Peter Coffman
@petercoffman.bsky.social
Retired architectural historian. https://carleton.ca/aah/people/peter-coffman/ Photographer. Pilgrim. Occasionally a writer. Chief of Staff to two cats. Photos mine unless otherwise credited.
Yay! This week’s ’This Is Ottawa’ podcast reprises the episode on the legendary Ottawa coffee house, Le Hibou. Guests include the great Bruce Cockburn, and, in a small but significant cameo, me! podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...
The Ottawa music venue that attracted some of the world’s hottest bands
Podcast Episode · This is Ottawa · August 3 · 22m
podcasts.apple.com
In Manitoba, it’s Terry Fox Day. Terry represents hope, so here’s Winnipeg's "Education is the New Bison”, by Val T. Vint. Made of steel books replicating works by Indigenous authors & filmmakers, it invoke’s Murray Sinclair’s “Education is what got us here, education is what will get us out.”
It’s also New Brunswick Day! And I can’t resist squeezing one more post out of Swallowtail Lighthouse on grand Manan, NB, built 1858. Beautiful spot, lovingly maintained. Happy New Brunswick Day to all New Brunswickers!
Happy British Columbia Day in BC! Here’s the North Pacific Cannery, near Prince Rupert, where communities of Chinese, Japanese, and Indigenous workers would gather every summer from 1895 to 1968 to catch and process salmon. Now a national Historic Site.
Meanwhile in Saskatchewan, it’s Saskatchewan Day! Here’s McCabe’s grain Elevator, built 1913 at Mawer, moved 2007 to its present location at Baildon.
Here in Ottawa, it’s Colonel By Day. John By is best remembered for supervising construction of the Rideau Canal – formidable piece of 1820s engineering that stretches from Ottawa to Kingston. It is also a @unesco.bsky.social World Heritage Site. Bytown Museum visible in the left distance.
It’s Natal Day in Nova Scotia! So I guess yesterday was Prenatal Day, which is a bit weird. But anyway, to celebrate Natal Day, here’s the landscape of Grand Pré – a @unesco.bsky.social World Heritage Site. Happy Holiday, my Nov Scotian friends!
Yikes. The drought in England is so severe that even the Cerne Giant is feeling the effects. 😬
Canada finished building the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Then it had to negotiate the terms of its use. Here, The Walrus contributing writer David Moscrop examines how the project became a measure of Washington’s leverage over Ottawa: https://ow.ly/ZEhJ50ZuSgt
Here is a gift link. I saw people trying to take this victory away from the people. We would still be in the same place, lecturered w boilerplate messages, w quid pro quo secret deals between Liberals & Ford, if people didn’t mobilize. www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
Lovely piece by Nancy Macdonald of the @theglobeandmail.com, gifted here so all can read. An old building is a book of many chapters, bearing the marks of many generations - Ruskin's "walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity." www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/e94a79c...
Preserving places means letting them change. My family’s Kenora hotel taught me that
The hotel my great-grandfather once owned, and the family camp he built, won’t survive if they exist only in the past
theglobeandmail.com
"Every dollar spent here helps to counter Mr. Trump’s tariffs." Not only that, but if Canadians start exploring their own country, they may find they love it so much that they no longer feel the need to travel to the USA. And we’d get to know each other. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
Globe editorial: The accidental tourist upside of U.S. tariffs
Canadians are shunning the U.S., hurting U.S. workers, but perhaps helping us to better understand our country
theglobeandmail.com
For #PharosFriday this week: An encore from Swallowtail Lighthouse, Grand Manan, New Brunswick, built 1858. This time in colour.
There’s nothing remotely scary about @jleiper.bsky.social's policies. The only person who’s frightened of him, apparently, is @mark-sutcliffe.bsky.social. If Leiper’s campaign gains any more momentum, I guess Sutcliffe will have to start branding him a “communist”. 🙄 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Mayoral race turns negative as Sutcliffe campaign launches attacks that rivals call smears | CBC News
Mark Sutcliffe's campaign surrogates have gone on the attack against two of his leading challengers, calling them "radical activists." They're hitting back against the charges, which they view as smea...
cbc.ca
Listening to the soundtrack of ‘Once’. It’s a wonderful film, but I’d almost forgotten how high the emotionally raw songwriting and singing of Glen Hansard lifts it. RIP Glen Hansard. 💔 www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSAw...
All The Way Down
YouTube video by Glen Hansard - Topic
youtube.com
This is a wonderful piece by @trinamoyles.bsky.social in @thenarwhal.ca, accompanied by amazing photos. I once had a close encounter with a grizzly near Haines Junction. Fortunately, I was in a car and it was not, so we were both completely safe. They are such beautiful creatures.
The Narwhal@thenarwhal.ca · 2w agoWhat is it like to live with grizzly bears? Reporter Trina Moyles travelled to Haines Junction, Yukon, to find out. It has one of the highest concentrations of grizzlies in the territory. Here's her story about coexistence, with incredible photos by Sonny Parker thenarwhal.ca/grizzly-bear...
63 years ago today, Bluenose II was launched from Lunenburg. In a couple of years it will be eligible for CPP, but after a massive retrofit a few years ago, I don’t think retirement is anywhere on the horizon.
I was listening to this. It was surprising - even incompetent answers would have been less of a news story than running away. Now, everyone’s takeaway is the this minister can’t handle tough questions, and her staff knows it. www.cbc.ca/radio/asitha...
Ontario's emergency preparedness minister defends wildfire response as staff cuts radio interview short | CBC Radio
Ontario Emergency Preparedness Minister Jill Dunlop defended the province's wildfire response on CBC Radio's As It Happens on Tuesday, but her staff abruptly cut the interview short after she was aske...
cbc.ca
Today was the 76th anniversary of the death of former Canadian PM William Lyon Mackenzie King. He has now been dead one year longer than he was alive. Of course, he didn’t believe that anyone ever really died. Does he still reach out from beyond this austere slab in Mount Pleasant Cemetery?
San Giovanni Battista Mogno Mario Botta 2006 (photos)
Yeah, ‘cause back in the days when men were men, grooming 369 million hectares (that’s nearly a billion acres) of mostly inaccessible forest was what we 🇨🇦 did every day. Before breakfast. With rakes and wheelbarrows. That’s doubtless because our testosterone levels were so high. 💪
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoRep. Jeff Van Drew: "Canada isn't working because they are so far left. This should be a warning shot to them. You better come to America, say, 'We're sorry, we're gonna mend our ways and do what we used to do and groom and maintain the forest.'"
A quick #StewartParkFestival wrap-up from this tired but very happy audience member: Day 3: Valdy, Valdy’s feet, @jimmykeelo.bsky.social, David Woodhead. Bravo to all for a great festival, which not even a brief thunderstorm could dampen.
Day 2 at the #StewartParkFestival was a wild one - and not just because of the music. It started out damp and drizzly, but that didn’t prevent @donrossmusic.bsky.social, Julie Malia & Jory Nash from putting on a great show at the Wendy Laut stage. 1/9
