Meeting Minutes - Ritchie Zelk w/Edna Mumford - Deserts,Tundra and Rainforests - Apr. 19th. 2018
Today’s meeting, held at Trinity United Church, was called to order by President Ed Herold at 9:55 am with 50 members in attendance. President Herold welcomed all to the meeting with a special note that today’s speakers were our own club member, Ritchie Zelk along with his wife Edna Mumford. Also welcomed were two guests from the Guelph/Wellington Men’s Club (our club’s founding sponsors), Allan Dyer, and Jim Howse and a potential new member, Stuart Smith.
Announcements
Coffee Club – Andy Curtis
Meeting on alternate Thursdays @ 10:00 am at the Boathouse and the Airpark Café
Activities – Ray Biffis
Sign-up sheets are available for the first two following events with sign-up sheets for the rest to the rest at a later date; (Thanks to David Wallace for making arrangements);
- May 29th, -- Visit to the Firehouse on May 29th with a breakfast following the visit at Angel’s Diner;
- June 7th @ 6:30 – 8:30 pm, -- Tour of Sleeman Breweries with $10 admission which includes a sampling and a gift;
- Sept 19th – Grand River luncheon boat cruise;
- Private tour of the Art Gallery of Guelph, time and date to be determined at a cost of $5 per person.
- Mon., Sept. 24th, -- Horse races at Elora Raceway.
Annual Fees – Fees of $80 now due. Please make payment to Treasurer, Alex Wilson.
Nominations for Board of Directors – John Proctor is the chairperson of the Nomination Committee. If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors, contact John to make you interest known.
Next speaker on May 3rd will be Dr. Andree Ann-Cyr "Cognitive Studies of the Elderly."
Recognition was made to the House Committee for their dedication in setting up each meeting.
………….
Ed Herold introduced Ritchie Zelk and Edna Mumford. Ritchie is our club photographer and webmaster. Ritchie and Edna love travelling ,ballroom dancing and hiking. They actually met while traveling on a cruise. They are going to present a photo presentation titled: Deserts, Tundra and Rainforests.
Ritchie Zelk and Edna Mumford – Desert, Tundra and Rainforests
Ritchie opened by saying that the pictures they are going to show can be found on the Club’s website under Speakers’ notes. They travel to satisfy his love of photography and travel and like to avoid the usual “touristy” type of travel in favour of getting the more unusual aspects of where they travel. This is photography on their past year-long adventures to Peru, Bolivia and Chile; Churchill, Manitoba; a cruise that included the Amazon; and a trip to Sri Lanka.
The pictures showed places and the local people. Ritchie explained that in taking pictures of specific people, he first asked their permission to take their picture and then paid them if he did. He was very conscious of not exploiting people in taking their picture.
While showing the pictures both Ritchie and Edna provided commentary on the uniqueness of the places, people and culture of where they were visiting. They experienced all manner of travel and many shots were taken from their vehicle and made photography on-the-go very interesting. They observed all manner of conveyances along the routes that they were travelling.
The geography was quite varied with everything between desert plains and mountains. In Bolivia, for instance, the group they were with had to travel concurrently in numerous SUV’s in case one of the vehicles got stuck requiring the assistance of one of the other vehicles to get the other unstuck. To prevent this from happening the vehicle would take different paths across certain geography where getting stuck was more hazardous.
There were places in Chile where it was fascinating to observe people living in the same way as they have for past centuries without the influence of the twenty-first century. Crossing the border from Peru to Bolivia was quite casual with money changers set up on a table on the side of the street to exchange currency.
Some of the places visited were in South America were Uyuni, Bolivia and the largest salt flats in the world, and Atacama, Bolivia / Chile Desert. There clear skies which produced great colours for photography. When travelling in this area their only worry was breakdown of the vehicles which necessitated travelling in several vehicles to help one another. The trip to South America ended at
San Pedro da Atacama, Chile, near an area called Valley of the Moon due to the nature of the landscape which is quite barren.
The next part of the presentation was the tundra part and it was of the trip to Churchill, Manitoba in August, where Ritchie and Edna spent 10 days along with some scientists from UoG where Edna worked before retirement. At Churchill there is a science research station. The research conducted here is mostly ecological regarding plants, polar bears and tundra ecology.
The trip there was to be by train from Winnipeg and it would have taken two days through tundra and “muskeggy” type of terrain. Due to flooding that spring the train was detained indefinitely at Churchill and they had to make last minute flight arrangements.
They observed and photographed many polar bears which, contrary to public opinion, are fat and healthy. Churchill is on a natural migratory path for polar bears and their way to the Arctic. People cannot go outside of the buildings without someone with a gun accompanying them in case of a close encounter with a polar bear. The gun is used only to scare the animal. The first shot in the gun is a “banger” just to scare the animal and the second shot is a live round. A bear is tranquilized if it wanders to close to populated areas, it is transported to a holding facility where it is kept for 30 days and fed minimal rations in order to disinter it from returning and then the bear is released far from where it was tranquilized. There was all kinds of bird life, especially bald eagles and shore birds. Other animals observed were woodland caribou. Ritchie and Edna also showed pictures of the geography of the territory.
The next part of the presentation was of the Rainforest section of their excursions. Although not part of a rainforest, they showed pictures of mangroves where they observed crocodiles and many kinds of birds. They were on a month-long cruise from San Diego to Rio De Janeiro and following rainforest on the way. Places visited were the Panama Canal, Costa Rico, Tobago, French Giana, and places along the Amazon River. From all of these places they showed many photos of wildlife and geography and people living in them.
