Winter arrived the other day with a light sprinkle of snow, and although that might sound lovely to some, it hit me like a club and made my soul weep. I will need to work hard at not letting, what I call the season of death, keep me from appreciating life and finding the joy in other things. With that in mind, the following blog post images show what has been on my mind, and what I have encountered to help me remember that the good things in life are not affected by the seasons, but rather by our perceptions, and our ability to see the joy in life.
The feature Duck Pond image shows the scene across the street from me. All through spring and summer, and well into the fall, I watch two batches of ducks begin life and grow to maturity. The first batch came early, grew fast, and seemed to fly away late summer. The second batch seemed to come late and remained small right up to the first freeze and first snow. They are gone now, but I worried most of the fall that they would not be mature enough to head south like ducks do every year. At one point I asked CoPilot about the lifecycle of ducks and things like that, and it assured me that ducks had good instincts and would go when the time was right. That said, I continued to worry and even considered calling the wildlife office in Saskatoon thinking the ducks might need rescuing. I did not see the ducks on the day of the first freeze, and I have not seen them since, so they are either frozen in the reeds or they have left the nest, and the area. I prefer to think that they headed south, having stayed just long enough to acquire the strength to do so.
I decided to call this blog post One Day I’ll Fly Away, as it was the title of a song I was listening to when I began to write this article. It’s a 1980 song by Veronica “Randy” Crawford, written by Joe Sample and Will Jennings. Although the song is sad, a metaphor of flying away from heartache and lost love, I reinterpreted it for the ducks to mean that one day they would fly away and begin the next steps in their lives. It is perhaps sad for them to leave the nest where they have grown and thrived, and even a bit scary – but exciting too – flying into the unknown — if you want to get all anthropomorphic about it. 😊
Fly away little birdies!
Morning Moon 20251105_081436 – Photo by Don Cheke
Morning Moon is a photo I took a day or two before the first snow. The rising sun is behind me in the east, and the moon is still visible, setting in the west. I don’t remember having encountered such a sight before, so I felt honored to experience it. I like how the sun glows on the buildings on the left and how the moon is so large and obscured a bit by the frost and the clouds in the west.
As I reviewed this image, I couldn’t help thinking about episode 17, season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation – the one called Masks. In the episode, Enterprise makes contact with a rogue comet that turns out to be a frozen artifact containing a library, or archive, of information from an ancient civilization. In true Star Trek fashion, the artifact starts to tell its story by converting the ship into a city of their ancient style. Data takes on the personalities of the ancients, thousands of them, while the plot focuses on only a few. The point of interest for this blog post is the part in the show which focuses on the ancient mythos of the culture and illustrates two characters – the sun (Masaka – she) and the moon (Korgano – he). In the myth, Masaka (the sun) grows tired of the endless chase and wants only to sleep, stopping the natural order. The Enterprise crew help to facilitate getting day and night back in balance through Data who approaches Masaka with understanding and familiarity, explaining that her rest (nighttime) is part of the natural and eternal cycle of life, that her slumber allows him (Korgano) to rule for a time, and then she (Masaka) will rise again. A beautiful partnership….
Of course, balance was restored, and we see it firsthand in Morning Moon above.
Luke and Grandpa IMG_20251105_165148 – Photo by Emma A.
Emma and Luke were over for a visit the other day while Olivia and Madelyn were at school. It was a lovely visit, and while Luke and I were having a bonding moment, Emma snapped the picture above. I just love this shot – it shows just how beautiful Luke is with his always happy personality. He is enjoying a good chew on his made-to-chew book, courtesy of his book-loving mom. When I see Luke, I always wonder if he thinks he is looking into a mirror when he looks at me. I bet he does! 😊
It doesn’t get much better than this!
Monument – Photo by Don Cheke
The other day I was thinking about manufacturing and industry, and how of all things, I can trace that back all through my life – right back to my earliest memories. I have always appreciated and have always been curious about how things are made. I remember in early years taking things apart and not necessarily getting them back together. I remember school field trips to facilities such as the city water plant and the local newspaper presses, and my fascination with all of it. My interest never waned, and my life took me in a direction that led straight to the opportunity to work in the manufacturing industry, as a product designer. Even in my retirement, I spend oodles of time watching manufacturing videos that illustrate processes of all imaginable things. No matter how many I watch, I never get bored with them. The ingenuity of humans is simply astounding in so many ways and benefits us all.
While looking to create a painting that would express my awe, I tried many things until I stumbled across a photo I had taken years ago of the 11th Street grain elevators here in Saskatoon and applied a desaturate blend mode to it. I removed everything else I did with the “painting” leaving only the black and white photo, which expressed just the right feelings. I decide to call the final piece Monument, as that is how it feels – a monument to the masters of industry,
Masters of Industry – Created by Don Cheke
To be honest, the button in the image above was what I had initially created to feature as something indicative of manufacturing. I thought that its simplicity would show the ingenuity that is required even with the simplest things that humans produce. I added a pencil drawing I had done years ago of the famous 1927 photo “Criss-Crossed Conveyors, River Rouge Plant, Ford Motor Company” by Charles Sheeler. I just wasn’t having luck and came up with the previous “Monument” piece instead. Still having the desire to use the button and the criss-crossed conveyors drawing I pressed on until what you see above came to be. I think it turned out okay, but I prefer the Monument piece for its simple beauty and the feelings it evokes in me.
Although I started this blog post while feeling a bit down due to the winter blues, I feel quite wonderful now having reviewed my blessings and sharing these pieces with you.
Donald B. Cheke – Saskatoon, SK
Good morning Don. Great photo of you and Luke! He does look like a happy baby. As usual, a nice blog with lots of thought going into it. Chat soon.
Thanks for have a look, Michael!
I hope your trip is proving to be most enjoyable.