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inside: shooting the birds  nose Art restorAtion  our lAst pioneer
West
THE WESTERN CANADA QUARTERLY

Western
Financial
Group
...because we live here.
winter 2008/2009
Canadian Publications Mail Agreement 40030911
BC’s year-round
Surfing
Paradise
WFG-W-09-Front and back2.indd 1
plus:
Magic mules, quilting, foiling
an octopus attack, fishing with
Gordie Howe and more.
12/10/08 9:23:54 AM
12/10/08 9:24:10 AM
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your idea to a panel of experts. Pitches will be broadcast on TV and online
with the winners being featured in CalgaryInc’s June Innovation issue. No
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West  3
12/10/08 9:24:13 AM
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West
THE WESTERN CANADA QUARTERLY
•
Winter 2008/2009
Features
12
The art of war
Even in the middle of a desperate war, pilots and ground crews decorated
their aircraft with humour. Wendy Dudley visits Clarence Simonsen who’s
restoring their “nose art”.
20 Surfing’s hot in cold Tofino
Diane Selkirk, not a surfer, decides to give it a shot on a cold, grey day in
the chilly Pacific waters off our far West Coast. Turns out, she’s not all that
good at it but she loves it anyway.
26 Dyed in the wool addicts
Diana Skoglund reports on the enthusiastic westerners who share a strange
addiction to the fine art of quilting. They just can’t stop, which is great for the
rest of us.
32 Lullaby of birdland
Photographer Mike Sturk finally got his chance to shoot the birds at BC’s
Reifel sanctuary. Bruce Masterman writes about the sanctuary and Mike
shares his photographs.
38 Standing Tall
Dan Tallman started working during the Depression and built a huge chunk of
the West’s transportation infrastructure. Judy Waytiuk introduces us to one of
our last pioneers.
rr
Departments
10
Roundup
Mules win prestigious horse event … wacky car art … giant octopus attack
in BC … trappers whoop it up in The Pas … fishing guide’s boat becomes a
Howe collectible … Canada’s crocus capital … reptiles and bugs … revisiting SK’s last steamboat … Terry Fox’s van rides again.
32
26
42
42 Simply Delicious
Cinda Chavich’s onion ideas.
46 Health Matters
Nurse Angela Morrison’s advice about frostbite.
48
Backgrounder
The bad guys in WWII decorated their planes, too … often with the same
Disney images our guys used … rebuilding historic trestles … finally, a report
on our movie project.
50 Editor Raves
Photo: Taylor Kennedy
Freaking out about freaking out.
On the Cover
A lonely surfer calls it a day at Long Beach in
Vancouver Island’s Pacific Rim National Park.
49
22
12
10
22
West  5
12/10/08 9:24:22 AM
West
Western
Financial
Group
Published by Western Financial Group,
1010 - 24th Street SE, High River, AB T1V 2A7
All rights reserved.
For permission to reprint articles,
excerpts, or photographs, please e-mail
[email protected]
Send Letters to the Editor to above address or
e-mail [email protected]
PUBLISHER: Scott Tannas
GENERAL MANAGER: Bill Rogers
EDITOR: Mike McCormick
ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: Bruce Masterman
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Dena DeGrofft
CONTRIBUTORS: Bruce Campbell, Cinda Chavich,
John Dietz, Wendy Dudley, Taylor Kennedy, Mike Kerr,
Bruce Masterman, Julie McLaughlin, Angela Morrison,
Jane Mundy, Carey Shaw, Diane Selkirk, Clarence
Simonsen, Diana Skoglund, Mike Sturk, Jared Sych,
Hans Tammemagi, Judy Waytiuk, Shel Zolkewich
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6  West . iSSUe 15 . winter 2008/2009
12/10/08 9:24:24 AM
Welcome
Welcome
back to West
with a story in the magazine
and that at least helped to
focus the discussions.
We frame all of our
covers and hang them on
the wall of a corridor in our
office building here in High
River. There are 14 hanging
there now (the surfer will
be the 15th). The other day,
our editor happened to meet
one of our computer whizzes
in front of the display and
he took the opportunity to
ask her “Which one of the
covers do you like best?” She
carefully considered each
image and thought about
her answer, then said “The
ducks. No question. Best
cover ever.” People on the
other side of the Rockies
probably heard Mike’s laugh.
All of which is a
long-winded way of inviting
you to weigh in on the
discussion. If you like a
cover, please let us know
why, ditto if you don’t.
You can write or email
your thoughts to Dena
DeGrofft. Her addresses are
just over there on your left.
Hope you enjoy this issue
(especially the cover.)
Correction: In our last issue on page 38, there was a photo in the White Sturgeon story that we identified as the view from the Fraser River. It wasn’t, but
it was close. The view is from Harrison Lake which connects to the Fraser through
the short Harrison River.
All the best,
Photo: Diane Selkirk
T
he last thing we do
before we put an issue
of West to bed is make
a decision about the cover.
We usually have three or
four options to consider and
everybody has an opinion,
which is great.
I tend to prefer cowboy
images, the old days. Other
people like families, kids,
dogs, birds, food, cattle,
mountains, prairie, fish,
boats, old buildings, etc.
When we started, our editor
picked an image out of the
blue, something that had no
direct connection to a story in
the magazine. Our first cover
was a picture of a farmer in
a field of canola. Our second
showed a woman with her
small son “talking” to a horse
in a grove of trees. All went
well until our 5th issue when
Editor Mike wanted to run
a photo of a pair of flying
ducks. With one exception,
none of the other seven or
eight people involved in the
discussion liked that photo
much (or at all) but nobody
had a better idea at the time,
so we reluctantly went with
the ducks. But the floodgates
had opened and now every
West cover choice is the result
of a lot of back and forth
discussion.
Shortly after the duck
brouhaha, the decision was
made to run cover photos
that have something to do
Scott Tannas
President and CEO
West  7
12/10/08 9:24:26 AM
ROUND UP
Photo: Terry Fox Foundation
Still rolling 28 years later
T
erry Fox’s support van
from his Marathon
of Hope in 1980 was
refurbished recently and enlisted
in a good cause last summer.
Fox, from Port Coquitlam,
BC had lost a leg to cancer.
He caught the public’s attention
when he tried to run across
Canada to raise money for
cancer research. He started in
St. John’s, Newfoundland, but his
worsening condition forced
a halt in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
He died in 1981, a month short
of his 22nd birthday.
This year, the van completed
the Marathon for him,
St. John’s to Victoria,
with dozens of
stops along
the way,
from May 25 to September 12.
One of the stops was in
Okotoks, Alberta on Labour
Day where Tracy Watson
remembered Terry Fox. “To
think that he ate and slept there
while he was attempting his run
is amazing,” she said.
Rolly Fox, Terry’s father, had
joined the van in Winnipeg. He
will never forget the first time he
saw the van. “We were parked at
a service station in Preston, just
outside of Halifax, and around
the corner came the van. Shortly
after that came Terry. It was a
very emotional moment.” W
Photo: Gerald Kornelsen
Terry Fox’s van:
World’s
largest crocus
The prairie crocus is the first native
wildflower to bloom as the snow
is melting, usually around April
15th. Visitors to Arden, Manitoba
in the second half of April will find
thousands of crocus blossoms
in a four acre natural prairie site
situated, whimsically we imagine,
near the oxcart monument, clear
across town from the giant crocus.
Still, spring is flowery in Arden, as
crocus blossoms are soon followed by a parade of native plants
and wildflowers that lasts until the
serious snow starts to fall. W
rrwrr
Boat Signing
Captain Nemo,
call your office.
Last November, underwater
photographer Derek Holzapfel
slipped into the water off Pender
Island, BC and went deep. On his
way down, he snapped a friendly
whitespotted greenling and an
alabaster nudibranch.
Then, at 21-metres, as he focused on a vermillion star, a shadow emerged from the darkness.
Suddenly, tentacles wrapped
around his arm and chest and
began to drag him deeper. He
was in the grips of a giant Pacific
octopus, about three metres (10
feet!) from
tip to tip.
Octopuses like this have
been known to kill
sharks.
As the tentacles
tightened, Holzapfel felt
their enormous power and knew
he was in a life and death struggle. After what seemed an eternity, the octopus released its grip,
who knows why?, and Holzapfel
shot to the surface.
Octopus attacks are extremely
rare, but none of Holzapfel’s
diving buddies joined him when
he returned to the same spot a
week later. W
As far as we know, Nick Tanner of
Tanner Trout Tours in High River,
Alta. owns the only boat in the world
autographed by Gordie Howe.
It happened in early September.
Tanner, a 28-year-old fishing guide,
took the 80-year-old hockey legend
and his son Marty on a daylong flyfishing trip for trout on the Bow River
in southern Alberta. Gordie, a native
of Floral, Sask., caught and released
several fish, the biggest a fat 20-inch
rainbow. For Tanner, it was a thrill just
meeting, never mind fishing with, the
man who’d played on four Stanley
Cup winners and won six scoring
titles before retiring in 1980, the
same year Tanner was born.
Tanner played hockey as a kid
and knew he was in the company
of a man regarded by many as the
greatest player ever. He says Howe
is easy to talk to and a very keen
angler. “He’s such an awesome guy.
It will be tough to beat that day.”
