Brooding Sky Over Lake Of Two Rivers

I am finishing my series of archive shots today from Algonquin Park with something decidedly gloomy. This fall shot in the rain is at Lake Of Two Rivers. The lake is less welcoming now than it was to the canoeists I showed you some days back, but it still makes for a dramatic photograph.

Harbinger Of The Winter To Come

I have something else from Algonquin Park today. It's from the same area where I've been showing you a number of shots lately, Mew Lake and Lake Of Two Rivers, but a different time of year. This is from a fall visit, with hints of snow, ice, and frost on the marsh.

Check out my writer's blog by clicking at the right; I have something scheduled for today that Canadians will particularly appreciate. Well, Leafs Nation might want to have me drawn and quartered, but they are a silly lot.

Autumn View At The West Gate

Today I have something a bit of a drive away from what I have shown you in recent days. This is taken in the vicinity of the West Gate in the Highway 60 corridor of the Park.

Back On The Old Railroad Bed

Regarding a question from yesterday, there are canoes for rent in the Park, particularly at places like Canoe Lake, where you can even hire the services of a guide for a day trip out on the lake. Here are two more shots from the old railbeds as I showed you the other day. The trail is used by cyclists, hikers, and even by canoe portagers going from one lake or river to another by a footpath. Track And Tower trail, which has an extension out here for campers in the nearby campgrounds, is a splendid trail that follows old railbeds and ascends a cliff for a splendid view of Cache Lake.

A reminder to City Daily Photo members: the theme day for October is Movement.

Do They Need More Canoes?

I've decided to spend the remainder of the month with these Algonquin archive shots. Yesterday I mentioned the campground at Lake Of Two Rivers being busy. Here we have a view of the beach along this stretch of the lake, with many a canoe and kayak already getting prepped for a day out on the lake.

Lake Of Two Rivers Marsh

Something else from the archives, in the same area as I've shown you in the last couple of days. This marsh can be found along the corridor, very close to the Lake Of Two Rivers campground. This is a summer shot, and it's peaceful- an odd thing, since the campgrounds here and at nearby Mew Lake are busiest in the peak of the summer.

On An Old Railway Bed

Once upon a time, the railroad ran through Algonquin Park. The Ottawa timber baron J.R. Booth had a productive business in Algonquin lumber. I have mentioned him before; click on his name in the tags to see local links to the man. Those days are long in the past, and the railroads have faded into the mists of time. The railbeds can still be found, however, and are often incorporated as sections of hiking or bicycling trails.

This stretch of trail is linked to the Track And Tower trail, in the vicinity of Mew Lake and Lake Of Two Rivers.

The Madawaska River

The Madawaska River has its headwaters here in Algonquin Park, descending towards the Ottawa River at Arnprior. It flows here along a trail near the Lake Of Two Rivers and Mew Lake campgrounds. 

Along this stretch of the river, it's peaceful.

A Rock Lake View

This is another reflection shot that I found in my archives from an Algonquin excursion; Rock Lake is along the Highway 60 corridor. Aside from canoe opportunities, there's a campground here and a hiking trail.

By Costello Creek

Still in the archives today, and in Algonquin Park, with these two fall shots I took some years ago. Costello Creek runs down from Lake Opeongo in the Highway 60 corridor. The lake is a well known launching off spot for canoe trips, and one can expect canoes to be found along this quiet stream during the summer while driving up to the lake. This large boulder is a familiar sight on the way.

This view of the creek looking northward on its way to the lake has good fall colours as well.

On The East Side

Two more archive shots today, from a summer trip a couple of years ago into the east side of Algonquin Park. The Sand Lake Gate gives access here west of Pembroke for the road travelling into this portion of the park.

The Barron Canyon can be found here. This is a different perspective from what I've shown you before here and here.

One Year Later

Today is the first anniversary of the start of this blog. I thought I would mark the occasion with my first two shots. I've taken pics of the Peace Tower here on Parliament Hill from this arched entryway in the East Block before and since then, and in various seasons. It's the ideal frame.

And this door on the East Block appeals to me, both the wood of the door itself and the carving above it.

Canoe Lake

I have something else from the archives, and also from Algonquin Park. Speaking of which, check out this post from Merry@Syracuse, who was in the Park some weeks ago. That is the first post in a series currently underway by Merry, and the rest can be found on the right hand column; the trails mentioned in these posts are ones I know very well.

