A Beautiful Place Out in the Country

Saint James Anglican Church at Bluff Creek, Manitoba.

Photographed on August 19, 2022.

Mechanics Keep the World Moving

The Rebillard's headstone in Haga Cemetery.

Mechanics...

...and songbirds.  Nice.

Photographed near Arborg, Manitoba on October 18, 2022.

Early Fall at the Arts Park in Boissevain

Something to brighten up a winter's day...

The Arts Park in Boissevain is a community green space wholly run by volunteers.  And even though it was getting late in the gardening season there was still plenty of greenery and blooms to see.  

A couple out for a walk stopped to say hello while I was enjoying the garden.  They said most of the volunteers were older folks but there had lately been some interest shown by a few youngsters.  Here's hoping all the generations can work together to keep this community garden beautiful for years to come.  

The thought and expression, creativeness, hard work and realisation shown here is above and beyond any expectations.  "Thank you" to all those who make our lives just a little bit brighter.

Photographed in Boissevain, Manitoba on September 15, 2023.

Abandoned Church in Larson

Have stopped in Larson several times over the years.  

This handsome, if neglected, old Lutheran Church is still holding its own.

A young hawk perched on top the spire...learning to fly. 

Photographed in Larson, North Dakota on September 14, 2023.

Holy Ascension at Wasel

The area between Smoky Lake and Two Hills is rich in Ukrainian pioneer heritage.  Holy Ascension Russo Orthodox Church and Cemetery near Wasel is one of many I like to visit when in the area. 

The churchyard is a mile and a half north of the North Saskatchewan River and covers about eleven acres of land, making it one of the larger churchyards I've seen in my travels.  In most cases, the cemetery is directly beside the church but here it is on a raised plateau five hundred feet northwest of the church...just a nice walk on a fall day.  I love the view across the cemetery, past the church and over the vast prairie landscape.    

In past times being a member of a church congregation was an important part of life for most everyone...

...and since there were only monthly services conducted at Holy Ascension, a little girl named Matushka Vasylyna Ungurian would walk barefoot with her family over four miles north to Saints Peter and Paul at Dickie Bush to worship most every other Sunday.

Not many years later and all grown up, she married Vasyl Ostashek at Holy Ascension.  They homesteaded, farmed and raised a family near the church...and later on in life Vasyl became an ordained priest and he and Matushka served Holy Ascension along with several other nearby temples for the rest of their natural lives.  

Then at the age of one hundred and five years, Matushka joined Vasyl, who had passed away twenty years earlier, at her home church of Holy Ascension.  God bless them.  I love a happy ending. 

Walking barefoot all those miles?  That was in order to save her "Sunday best shoes."

Information courtesy of the Canadian Orthodox History Project.

Photographed near Wasel, Alberta on September 19, 2021.