Bug Time!

[memaquay]

Selwyn Dewdney is known to Canadians as one of the first people to try to systematically record the Native Petrographs in Ontario. However, there were many other aspects to his character. he was also instrumental in bringing Norval Morrisseau out of the bush so that his artwork could become recognized.
Daylight in the Swamp is a book of his writings that his son put together after Selwyn’s death. It recounts Selwyn’s life, which was one that revolved around the canoe. Selwyn’s father was a major figure in the Anglican church in Northwestern Ontario in the 1920’s, and as a result, Selwyn was introduced to major canoe trips at an early age. In the book, he recounts a 500 mile trip he did when he was 18. This was his first introduction to the bugs of Northern Ontario. I have tried to put the description together for your reading pleasure, since bug season is almost upon us again. Anyone with a serious interest in canoeing should get this book. It’s available as a download of a soft cover copy.

 

[Sturgeon]

That's the first time I've heard of the term "dog fly", but I recognize his ankle biting ways. Folks in southern Ontario call the dog fly "stable fly." I don't recall that it had a name in northern Ontario, when I lived there. I think we just called it a fly cuz it looks like a housefly.
Good stuff. Thanks for posting that. Read that book just last year. It's too bad he died fairly early...he had a lot more to say about life in the north, native peoples, and pictographs.

 

[Mihun09]

Mosquito's and black flies are out here. No snow and it is very dry already.

 

[tump_lion]

No Title

Selwyn Dewdney's son Christopher is an interesting canadian poet, if that's the sort of thing one finds interesting...

also, there's a nice lake in the chiniguchi chain norht-east of sudbury ontario named after dewdney; here's the view from the abandoned fire-ranger cabin last summer

 

[Odyssey]

I have Daylight in the Swamp on my bookshelf of treasures. I really enjoyed reading about Selwyn's youth in the Kenora region. In later years he'd head north with his wife (the kids would spend the several weeks with their grandparents) to canoe trip in search for the perfect lake on which to build a cabin. Wonderful book.