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Saturday, July 1, 2017

Friday's Hunt v 3.26 (late again!)

I'm late with Friday's Hunt because we were visiting my in-laws yesterday evening for supper and a visit with Marc's brother and family.  As a result, we were home fairly late and it was too late to start typing up a blog entry.  Today has been busy with my work, as usual, despite the fact that it's actually Canada Day and probably I should take the day off, but that's not happening.  Without further ado, let me get to today's topics from Eden Hills:  Starts with Z, Week's Favourite, and Dessert.

Starts with Z
I'm going back into history for this one because I haven't taken pictures of anything lately that starts with z...at least not that I can think of!  Instead, I'm sharing a photograph of my great grandfather on my father's side.


This is Ernest Zachariah Towler, as photographed in the mid 1930s. He was born in 1878 in London and his siblings all had a biblical middle name.  My father has done quite a lot of family research over time, and he learned that Ernest's father, William, was a Money Lender who got into some trouble with the law and skipped to the USA, never to be heard from again!  What a mystery!  

In any case, I am glad that the tradition of biblical names didn't continue in the family, and I think my father is pleased that he didn't end up with Zachariah as a middle name (with apologies to any of my blog readers with that name!)
Week's Favourite
It's been a very busy week and I didn't have many chances for picture taking.  I did get this picture of a poppy seedpod shortly after the bloom had ended.  I love the shape of poppy seedpods and their structure is quite remarkable, not to mention beautiful.  The velvety burgundy-coloured "hat" is my favourite part!

Dessert
I am again digging into history for this topic, since I haven't had time for making many desserts lately, and when I do, I don't usually take pictures of them.  Instead, I share with you this photograph of a cake that my mother and I made for my father as a birthday cake, which is of course a dessert! We have a family tradition of individualized cakes for birthdays! This one from the mid 1970s is a depiction of the CN Tower, which is located in Toronto, Canada.  We were living just outside Toronto at the time.  I'm pretty sure it was a chocolate cake.

The CN Tower was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1995.  It is 553.3 metres (1,815.3 feet) tall and is essentially a communications tower, although it's also a major tourist attraction.  At the time of its completion in 1976, it was the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower.  It is now the third tallest tower in the world, and is still the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere.

The reason the cake says "Daddy's Tower" on it is because my father played a role in the choice of communication cables that were installed in the tower, and in their proper installation.  As a child, I used to think of it as "Daddy's Tower" because I knew he was working on a project at the tower, so it was one of those phrases that stuck.  There were complicated factors at play with the cables because of the height of the tower and the tendency for the inside bits of the cable to shift due to gravity over such a significant drop in height.  Fortunately, since my very meticulous father was on the job, it was all carefully planned and tested and everything worked out well.

He did have the opportunity to be inside the tower during construction and took some interesting photographs.  This one, which is not related to dessert, is a view down the inside of the tower shaft. That tiny little dark disc at the bottom is 8 feet diameter. On the left you can see the cables coming past the 1100 foot catwalk where the white blob is the hard-hat of a worker clamping a cable to the wall. There are catwalks around the shaft every 100 feet up to the 1200 foot point, and this picture was taken from one of those catwalks.  I'm glad it was my Dad doing this, because I would probably pass out up there. Yikes! 



9 comments:

Suzanne McClendon said...

I think having Bible names is a great tradition. My husband and his brother have Biblical names (David and Daniel) and so do our sons (Jared and David) and one of our daughters (Elizabeth). I think it is nice when families have traditions regarding the naming of the children. However, some of those traditions make it very difficult for us to sort people out later while working on family history, especially when every generation has sibling groups with the same names. It is both funny and frustrating. :)

I think it is awesome that your daddy worked on that tower...definitely something to be proud of.

How blessed you are to have this photo taken by your dad as well as the photo of your great-grandpa.

Have a blessed weekend!

Tom said...

...Zachariah is a good old sturdy name, unlike some of these designer names kids are given today. Your poppy hat is great. As a kid, I saw the tower soon after it was completed.

porkpal said...

A fun history lesson! In the interior picture of the tower, is that a guarded ladder on the right? If not, how did the workers get up to the catwalks?

Claire MW said...

Porkpal - the workers got up to the catwalks with an interior "bucket lift" type of construction lift. That's how my Dad got up there too. There are stairs in the tower as well, and there is (or was) an annual charity stair climb event, but the workers didn't use those.

Claire MW said...

Porkpal: More on the elevators direct from my Dad! There was originally a construction hoist, more like a mining style elevator, in the tower until the catwalks, at each 100 foot level, were completed. By then, the permanent elevators accessible from the outside, were completed. Two of these elevators have a locked rear door. You would tell the operator which level you wanted and then use that door to step through an opening in the wall of the tower and on to the catwalk.(These elevators go only to the 1200 foot level where the observation areas are as well as restaurant and non-public locations). Other elevators take visitors to the 1500 foot level, just beneath the 300 feet of antennas).

porkpal said...

Elevators! So much more practical. I wondered how workers could get anything done if they had to spend so much time climbing up to the job. Thanks Claire.

Anonymous said...

What an interesting picture of your great-grandfather. I love old family photos, even when they are not my family. I've never seen a seed pod like that before. It really is pretty. I am pretty sure I would not be able to handle walking around any of those cat walks. That is scary just looking at the picture. Thanks so much for joining Friday's Hunt. Have a great rest of your week!

Ralph said...

Ernest Zachariah Towler looks like a character - I guess in these days of instant communication, you might have a bit of a problem of getting lost, but not back them...I was in the CN Tower way back in late 1985. The elevator was fast, the nighttime glow on the horizon was the Buffalo NY area, the chicken with blueberry sauce was good - but it was a bit disconcerting to have the floor move underneath my table - too nice a cake to cut into!

Jim said...

Thank you Claire, for posting the poppy seed pod. I had forgotten and didn't know they were poppies that were growing wild on Dad's farm. The pods seemed to be always closed. I also learned from my sister this week some speculation about Mom's side of our family. Sorry I’m late (also) getting this to you, Suz. We’ve been off to see first cousins and a sister.
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