MTM: A little history

I must apologize right off the top here, I am re-using most of a previous post. We didn't go anywhere this weekend and my planned post isn't going to materialize just yet. I confess that I am not a writer (as though you hadn't noticed), nor do I play one on TV.

I originally posted this in May of this year shortly after I got my new camera. I was so excited with it, I had to show off. I was not confident enough in my abilities to produce a MTM post though. For those of you that have already seen these photos, thank you for your patience.

For those that are interested my original posts can be seen here, here and here. I am going to try to make this a bit different, so I don't bore everyone to tears.

Alberta became a Province on September 1st, 1905, when we split from the Northwest Territories and became the 8th Province in Canada. Prior to being the Northwest Territories, we were part of Rupert's Land, which was then set up as a monopoly on the fur trade for Hudson's Bay Company making them the de facto owners from 1670 to 1869, when they sold the land to the newly formed Government of Canada. Due to setbacks, the Government didn't take control until July of 1870.

In total there have been five sites called Fort Edmonton (beginning in 1795) that were set up by the Hudson's Bay Company. The fifth and final Fort was set up where the Alberta Legislature now stands, having had to move uphill from the flats by the river due to flooding. From Wikipedia:

What remained of the fort was dismantled in 1915. It was seen as a crumbling eyesore next to the Alberta Legislature Building, which had been completed three years earlier.^[19] The Government of Alberta indicated at the time that it would use the old fort's timbers to create a heritage site elsewhere in the city, but it never did.

It was in fact rebuilt, but not until 1969 and on the other side of the river. I will do an in depth MTM post on Fort Edmonton Park at a later date.


Construction began on our Legislature building in 1907 and by November 30th of 1911 was complete enough to have the first assembly held there. The official opening didn't take place until September 3rd of 1912.

For those interested, this link has all sorts of info and on the left of the page a link to a virtual tour of the Legislature. From a pamphlet for visitors:

Alberta’s Legislature Building was designed by provincial architect Allan
Merrick Jeffers, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design in the
United States. Richard P. Blakey, Jeffers’ successor, also contributed to the
design of the rotunda and the main staircase leading up to the Chamber.
Jeffers was probably influenced in his design by the state capitol building in
Rhode Island, which was in the popular beaux arts style. This style is evident
in the main entrance, or portico, of Alberta’s Legislature Building, which is
characterized by massive columns and a dome rising above a spacious
rotunda. The symmetric design and layout are also elements of this style.

Click to enlarge

Above: North side of the Legislature at the Grand Entrance. The pools and fountains were added in the 1970's. Many Statues and Memorials adore the grounds around the building.




Above: The west entrance is often used by wedding parties for photographs.


Above: The South entrance, with the eternal flame that was placed for Canada's centennial.


Above: The West Entrance, also used for Wedding photographs.


Back to the North (front) as seen over the reflecting pool.


If you are still reading, thank you! If you would like to read about other places from the My Town Monday posts, visit Travis Erwin, the genius who started it all.

Have a good day all.

WWC - Heavy & Light

Tuesday again! The slightly overdone Tink of Pickled Beef is our hostess for the Weekly Word Challenge and has given us the words HEAVY & LIGHT to work with this week.

Some of these photos are from the tour I did of the Legislature grounds and I kept them back from the post on the grounds in order to use them here instead.


LIGHT

This arrangement of mirrors and skylights gives sunlight to the pedway down below the Legislature grounds.



This is a closer look at the lights at the front of the Legislature.


This is a 10 - 20million year old petrified stump - lighter than wood.

Some light fare, or in my case, toxic fungus.


Last summers sunflower is now pretty light.



This covers both light and heavy. The closer bridge called the High Level bridge, is for cars and originally also had CNR trains (the heavy ones) running across the top of it. The further bridge, in blue and concrete is for the light rail transit (I assume it has a name, but I don't know what it is).


HEAVY

Having heavy thoughts?


The grass hasn't been cut in so long, it is becoming quite the heavy cover.


Heavy clouds.


Eventually the heavy clouds gave us lightening. (I really must invest in a tripod)

This rock looks pretty heavy.


Well, other than the clouds and the cats, all the photos came from around the Legislature grounds. If you would like to join in go see Tink, if you would like to look at other contributors work all together, check out our Flickr Group.

Hope you enjoy.

West Side Legislature

My friends and I went back to the Legislature grounds last night and I took pictures from the west side.

This will be the final installment of the Legislature grounds, but you may see more pictures from here in Tuesdays WWC. If you missed it, the first page is here and the second here (or you can just scroll down).

This is the first thing you see as you come down the west side onto the grounds. It is in recognition of the Italian community here. The writing goes all the way around in Italian, and of course, English & French. I got dizzy trying to read it.