The part of the boat with the
autograph has already been
laminated. W
8  West . ISSUE 15 . WINTER 2008/2009
12/10/08 9:24:27 AM
A Saskatoon dive team spent four
days in early September searching for relics from the S. S. City of
Medicine Hat which sank in 1908
after crashing into Saskatoon’s
Traffic Bridge. At the time, it was
described as a marine disaster,
although accident would be more
like it.
The ship was carrying five
businessmen and a cargo of
flour bound for Winnipeg. It didn’t
actually sink right away; it drifted
downstream and sank slowly so
everyone had time to escape. The
only injuries were onshore when
some folks were trampled by cattle
panicked by the noise of the crash
and the only casualty was the
demise of steamship traffic along
the Saskatchewan River.
About 30 artifacts likely belonging to the ship were recovered in
the dive, including a pair of valve
springs, a gasket, a chunk of brick
from a boiler firebox, a padlock, a
blue enamel heating grate, and a
marlinspike, a tool used to splice
rope and untie knots. The pieces
of history are being cleaned up
and checked out by the Royal
Saskatchewan Museum, and may
end up on display there. W
Mules Rule!
T
eam Mule won the annual TELUS Battle of the Breeds in
September at the prestigious Spruce Meadows equestrian
centre in Calgary. That’s right, Team Mule!
The long-eared wonders, half horse (mom)-half donkey (dad),
competed against teams of 13 different horse breeds in Compulsory
Skills, Trail Riding, Jeopardy Jumping, Precision Driving and Barrel
Racing. Team Mule earned 31 points overall. Team Quarter Horse
came second with 30 points and third went to Team Thoroughbred.
Considered the underdogs when they began competing in the
popular event a decade ago, the mules brayed in the face of ridicule,
finally proving they are anything but stubborn and stupid.
“When we first started, you would hear the comments, the laughs
and the whispers,” said team member Katherine Cook, of Camrose,
Alberta, who rode Mastco Jane, the only mule in the country
with the official Equine Canada passport needed to compete
in high-level show jumping. “But no one’s laughing now,” she
chuckled. The team’s riders also included Jessica Bishop of Scio,
Oregon on Hot Buckaroo, Deloit Wolfe of Missoula, Montana
on Horse, and Mogens Nielsen of Falkland, BC on Maizie.
“This should help debunk the myths about mules. They are
actually very smart, and quite willing if they trust you,”
said Nielsen. “They’re just awesome animals. They really
can do it all,” added Cook.
As winners, the mules and riders paraded in the venue’s
elite jumping arena, sharing the turf in front of thousands
of spectators with the world’s top Olympic and World Cup show
jumping horses.
Teams earn Battle of the Breeds Championship points for each
event, based on where they finish: 1st Place, 10 points; then
8,7,6,5,4 for 2nd though 6th places and 2 points for 7th to 14th.
Team Mule had a 1st, a 4th, another 4th, a 3rd and a 14th. W
Car Art
Photo: Jane Mundy
Photo: Wendy Dudley
Full Steam
Ahea … Oops!
“That is my favourite car,” says a
little boy as he walks by a parked
1986 Toyota Tercel. When she
hears comments like that, Catherine Russell’s mission is accomplished. “The whole point of car
art is to have fun,” she says.
Russell, aged 65, started out
with old buttons and beads and
soon her Vancouver neighbours
were donating items. Occasionally she puts a sign on her car window: “Come by Sunday and help
me decorate my car.” She’s met
new neighbours, especially kids.
“I often find a bag of toys hanging on the car, sometimes with
a note,” says Russell. “Someone
left me 10 yellow rubber duckies.
How cool is that?”
She recently noticed Superman attached to the side mirror.
Russell says plastic toys are
popular and plentiful. She pokes
around the Sally Ann and never
comes home empty-handed.
She limits the height of stuff
on the hood: it is important to
maintain visibility. And she uses
Goop, a glue like rubber cement,
so nothing flies off while she’s
driving. “Some people just don’t
get car art but I usually see smiling people in my rear view mirror; they wave and give me the
thumbs up.” W
West  9
12/10/08 9:24:28 AM
ROUND UP
CreepieCrawlies Я Us
S
mack in the middle of Manitoba prairie, housed in a former
military barracks in Douglas, Manitoba, 90 minutes west of
Winnipeg, is the highly-unlikely Westman Reptile Gardens,
home to Canada’s largest collection of reptiles and bugs. It’s run by Dave and Candi Shelvey, who’ve amassed more than
300 living exhibits, including Canada’s largest snake, the only two Nile
crocodiles in Canada, and a giant tarantula that’s 12 inches across and
is aptly called the Goliath Birdeater.
The museum sprang from Dave’s fascination with reptiles, which
Candi knew about - but she married him anyway! - and she now helps
run and publicize the museum.
Exhibits here have “starred” in 15 films, like Addicted in which
gawdknows how many hissing cockroaches had walk-on roles and
Stone Angel – yes, Margaret Laurence’s Stone Angel! The black
harvester ants that scampered up Hagar Shipley’s leg in the film were
understudies to the red ants who were fired for biting the actress.
Black ants can’t bite but they have tongues so they can lick.
“ewwwwwww, ick” said one reviewer. W
When Mother Nature unleashes
her February blasts across
northern Manitoba, you’d think
residents of The Pas would huddle around their woodstoves.
Not a chance. Instead, the 6,000
residents of this town about 650
kilometres north of Winnipeg
throw an outdoor party like
no other.
Welcome to the Northern
Manitoba Trappers’ Festival
where a great batch of bannock
can put some prize money in
your mukluks and a meal of deer
stew, pan-fried moose meat,
wild rice and breaded whitefish
will put meat on your bones.
For some, the highlights of
the festival are the dog races
that attract teams from across
the continent, vying for over
$40,000 in prizes. For others,
it’s the King and Queen Trapper
events where skills such as fire
starting, log throwing, ice fishing, bannock baking, snowshoe
racing, trap setting, leg wrestling, moose calling and flour
packing come in mighty handy.
Think you’re tough? The record
for flour packing still belongs
to a gentleman by the name of
Henry Sayese who, in the 1920s,
carried 1,200 pounds (544
kilograms, roughly the weight of
a healthy Holstein) the required
20 feet (six metres). W
Photo: Trappers’ Festival
Trappers’ Festival
12/10/08 9:24:29 AM
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West  11
12/10/08 9:24:29 AM
MR
by Wendy dudley
no
se a
rt
Clarence Simonsen sits in the cockpit of a Lancaster
bomber featuring his Sugar's Blues nose art. The
painting was based on the January 1945 pin-up girl
in Esquire magazine, which inspired most of the nose
art depicting curvaceous ladies. Sugar's Blues was the
title of a wartime swing tune. The original painting is
by Canadian air gunner Sgt. Tom Walton. Simonsen's
replica on the Lancaster can be seen at the Nanton
Lancaster Air Museum.
T
hey were young men flying deadly
missions over foreign soils. Days were
riddled with doom and gloom, but
joy was as close as the noses on their
aircraft, where paintings, most of them
of voluptuous women, wooed the men
home, and were thought to guarantee
a safe trip.
Known as nose art, the designs were
borrowed from various sources, including
Walt Disney and Esquire magazine
WFG-W-09-Features.indd 12
12/10/08 9:39:17 AM
Photo: Jared Sych
West  13
12/10/08 9:39:23 AM
1
2
3
4
5
Photos: Wendy Dudley
6
1 The No. 427 Squadron RCAF was adopted by the
Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studio, so its aircraft
were decorated with paintings of MGM stars, including Joan Crawford. This replica, by Clarence
Simonsen, is on display at the Nanton Lancaster
Air Museum in southern Alberta.
3 Little Bear was designed by the Walt Disney studios
for the aviation training school at Winnipeg. This is
one of 1,200 pieces of nose art Disney created for
war-time aircraft. This replica, by Clarence Simonsen, is on view at the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum
in southern Alberta.
5 Stork with Baby originally appeared on an Avro
Anson aircraft. Nose artist Clarence Simonsen
replicated the image on a piece of cowling from an
Avro Anson assigned to an air force training school
in Estevan, Sask. After the war, that plane was flown
to Vulcan, Alta. and sold as scrap to a farmer.
2 Walt Disney's Bambi appeared on a Halifax
bomber. Disney had five artists dedicated to
designing insignias for military aircraft in Canada,
the US and Britain. The RCAF received 32 Disneydesigned insignia.
4 Nose art was largely inspired by paintings of pin-up
girls that appeared in Esquire magazine. The artists
were often the pilots, or members of the flight
squadron. Many of them thought of the paintings as
guardian angels who would help bring them home.
6 Clarence Simsonsen with his rendering of Willie the
Wolf from the West, which appeared on a Halifax
bomber during World War Two. The name came from
the 1943 movie, Riding High, which featured a song
titled Willie the Wolf of the West. The original was
removed before the plane was scrapped and now
hangs in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
12/10/08 9:39:27 AM
3
4
6
paintings of women in languorous
positions. Those images, by painters
George Petty and Alberto Vargas, were
published as pin-ups and became known
as the Petty and Vargas girls.
Sadly, most original nose art was lost
in the post-war years when the planes
were sent to scrap yards. But, thanks
to the efforts of Clarence Simonsen,
an artist and former member of the
Canadian Army Provost Corps, replicas
of many of those images are now part of
the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum in
southern Alberta.
