Music Beneath The Bridge

 September 26th was the date of a big party downtown, marking the bicentennial of Ottawa. What became the city dates back to 1826 and the beginning of the Rideau Canal project. The city put on multiple events in an area ranging from City Hall up through the Byward Market. I was able to get to some of it. My first stop was at Plaza Bridge, which spans the Rideau Canal as it begins its descent down to the Ottawa River. The space beneath the bridge, alongside the Canal, is wide and ideal for acoustics. A company called SoundScape put together music beneath the bridge for the occasion, with blues and purples projected within the space. When I arrived, Indigenous music was being played. When I later left the area, it was definitely East Coast Atlantic music.

The line was long, and I decided to go back up and photograph from above. I paused to take a shot of the nearby War Memorial, dramatic at night.

There is a wide central staircase leading down into the underside of Plaza Bridge. It turned out to be a good way to frame the coloured lighting down below. A careful eye might pick out busts and statues ringing this staircase at street level. They are The Valiants- Canadian military figures from across our history.

The Foul Mouthed Character

 Continuing where I left off yesterday, here's cinema's most foul-mouthed character, R2-D2, whose vocabulary is so obscene that his words are all bleeped out.

More cosplayers to be found.

I liked these tea towels.

There is a vendor I will always buy from, a local vendor, who does pop culture designs onto t-shirts. I have several of their work. This year I picked up a Predator shirt, and one with aliens abducting a cow.

Another vendor I went to is Thor's Trinkets, which uses a pop culture theme on glasses.

These cosplayers caught my eye.

And this was a costume set up in the hallway.

Among my purchases this year were items from two Canadian editorial cartoonists, who were sitting side by side. Michael De Adder and Aislin (Terry Mosher) are among the best there are in this line of work, and Michael recognized me from this blog. I have bought books before from both of them. I picked up two of his prints. A few days prior, he had put this one up online, commemorating the late Dolly Parton.

My other choice was also musical, but very Canadian. De Adder did this one after the death of Gord Downie, the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, who died in 2017 of a brain tumour. He created a Canadian flag consisting of lyrics from the band.

Terry Mosher goes by the nom de guerre Aislin in the Montreal Gazette, and I saw this in his social media feed some days before. There was no way the paper would publish this one given the language, but it sums up the feelings of many Canadians these days.

I also bought a book by Aislin on his memories of the 1976 Olympics.

Not Wise To Upset A Wookie

 In the first half of September, Ottawa Comiccon happened. I've been going for years, to pick up merchandise and to photograph. It takes place in a convention centre near the airport over three days. I came on the Sunday, and it was busy.

These swords are impressive.

These masks caught my eye.

Plenty of cosplayers are to be found, including this fellow from Star Wars.

There's a local Star Wars cosplay group that always participates in this event, and can be found in community events around the region on a regular basis. This was the most impressive Chewbacca costume I've seen.

I carried on.

More swords and axes. I was tempted, but where would you put them?

These were my favourite cosplayers of the event, a couple who came as Rogue and Gambit of the X-Men.

I'll leave off here, and pick up again tomorrow. 

Ends And Odds In The Capital

 We begin today with the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park at night. This is unique, the last surviving example of late 19th century exhibition hall architecture of its type in the country. Late last month, work began around the perimeter for some rehabilitation, coinciding with the work elsewhere on the property. The roof needs some work, which requires closing the building off with scaffolding.

Elsewhere on the property, also at night. At the east end of the property, I took this shot, with the constellation Orion rising above the southern horizon. This stays in the skies for months before disappearing in the spring. A sure sign of the end of summer.

I've shown this as a work in progress. This mural downtown was finished off. I spoke with the artist, and gave him my compliments on how well it looked.

Taken from home. I liked the moody skies and the last bits of light of the day showing themselves.

I was heading to an event one day in the first half of September when I noticed this panel on a wall in Little Italy, and photographed it.

Coming back, I was on the north-south LRT line as it crossed a bridge over the Rideau River between Vincent Massey Park and Carleton University. A number of years ago, a parallel pedestrian bridge was added here.

The waters are relatively shallow here, but swift.

On another late afternoon in the Glebe, the look of these clouds caught my eye.

Attending another event, I found that a rescue organization was present. The group saves exotic animals, and makes use of them for educational purposes. This is the marginated tortoise, which is normally found in dry environments around Italy, Greece, and the south Balkans.

And this is a ball python. Yes, of course I touched it. I wonder what it was thinking.

One morning in the second half of September, I came by Lansdowne to photograph some early fall colours. The rising sun illuminating the east side of the Aberdeen Pavilion required photographing.

As did the Horticulture Building, which is nearby. This regularly hosts a variety of events, and will be hosting those events that are normally held in the Pavilion during the rehabilitation project.