The pictures that you have seen were taken on one of these
field trip-human-geography explorations done in June of 1976. Patricia Kobelak, Eileen
Black, Gwen Wasylyk and Florence Gendron, these young women joined me an exploration
of some abandoned farm sites to see what we could find out about the former inhabitants
by examining the environment they choose to build their home in and the artifacts
they left behind. We were a sort of quick scan archeological team and these pictures
came from a single farm site perhaps ten miles from Weekes. With four bright minds
like these I needed only to ask the occasional question and help with some identification,
but their queries lead them to some insightful conclusions and more then once that
day we were elated with a discovered, or saddened by a realisation of the progress
through life the people who once lived here had endured.
Each of these people carry with them the experience from that day, what they learned,
the simple skills they put to use and the ability to appreciate the factors that
make life both positive and a challenge to survive. These pictures are themselves
artifacts that you can experience for a minute or two what these girls did. You don't
need me to interpret what you see, only to put together the setting and use your
imagination to construct that reality. |