“Nose art is part of aviation history.
It’s part of our war heritage,” said
Simonsen. He has spent more than
40 years researching and replicating
nose art for aviation museums, private
collectors and military organizations
and his endeavours have earned him the
nickname “Mr. Nose Art.”
Nudes? Why not?
This past year, Simonsen completed
the Willie the Wolf logo that originally
appeared on a bomber flown over Nazi
Germany by Harold Kearl of Calgary.
The image portrays a wolf chasing a
naked woman, descriptive, perhaps, of
Kearl’s behaviour between missions.
He also completed a life-sized replica
of the Lady Orchid, a naked Lady
Godiva-like figure riding a bomb while
holding two Western style six-shooters.
Flown by Calgary’s Ron Jenkins, the
plane returned to Canada, with two
red maple leaves painted over Lady
Orchid’s upper torso.
“We were young and foolish,”
recalled Ken Lofts, a navigator during
World War Two. “We thought of those
paintings as our guardian angels.” Lofts,
originally from Jasper, now lives in
Claresholm, Alta.
For pilot Joe English, the art was
a morale-booster. “It made you feel
good,” said the Nanton resident. “It was
a superstitious thing. We believed if
we had a painting, we’d make it home.
Sometimes they painted bombs on the
side of the plane, a tally of its success.”
Personalizing aircraft with pictures
and names began earlier but was
popularized during the Second World
War, peaking in 1945.
Simonsen’s interest in the art form
began when he was a young farm boy in
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West  15
12/10/08 9:39:27 AM
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12/10/08
9:39:30
12/5/08
9:50:30
AM AM
largest collection; the second largest
collection, 14 panels, is at the Canadian
War Museum in ottawa. (The Midland
museum is currently raising funds with
a “Save the Girls” campaign to help
preserve its collection.)
Thanks to farmers who built sheds
from bomber scrap metal, Simonsen
has a plentiful supply of hull panels
which he uses as his canvases. “you
should see my basement. It looks like a
plane crash.” During the year, Simonsen
lectures about this forgotten and
neglected chapter of military history.
Photo: Wendy Dudley
ARt SCHooL – oF HARD
KNoCKS.
E
.
e
nt
site
Artists had to stop using house paint
because it damaged the plane’s skin
and could be detected by radar.
rrrr!rrrr
Acme, Alta., watching Harvard planes
pass overhead on their training course
from Medicine Hat to Penhold. “They
were training NAto pilots, and they
would be flying solo on their navigators’
course. That was my introduction to
aviation.”
An amateur cartoonist, Simonsen
saved his money to buy war comics,
so he could study the bomber planes
and their nose art. As a teenager, he
discovered the inspiration for the art
while viewing his first girlie pin-ups.
But it wasn’t until 1965, when he
travelled to Cyprus with the united
Nations Peacekeeping Force, that he
fully understood the art’s impact on
military men.
“That’s where I saw my first bodies
and death. I started to understand how
those men back then must have felt,”
said Simonsen who lives in Airdrie, just
north of Calgary.
to boost morale in Cyprus, he
painted murals, and did cartoons for his
buddies. “I would do things Canadian,
like hockey or football. I saw how
everyone reacted to them. And it made
me think how this same thing inspired
so many men during those wars.”
RECoVERING HIStoRy.
Back in Canada, Simonsen began
researching nose art. With little written
on the subject, he relied on photographs
and the memories of surviving air
crews. Because most of the photos were
black and white, he had to imagine
the colours. He’s written three books
on nose art, and has painted over
500 replicas. More than 50 hang in
the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum.
others are in England and the uS, and
one is on display in the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC. Most
are in private collections.
Simonsen also helped restore the few
remaining original nose art panels. The
American Airpower Heritage Museum
in Midland, texas, has 33, the world’s
Nose artists were usually members of a
plane’s ground crew, who received little,
if anything, for their artistic legacies.
“Some got about $50, but most did it for
free, or the flight crew would take them
out for a night on the town,” Simonsen
said. After the war, many pursued their
talents and became commercial artists.
Leading Canadian nose artists were
George oliver, Floyd “Skip” Rutledge,
Albert Edward “Muff” Mills, and
Calgary’s Matthew Ferguson. All are
now dead.
Decorating military weaponry can
be traced back to ships and prow
figureheads. Aircraft art began with
the French during the First World War
and during the Second World War
Canadian, British, Australian, New
Zealand and South African fliers all
had their planes painted. The trend
continued through the Korean and
Vietnamese Wars, as well as the Gulf
War. “I’ve heard there are some in
Afghanistan, and that last Christmas
someone painted a Grinch on a plane’s
tail,” said Simonsen.
The art on Canada’s planes — the
Lancaster and Halifax bombers—
usually included a maple leaf and many
carried the word “Canuck”. Moose,
snowy oils and native chiefs also
were used to identify squadrons. one
pilot, a Saskatchewan cattle rancher
named Heard, had his plane named
“Thundering Heard,” with a scene of
stampeding cattle.
unique nose art made it easy to
identify planes, but its main purpose
was to boost morale, said Simonsen.
Pilots became attached to their aircraft,
West  17
9:50:30 AM
12/10/08 9:39:33 AM
Photo: Wendy Dudley
Glenbow Museum
NA-4341-15
“It was a
superstitious thing.
We believed if
we had a painting,
we’d make it home.”
rrr!rrr
Bomber command crew, #6 Group,
Royal Canadian Air Force.
!
Ken Lofts, of Claresholm, Alta., was a navigator
during the Second World War. He said the nose art
paintings were the crew's guardian angels, ensuring a safe trip.
and always referred to them as females.
“The plane was there to protect them,
and they were there to protect her.”
Many had names like Memphis Belle
(subject of a terrific 1990 movie with
Matthew Modine and John Lithgow, as
well as of an earlier documentary) and
Pistol Packin’ Mama, while others were
named after girlfriends and wives.
Popular music made its way onto
planes during the Viet Nam war with
Led Zeppelin, Eve of Destruction and
Good Golly, Miss Molly, and television
had its influence on bombers blessed
with I Dream of Jeannie, War Wagon
and Have Gun Will Travel. Nose art
was also reproduced on jackets, in mess
halls and recreation centres.
Through the years, the art changed
little. Occasionally, officials would ask
that naked women be covered up, so
the artists would paint bathing suits
on them, but with water colours so
the original form would return in a
rainstorm! In Viet Nam, pilots tended to
be more mature, educated and married,
so the painted women were less erotic
and usually clothed.
What has changed, said Simonsen,
is the technology. Artists had to stop
using house paint because it damaged
the plane’s skin and could be detected
by radar. Today, they use grease pencils
or chalk and protect the images by
spraying them with ScotchgardTM.
Passionate about his work, Simonsen
continues to search for records and
photographs of nose art. “All the artists
are gone now,” he said. “But thank God,
I can pass on their stories.” West
12/10/08 9:39:34 AM
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NA-4341-15
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Dec07
West  19
12/10/08 9:39:34 AM
by diane Selkirk
Photography by Taylor kennedy
surPAR
fiAn
g
DISE
I
Sunset on Vancouver Island’s Long Beach.
’ve always wanted to learn to surf,
haven’t you?
In my imagination I ride the warm,
turquoise waves off Costa Rica or
Hawaii surfing toward a white beach
and palm trees. When I’m done for the
day, I slip into a sarong, pick up a fruity
drink in a coconut shell and sit to watch
the sun sink into the Pacific.
So, naturally, when I finally got
the chance to surf, it was in the 13⁰
slate-grey waters off tofino, where a
token palm tree shivers at the north
end of Pacific Rim National Park on
Vancouver Island’s wet west coast.
They surf year round here, even have
Christmas surfing packages.
Somehow I’ve grown older than I was
in my imagination, no longer a lithe
20-year-old but a somewhat creaky
40-year-old, squeezed into a rented
wetsuit, lugging a long board down a
sodden beach.
tofino is home to Long Beach where
the shoreline is, indeed, long and sandy
and the surf is huge and rolling. This
12/10/08 9:39:37 AM
When I told friends
I was planning to
go surfing in Tofino,
most were sceptical.
“What’s wrong
with Hawaii?”
g
West  21
12/10/08 9:39:40 AM
Right: Diane Selkirk actually standing up on
her board. Below: Final words from instructor Paul Horscroft before hitting the waves.
Even farther below: Horscroft and fellow
instructor Shaun Marchant teach beginners
the fundamentals of surfing … on the beach,
where it’s safe.
whole area was inaccessible by road
until 1959 and then only by a logging
road until 1971 when the park was
created and the road was paved.
Since then Tofino has grown. Once
the pristine home of the Nuu-chahnulth people, it’s now a bustling tourist
town of 2,000 (swelling to 11,000 in
the summer.) Resorts, hotels, B&Bs,
campgrounds and hostels provide
lodging for tourists who come for the
beachcombing, whale watching, hiking,
storm-watching, kayaking — especially
After three pathetic
attempts I was
covered in sand and
ready to pack it in.
through the calm waters of the nearby
Broken Group Islands — and, most
recently, surfing.
