Category Archives: Manitoba

“Pic of the Week”, October 1, 2021: Fall Colors, Birds Hill Park

There’s a nice deciduous forest in a small park just north of Winnipeg known as Birds Hill Provincial Park, which only covers about 8300 acres (3400 hectacres — tiny by Canadian standards). It’s rich in aspen and birch, and even has some oak trees, so when the leaves change color the scenery can be very nice. While it’s not nearly as dramatic as the colors one sees in eastern North America, where maple trees add beautiful shades of crimson and reds, the scenery is pretty nonetheless.
Birds Hill is a small park but because it’s so close to Winnipeg it’s quite popular, receiving about a million visitors a year. Besides a small lake, it has opportunities for camping, hiking, picnicing, horseback …

Karl on Sep 30, 2021 | Comments Off

St. Andrews-on-the-Red, Manitoba

Karl on Jan 20, 2021 with Comments Off

One of the oldest churches on the Canadian prairies is St. Andrews. It’s an Anglican (Episcopalian) church in the community of St. Andrews and is situated on the Red River — hence the name, St. Andrews-on-the-Red.
The church is more than 170 years old. In the 1820’s, the stretch of the Red River north of (what is now) Winnipeg was largely settled by former workers of the Hudson’s Bay and Northwest Trading Companies, many of whom were immigrants from the Orkney Islands. Archdeacon W. Cockran established a mission and built a wooden church here in 1831. This wooden church soon became too small to accommodate the congregation and a new stone church was begun in 1844 and completed in 1849. The …

Tagged Anglican, church, Red River, St. Andrew's

.All Trips / Central Canada / Manitoba

“Pic of the Week”, April 17, 2020: The Big Five, Manitoba Legislative Building

Karl on Apr 16, 2020 with Comments Off

Situated on the west grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg is an artwork depicting a meeting of women, known as the “Famous Five”. They are gathered around a table signing a petition.

Best known of the five is Nellie McClung, a Manitoban who for years worked to bring about peaceful social change, and succeeded. In January 1916 she helped Manitoba women become the first in Canada to win the right to vote. She also helped influence the 1929 decision wherein Canadian women were recognized as “persons” under The British North America Act. The signing of a petition for this legislation is the scene portrayed in this monument.

While she was born in Ontario, Nellie moved to Manitoba in 1880 and …

Tagged Legislature Building, Manitoba, Nellie McClung, suffrage

“Pic of the Week”, January 3, 2020: The Bounty of Canada’s Great Plains

The great Canadian prairies (and their American counterparts) grow a lot of food. More food than can be consumed in either country and which is then transported to destinations all around our hungry world. The Canadian prairies extend from Alberta in the west, to Saskatchewan, to Manitoba in the east.

While driving across the prairies to visit my father in Winnipeg this past year, I made a point of randomly turning up a country road or two, driving a few miles to see what was there.

One turn lead to field of corn. Corn is not that common a crop on the prairies and this likely would end up as feed corn for livestock (less likely for consumption in nearby Winnipeg …

Karl on Jan 2, 2020 | Comments Off

“Pic of the Week”, November 22, 2019: Street Art sampler, Winnipeg

A few of the murals I saw while driving around Winnipeg this past summer. Over the years the number and quality of these has shown an appreciated increase throughout the city.

(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance)

[Show slideshow]

Karl on Nov 21, 2019 | Comments Off

“Pic of the Week”, September 27, 2019: Grand Staircase, Manitoba Legislative Building

One of my favorite places to visit in Manitoba is the main entrance to it’s Legislative Building — home of the province’s governing body. Within the entrance is a magnificent staircase framed by two bison — know affectionately by me as the Bison Stairs (but to most others as the Grand Staircase). The bison is the symbol of the province of Manitoba.

The staircase is composed of Carrara marble and has three flights each with 13 steps. The bison flanking the lower stairs are solid bronze and were cast in New York, each weighing 2 1/2 tons. Apparently to install the bison without damaging the marble floors, the main entrance was flooded and left to freeze. The bison were slide in on …

Karl on Sep 26, 2019 | Comments Off

“Pic of the Week”, May 17, 2019: Enjoying the last Remnant of Winter

These photos were taken almost a year ago, after an unusually long and cold winter, with snow lasting well into May, 2018.

I visit my elderly father, who lives in Winnipeg, as often as possible. He is no longer able to drive but he still likes to go on road-trips. Just a little over 2 months ago we headed north of Winnipeg to the beach community of Victoria Beach, situated on the shore of massive Lake Winnipeg, where we’d had a cabin in the 1980s and 1990s. My dad and I both have many special memories of this community during those years.

A focal point of the community is its pier, built and maintained by the Government of Canada as a place …

Karl on May 16, 2019 | Comments Off

“Pic of the Week”, April 5, 2019: Union Point Church, Manitoba.

Sometimes it’s good to stop at places you’ve driven by hundreds of times and actually explore them. Such was the case with my visit to the Union Point Church south of St. Agathe in southern Manitoba.

The church is situated between the north and south-bound lanes of highway 75, the road that connects Winnipeg to southern Manitoba and North Dakota. It’s a fairly important road, so thousands of people drive by the church every day but I suspect hardly anyone ever stops for a visit.

Union Point church was originally built in 1887, destroyed by fire in 1939, and rebuilt in 1940. There’s a small cemetery beside the church with tombstones dating to the late 19th century. There was once also a …

Karl on Apr 4, 2019 | Comments Off