Pam's Week 29: Purple Rain, Purple Rain...

Wow...what a great song that is.  Whenever I think of the colour purple, I think of that song and of Prince.  Some people loved him and some people hated him but I think the man was a musical genius.  I admit that some of the songs were out there ("Cream" anyone?) but his catalogue was so prolific.  Anyways, I digress...

As I mentioned in my previous post (also posted this evening for anyone who is counting), I am on vacation this week.  My husband, who is currently working 2 full-time jobs, does not have any vacation left.  The kids and I are, therefore, enjoying a staycation.  We have spent a couple days at the beach and a couple days playing tourist in our own area.  It's actually been a lot of fun.  We have seen things we have never seen before and learned a lot too.  It has also allowed us plenty of time in the gorgeous sunshine we had been so desperately waiting for!

Just a word of caution before we begin - it is highly likely that some of these topic interpretations were fairly open...

R

I know Sharon likes to look for the letters in unexpected places.  I decided to create the opportunity yesterday as we picnicked at Rock Lake.  I have this awesome cooler bag and soft-sided tote that I like to use for a beach bag that are monogrammed with an "R" for our last name.  Don't they look great on the beach next to my flipflops?

City Skyline

During our adventure yesterday, the kids and I drove to Bruce Mines to tour Ontario's first commercial copper mine and onto Thessalon to visit the Heritage Park Museum.  The kids thought maybe this would count as a city skyline...

I also walked the dog on Whitefish Island yesterday evening in the hopes that I could get a photo of our city skyline, only to realize that I've posted essentially the same photo multiple times so far this year.

Statue

Once again, I have cheated.  I took this photo of Roberta Bondar a couple of weeks ago when I used her space shuttle replica for 'fast'.  I intended to use this then but didn't so I will include it here, having not taken another statue photo this week.

And now I don't even know if it's technically a statue given that it's only a bust...

Architecture

Of course Sharon is in China capturing photos of all kinds of interesting architecture, I am sure.  I voted to be a little more traditional, pioneer-like if you will.  Here is an example of an old pioneer chapel, built in the round log or "traditional timber" manner.

Purple

While hoping for a cool city skyline photo last night at Whitefish Island, these purple thistles and other purple flowers caught my eye.

Focus on Background

Well now, isn't this easier said than done.  I once again relied on my friend, Google, to offer me an explanation and possibly some ideas.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunities to really attempt a replication.  Today I took the kids strawberry picking, though, and then baked some chocolate-covered strawberry muffins with some of our spoils.  Here are my attempts to focus on the background...

I wasn't sure if I liked the muffins or strawberries in focus better.  Both photos are making my mouth water, however...

Wildcard

This was a complete no-brainer for me as soon as I saw the photo.  I always walk by this beaver dam at Whitefish Island and I've always liked the curves of it.  Last night, the setting sun made it look spectacular, in my eyes.  I thought of using it for 'purple' but decided it made a better wildcard.

I also decided to use a photo from the Bruce Mines - Simpson Memorial Mineshaft from yesterday.  As we walked out, the kids thanked me for bringing them there and asked if we could go back again next year.  Some of the things we learned:
1)  The Simpson Mine Shaft was the first commercial copper mine in Ontario.
2)  The blackflies were so bad that some of the miners committed suicide to escape them.
3)  Copper in the mine was oxidized and looked bright green.  The minerals that we could see that looked coppery in colour were fools gold.
4)  Little boys as young as 7 were used to lead the horses around the horse whim to bring the ore to the surface.
5)  The miners wore candles on their felt hats in the mine to light their way.  They could remove them from their hats and drive them into the wall as they were on a spike.  When the candles went out, they knew that they were running out of oxygen and needed to get out.
6)  Many of the miners were from Cornwall and brought recipes for Cornish Pasties with them.  They were savoury on one side and sweet on the other and supposedly so hard that they didn't break if they fell to the bottom of the mine shaft.
7)  The town of Bruce Mines was named after the Governor General of 1847, James Bruce, who never actually set foot in Bruce Mines.
8)  They used a goose feather as a wick to light the gun powder in order to blast the mine.
9)  They followed the quartz veins in the rock to locate the copper.  It could also lead to iron, gold, and other ores but they never found gold in the Simpson mine.
10)  Much of the "debris" sent to the surface was actually valuable but they didn't have the tools, equipment and technology at the time to properly extract it.
11)  The ore was sent to Boston for smelting.

This is a photo of us at the horse whim.

Tomorrow we head camping for a few days to end my holidays.  I should get my stuff packed and I also have multiple loads of laundry to put away.  Have a great week!  I am sad that I head back to reality in a few days.