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Moses was called to his greatest service in the last third of his life..

Posts tagged with "Hamilton"

Where I Live..

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Well, it seems "Where I Live" posts are becoming all the rage among my Opera friends (well two, anyway). I'll add photos here and there as time permits..
(Addition 1: Hamilton Rail Trail pics July 9, 2009)


First off, Hamilton is in the province of Ontario in the country of Canada. It's at the headwaters of Lake Ontario; and being at the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, this city has the distinction of being the waterfall capital of the world. As an example, Mt. Albion Falls is a 20 minute walk from my apartment.

This picture I took of a roaring Webster's Falls a few years ago is one of the best I've ever seen anywhere; notice the base of a rainbow on the lower right corner.

One of the interesting things about many of the falls here is the huge hole or crater burrowed by powerful water streams as glaciers melted and retreated. This picture has a melting hole that is well over 30m (100ft) across and cut back over 1km (over 2/3 mile) from the edge of the escarpment.


One of many, many conservation areas inside the Hamilton city limits.

Most of the conservation areas are linked together by the Bruce Trail. The Bruce Trail is over 800km (500mi) in length, stretching from Niagara Falls to Tobermory.


This is the view of my front door..

This is the view from my balcony in winter..


Hamilton is more popularly known as "Steeltown" due to the long history of steel making giants Stelco and Dofasco (but currently known as U.S. Steel - Hamilton and Arcelor-Mittal). If you download and view the split skyline photo below, much of Hamilton's waterfront is dominated by the piers and plants of these two companies.


A place I spend a lot of time is my church. My principal work there is audio/visual and all things related to that. This is me posing at the sound booth I designed and built a few years ago.


Now all of this doesn't include McMaster University, McMaster Hospital, The Hamilton Tiger Cats (a professional football team) or the Royal Botanical Gardens. More on these a little later...

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One interesting man-made feature very near where I live is the Hamilton Rail Trail. It's an abandoned railway line that travels along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment from downtown to within 0.5 km of my apartment. The rails and gravel have been removed and the bed paved over to provide almost 5kms of very smooth pathway. The grade is very gradual and scenic lookouts are placed every now and again. Becuase I haven't bicycled in a long time, my legs were really hurting.

Here's a shot of the trail near a lookout.


A shot from the lookout toward Hamilton Harbour.


A picture of steps installed to climb up the escarpment. There are tracks on the outer edges of the steps for people to roll their bicycles up or down. This is one part of the steps going from halfway to the base...


Going from halfway to the top of the escarpment...


The view eastward at the top of the escarpment.

Hamiltonwood

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Nobody is going to send me a notice that I've been tardy in updating my blog – unless you're really nice about it. It was not my intention to run from all the publicity of being chosen MOTW. Hopefully, all the people who added me to their "friends" list still want to be my friend. I'll find out who the real friends are. New photos of the Toronto Aviation Museum are here.

Carrying on...

Hamilton may become the super celebrity's best kept secret. In recent months, a section of downtown Hamilton was modified for shooting of the movie The Incredible Hulk, due to be released in 2008 (Liv Tyler was here! Oooh, pinch me!). The filming was only at night since that was the kind of shots they were doing: building explosions, car bombs and the like. Michael Douglas came here for a fundraiser last week (pulleeeze, ladies, get off the floor...). Former U.S. President Bill Clinton did a speech on economics in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Monday (OK, so it's a 45 minute drive down the Niagara peninsula; but it's not in Toronto and Hamilton is the nearest major city, so it counts). Honestly, Ol' Bill still has that mega charm when even a hardened union politco like Buzz Hargrove is impressed.

Where's my shades!? Where's my agent?

We're #1!....sort of....

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This post is more of dedication to Cheryl (aka: DuckyChickenLady). Yes, it is true that my city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada DID win the Calder Cup. It's about the next best thing to winning the Stanley Cup since the teams in the American Hockey League are farm teams for the Big League.

I applaud the hometown guys for their effort since they almost didn't make it past the semi-finals. But just to let you know, Cheryl, there is no full-out gloating (not that I would do that) that the Ottawa Senators didn't really have much against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Use the zoom function on the Opera browser and you will see what I mean in the opening lines of yesterday's front page news article. There is still a need for proof reading in professional journalism, gentle reader :right: .

But just so everyone knows: there's only ONE #1, and it's not a hockey team.

Love ya DCL! :love:

Steeltown or Greentown?

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I've lived here in Hamilton for just over 4 years. The city has a nasty reputation almost everywhere as "Steeltown" - a smelly, polluting, rough-and-tumble sort of place. What I did not know was the fact that this city probably has more Conservation Areas within its borders than any other city of its size in Canada - and that doesn't include the Royal Botanical Gardens :eyes: !

A quick look on a local map reveals over 12 Conservation Areas within a half-hour's drive from my home. All of this thanks to the Niagara Escarpment (called "The Mountain" by the locals). What I will try and do this summer is visit every single one and get some pics for y'all. A few have seen some of my local nature shots and liked them - so let's get some more!
November 2009
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