Along The Shores Of The Chaudiere Falls

 More today from this visit to the Chaudiere Falls.

It is a delight in any season.

The Falls In Late Winter

It was time for a new header. This one dates to last May, taken in Commissioners Park during the Tulip Festival. 

A few days back, on the last day of the winter, I paid a visit to the Chaudiere Falls, where the Ottawa River meets a series of islands between Ottawa and Gatineau, and where the main channel tumbles down falls and cascades, a total height of fifteen meters and a total width of sixty meters. It is ringed by a ring dam which diverts for hydro purposes. 

The Chaudiere Bridge is immediately downstream. Also visible in the distance are the Portage Bridge and Parliament Hill.

I have not been up here in winter, albeit in late winter. Not everything was accessible, but enough was that it was worth the trip.

I was able to approach between two of the old industrial buildings.

Check out this video.

More from here tomorrow.

The Last Gun To Fire

 We begin today with Canadian Headquarters Staff, by William Nicholson in 1918.

World War Two saw the rise of nosecone art. A number of examples are found here.

Canadians In The Snow is by James Morrice, done in 1918.

Battlefields Of Ypres was painted by David Young Cameron in 1920.

This is new, as well as more contemporary. Blackfood artist Adrian Stimson painted two indigenous soldiers, Master Corporal Jamie Gillman and Corporal Percy Bedard during the Afghan War. Between are panels, with cedar, tobacco, sweetgrass, and sage, emblems of indigenous peoples.

Across is this artifact, where one enters and exits the permanent collection. Canadian soldiers ended the First World War at Mons, Belgium, giving two field guns to the town and saying they were the last guns to fire on the enemy before the armistice. At the centennial of the ending of the war, Mons returned this one to Canada, and it now resides here. A fitting place for it.

Gallery Perspectives

 Side by side, we see two behemoths of World War Two. The German Panzer v Panther became the main battle tank of the German military. The Soviets developed the T-34/85 tanks.

The Sherman was a mainstay of Western Allied forces. The Lee, at right, was less used.

I always like spending time with these tanks.

The way out is lined with war art, most on big canvases. No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital At Doullens was painted by Gerald Moira in 1918.

Anna Airy painted Cookhouse, Witley Camp in 1918.

Canada's Grand Armada 1914 is by Frederick Challener in 1919, depicting the first sailing of Canadians to the battlefields of Europe.