When I told friends I was planning
to go surfing in Tofino, most were
sceptical. “What’s wrong with Hawaii?”
asked one. Although surfers, including
Pierre Trudeau, have been heading to
Tofino for years, it was home mostly
to draft dodgers and hippies until the
park was created. In those days, a few
hardcore dudes and dudettes hung out
at Cox Bay, rippin’ down juicy waves
and speaking a kowabunga-type lingo
that sounds dumb coming from anyone
not permanently leashed to a surfboard.
In the late ’90s, surfing in Tofino went
mainstream and the first surf schools
opened up. Then in 2002, the surf
movie, Blue Crush, came out. Suddenly
surf shops popped up all over town to
cater to experts and wanna-bes – most
of whom will never graduate to Hawaii’s
Ma’alaea pipeline.
My first surfing lesson.
Big cold raindrops fell on the
windshield, obscuring the rainforest
around us as we drove into the parking
lot at Chesterman Beach. We parked
in one of the last spots and headed
to the Pacific Surf School van, which
contained our surfboards and wetsuits.
12/10/08 9:39:44 AM
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12/10/08 9:39:45 AM
The instructors, Shaun and Dan,
explained to the class how to put on the
thick wetsuits and tuck in the booties
and hoods, so we wouldn’t freeze. Even
though the rain had stopped, I was very
much worried about freezing.
Then we trekked out to the middle of
the cold beach and sat in a semicircle.
Looking out at the water I marvelled
at how the heavy cloud, low mist and
grey waves turned the horizon into a
Tofino’s Road
Tofino, BC is the end of the road, literally,
and the town once lobbied for the privilege.
In 1928, Tofino was chosen as the Official
Western Terminus of the Trans Canada
Highway. (How else would people get to the
open Pacific?) Pretty soon, though, the plan’s
opponents struck. Campbell River and Victoria
wanted the mile zero designation. Anyway, it
was argued, Tofino was simply too foggy and
the Pacific too cold to attract visitors.
By December 9, 1949, Victoria had won the
long battle and Tofino continued to go without
a road, or even the hope of a road, until the
forest industry entered the picture and, in
1959, built a logging road through the mountains from Port Alberni. Electricity soon followed. In 1971 the federal government finally
noticed that Tofino wasn’t too foggy after all,
and the Pacific Ocean wasn’t too cold. The
feds paved the road and, since then, millions
of visitors have made the trip to see the ocean
and Pacific Rim Park.
Tourism Tofino
www.tourismtofino.com
Pacific Surf School
www.pacificsurfschool.com
Long Beach Lodge
www.longbeachlodgeresort.com
12/10/08 9:39:46 AM
There is nothing like
being propelled toward land by the
ocean, even clinging
to your surfboard
Bottom Left: Sea star and anemones in a tide pool on
Chesterman Beach

Above: A surfer catches a wave on Cox Bay.
dark smudge. Even the Leonard Island
Lighthouse, just over there somewhere,
was lost in the fog.
With more rain threatening, I started
to think my what’s-wrong-with-Hawaii
friend had a point; this seemed like a
silly place to surf. But there were dozens
of black blobs out there in the dark
froth. Occasionally, one would stand
up and zip along for a while before
sinking back into the waves, but most
of them just seemed to be bobbing in
the swell, like flotsam and jetsam. “Why
aren’t they doing anything?” one of my
classmates asked.
It turns out they were doing
something. Dan explained that they
were watching the waves to see where
they were breaking and the pattern of
the break. Then he explained that as
surfers we needed to be aware of wind
direction and speed, swell direction and
height, tide changes, shore currents,
danger areas and other surfers. Once he
had us oriented to the beach, it was time
to learn how to get up on the board.
My surfing fantasies
never covered this part.
In my sun-dappled imagination I
paddled out to the break and the next
thing I knew I was surfing back toward
the beach.
It turns out I was missing a detail
or two and the first step was learning
the stance. “Goofy foot (left) or regular
(right) foot?” Dan asked. My blank look
gave away the fact that I had no idea
what he was talking about. So he pushed
me, gently. “Regular foot,” he said, as I
lurched forward and caught my balance
with my right foot.
Once I had the stance down, it was
time to learn how to actually get on a
surf board. It should have been easy –
we were still on the beach. But we were
pretending we were in the water so we
tried the method of choice, the pop-up,
which seems to have been designed for
my lithe 20-year-old self, who no longer
exists, if she ever did. Levitating from
belly to balanced, feet-apart, knees-bent,
stance in one fluid movement is beyond
me, for now. After three pathetic
attempts I was covered in sand and
ready to pack it in until Dan showed
me a novice manoeuvre – I got to hop
up on my knees on the board before I
attempted to stand.
Into the ocean
Despite my worry about freezing I never
noticed the cold. After happily bobbing
around watching the waves, I heard Dan
say it was time to surf. “Look for a wave
that’s already breaking with lots of space
in front,” he said, looking seaward for
the nautical counterpart of the skier’s
bunny hill. Then an even line of froth
started to move toward me. “On your
board,” he called. I leaped on, nearly slid
off the other side, and then, with a shove
from Dan, I was off. “Paddle! Paddle!
Paddle!” He yelled after me.
Racing toward shore, I tried to recall
the steps involved in actually surfing.
Hands under my shoulders, pop-up
to kneeling. Hmmm. Too far forward,
or to the left, or something. My board
nosedived and I went under for what felt
like the spin cycle. I came up sputtering
and grinning and paddled back out to
try again. This time, just for the thrill,
I skipped the getting up part and body
boarded into the beach.
Back out in the froth, I started
looking for my classmates. All were
younger and fitter and, I noticed, far
more successful at getting upright. I
wanted to slink back to shore to find an
activity more suitable for my mature
years. Quilting, maybe.
But heading back to shore, I was,
surprisingly, happy enough to decide I
could do better if I tried again. Pretty
quickly I understood the draw of the
sport. Sure, actually standing up would
be cool but there is nothing like being
propelled toward land by the ocean,
even clinging to your surfboard.
On shore, the sun struggled to break
through the clouds. After loading the
boards back in the van, I stripped off my
wetsuit and felt cold for the first time.
Back in my room at Long Beach Lodge,
I poured a cup of hot coffee, pulled on
a heavy sweater and went out on the
balcony to watch the expert surfers on
Cox Bay. Without realizing it I found
myself feet apart, knees bent, arms out
for balance. With the roar of the surf all
around me I closed my eyes and felt the
swell beneath my board.
Now when I imagine surfing, it’s
in a place where mist hangs in the
rainforest and steel coloured waves
pound against ancient sandy shores.
I can’t wait to go back. West
West  25
12/10/08 9:39:49 AM
by Diana SkoglunD
T
alk to quilters and the odds are that
the conversation will quickly turn
to addiction.
Not the sordid lower Eastside of
Vancouver kind of addiction. Heavens,
no. You’ll never hear of a quilting addict
losing home, spouse or family because
of the urge to stitch pieces of cotton
together. This is different. Consider
the quilting group of the Royal Inland
Hospital Afternoon Auxiliary in
Kamloops, BC.
These are women who have met every
Wednesday for 30 years to make quilts.
Opposite page: The cost of quilting fabric can
really add up, around $1,600 a year for a serious leisure quilter.
They laugh a lot and their laughter is as
genuine as their stitches are tiny. They
meet on Wednesday because 85-year-old
Geraldine Hubbard, who founded the
group in 1978, plays golf on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. “I don’t why we can’t change
the meeting days in the winter, because I
know she doesn’t ski,” says Vicki Gray to
a round of giggles.
As some members appliqué felt stems
and leaves onto pale green cotton squares,
Geraldine meticulously stitches petals and
centres on daisies. The stitches are tiny
and true, although she says her miniature
work isn’t what it used to be.
The workspace here in the old gift shop
is tight with quilts, supplies and ladies
filling every available square inch. Audrey
MacKenzie, Sonja Marek, Abundia Cobb,
12/10/08 9:42:43 AM
Photo: Carey Shaw
West  27
12/10/08 9:42:45 AM
Photo: Carey Shaw
“When I lie on my
death bed … I am not
going to wish I had
spent more
time dusting …”
Earla Horne and Vicki Gray sit close
around the floral quilt that will be spring’s
main raffle prize. It’s tightly wound on a
frame for hand quilting. They’ve decided
to stitch double lines so this one’s going to
take twice as long to finish. They work quietly and always behind
the scenes, never seeking applause for the
many hours of charity work they do. They
estimate they’ve made nearly $200,000
for the hospital. They think of it as money
they raise to help buy medical equipment
for their own friends and family. When
they add up the total they’re surprised.
They haven’t been quilting all these years
for the glory. They just have to quilt.
As much as the quilters talk about
things like giving back to the community
through charity quilts, and the fun of
socializing through their art, they will
admit, usually with a laugh, that quilting
is, indeed, addictive.
Meanwhile, about 1,800
kilometres east.
Late in the night near Somerset,
Manitoba, 48-year-old Laura Kotschorek
passes the time between hauling loads
of grain. She cuts fabrics, thumbs
through quilting magazines and plans
her next project.
“I used to feel guilty about how much
money and time I spent quilting,” Laura
said one morning last fall as she waited
for the wheat to dry so the harvest could
begin again. “But I realize it just doesn’t
matter. You only get to live once. When
I lie on my death bed, I know I am not
going to wish I had spent more time
dusting, but I am going to say that I wish
I finished more quilts.”
