Enlivening Ephemera and Creating Searchable Scripts

Or _Another Tempting Place for My Time_

Since July-2013, thousands and thousands of submissions and volunteer hours have already been logged as part of The Smithsonian Transcription Center's efforts to make their collection more accessible to the general public.  They want you to join their "army" of digital volunteers.

Transcribing handwritten and typed documents for the Smithsonian?  Yes, that's sound great!  What an incredible project.  A chance to see rare documents from their collection and then making the information searchable for others.

I've heard before about mining online volunteer to identify pictures of star systems (perhaps it was Galaxy Zoo - now in its fourth version and still going strong), but this is the first I've heard of it for a museum.  Anyway, I can see the potential for it.  Like my old SSDS sessions where I read textbooks onto tape, this seems like an ideal way to learn about something cool, while helping.  (But yes, the time...)

So, where to start?  A diary of an artist or an explorer?  The records of the US National Herbarium?  The Scrapbook of Early Aeronautica has such beautiful illustrations...

Fort Edmonton Park

Not yet arrived at Fort Edmonton Park and already Jackie had an interesting find. 

Jackie: Is that a hubby shop?
Me: I think it's "hobby"...

But I was concentrating on driving, so maybe I was wrong...

It's been a while since Paul and I last visited.  I didn't expect many changes to a historical park, but it would be new to take Jackie there with a camera'd Paul on a summer weekday.  All these factors indeed made for a very different visit. 

It was early in the day and we found ourselves waiting for the train.  Paul walked to the other side of the tracks to take photos of an old car.  I explored a small neighbouring building that turned out to house a really neat miniature train set.  I love the details of the community -- each corner was a story scene.
We took the (regular)train, explored the Fort, stopped for lunch at the bakery and cooled down in its air conditioned basement.  They also had fudge for a reasonable price.  Between these points, I think Paul was happy. 

My brain was perhaps not fully on Fort Edmonton... (Right: What's Malcolm doing here? / Below Left:  Irene, what are you doing here?  / Below Right: Ah, Sherlock's not far away.)















But interactions with the actors / interpreters would bring me back. 

This lady (left) reminded just how difficult it was to bake a cookie back in the day.  A smokey open fire and a cast iron pan yielded a hard and oily disc, which was still (considering other options) a pretty special treat.  (Note to self: Send my baking back in time...).

(Below: Maps at the Dominion Land Office.)

Again, I didn't expect big changes, but Fort Edmonton has been busy updating with the times -- they have a new movie theatre!  We learned Capitol Theatre played classic and historically-based movies during the year (tickets available online), but park vistors could watch their 4D short feature, "Northern Light", for free.  We were just in time for their last showing of the film that day. 

In air-conditioned comfort, we learned of Edmonton's history (trade, booms, busts) as images were projected on layers of moving screens creating the 3D effect without wonky glasses.  The forth dimension came through as "snow" falled from the ceiling.  Pretty cool stuff. 

Also, as it was summer, the mid-way was open!  While we were too late to take the rides, we did have a little time to look around.  I think it would have been fun to have ridden the children's carousel. 

The trip would not have been complete without a visit to the gift shop... Well, at least Jackie was with me on that and Paul was pulled along.  Somewhere, combing through books, old fashioned candies, and Edmonton souvenirs, Jackie saw a snake (image / print / figurine?  I didn't notice it) and we made a quick exit. 

More pictures of our visit here.

Why doesn't it Fort Edmonton come to mind as frequently or more highly on the list as a neat place in Edmonton to visit?  Admission fees?  But it was, as with each time, enjoyable, though my feet are now really sore.  We all earned another break sitting down in the shade.

One Reading, One Tour, One Show

A dreary blustery day.  But nothing as bad as what hit Southern Alberta earlier in the week, that prevented one of Steph's authors from travelling here for a reading.  He asked Steph to step in for him.  So after my dentist appointment, I went to hear Steph read. 

Greenwoods was warm and dry.  Chairs clustered in the back around a microphone served as the stage for authors nominated from various categories in the 2010 Alberta Literary Award to showcase their pieces.  Steph had said she was nervous, but really she didn't need to be.  The passage from David A. Poulsen's Numbers (where the narrator describes himself, his friends, and their social standing in school), was funny and she delivered it well*. 

Kathy, Neil, Steph, and I hung around after all the readings and looked at books - it's a bookstore afterall!  Hm... Slow Death by Rubber Duck... the latest Post Secret collection... one day, I will read you all!  Now of course also on the list, Numbers. 

* Animated facial expressions and, wow, she can even do the swearing bits!
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It's a... bear?  It kind of looks like a lion to me... And this is a... wing-ed tiger? 