Ritchie and Edna finished their presentation with a few shots from their Sri Lanka trip.
Ed Herold thanked both Edna and Ritchie for an amazing photo presentation.
Meeting adjourned at 11:05 am. Recording Secretary: Kerry Gennings
Announcements
Coffee Club – Andy Curtis
Meeting on alternate Thursdays @ 10:00 am at the Boathouse and the Airpark Café
Activities – Ray Biffis
Sign-up sheets are available for the first two following events with sign-up sheets for the rest to the rest at a later date; (Thanks to David Wallace for making arrangements);
- May 29th, -- Visit to the Firehouse on May 29th with a breakfast following the visit at Angel’s Diner;
- June 7th @ 6:30 – 8:30 pm, -- Tour of Sleeman Breweries with $10 admission which includes a sampling and a gift;
- Sept 19th – Grand River luncheon boat cruise;
- Private tour of the Art Gallery of Guelph, time and date to be determined at a cost of $5 per person.
- Mon., Sept. 24th, -- Horse races at Elora Raceway.
Annual Fees – Fees of $80 now due. Please make payment to Treasurer, Alex Wilson.
Nominations for Board of Directors – John Proctor is the chairperson of the Nomination Committee. If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors, contact John to make you interest known.
Next speaker on May 3rd will be Dr. Andree Ann-Cyr "Cognitive Studies of the Elderly."
Recognition was made to the House Committee for their dedication in setting up each meeting.
………….
Ed Herold introduced Ritchie Zelk and Edna Mumford. Ritchie is our club photographer and webmaster. Ritchie and Edna love travelling ,ballroom dancing and hiking. They actually met while traveling on a cruise. They are going to present a photo presentation titled: Deserts, Tundra and Rainforests.
Ritchie Zelk and Edna Mumford – Desert, Tundra and Rainforests
Ritchie opened by saying that the pictures they are going to show can be found on the Club’s website under Speakers’ notes. They travel to satisfy his love of photography and travel and like to avoid the usual “touristy” type of travel in favour of getting the more unusual aspects of where they travel. This is photography on their past year-long adventures to Peru, Bolivia and Chile; Churchill, Manitoba; a cruise that included the Amazon; and a trip to Sri Lanka.
The pictures showed places and the local people. Ritchie explained that in taking pictures of specific people, he first asked their permission to take their picture and then paid them if he did. He was very conscious of not exploiting people in taking their picture.
While showing the pictures both Ritchie and Edna provided commentary on the uniqueness of the places, people and culture of where they were visiting. They experienced all manner of travel and many shots were taken from their vehicle and made photography on-the-go very interesting. They observed all manner of conveyances along the routes that they were travelling.
The geography was quite varied with everything between desert plains and mountains. In Bolivia, for instance, the group they were with had to travel concurrently in numerous SUV’s in case one of the vehicles got stuck requiring the assistance of one of the other vehicles to get the other unstuck. To prevent this from happening the vehicle would take different paths across certain geography where getting stuck was more hazardous.
There were places in Chile where it was fascinating to observe people living in the same way as they have for past centuries without the influence of the twenty-first century. Crossing the border from Peru to Bolivia was quite casual with money changers set up on a table on the side of the street to exchange currency.
Some of the places visited were in South America were Uyuni, Bolivia and the largest salt flats in the world, and Atacama, Bolivia / Chile Desert. There clear skies which produced great colours for photography. When travelling in this area their only worry was breakdown of the vehicles which necessitated travelling in several vehicles to help one another. The trip to South America ended at
San Pedro da Atacama, Chile, near an area called Valley of the Moon due to the nature of the landscape which is quite barren.
The next part of the presentation was the tundra part and it was of the trip to Churchill, Manitoba in August, where Ritchie and Edna spent 10 days along with some scientists from UoG where Edna worked before retirement. At Churchill there is a science research station. The research conducted here is mostly ecological regarding plants, polar bears and tundra ecology.
The trip there was to be by train from Winnipeg and it would have taken two days through tundra and “muskeggy” type of terrain. Due to flooding that spring the train was detained indefinitely at Churchill and they had to make last minute flight arrangements.
They observed and photographed many polar bears which, contrary to public opinion, are fat and healthy. Churchill is on a natural migratory path for polar bears and their way to the Arctic. People cannot go outside of the buildings without someone with a gun accompanying them in case of a close encounter with a polar bear. The gun is used only to scare the animal. The first shot in the gun is a “banger” just to scare the animal and the second shot is a live round. A bear is tranquilized if it wanders to close to populated areas, it is transported to a holding facility where it is kept for 30 days and fed minimal rations in order to disinter it from returning and then the bear is released far from where it was tranquilized. There was all kinds of bird life, especially bald eagles and shore birds. Other animals observed were woodland caribou. Ritchie and Edna also showed pictures of the geography of the territory.
The next part of the presentation was of the Rainforest section of their excursions. Although not part of a rainforest, they showed pictures of mangroves where they observed crocodiles and many kinds of birds. They were on a month-long cruise from San Diego to Rio De Janeiro and following rainforest on the way. Places visited were the Panama Canal, Costa Rico, Tobago, French Giana, and places along the Amazon River. From all of these places they showed many photos of wildlife and geography and people living in them.
Ritchie and Edna finished their presentation with a few shots from their Sri Lanka trip.
Ed Herold thanked both Edna and Ritchie for an amazing photo presentation.
Meeting adjourned at 11:05 am. Recording Secretary: Kerry Gennings