She concedes that one of the attractions
of quilt guilds and quilting friends is that
quilters don’t make each other feel guilty
about stashing fabric or the money they
are spending.
With the average price of quilting fabric
at $15 a metre, the cost of a project can
escalate quickly. Add embellishments,
threads, batting and backing, and it’s not
unusual for materials for a lap quilt to go
to $100 or more. It’s also not unusual for a
quilter to have a lot of projects, small and
large, in various stages of completion. A
2003 US survey reported that the serious
leisure quilter is a “dedicated quilter”
who spends $1,556 annually on quilting
materials. That’s probably gone up a bit in
five years.
Laura has used quilting as way to spend
time with her mom. When her three
children reached their late teens and
adulthood, she wasn’t spending so much
of her day getting them to hockey or
dance practice and she could spend more
time with her mother. Quilting is the
perfect outlet for two generations of farm
women who can’t justify unproductive
coffee klatching. It’s the same in
Moose Jaw.
At Quilter’s Haven, one of four quilt
shops in this city of 35,000, co-owner
Heather Carruthers fielded calls;
Monday’s charity quilt group was
anxious to get going again after the
summer hiatus.
“The charity quilters who meet here
on Monday’s are just totally addicted,”
Heather said, describing the group of
10 to 12 women as a little club. “There’s
always coffee on for them, cake for their
birthdays. They rarely miss. They get a
little miffed if I have to reschedule.”
Quilting retreats are a growing part of
the social component that is broadening
the quilting circle.
Friendship and
camaraderie.
They’re elements of today’s quilting
culture that Lois Papworth wishes she
had taken more time for as she thinks
back on the Country Lane Quilter’s guild
she started 28 years ago in Millarville,
Alberta. She and her husband, Don,
had moved to a ranch in the area from
Calgary, which isn’t far away.
With her son and daughter grown,
Lois looked at quilting as a way to get to
know people. “We didn’t have classes. We
learned from each other – and books.”
Still quilting at 84, she says she has
to watch that she gets her work done
first because the hours will just fly away
from her once she starts quilting. She
relies on her daughter’s eye for colour
and estimates when she plans a new
project. She has made at least 18 queen
size quilts and dozens of baby quilts
12/10/08 9:42:52 AM
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Your insurance needs change every year
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12/10/08 9:43:01
9:04:25 AM
08 9:04:25 AM
Right, top: Kamloops’s Royal Inland Hospital Afternoon Auxiliary quilters: Abundia Cobb, Sonja Marek,
Earla Horne, Audrey MacKenzie and Vicky Gray
hand-quilt next fall’s spring’s prize. Right, bottom:
Geraldine Hubbard, now 85, founded the RIHAA quilting group in 1978. Below: Tiny stitches are crucial.
“A good week is
when I can spend
at least 40 hours
quilting …”
workshops. Vicky has worked for three
years to get Elly Sienkiewicz, the guru
of the Baltimore Album style, to come
to BC’s Interior for two days of classes
that will be opened first to Sage Brush
Guild members.
The new technique has her building a
stash of hand-dyed threads and intricately
folded silks. despite a closet full of fabrics,
carefully washed and sorted by colour,
Vicky is now drawn to the silks.
Many quilters joke about “… sneaking
fabric into the house,” Vicky says. “But
in truth, I think most of us have very
supportive husbands who encourage our
hobby. They, and most of the population,
just don’t have any idea of the amount of
money spent on quilting supplies. Who
would ever think that a small plastic bag
could hold hundreds of dollars worth of
fabric? But we, and they, don’t begrudge
the expense or the time when we produce
Photos: Diana Skoglund
and probably worn out three sewing
machines over the years.
“I liked to do my own projects. With
the group getting involved in charity
projects it seemed like I had less time to
work on my own quilts,” lois said from
her home in Calgary. She moved back to
the city a couple of years ago.
Back in Kamloops, Vicky Gray, at 63,
is retired from her work as an ontario
research scientist. once she and her
husband, Bill, settled into their ski cabin
near Sun peaks, BC, she turned easily to
quilting, having taken her first 10-week
class during a six-month leave from work.
“I remember I was supposed to come back
to work on a Monday, and I called in to
work and asked to come in the next day
because quilting class was Monday.”
Vicky readily admits she’s addicted
and does some quilting almost every
day. “Sometimes only for a few minutes,
sometimes most of the day,” Vicky said.
“A good week is when I can spend at
least 40 hours quilting, when I don’t
do housework, don’t cook, don’t do
paperwork or turn on the computer.”
Because she is passionate about
quilting, it’s easy for her to take on too
many of the administrative duties of
the four Kamloops’ quilting groups
(Marigold Appliqué Society, RIH
Afternoon Auxiliary Quilters, Sage
Brush Quilters, Heffley Creek Quilters)
and several associations she belongs
to. In addition, she competes and
judges in quilting shows and organizes
quilts which are often given away to
family members, friends or even strangers
as heirlooms or something the recipient
will treasure.”
The reason quilters support causes
through their hobby? Vicky has a
theory. “Many quilters are retired or out
of the workforce. Everyone needs some
sense of satisfaction whether it is in
the form of a paycheque or a pat on the
back. We can get that from the joy our
quilts give to others.”
In Kamloops, the RIH Quilters’ fall
fund raising project is labelled, bundled
and ready to be go on the road. The
quilters will leave the cramped space of
the old hospital gift shop and help sell
raffle tickets in local malls for the queensized Star in Bloom quilt. And they’ll keep
stitching, appliquéing the pattern onto the
squares of the fall raffle prize. West
West  31
12/10/08 9:43:13 AM
by Bruce MaSterMan
Photography by Mike Sturk
The mindboggling
reifel
bird
SanCTuary
Opposite page: Mallards flock to a mother and son
on a Reifel bench who might, just maybe, you never
know, throw out some food.
p
rofessional photographer, Mike Sturk
of Calgary, had heard about the George
C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
near Vancouver long before he finally
managed to visit it last February.
He got his chance when he covered
a World Cup ski event at Whistler
Mountain and he jumped at it, seizing
the opportunity to spend hours taking
pictures of birds.
12/10/08 9:43:20 AM
It’s a perfect spot
with natural intertidal
marshes and
critical feeding areas
for waterfowl and
shorebirds.
d
y
West  33
12/10/08 9:43:23 AM
Left: An observant black-crowned Night Heron roosting. Above, top: A Northern Pintail Duck takes flight.
Above: A Belted Kingfisher perches above a lagoon.
Opposite page: A Sandhill Crane anticipates dinner.
Sturk's biggest challenge was
deciding where to focus first. There
are so many different birds that it ís
sort of mind-boggling, he said. He was
surrounded by thousands of birds,
including snow geese, trumpeter
swans, great blue herons, northern
pintail ducks, belted kingfishers and
sandhill cranes.
It was a dream for Sturk, an ardent
birder and nature photographer
who photographed and wrote about
Manitoba's Riding Mountain National
Park for our Summer, 2008 issue.
Who was George C. Reifel? Very
few westerners know much about him.
George C. bought what was then an
island in the Fraser River estuary as a
family getaway back in 1927. Over the
years, he improved the land and built
a magnificent mansion. In the ‘60s,
his son, George H. leased part of the
land to the British Columbia Waterfowl
Society for a bird sanctuary to be
named after George C. It's a perfect
spot with natural intertidal marshes
and critical feeding areas for waterfowl
and shorebirds. Six years later, Ducks
Unlimited Canada got involved and
helped to develop managed ponds and
islands in a partnership that continues
today. DUC and the Society jointly offer
educational programs to schools in
Greater Vancouver.
The sanctuary is located where the
12/10/08 9:43:35 AM
Although you
can see birds all
year, October to
early December
is a must.
West  35
12/10/08 9:43:37 AM
Left: A Spotted Towhee, a large sparrow,
checks things out.

Above: A Northern Pintail Duck takes a
breather.
IF YOU GO:
main channel of the Fraser River
meets the Strait of Georgia. It's one
of Canada's top bird-watching areas
with washrooms, picnic facilities,
wheelchair-friendly walkways and
a 10-metre-high observation tower
in the northwestern corner of the
property. Along the trails, visitors
can quietly watch the birds from
several small buildings with slat-like
windows. Although you can see birds
all year, October to early December
is a must because of the huge flocks of
migrating ducks, geese, swans and up to
80,000 lesser snow geese arriving from
Wrangel Island in Russia. The snow
geese winter at the sanctuary and in
adjoining wetlands. In spring, millions
of western sandpipers stop to feed and
rest in the sanctuary's shallow ponds.
Spring is also prime time for hawks,
bald eagles, seals, cormorants and
ospreys. West
More photos at www.mikesturk.com
Hours: 9 am to 4 pm
Admission: adults $4, seniors and children $2.
What to bring: binoculars, camera.
What to leave home: pets, bicycles.
Getting there: the sanctuary is 13 km west
of Ladner in the Municipality of Delta, south
of Vancouver. It is west of the intersection
of Highways 10 and 17. From Ladner, follow
Highway 10 west to 47A Avenue and onto
River Road. Follow River Road westward for 3
km and cross the bridge to Westham Island.
