During an October trip to Campbell River, British Columbia, my friend took me out on several forays into the area. On one of those expeditions, we checked out the Strathcona Provincial Park and hiked a short distance in the forest. Cool and rainy weather had kept the forest floor wet and green – it was a magical walk. One could easily imagine gnomes and fairies watching us from under ferns growing in the shadow of giant fir trees.
20″ X 16″ Acrylic on stretched canvas
Our destination was Lupin falls and the walk was rewarded as we approached the falls, with water cascading out of the sunshine, down through the forest and under a small wooden walking bridge on the trail.
In 1910, the first members of a new community made their way north from Oklahoma to Saskatchewan to stake out homesteads in an area north of Maidstone. These African Americans came in response to advertisements from the Canadian government, inviting people to settle and occupy the western part of the area called Canada.
These homesteaders built themselves a place of worship, using locally harvested logs from the nearby North Saskatchewan River valley. A section of the churchyard became the cemetery for the community.
I grew up on a farm three miles west of the Church, on the farm that was started by my grandfather and great grandfather in 1905. The reference for these paintings are photos that I took in 2007 during one of my sojourns to Shiloh.
For more information, read this recent post by Leander Lane, one of the descendants of the original settlers.
A post from 2015 presented the abandoned boxes from two Mammy lorry sitting outside the marketplace in Half Assini in the Western Region of Ghana. Those old Bedford lorries were commonplace in the 70’s. This is another one that I spotted in Half Assini at that time.
I have passed by this abandoned farmhouse for years, sitting alone and surrounded by crop. The uniquely peaked roofline has always attracted my attention.
12″ X !6″ Acrylic on canvas
From the “Home of All Mankind”
Akwaaba - you are welcome. You are invited to join me as I continue my life journey and respond to the world that I encounter. My life has been filled with serendipity, and for that I am grateful.
Village Rainbows 