hovering around 30C, but I think it could be an area to avoid in winter when maxima average -15C and occasionally they drop to -30C!

Anyway we took a trip across the wheat and canola growing Prairies south to the 49th Parallel to visit the Peace Garden on the border, a park owned and managed by the two countries together to ...er... celebrate the mutual respect of one country for the other and the fact that they have not been to war. On  the US side there's the state of North Dakota, but both sides look identical with their gently undulating to flat landscapes, meadows and woodlands.

The attached pictures show something of the garden which is laid out formally and pretty well manicured. Several of the pictures I took, including the first and last shown here, were taken with one foot in Manitoba and one in South Dakota, for the facility is common property. By the way, the left side is ND and the right side is MTBA because the picture was taken facing westwards. One could wander into and out of both countries at will.

I was standing in the USA (left) and Canada simultaneously to take this. The 49th Parallel goes through the middle of the distant towers.

There were lots of flower beds with themes ... this the Canadian flag.

Emily and Greg will know what this is since they were married in one!

The 49th P lies in the middle of this photo with polarities reversed: ND is on the right.

AS

Just up the Road

Just up the road is a very famous university and tourist attraction - Stanford. According to the Jiao Tong world rankings, it came in #3 in 2010 behind Harvard and Berkeley (just up the bay). We visited it yesterday Sunday) for a quick look and found it flooded with tourists rather than students. My first impression was that it was trying very hard to look like Oxford or Cambridge, with its religious feel, cloisters, sandstone buildings, quadrangles, and green environment. It also had lots of sculptures the likes of Rodin and Moore out in the open for both public view and erosion by the elements. Have a look at a few pictures and let me know what you think:

Of course, in the workaday world lying behind the facade there was some, what one might call, brutalist architecture so beloved of university administrations:

And, even more surprisingly, we came across a garden full of Papua New Guinea totem poles. I can't recall the provenance of this feature, but it was a joy to look at and wander through. Indeed, we found a geocache buried inside the garden, though I won't say exactly where so that I do not spoil you pleasure of looking for it. We looked for 4 caches at Stanford and found three of them! Do you notice something strange about several of the photos? Those from down under would recognise the stringy bark trees instantly. The whole campus is dotted with Eucalypts. We also stumbled across a rather large python or similar - we didn't hang around to ask its species.

AS

Santa Clara University

Last Saturday, Emily took us to see Santa Clara University (SCU) near were she lives. For me, one campus often looks like another but both this one, and the one that follows in the next post - Stanford, were particularly attractive and had interesting histories.

To start with SCU is the oldest university in California - founded in the mid 19th century. Secondly, it is, like many US institutions, private. SCU, I gather, is a Roman Catholic institution run by the Jesuit order and certainly we encountered several nuns in full gear as we walked around the site. California is dotted with the remains of religious institutions set up by the Spanish when they ruled this part of the world, and SCU is draped around one such mission - in better shape than many others. Unsurprisingly, this one is dedicated to St Clare (Santa Clara).

SCU is only a small institution, perhaps the size of UNE and is renowned for its beautifully landscaped grounds. For example there are lovely rose gardens like the one shown here, manicured lawns and impressive buildings like those shown here.

It was, however, very quiet on the day we were there because it was a weekend and out-of-term.

AS

where am I?

Warning: do not read this post if you are (a) politically correct or (b) of an unduly sensitive nature.


I had a strange day yesterday and kept on wondering where I was. Perhaps you can help me.

Incident 1
I went for an early morning walk along the nearby levee for a creek running into the bay when I must have passed perhaps 30 or 40 people of Indian origin running and walking in the opposite direction. There were few people of other ethnic origins, but they were all very friendly. I wondered for a moment if I was somewhere between Mumbai and Kolkata witnessing a walkathon for some local charity, but then I remembered reading that the population of Santa Clara municipality (100,000+ people) is 35% Asian. By the way, the total population of Santa Clara County (including everywhere from Palo Alto in the west to San Jose in the east) is 1.8 million - much larger than San Francisco itself.

Incident 2
After that Indian interlude, I was still out jogging on the levee when I spied in the distance a bloke who seemed to be running with two dogs. This is not entirely strange, but the incident took an interesting turn when the bloke's legs didn't seem to be moving - he was gliding along! Then I saw he was standing on a large-wheeled scooter being towed by two dogs! Well, these things happen in California, where stuffing large numbers of people into a lift (sorry, elevator) or telephone booth is an art form. However, the scooter was vaguely reminiscent of the ones Rebecca, Max and I used to ride the 5+ km down the mountain-side at Saas Fee in Switzerland last summer. The route took us from Hannig (c. 2350m) down to Saas Fee itself at c. 1800m, a spectacular drop of about 550m (1800 feet). No, I wasn't in Switzerland. The shores of San Francisco Bay are ... er .... flat. I looked again at the dogs. Ah! I'd seen them before at Joanna's house in Lutton on the edge of Dartmoor! They were a couple of grayish lurchers running at full bore. Hey, Martin and Joanna, you didn't tell me that you had gone into exporting lurchers to California. Perhaps your own dogs have a new career as scooter towers.