Just after I took that first picture, I saw this little bounder a fair distance away, so I stepped quietly onto the grass and extended my zoom...and the little bugg...er...bunny, started bounding towards me! I had to pull my zoom in, was just getting focused and he bounded toward me again! Hey little guy, you are supposed to run away from people! But look at the shot he let me get!


The path then leads you back to the central fountains and on the west side is this beautiful piece of artwork. Dedicated to the Ukrainian Pioneers and their heritage.


This is the plaque for the artwork above.


I decided that I had fewer people in the way this time and would try to get a better shot of the front of the building and the reflecting pool. It was a bit windy and I had to stand between the pool and the arching fountain - I got a bit damp from the spray, but I managed to keep the camera dry.


This is the west entrance to the Legislature, pretty much a duplicate of the east side.



For those who may have never seen one, this is a Lodgepole Pine. As mentioned in the first post, it is one of the emblems that represent Alberta.


This is the Artillery Saluting Base, where they drag out the big guns (or small canons) to fire 21 gun salutes. We can hear them all the way to the south side where we live.


This is some guy driving in a spike for the railroad. I included the plaques from the other side, I hope you can read them. He is Donald Alexander Smith, Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.


This is the plaque for Albertans in the Naval Service. There are several of this type scattered around the grounds for various things( Korean war) and people (visiting Royalty) etc.


This is the Totem Pole given to us by British Columbia on their centennial year. Plaque is in the corner.


One of the many planting beds, with the bowling green/ice rink behind it. All of the plants inside and outside are raised in the greenhouses by the grounds keeping staff.


This is the last fountain, we have now worked our way around to the south again and are pretty much at the very outside edge of the grounds here.

Walking back to the car, I couldn't resist taking this shot of the sun and the fountain at the front.


And so ends another fine day taking pictures.


Have a good day all.

Legislature Part Two

This is another shot of the pools and fountains on the north side of the bldg. People play in these pools and sit on the benches that are scattered around. You can watch people trying to cross the pools on the stepping stones that are situated in the pools, some are not successful, but they are fun to watch. Click to enlarge.


This is the East entrance, I think I like it better, the grand sweeping stairs are prettier. Many brides and grooms have their wedding photos taken here and I can see why.


This is looking at the South wing from just beside the stairs pictured above.

And looking at the south wing from down the hill, standing at the eternal flame and pool that commemorate 100 years of confederation 1867-1967.


From there we meandered through the grounds on the east side heading back north to the car. There are many plaques and memorial sites throughout the grounds. This is the eternal flame for Police & Peace Officers Memorial for those slain in the line of duty. Unfortunately, I know one of those names. If you look closely you can see where they expect to be able to put more birds with names and dates on the tower.



This is the Holocaust memorial, around the bottom are famous quotes and sentiments.



This rock and plaque lists all of the places that the province has "twined" with, quite the list.

That covers the large stuff on the east side and some of the south, I will have to go back to get photos of whats on the west side and some more on the south in the next few days. In the meantime, here is a PDF link that has a map of the grounds and what a person can expect to find.


Have a good day all.

Alberta's Legislature

I took so many wonderful photos last week when I was looking for material for the WWC, that I thought I should do a post on Alberta's Legislature building and grounds.I am going to just touch the surface here and provide links for anyone who might be interested. I may also have to break this into a couple of posts there is so much ground to cover after all ;) Sorry!

Alberta became a Province on September 1st, 1905, when we split from the Northwest Territories and became the 8th Province in Canada. Our motto is Fortis et Liber (Strong & Free), our Flower is the Wild Rose, our Tree is the Lodgepole Pine, our Bird is the Great Horned Owl and our Stone is Petrified Wood. There are other emblems that represent the province, but I can't recall them right now.

Construction began on our Legislature building in 1907 and by November 30th of 1911 was complete enough to have the first assembly held there. The official opening didn't take place until September 3rd of 1912.

For those interested, this link has all sorts of info and on the left of the page a link to a virtual tour of the Legislature. I started it, but, I have an old machine and not enough virtual memory. What I saw though was very interesting, on the drop down menu in the centre of the page there is "Quick Access" find Citizens Guide and it brings up a PDF document that along with telling you how the gov't works has details (starts about page 78) about the construction, architect and where the stone and marble came from.

This is the Grand Entrance, on the North side with a fabulous park in front of it. The park, fountains and other grounds were started in the 1970's and completed in 1983. Locals refer to it as "Peter's Pissing Pool" after the Premier that had the work done. Some thought he was pissing away money on it, but it is well used by the public. Click to enlarge.


This art work is one of many that adorn the grounds around the bldg.


The central fountain and pool.


Looking North to downtown, to where the first photo was shot from.


A closer shot of the Grand Entrance, I appear to have cut off part of the dome - oops!


I have so many more photos, but I think this post is long enough already. I will continue this soon.



Have a Good day all.