In August 2022, I finally (after Covid travel delays) was able to explore my ancestral home of Topsham, in Devon. (These images were taken over several days, back posted to August 30, 2022 to keep the blog in chronological order), For two centuries, sailors from the Pennell family on my father’s side lived, worked and […]
During my visit to London, I met veteran videographer Brian Kelly, who took me and my nephew Christopher Christou on a tour of the famed Highgate East Cemetery. (My second great grandfather George Hugh Doherty Pennell (1832-1902) is buried at Highgate but due to post Covid staffing issues, it wasn’t possible to locate the grave […]
Early summer is often a great time to photograph birds in the Kitimat Valley.
The Haisla Bridge Replacement Project, Girder Launching Ceremony, June 14. 2022. Pylons anchored deep into bedrock of the Kitimat River will soon be mounted with giant steel girders. The new bridge project is expected to be completed by spring, 2023, then the old bridge from 1953 with its familiar humming vibration on the old deck […]
It was a cool, over cast Saturday afternoon when I accompanied birders from the Kitimat Valley Naturalists on the monthly shorebird count. Just after we arrived at our first stop, the Kitamaat Village seawall and beach in Haisla traditional territory, I (and the others) saw something out of the corner of my eye, a flash […]
On Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, a student at Kitimat’s Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School wore traditional regalia for picture day. At that time a teacher allegedly asked the student “What’s the costume.” This led to a protest against racism the following day by indigenous and non-indigenous students supported by members of the Haisla Nation and […]
The weather in Kitimat has been awful during most of the fall, cold, windy, rainy, foggy and generally miserable. Not unexpected in a La Nina year. I went down to Kitamaat Village for the monthly bird count in a rain squall. So the visibility was pretty bad. As I was about to leave, a half […]