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Canada Day at Crooked Lake |
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| FTLComm - Crooked Lake- Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | ||||||
| Last Wednesday I posted my concerns about the whole issue of tax reduction and I was pleased to receive the message below in the blue panel. I had used two images to emphasis the essay taken Canada Day and appreciate Mr. Williams being puzzled because I made no reference to the pictures. My reasoning was that I wanted the images to make a statement depending upon what the reader might attribute to them as they had a certain abstract quality to them. | ||||||
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 As darkness approached my brother-in-law George and his brother Joey set to the task of setting up the fireworks to top off a great day. Our whole family had enjoyed the day at the Crooked Lake cabin and my sister got us all into the spirit of celebrating Canada with red and white balloons and a little wash off tattoo for every one. We are second generation Canadians as my Grandfather arrived in Saskatchewan in the spring of 1912, having selected the right boat to cross the Atlantic that year. None of us take our citizenship for granted as several of us are teachers or former teachers |
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 we have over the years in our work had to define for ourselves what it means to be Canadian and the celebration of 2003 is a repeat of many similar days we have all spent with one another in the past. Above right across the water another family set of their first fireworks about fifteen minutes ahead of George and Joey beginning their show. At the top of the page is how they began the evening show which actually lasted more than forty-five minutes. By the time the show began the yard was filled with friends relatives and neighbours as George's family had joined us and once again we had a chance for us to renew a relationship of some thirty years. George's family are Polish and the welcomed aroma of Grayson sausage had mingled with the |
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 turkey that had just come out of the oven. Our family is a Canadian family multicultural and savouring the rich blend of being in this country and cultural mix together. My niece with her English father and mother is a zealot when it comes to dancing with the Ukrainian dance group from Ituna. Two son's have Francophone girl friends while all of us have crossed the border to the South of us enough to be pretty intense when it comes to knowing why we intend to remain Canadians. But all is not sweetness and light in our little clan. Political discussion is always vigorous but rarely does it reach the height of contentious issues ranking with football. Several of George's brothers are die hard Bomber fans while others are fanatic Rider fans. |
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 These pictures are rather unusual because of the nature of a digital camera. These were taken with a Hewlett Packard 315 which has a bad habit of not firing when the button is pushed, there is also a considerable delay between the time you click the button to expose the picture and the time when it gets around to doing what it is suppose to do. The result is that these images are for the most part pure luck. However, the unusual sky conditions on July 1, 2003 without a moon and the clouds all in the distance meant that these pictures all include images of the star field in the sky. George and Joey were launching the fireworks over the water and we were viewing them between the large trees in his yard so at times you will see the trees in the pictures illuminated by the display. |
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 The resolution used here on a web page and the size of these images only allows you to see the brightest stars in the sky but the images at full resolution and enlarged have in them a full sky of stars. Blue and red giants are clearly visible. The other factor that makes these images unusual is that the camera has a slow shutter speed and this meant that the fiery trails were produced with each launch. It is remarkable to see the particles used in the fireworks each burning separately and coming from the projectile on each launch. With several of the family involved in producing video, film and audio projects for the entertainment industry my sister has commissioned the production of a sound track and suitable intermission video for next year's celebration. |
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 July 1, 2003 was a great day, we had the fun of being together, a great meal, absolutely perfect weather and the fireworks display to bring the day to a perfect ending. As you can imagine these pictures do not represent the various displays. The care and safety taken by George and his brothers made this a great evening. My sister recalled that one year a rapid change in the wind had everyone running for cover, but the many years of experience has made it possible for a safe display to be carried out in the beach side setting that is available at their location. These pictures are of the typical home fireworks displays that are commonly purchases through retail outlets. We will have some pictures posted on this site shortly taken of the Centennial celebration fireworks display in Regina earlier this summer. |
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