International Peace Gardens

On our way home from Canada last month we made a stop at the International Peace Gardens which rests on the US/Canada border. Dedicated in 1932 as a site contending for world peace and promise of peace between the two nations in which this park rests.

Walking around the park that beautiful day the strange liminality of the place struck me. This site and this channel of water symbolizing the national borders leads up to the two vertical towers and eventually the doors of an architecturally modern chapel bathed in orange light.

The non-sectarian chapel, constructed of concrete and marble, echoes horribly. The slanted walls are inscribed with memorable quotations about peace from men and women around the world.

And while the park is beautiful, and worth the $10 entry fee, it struck me that the state with more nuclear weapons than most countries has this place dedicated to world peace. This is not the first time the North Dakota's nuclear arsenal has left me with an uneasy feeling. I was impressed at the irony that only miles away were nuclear silos embedded in the ground. I wonder, do other people recognize this irony? Do they dismiss the presence of the weapons in light of their privileged patriotism? And I wonder about this site and its dedication to peace around the world. Does it's peaceful dedication ring hollow as nuclear silos buried across this prairie landscape? Or could it be that it's proximity to these profanities of space offer an alternative way of thinking and being? Anyway...just some random thoughts this Tuesday morning.

More Retro Signs: Canada & North Dakota

Canada Photos

Last week was spent at Karina's home near Springside SK. I had only a few days out with the camera. These first five shots come from her brothers barn. Growing up on a farm I developed a love of exploring barns and their stored contents. No barn is the same from its construction to its contents, not to mention its state of repair which adds a whole new dimension to ones visit. I can recall the dust rising and filtering through the light beams streaming in through the holes in the roof of the barn on the farm that I grew up on. Reducing the shots to black and white allows me to see shape and the gradations of light more clearly.

The last shot is a rather odd addition to this barn collection, however the idea of light is still present. This is essentially the view out the window of the bedroom we stay in at Karina's home. The yard light creates an eary green and blue canvas that holds the innocense of the swingset.

Off To Canada

Tonight we leave for our week-long Canadian holiday with Karina's family in Saskatchewan. Its been nearly a year and a half since we have been home and we are both excited to go enjoy the familiarity of Springside (who by the way is celebrating their 125th). This trip is especially poignant for Karina as this will be her last visit to her childhood home as her parents home...a place that she considers to be one of those sacred sites of memory and formation. This summer they are in the process of building a new home some 15 miles away and will relocate before our trip home for Christmas. While this is exciting, for her and likely for her siblings, this is no doubt the cause of mixed emotions and floods of memories of their lives lived together in this place. It has been good cause for me to reflect upon my own homes, the liminal transitions of moving, and the processes of packing and unpacking.

On occassion I remind myself of the homes, doing a mental walk-through the rooms, trying to remember where furniture pieces sat, people who sat in them, and the conversations and events that transpired there. Perhaps I am simply sentimental, but it is good for me to recall the formative events of my life in terms of place as it is helpful to rightly appreciate my current place and its significance.

My hope for the family and their visit is that they will allow themselves the space to practice the memories of this cherished farm, gardens, fields.