Follow the main road to where it ends in front
of large black gates. The driveway to the left
leads to the sanctuary’s parking lot.
For more information:
www.reifelbirdsanctuary.com.
12/10/08 9:43:59 AM
West  37
12/10/08 9:44:04 AM
by JuDy Waytiuk
A lIFE SpENT
build
bui
ld
l
d
ing
H
Opposite page: Dan Tallman at the Western Canada
Aviation museum in Winnipeg. In the early days, he
built the runways for 62 airports across the west.
Page 40: Dan and May Tallman at a 2008
charity dinner.
e turned 90 in october, so dan
Tallman says he doesn’t buy green
bananas anymore. But he’s still got an
agile mind and good health, and he can
look back on a life that’s been built on
concrete. literally.
over 20 years or so in the 1940s and
1950s, this man – who never saw the
inside of a Grade 8 classroom – paved
the runways at more than 60 airports
in Western Canada, and built some of
the airport terminals, too. That was in
addition to numerous projects that made
his company a major construction player
throughout Manitoba.
Then, at the age of 50, Tallman sold
the company he’d built, TallCrete, and
retired to play golf, enjoy his family,
and give both time and money to
community causes.
That’s the short version of dan
Tallman’s life story.
It leaves out his early start in the work
world as a 14-year-old whose family
struggled through the Great depression.
In 1933, young dan earned his first
real money shovelling dirt to dig out
the ground for a runway at Stevenson
Field, Winnipeg’s first airport and a
depression-era make-work project.
That was his first brush with airportbuilding. But the young teen needed to
find more solid work.
THE HARd YEARS.
He quit school after Grade 7 and headed
to northern Manitoba where he became
a fur trapper for a year, then turned
to freighting goods around northern
communities. “I learned in life that two
and two makes four and you can’t make
four-and-a-half out of it,” he says of those
hard early years.
At 22, still in northern Manitoba, he
12/10/08 9:44:10 AM
Photo: Judy Waytiuk
d
g
West  39
12/10/08 9:44:11 AM
Photo: Courtesy of Tallman family
found and married his first wife, Sally.
Then he moved back south, briefly joined
his father’s construction company before
leaving it to work for a local paper mill
and then move on to British Columbia
where he worked on his second airport,
this one in Smithers, operating a
dragline (power shovel), digging ditches
and levelling ground to keep the runway
properly drained
Throughout those years, Tallman
knew his education needed brushingup, so he got tutoring. “Without the
tutoring I would have been in big
trouble as I went, but I found out I
was good at certain things—good at
mathematics, lousy with spelling, very
good with history and excellent with
geography,” he recalls. “And the school
of hard knocks helped.”
He returned to Winnipeg briefly to
work with his father again before signing
up for the military in World War II. He
served with several units before winding
up with The Royal Winnipeg Rifles on
the Belgian Front.
MoRE uSEFul IN
CANAdA’S WEST.
despite his name, Tallman’s not what
you’d call a big guy, the exact opposite
in fact, so he was more useful to the
war effort working on excavation for
his father. He and his brother, Ervin,
then branched off to build their own
company, specializing in paving large
surfaces, and very long, horizontal ones -
He went on to build 62 airports
throughout Western and Northern
Canada, and one in Ceylon.
like highways and airport runways.
In 1940, an airport at portage la
prairie, Manitoba needed a rebuild so
the British Commonwealth Air Training
plan could use the facility to train pilots.
Tallman decided to bid for the $1.3
million job, even though he’d never
tackled anything like it before. “There
was a lot I thought I knew, and a lot I
took for granted I didn’t know,” he says
now. “In the back of my mind, I said if
I had to, I could do it. If somebody else
could do it, I could do it.”
But building the thing turned out to
be a lot easier than getting the contract
in the first place. He put in a bid for the
work. “And it took almost a year for the
politicians to push me around and do
everything they could to stop this little
company from getting the job.” But he
did get the job.
THE GRoWING YEARS.
dan and Erven’s company, which
began as Tallman Gravel and Building
Supply, grew to become provincial
Concrete and TallCrete (concrete
block), and Tallman Paving and
Equipment Rental, specializing in
heavy construction, land development,
building highways all over the prairie
provinces – and airport runways.
over the years, he says, “I lived by a
code of honour, and it helped dealing with
other companies in North America.” And
when other companies didn’t return that
favour, “… you’d take your beating and
look for the next street car.”
From the first big job at portage la
prairie, he went on to build 62 airports
throughout Western and Northern
Canada, and one in Ceylon (now Sri
lanka). At the Edmonton International
Airport he built two 11,000 foot (two
miles) runways that, at the time, were
the longest in the country. He helped
rebuild the Vancouver Airport for jets.
“They pumped about a million and
a half yards of sand out of the Fraser
River with dredges, let it settle, and the
following year we put it on top of the
old runways, built them up, and put
concrete on top of that.”
He built a dam on the North
Saskatchewan River.
And he built six drive-in theatres. His
12/10/08 9:44:13 AM
first was also Winnipeg’s first, a 500-car
drive-in that was, according to one story,
built over an old stable where louis Riel
and his followers once kept their horses.
“I didn’t believe the fellah who told me
that, so I took a shovel and dug up a spot
or two, and sure enough, there was a lot
of manure down there.”
He did a few other things too—built
the Rossmere golf course in the East
Kildonan suburb of Winnipeg, for
example, as a favour to his friend the
mayor. He did get two passes for one
free round of golf, which he gave to two
golfers who had no money. “I was happy
to do it. I enjoyed doing it for him,” he
says of the golf course, though it involved
more laying of sod than pouring of
concrete. “I’ve found out in this world it’s
better to be a giver than a taker.”
TAKING IT EASY NoWAdAYS.
Now dan Tallman, at 90, has lost two
sons to cancer and his first wife Sally, to
Alzheimer’s. He’s been lucky enough in
love to find and marry his second wife,
May, in 1999, and to spend his summers
in Winnipeg and his winters near
Miami, Florida – not Miami, Manitoba.
And he spends his money by giving
much of it away. one of 119 original
founders of the Jewish Foundation of
Manitoba in 1964, in early 2007 he
donated $1 million to the Foundation.
That gift created the Tallman Transportation Fund which enables seniors to
get to and from the Foundation’s special
seniors’ programming, social events
and even medical appointments. It
was publicized, says May Tallman “…
only because he felt this might draw
other people—contemporaries of his,
acquaintances—to do the same.” It did,
she adds.
But other gifts and donations have
not been publicized, and Tallman won’t
talk about them. “He believes in giving
back,” says May, and he does not seek
public credit for that charity. “There are
channels,” she says. “There are contacts.”
So now he gives back using the
channels and contacts he developed
over the decades, plus that lifelong sense
of honour. It’s the same way he built a
company, and a big chunk of the west:
more than five dozen airports, numerous
buildings and other projects, and
countless kilometers of highway. West
West  41
12/10/08 9:44:23 AM
SIMPle & DelIcIoUS
StorY AnD PHotoGrAPHS
by Cinda Chavich
The art of
braising
Got a
winter
cold?
Try eating your allium.
42  West . iSSUe 15 . winter 2008/2009
12/10/08 9:31:51 AM
I
have a friend who is mad about
onions.Vidalias, yellow onions,
leeks, chives and shallots – it’s all
about edible Alliums for this girl.
She’ll munch them raw, slice them
into sandwiches, sauté, braise and
caramelize them like there’s no tomorrow.
And at this time of year, she has a
lot more interesting vegetable dishes
to savour than people who assume an
onion is just what you chop and add to
the pan before making soup or stew.
Because an onion is more than an
essential, behind-the-scenes ingredient
for cooks, it can turn up on your plate in
a leading role.
THE RAW MATERIALS
Allium cepa comes in many forms and
crosses almost every culture. It was
revered in ancient Egypt and is still the
backbone of modern cuisine. Whether
you’re whipping up a Szechuan stir fry,
a Mexican salsa, an Indian curry or a
very French onion soup, onions are
essential. There are wild onions in the
woods in central Asia and southern
Tennessee – and First Nations families
across Canada have long known where
to forage for this fine flavouring.
The thing about the onion family
is that it’s so vast, ranging from fresh
little bulbs and crunchy stems for
salads (a.k.a. green or spring onions),
to garlicky shallots, long fat leeks, big
sweet Georgia or Walla Walla onions
for burgers, red onions to add colour
to salads, or big yellow or white winter
storage onions.
The other great thing about onions
is that they’re loaded with healthy
phenols and flavinoids, and compounds
like quercetin that have antioxidant
properties. The strongest-tasting
varieties, like shallots, contain even
more of the stuff that can destroy
cancer cells.
Folk remedies prescribe onions
for a multitude of ailments from the
common cold to heart disease and
diabetes. And the natural compounds
contained in every allium are both
anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial.
But most of all, onions are delicious.
They’re low in calories and high in
flavour, so eating them, especially when
other fresh vegetables are out of season,
makes a western winter far more
palatable.
It’s also an easy way to make your
whole house smell amazing when you’re
hosting dinner. Just cook a couple of
thinly sliced onions, slowly, in olive oil
and butter (and I mean slowly – never
let them brown) until you have a sweet
jammy confit that you can pile in a bowl
and pass with bread or crackers.
