Military Monuments On The Island

 In June, I headed up to the Rideau Falls for a visit. Here, the Rideau River splits into two channels around Green Island, and spills over to meet the Ottawa River. This is the west channel. Both channels are regulated by dam works, and this one tends to have less flow.

Over on the far shore of the Ottawa River is Gatineau, and the wooded stretch we see is Leamy Lake Park.

There are a number of monuments, most of them military in nature, on Green Island, and on the east shore of the Rideau River. The first we encounter is the National Artillery Memorial, which commemorates the service of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in particular.

Beside it is another monument to the Canadian doctor, poet, and soldier John McCrae, who fought in the South African War and World War One, and whose poem In Flanders Fields lives on, transcending national boundaries.

The statue is by Ruth Abernethy, one of a pair of the man, and larger than life. Its twin is in McCrae's home town of Guelph, at the city's civic museum.

A look across to the far side of the space. More monuments are over there.

One of them is this one. This commemorates the veterans of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, a group of Canadian volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists.

A Summer Morning In The Gardens

Each season I pay a visit to the Canadian Museum of Nature, to document the Landscapes Of Canada Gardens, on the west side of the property through the year. In July I returned for a summer visit one morning. I approached from the southwest, where Boreal Forest lies ahead.

The Gardens is divided up into four distinct ecosystems, with plants, flowers, grasses, and trees corresponding to them. Boreal Forest covers a large swath of the country, and some of the evergreens and other plant life of that area are found here.

Information on each ecosystem is to be found as well. Prairie Grasslands takes the grasses and flowers of that region of the West, and here in the summer, they grow tall quickly.

The path leads under a sculpture- an iceberg that was created by the late Canadian artist and inventor Bill Lishman.

Arctic Tundra is the next ecosystem, with the plants and grasses of the far north doing very well over an Ottawa summer.

These particularly caught my eye.

The last ecosystem is the Mammoth Steppe. Alongside the north flank of the path and concentrated behind a family of mammoths in sculptural form are plants and flowers that grew in the time of these animals, and still thrive today. 

And here are the mammoths. The glass lantern of the Museum contains a model of the Moon.

One last shot of them to close things out.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Sweets

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and this month, that theme is Sweets. Check out how others are interpreting the theme right here.

To start with, this is a slice of peanut butter pie, one of several desserts made daily by a corner grocer near my home. 

While here's another, a vanilla cheesecake.

I picked up one of these in the latter part of June for the first time. Why didn't anyone tell me how good these are?

Le Moulin de Provence is an eatery in the Byward Market. Here are some of their many cookies.

And some of their other treats.

It had been awhile since I had picked up stroopwafels. These are a Dutch treat, a thin waffle with two layers of sweet dough held together by syrup.

I passed by a cafe in Nepean one day, and photographed a part of the signage outside.

The Nutty Greek is a bakery near home, in Little Italy. I stop by once a week or so. Their cheesecakes are to die for.

The main farmers market in the city is Sundays at Lansdowne Park. I'll regularly pick up treats from this vendor, particularly the sweet scones. But on this trip, it was the butter tarts- a classic Canadian staple- that caught my attention. It had been too long since I'd had one.

From sweets to sweet. This beautiful cat lives near my place, and is often out and about during the warmer weather, but always close to her home. She's an absolute sweetheart.

The Big Dig Below The Centre Block

 I continue on with this Doors Open tour of the work site at Parliament Hill. Design sketches seen here show that the end result will look rather similar to what was before, with a modified visitor center descending from below the central stairs.

The visitor center will be modern, with lots of space before heading into tours, which will access Centre Block via the courtyards, which as part of the project will end up becoming enclosed, with glass roofs.

A video display showed more. An ambitious project, and a few years from completion, but well worth doing.

Another look into the trench.

More elements of the project.

On a nearby table, examples of future additions. When they initially built Centre Block (the second version after the 1916 fire), they left space inside for additional adornments- the work of stonemasons. Some concepts and tools are found here.

A final shot to round out this visit. I enjoyed it.