The tour guide explained to us just what was going on with these embroidered badges: Rank badges were supposed to feature the animal that corresponds with the department and rank of the person wearing it.  In the case of the bear, the wearer most-likely commissioned it to look more like another animal (again, my guess is lion) so that the casual observer would think he was of a higher rank (ah... so like my knock-off bag...). 

Paul and I giggled through a lot of the tour.  I'd been in to parts of the MacTaggart collection before, but this was a special tour for the exhibit and catalogue launch of Emblems of Empire: Selections from the Mactaggart Art Collection. With Paul there, I saw things from a slightly different perspective - where unfamiliar with the culture, a lot of the symbolism just seemed goofy / bizarre.  Such as the Bannerman portrait - notice the squirrel and grapes on the teacup?  The guide explained those were likely added as small fertility talismans. 

Not satisfied with just one event, Paul and I ambitiously headed next to the 2010 B. Design Graduate Show "Under Emigration".  As usual, there were some really fun pieces and others that just made me go "Huh?".  My favourites included a wooden chest of drawers that had an amazing organic wave and a set of note cards based around circles.  I might have to copy that last one... but I really should finish the yellow project first.

White Party at Rutherford House

Where could one hide the books?  We looked in various rooms and up the stairs even in the kitchen.  Rutherford House simply seemed to small to hide all the books the pamphlet indicated Mr. Rutherford had bought, but had to hide from Mrs. Rutherford because the library was full. 

Rutherford House was hosting a "White Party" in celebration of Historic Edmonton Week.  It seemed like a great chance for me to finally see more of house, rather than just the Arbour Restaurant for tea.  Drew and I went, read the plaques, and talked to some of the guides.  I stared at the wallpaper, wondering about it's authenticity. 

The house was beautiful and we made it a game to guess if items on shelves were authentic or of the period, and if so, what they were used for.  I had glanced into a cabinet in Cecil's room and there was Pit!  I hadn't occurred to me that the game was so old. 

After the tour, we went outside and looked at the gardens.  I was surprised that even with the wickets set (that seemed to be the most complicated part at Lindsey's party, the only time I had played) no one was playing croquet. 

The guides explained the basic rules and we begin.  It looked fairly evenly matched at the start, but Drew soon figured things out and finished the course even before I made the half point (is there something like "skunking" in croquet?).  There was no "croqueting". 

What exactly of the whole experience was considered a "White Party"?  I don't know.  Definitions from the web seem to lean towards political events... Regardless, it was fun.

A Really Big Shoe

and a visit to WEM
The sun was shining and I didn't even feel the need to button my jacket. It was the last day of February, but the weather spurred on my dreams of spring.

The bus took me past the AGA (at this point of contruction looking a lot like a coiled chameleon), and dropped me off just across the street from my destination, the Royal Alberta Museum. Inside, I met up with Kirsten and Michael, in time to take advantage of their weekend morning (9 - 11 a.m.) half price admission special.

Together, we ventured to the exhibit Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Foot. In short: Shoes! I was totally delighted - but Kirsten might have been even happier.

These are not my found shoes. I was constrained by space and lighting (to limit photo-damage), but I still had a lot of fun photographing these shoes, and learning about the history and incarnations of the high-heel along the way.

Some were very beautiful to look at, and some were ridiculous (yes, rock star wear, and the 80s). But I think what amused me most were the shoes that looked like sculptures that would (could?) never be worn (e.g. the Absolute Vodka shoe [above left] and the Dragon shoe [above right]). But it became a difficult to question and compare believability and authenticity (actual wearability) of these awesome novelty designs to others as we moved back in time to see designs from centuries ago (e.g. "Rhino" shoe - a C15 stilted clog [below left] or Eastern designs [right}).

There were even shoes for shoes! In order to prevent the heel from sinking (and getting stuck) into garbage and other refuse (see right) a mid-C18 shoe came with clogs that "create[d] a flat surface between the sole and high heel", creating essentially a platform type shoe. This clog was made to match the original shoe (pretty patterns and all) and was "secured to iacrossed the nstep with a bow of complementary colour." Now what would protect the pretty clog?

Though alluring, (more contempory and classic designs were pleasing to the eye, and slightly more comfortable looking) I still couldn't see myself wearing them.

I was due home for lunch, so I left Michael and Kirsten to continue exploring the museum.

Hours later, we meet up again, this time with Beth too, at WEM. Kirsten had said she was inspired to buy red shoes, but we didn't find the right pair. Instead in our wanderings, us girls each bought a sale scarf. The big surprise was that among all of us, the big purchase was made by Michael - a charcoal grey sports jacket.

Unable to agree on dinner, we split up. Beth directed me with moves worthy of an airport ground control crew (sans glowing baton) out of the tight parking spot in the WEM parking lot (I do hate parking), and then we headed home.

(Right: My sale scarf, reminiscent of a "rat's nest", photograped in a rosette / bellybutton shape. )