Library Annex

 Doors Open is a program held on weekends across the province in cities and towns from April into October each year. In Ottawa, the first weekend of June is set aside for it, with numerous sites across the city limits. I was only able to get to a couple of sites this year, but was glad to at least see some of it. 

Sparks Street was my first stop. The former main branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia is here. For years now it has been an annex branch for the Library of Parliament on Parliament Hill, which is one block north. It is open to Parliamentarians and their staff during the year, but the public can visit on this weekend. With the work going on around Centre Block, it is currently the main branch of the Library.

The beautiful architecture outside is matched by the interior, which has contemporary infrastructure that works well with the older architecture. Shelving contains numerous books- just a fraction of what Parliament's library contains. This is, after all, only one of the annex branches.

The former branch manager's office is worth a stop, with its woodwork doors and fireplace.

The painting on the wall is The Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, by Anthony Batten. Dating to 2020, it features the Library on the Hill, currently inaccessible. A statue of Queen Victoria is lit by daylight sun. The Library saw rehabilitation work done early in the century, so is not really part of the work on Centre Block. However, one has to go through Centre Block to get to it, which is why it's inaccessible during the project. A staff member said that the statue of the Queen is the only item in there at the present. The books and other movable items have all been moved off site.

This is a bust of King Edward VII.

The building architect, John Lyle, did other projects around the country and beyond.

Since the beginning of the century, Parliament has had a tradition of a poet laureate. Some of them are seen, with a hint of their poetry, along the book cases.

Ends And Odds

More odds and ends today. Spring blossoms are a delight to see. These are close to home, taken in late May.

In late May I attended the opening night of an exhibit at the War Museum. The exhibit was about Canada and the American Civil War. It was a busy event, and I've been back since to photograph the exhibit. But on that opening night, this artist was working out in the lobby, on a painting of Mary Ann Shadd. She was a free woman who came to Canada and established an abolitionist newspaper. He told me the painting would end up at Carleton University's school of journalism. A fitting spot.

Close to home again, this kitty is one of a pair in a home down the street from me.

I photographed this ad on a bus shelter for one reason. The placement of the hands on the watch made the watch look mad.

On an afternoon in early June, I went with friends to see Pressure out at a movie theatre in Kanata. This is the film about the meteorologist whose forecast affected the timing of D-Day. En route, we picked up one of the guys, and the route took us through Riverside South, part of the Gloucester area, and across to Barrhaven to the west. This meant crossing the Vimy Memorial Bridge, which spans the Rideau River. This was my first time seeing it.

Returning later on, I took another shot.

Also in early June, the Mexican embassy had an event at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park. This vivid display- all sand.

The skies were darkening that day. A thunderstorm was en route.

This was a storefront display downtown one day in June that got a laugh out of me.

I finish with this view from the west on a late June walk. The future main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, which will share space with some facilities from Library and Archives Canada, continues to have work done, most of it inside now.

Odds And Ends

 I have some odds and ends from the last few weeks. This is Glebe-St. James United Church in the Glebe in early May, taken from the west side, which I haven't photographed before. I usually photograph the church from the east.

This oddity was in an event I was passing through.

One morning when I was heading over to photograph tulips at Dow's Lake, I noticed this little one on the sidewalk.

During the same visit, I photographed the lake itself.

On another May day, when I was photographing tulips over on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River, one of my stops included the Museum of History. The water feature, which spills over a series of terraces and makes its way to the Ottawa River, was running.

Down below, two Canada geese went for a swim in the pool that contains this work of art by indigenous artist Mary Anne Barkhouse. It is called 'namaxsala (To Travel In A Boat Together) and is based on a story from her grandfather, telling of how he gave a lift to a wolf through treacherous waters.

Heading back across the Ottawa River on the Alexandra Bridge, I paused to photograph the shoreline.

This sticker is on a car near my place, and meets with my approval.

On Victoria Day, coming back from Dow's Lake, I photographed these flags outside the Logan Building, near home. The Union flag is flown with the Canadian flag on such occasions.

Also close to home. This house is relatively new, and an example of infill housing. Oddly, it does work to fit in with the neighbourhood.

Spring blossoms, a short lived sight.

One night passing through Lansdowne Park, I photographed the Aberdeen Pavilion.

Garden In Summer

 Each season I come to the Landscapes of Canada Gardens at the Canadian Museum of Nature. On the west side of the property, plants, shrubs, grasses, and trees of four distinct ecosystems are found here. I came on Canada Day, with ominous skies looming. We start with Boreal Forest, which covers a vast portion of the country.

The west entrances of the property include these bricks, usually from family members honouring other family.

Prairie Grassland is the next section, with grasses, flowers, and shrubs growing tall in summer.

Arctic Tundra features the plants of the far north, planted amid rocks, and doing quite well in the summer here.

An iceberg sculpture by the late artist and inventor William Lishman crosses the path.

I always try to get a shot from the west boundary of the property, with Arctic Tundra, the iceberg, and the Museum together.

The last ecosystem is Mammoth Steppe, planted around a statue family of Mammoths, consisting of plants that existed in their day and still thrive today. The Queens Lantern is seen beyond, with the Moon inside. The Museum was exceedingly busy; I stopped in for a drink and continued on my way.