Roasting a related bulb – a whole head
of garlic, for example – will give you
similar results. Just slice off the pointy
top from a whole head to expose the
cloves, wrap loosely in foil, drizzle with a
tablespoon of olive oil, and bake at 400°F
for about 45 minutes, until the garlic is
soft and sweet. Squeeze the creamy flesh
out of the dry papery husk and presto, a
tasty paste to spread on bread or to mash
with your potatoes.
It’s also nice to grill thickly sliced or
quartered onions on the barbecue. The
high heat caramelizes sugars and adds
a nice smoky, charred layer of flavour.
Charring onions is a classic technique in
Mexican cooking.
Leeks make lovely soup, and braising
leeks in a little chicken stock makes
them tender and sweet. Just remember
to slice them lengthwise, discard the
dark green tops, and rinse the white
parts well under running water to
remove any dirt and grit. Then simply
sauté them in butter until brown, add
a little stock, cover and braise until
tender, then top with some finely grated
THE PROCESS
An onion is most pungent and sharp
when eaten raw, but becomes sweet and
caramelized when slowly cooked.
That’s the secret weapon in my pantry
– a slow-cooked, caramelized onion jam
that lifts a basic sandwich or burger into
gourmet territory, and can even stand in
as a chic little appetizer when slathered
on a baguette.
Caramelized onions
From The Guy Can’t Cook, by Cinda Chavich (Whitecap Books, 2007).
3 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
(white, red and/or yellow)
1/4 cup (50 ml) virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 ml) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) balsamic vinegar
Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-low heat.
Add the onions and stir to coat with the oil. Cover
the pan and “sweat” the onions for 5 minutes.
Remove the cover and sauté until the onions begin
to turn golden – if they are browning or burning,
the heat is too high. Continue to cook on fairly low
heat until the onions are very soft and jammy, with
a nice color. Stir the sugar and vinegar together
and add to the pan, cooking until the liquid is
gone. Pile into a bowl and serve warm with bread,
or put them in a container and refrigerate until
you’re ready to use them.
Photo: Cinda Chavich
It’s easy to become addicted to onions, especially
once they’ve been slowly cooked down into a
sweet brown mass (caramelized). Pile them on
or fold them into almost anything (a pizza, a
sandwich, a burger, an omelette, a bowl of pasta)
with spectacular results. Make caramelized onions
in advance and keep them in a jar for several days
in the refrigerator, or start them an hour before
your guests arrive and your house will have that
mouth-watering sautéed onion smell, one that
crosses all cultures and age groups on the gottahave-that scale.
West  43
12/10/08 9:31:59 AM
An onion is more than an essential, behindthe-scenes ingredient for cooks.
rrrrsrrrr
Parmesan cheese and broil until bubbly
for a super side dish.
Store onions in a cool, dark and dry
place – a moist cellar or refrigerator is not
the right place and onions will rot quickly
if stored in plastic. Ventilation is key.
THE EQUIPMENT
Chopping an onion is simple, remove the
papery skin, remove the stem end and cut
the onion in half, from tip to stem.
Lay the onion flat, make 2-3
horizontal slices toward the root end,
and several vertical slices, leaving the
root intact to hold everything together.
Then slice straight down at right angles
for perfectly diced onions. The more
vertical and horizontal slices you make
in the beginning, the finer your onion
will be diced. Smaller onions are also
easier to dice finely.
The downside of onions is the sulfuric
compounds that are released when
they’re sliced or diced. This is the gas
that makes you cry when you slice an
onion, especially when you crush the
juicy onion cells with a dull knife, so
make sure your knife is sharp. You can
also buy onion goggles to protect your
eyes, and some people suggest chilling
your onions for 20 minutes in the
refrigerator to reduce the tear-producing
volatiles, but I’d rather just open a
window or turn on the exhaust fan. You
can also try pulsing quartered onions in
the food processor if you need to mince
a bunch.
THE EMBELLISHMENTS
A pickled onion makes a nice condiment
with bread and cheese, and caramelized
onions can be seasoned with a splash of
balsamic vinegar or maple syrup, but the
onion is simply a necessity on its own.
As the poet Carl Sandburg wrote: “Life
is like an onion. You peel it off one layer
at a time, and sometimes you weep.” And
sometimes it’s just deliciously sweet! West
French onion soup
This is the classic way to start a special meal—a
bowl of intense beef stock, flavoured with sweet
caramelized onions, and topped with crisp croutons and gooey cheese. From The Guy Can’t Cook
by Cinda Chavich.
1/4 cup (50 mL) unsalted butter
4 large yellow onions, peeled and slivered
4 cups (1 L) homemade brown beef broth
(or substitute low sodium canned)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices French bread, or sourdough, toasted
1/2 cup (125 mL) shredded Gruyere cheese or a
combination of Gruyere and Parmesan
In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium
low heat and slowly sauté the onions, stirring often, for 30 to 45 minutes or until they are browned
and caramelized. Add the stock, salt and pepper,
and simmer together for 15 minutes longer.
Preheat the broiler. Place the toasted bread in
4 ovenproof bowls and set the bowls on a baking sheet.
Ladle the hot onion soup over the bread, dividing it evenly among the bowls. Top each bowl with
2 Tbsp (25 mL) of grated cheese. Place the soup
directly under the broiler and broil for 3 minutes or
until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown.
Serve immediately. Serves 4.
12/10/08 9:32:03 AM
29201 Homef
WHEN MARRIAGE BECOMES ABUSIVE
h o m e f r o n t c alg ar y. co m
West  45
WFG-W-09-Front
back2.indd
45
29201 Homefront and
PoliceTape
Ad CgyInc.indd
1
12/10/08
9:32:03 PM
AM
4/1/08 3:55:56
health Matters
by ANGELA MORRISON, RN
Frostbite Fallacies
Illustration: Julie McLaughlin
W
e occasionally have a hard
time coming to terms
with it but let’s face it, our
prairies and mountains
can get really c-c-cold.
The temperature guideline for long
term freezing of food is -18⁰C (0⁰F); in
the middle of a western winter, we can do
that outdoors, sometimes for months.
Parts of BC escape the extreme cold,
or even any cold at all, but BC skiers
and mountain hikers might want to
pay attention.
Even a relatively warm winter day in
Banff, Biggar or Brandon, say -10⁰C,
can get very cold in a hurry when the
wind picks up. Suddenly that -10 can
feel like -20.
Really cold temperatures, like -40,
which is where Celsius and Fahrenheit
meet, aren’t unknown around here and
can lead to hypothermia which is very
dangerous. More common, though, is
a cold weather malady called frostbite,
which can be mild or severe.
Frostbite occurs when body tissues
freeze. What happens is that blood vessels
near the skin narrow to help conserve
the body’s core temperature. This
protective strategy reduces blood flow
to areas farthest from the heart. Usually
the nose, cheeks, ears, fingers and toes
freeze first but frostbite can affect any
part of the body.
Early signs of frostbite are pain and
redness, the “pins and needles” sensation
followed by a feeling of numbness in
the affected area. Severe frostbite can
cause blistering, sloughing of the skin
and gangrene and may cause damage to
deeper parts of the body such as muscles,
nerves and bone.
Frostbitten skin has a white or grayishyellow colour. It’s firm, even waxy, to the
touch and has no feeling. According to
the Medicine Net website, some groups
have an increased risk for frostbite:
children, because they lose body heat
quicker than adults and tend to not be
mindful of early warnings; people taking
beta-blocker medication which decreases
the flow of blood to the skin; and people
with circulation disorders such as
peripheral vascular disease.
What do you do about frostbite? Get
medical help as quickly as you can. Pay
no attention to skating rink myths about
pouring hot chocolate on the affected areas
or rubbing and massaging. All but mild
frostbite need to be treated by a medical
professional. Until the point that a medical
professional looks at it, treatment and first
aid of frostbite should consist of:
1. Coming in from the cold.
2. Rewarming affected areas with
direct skin contact (e.g. hands
under armpits), soaking in warm,
never hot, water or applying
warm compresses.
3. Never using direct heat (e.g.
heating pad, hair dryer) which can burn already damaged tissues.
4. Expecting some pain or tingling
with rewarming.
5. Being aware that rewarming is
complete when the affected area is
red, soft and warm.
6. Seeking immediate medical
treatment if normal skin colour
and feeling do not return after first
aid measures.
Frostbite does adhere to the adage
that an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure. Dress appropriately for
cold weather, layering with “breathable”
fabrics. Keep all exposed skin covered
in extreme temperatures and high
wind chills and always stay dry because
moisture will freeze quickly. When
you’re outside in the cold, take regular
breaks and lots of rest. And always
remember, it can be even colder than
you think. Common sense is your
best guide. West
12/10/08 9:32:04 AM
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West  47
12/10/08 9:32:07 AM
back grounder
West’s Movie Project: Results
T
hree issues ago, we
asked readers to send
us lists of their 10
favourite movies, and their
favourite actors, three men
and three women. And we
got swamped! Dozens of
readers sent us detailed
lists, mentioning just
about every great movie
ever made.
Some lists were all oldies but
goodies mentioning flicks like
Mrs. Miniver, Topper and The
Thin Man. Others were all more
or less newies with movies like
Titanic, Chronicles of Narnia
and Dead Poets Society.