Incident 3
Confused, I returned to what I thought was Crandall Circle to prepare for the morning's outing to a farmers' market on Benton Street a few km from here. Now, I've been to many such markets in various parts of the US and Australia, but this one had its own flavour so to speak.Most of the stalls, which were selling nice fresh produce - we bought quite a lot of fruit and veges, seemed to be owned by Hispanics and, for another moment, thought I was over the border down Mexico way. Of course, I snapped out of this delusion quite quickly because I've long known the demographic projection that Hispanics will probably out-number people of European ancestry in the US by 2050.

Incident 4
Returning from the farmers' market, Emily took a route past many of the world's big-name IT companies resident in Silicon Valley, including firms like Lockheed Martin. One caught my eye, however: BAE Systems. That's strange because my brother, Brian, works (or used to work) for BAE Systems, though I could have sworn that was in Plymouth, England. I know he hops across to Florida from time to time for business meetings (at least that's the purpose he tells me), but maybe he's heading secretly to Santa Clara! If he's not fibbing, perhaps he should try to uncover some engineering disaster here in California that would enable him to stop by and see niece Emily and her family!

Incident 5
Last night we decided to eat out to celebrate 6 birthdays and sundry other events (all our birthdays, and Max's occur mid-year). The venue for this extravaganza was a large Westfield shopping Centre right on the boundary  between Santa Clara and San Jose. That was surprise number 1 because Dot and I are part owners of Westfield ( a rather small part I might add) and I didn't know in advance that part of our assets lie here! Surprise number 2 was the specific venue: the Cheesecake Factory. Now, I had previously eaten at one of these establishments in Baltimore - and liked the experience. On this occasion, however, I was taken by the decor. I spent some time working out whether I was really in California or in Luxor (in the Valley of the Kings) or in Cairo (visiting the Pyramids) or, more likely, Las Vegas (Nevada). To put it simply, the columns (probably fake) supporting the ceiling; the reliefs; the lighting and so on all looked somewhat Pharaohic. Alas, our waiter didn't really look like King Tut and I doubt if the ancient Egyptians knew of BLT burgers with blue cheese!

So, we live in an increasingly unauthentic world where reality does not match surface appearance. And California, where little is more than a few decades old and much of the 21st century is currently being fashioned, is probably the headquarters of global kitsch and the fusing of cultures. Oh well, I depart for perhaps a less confusing destination two days from now. By this time on Tuesday, I'll be bored at the terminal in Denver as I await a flight for Winnipeg, the fun capital of the Canadian Prairies.

AS

Looking after Ella

The prime attraction of being here was seeing Ella for the first time and, although biased, I have to say she's lovely. Ella has four principal states: sleeping; crying to be fed; drinking milk; and wakefulness (taking in surroundings). The first and third of these take up the bulk of the day.

Even when she's asleep, which can be just about anywhere - bassinet, stroller, back of the car, or in front of the television, it's cute watching her mannerisms and looking for signals of intent, preference or fear.

Here a some pictures accumulated in various spots over the last week.

AS

Independence Day 2011

After leaving Seoul I headed, not home, but to Santa Clara in California to see my new grand-daughter, Ella, and the rest of the clan.I arrived on 2 July and just two days later attended the official July 4 celebrations, Santa Clara version. The occasion was rather like Australia Day, mainly an opportunity for informal family get-togethers and a little formal flag-waving - aided by some gorgeous weather. The event was held in some lovely parkland near Em and Greg's home, as the picture shows. Cmpare the green of the well-watered lawns with the light brown of scorched grass over the neighbouring hillsides! We selected lunch from a variety of food stalls, which we ate on the grass, and listened to a band playing in the distance.

After lunch we walked around the grounds listening to big bands playing, watching flag-waving / tossing a bit like one sees on the European mainland, and curiously looking at various cultural exhibits. The firs picture shows a high school band decked out in green livery, a group of flag-wavers, and an old California Highway Patrol vehicle. All told, it was a relaxing and interesting expereince.

AS

High Density Living

These final few photos of my Korean trip shown more of the city's high density and frenetic development. Cranes cover the skyline in some places; and road building is everywhere as freeways are driven through mountain sides and across rivers.

AS

National Folk Museum

One of the other attractions we saw on Friday afternoon was the National Folk Museum, which was an excellent guide to traditional Korean life. Located in a peculiar pastiche of a building assembled from bits and pieces across Korea, it chronicled the life of people from birth to death.

The museum building

A family group

Household artefacts (above two pictures0

Weeding ceremony

 Elderly couple

A hearse designed for spectacular departure

AS

Insa-Dong

After walking around Gyeongbokgung Palace for a couple of hours, we headed off for a bit of shopping at Insa-Dong, a narrow winding street lined with small establishments selling everything from modern art and cultural artifacts to clothing and more tacky souvenirs or food. It was crowded with shoppers and cars trying to negotiate the narrow one-street, and it was fascinating to study the contents of the shops and the behaviours of the shoppers themselves.

The scene reminded me of Barcelona's 'La Rambla', except perhaps for the lack of dining out opportunities and the narrowness of the thoroughfare.

AS