We said we’d print a list of
the West’s top 10 favourites, but
we can’t because it’s statistically
a tricky tie: High Noon, The
Sound of Music, Casablanca, The
African Queen and Gone with
the Wind edged out a pretty good
field of a lot of movies tied at 1
vote. Among newer movies, The
Shawshank Redemption did well.
Favourite male Actors?
Johnny Depp, Leonardo Dicaprio,
Clint Eastwood and Bogie topped
the list. Female actors? Katherine
Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn
got the most mentions.
Some lists had interesting
contrasts: Pretty in Pink and
The good, the bad and the ugly,
for instance. Sounds like two
different proms, doesn’t it? Some
lists brought back names most
of us had temporarily forgotten
like Walter Brennan, Rhonda
Fleming and Jeanne Crain.
All in all, it was great fun
and West thanks everyone
who took the time to send in
their faves. W
In August of 2003, a huge forest
fire destroyed 200 homes in
Kelowna BC and, threatened the
entire city.
Pushed by high winds and with
plenty of dry wood and brush to
feed on, the runaway fire roared
up a mountainside, into the
spectacular Myra Canyon and
onto the former right of way of
the historic Kettle Valley Railway
(KVR) where it destroyed 12
wooden trestles that had been
standing for 80 years.
The last time a scheduled train,
a freight, ran along KVR track
was in 1973. The last passenger
train was in 1964. But, since its
completion at the end of July,
1916, the Kettle Valley Railway
had linked BC’s Kootenay region
to the Pacific coast, connecting
to the CPR main line at Hope at
its western end and at Midway
550 or so crooked kms east.
(The actual Kettle River and a
town named Kettle Valley are
near Midway which is named
for its location halfway across
the province.)
In 1990, the BC government
bought the old right of way from
the CPR, trestles and all, and
volunteers with the Myra Canyon
Trestle Restoration Society turned
it into a popular hiking and
cycling trail between Kelowna and
Penticton. The volunteers worked
hard to make sure the trestles
were safe for hiking and bicycle
riding. Then came the fire and
that would have been that, except
a year later, the province and
the federal government created
a $13,500,000 partnership to
rebuild the old trestles. Work
began in October, 2004 and was
scheduled for completion by late
2007. It took about $5,000,000
and six months more than
planned, but by June of 2008,
the trestles were back, rebuilt to
their original specs by BC workers
using BC wood. They’re as good
Photo: Bruce Masterman
Firestorm casualty as good as new.
as new, perhaps better.
Since the reopening,
thousands of visitors have cycled
and hiked the 12-kilometre
trail through stark forests of
charred trees. Myra Canyon is
still spectacular and a part of our
history has been revived. W
12/10/08 9:32:18 AM
Axis Nose Art?
W
e asked Clarence
Simonsen, Mr.
Nose Art, if the
Germans, Japanese and Italians
painted their planes like our
Allied fliers did during WWII.
Here’s what he wrote.
That’s a whole history
question, but yes, all Axis
countries used a form of art
on their aircraft. Japanese art
was rare; they did not use any
art until late in the war, after
mid-1944. They applied unit
flashes to the tail of aircraft
and I have one photo of a full
tiger painted on the tail of a
Japanese fighter shot down
over China.
When the Wright Brothers
were made fun of by the US
Government in 1903, and the
flying machine was laughed at
by the American press, Wilbur
Wright took their invention
to France. On the eve of WWI
France was the centre of world
aviation but other countries
had also purchased or stolen the
Wrights’ inventions.
Italy was the first country to
use aircraft in operational air
war flight. On October 22, 1911
the Italians used the aircraft to
spot troops in Libya, and the
following week used the first
aircraft to drop bombs in war.
They were the first to paint a
circle over bullet holes on their
aircraft. By WWII the Italians
were using all forms of nose
and fuselage art, plus three
squadrons had adopted Walt
Disney squadron art.
It is funny but during the
Battle of Britain, the Canadians,
British, French, Polish, Germans
and Italians were all painting
Walt Disney art on their aircraft.
During the buildup of the
German Luftwaffe, and the
war in Spain, various forms
of artistic expression adorned
German aircraft. Most of this
was in the form of heraldic
display. These emblems were
ingeniously
conceived
and skillfully
painted. Then,
in 1940, the
Luftwaffe used nose
art to make fun of
Prime Ministers Neville
Chamberlain and Winston
Churchill. An Me109
fighter showed a “Neville”
crying bird with a British
umbrella tucked under
the wing. This appeared
on all the squadron fighters.
Another showed Churchill
bending over and passing
wind and the German version
of the name “Old F--- Pants”.
One featured a German eagle
pecking the eyes from a British
Lion, etc. You get the idea.
After Germany lost the Battle
of Britain the unit art disappeared
and the nose art returned to a
very serious Heraldic form of
unit insignia. W
Photo: Wendy Dudley
Walt Disney goes to war.
Wendy Dudley reports that not all the nose art on wartime aircraft
depicted curvaceous gals. There were comic strip characters such
as Bugs Bunny, Dagwood, Superman, Popeye and Li’l Abner. Most
prominent were Disney characters, many created by Walt Disney
himself. The studio produced more than 1,200 pieces of nose art for
allied aircraft.
The RCAF received 32 insignia designed by the Disney team. The
training school at Claresholm, Alberta sported the Seven Dwarfs on a
‘V for Victory’. A Halifax bomber, named Medicine Hat after the home
town of its pilot, Jack McIntosh, featured Goofy dropping bombs pulled
from a hat.
It wasn’t long before many of the 300,000 allied aircraft were
adorned with portraits of Goofy, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald
Duck, Bambi and Dumbo.
“When I go into a school and start telling kids about Disney, I
have them hooked,” said historian and artist Clarence Simonsen. “It’s
a great way to get them interested in history and the role Canadians
played in our wars.” W
West  49
12/10/08 9:32:22 AM
RANTS & RAVES
West’s editor raves…
What’s with all the freaking out lately?
Illustration by Mike Kerr
W
hen I was in high school,
our boxing coach, the
great Jim Marmino, told us
“Don’t just aim for his jaw,
aim for a point 4 inches
behind his jaw. Hit through the target.”
The first time I tried it, I knocked out
my best friend 30 seconds into the bout
and I’ve felt guilty ever since.
But I never forgot Jim Marmino’s advice
– hit through your target. In real life, that
means “Be Thorough” and it’s been very
helpful in writing and editing things: “Tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth … as clearly as you can.”
In order to get close to the truth, you
have to ask questions and I’m sorry to
report that just asking questions these
days can cause instant and ferocious
lashing out. Try it yourself. Ask an Al Gore
disciple a question like this: “I’ve heard
that occurrences of increased solar flares
coincide almost exactly with recorded
increases in the global temperature. Is that
true?” Then duck.
It’s fascinating, to me anyway, that
people interpret questions to mean that
you doubt their conclusions, and that can
really be troublesome when their conclusions are based less on all-the-evidence
than on faith.
And the problem isn’t limited to
questions. Just wondering can get you into
trouble. A few years ago I wrote in West
about Canada’s conversion to metric and
wondered if the astronomical cost and
lickety-split speed of the conversion 35
years ago were good ideas. I was careful
to point that I wasn’t advocating a return
to our old way of measuring things with
ounces, feet, Fahrenheit and such. “Dear
Idiot …” started one of the nicer letters.
I’m ready to believe just about
anything except astrology and alchemy
but I always have questions. And when
I suspect there’s an error somewhere, I
might venture a dissenting fact. Consider
national elections. Imagine that Party A
gets 35% of the national vote but only
25% of the seats in Parliament and Party
A people complain that they should have
35% of the seats because “… that’s what
we won in the national vote.” The simple
fact is that there’s no such thing as a
national vote in Canada.
This little challenge crops up more often
in the US. Gore got 48.38% of the national
vote in 2000, more than Bush’s 47.87%. So
how come Bush won the election? Well,
there’s no such thing as a national vote in
the US either.
Flawed conclusions based on partial
evidence are sort of understandable. A
simple, if somewhat strained, example
from the World Series 48 years ago: the
New York Yankees scored more than twice
as many runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates,
56-26, so the Yankees must have won. But
there’s more compelling evidence and it’s
easy to find: the Pirates won 4 games and
the Yankees won 3. They weren’t playing
to see who’ d score the most runs over
7 games; they were playing to see who’ d
win 4 games.
Most of us have no problem discussing
anything and objections, questions,
assertions, suggestions, modifications,
knowledgeable palaver back and forth
can be delightful, even if nothing ever
gets resolved. But it doesn’t work unless
the people involved actually know what
they’re talking about and can deal with the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth … without lashing out.
So far it’s just annoying but it’s getting
nastier. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the
return of Star Chamber proceedings any
day now. Oh wait, we already have those.
Maybe we’ll start burning people at the
stake again. W
Mike McCormick
12/10/08 9:32:38 AM
y?
12/10/08 9:32:44 AM
How to add
a touch of yellow
to your holidays:
Canary diamond
Butterscotch candy canes
Sports car
Vacation in the sun
Labrador puppy
Holiday wishes from Aviva
From our family to yours, have a happy and healthy
holiday season and best wishes for the new year.
12/10/08 9:32:44 AM

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