This is Canoe Lake on a tranquil, quiet day years ago. It's a big jumping off point for people with canoes, both for serious trips into the interior and for those who just want a day on the lake. There's a nice restaurant here overlooking the water, an outfitter to supply the canoe crowd, a gift shop, and showers for those who have spent a few days in the canoe and on portage trails.

The artist Tom Thomson drowned in this lake in 1917. There's a cairn somewhere on the shores here memorializing him.

Mr. Cranky

Something pulled up from the deepest darkest recesses of archives; I took this shot several years ago in Algonquin Park in the fall while with friends. The male moose was off in the bush, the antlers at full size (they fall off each year, at some point in the winter). This was before rutting season, though, when they get really, really, really cranky. You don't want to be anywhere near a male that time of year.

For Peace

I previously showed you the Peacekeeper's Monument called Reconciliation here. One of the walls is etched with the names of UN peacekeeping operations that Canada has taken part in, both ongoing and in the past. Here are two more examples.

Glynis Smy, a British writer I follow, now lives back in the UK, but for a number of years lived on Cyprus. She didn't go too much in her blog into the political situation on the island, as I recall. If the UN mission here ever ends, the year will have to be added on.

The monument is in the heart of the city, and yet has a quiet feel to it as you stroll through.

307 Idiots

Today starts the fall session of our Parliament here in Ottawa. They've only been on break since late June, and they have a long slog to get through until their extended Christmas break (if you don't count the extra weeks through the fall when they're not actually in session). The Prime Minister, Darth Harper, Dark Lord of the Sith, will be busy flinging mud at anyone who dares question him within five minutes of the House of Commons getting down to business. 

If this blog ever falls under the eyes of the Prime Minister's Office and I meet a bad end, you all know who's behind it.

Anyway, to mark the day, I had some fun with memes of the empty House of Commons. Having had sat up in the public galleries watching the melee in here, I must amend this to say that kids in kindergarten are better behaved than members of Parliament.

A Fox Run

September 14th is the date this year for the Terry Fox Run across the country. The story of the young marathon runner who lost a leg to cancer can be found here. His legacy years after both the Marathon Of Hope and his death is profound here in Canada and abroad, where Terry Fox Runs are also held to benefit cancer research each year. I thought it appropriate to show this statue across from Parliament Hill again; the Langevin Block makes for a good backdrop.

St. Francis

I originally posted these in my writer's blog a year or so ago when I was first musing on a photoblog. Since most of you have never seen them, I thought I'd repost. The church is St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in the Hintonburg neighbourhood west of downtown. I lived in this area for awhile, and the church bells took some getting used to, but was quite welcome in time.

Autumn Rising

 I decided to change the header for the blog; it may be a seasonal thing. Thus far each header image has been linked to the Rideau Canal. When I first started, this view from the Bank Street Bridge was my header.

I switched over to a winter image on the other side of the bridge, looking at skaters on the Canal, passing by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

In the spring, I shifted further west, to where the Canal widens into Dow's Lake. This has been my most recent header image.

Fall's coming, however (and it certainly felt fall-like yesterday), so I've decided to go with a new header. This shot from last autumn fits the bill rather nicely, also down at Dow's Lake. 

Seventy Years On

I was in Confederation Park over the weekend and had a look at this plaque honouring Canadian airmen who died during the Second World War over Poland. I photographed and posted this last fall in the blog, but the dates are what drew my eyes this time. Many of these men died in August and September of 1944 in air support operations during the Warsaw Uprising. Seventy years later, and these names still speak to us through the mists of time.

Inside St. Barnabas

Within the link in yesterday's post were pictures from the Anglican Church of  St. Barnabas. I had additional shots in my archives of  the interior. 

Within A Sanctuary

The Christian Science sect has its main place of worship downtown, and I visited the sanctuary during Doors Open. For an exterior view, click here. I had these additional shots from inside.

Glass Craftmanship

During my walkabouts on Doors Open weekend, I paid a visit into St. Matthew's in the Glebe. My previous post is here. I didn't add this pic into the mix at the time, one of the many stained glass works in the sanctuary. It dates back to the 1950s, in memory of a woman by her husband and children. As is so often the case with stained glass in churches, a scene from the New Testament is the subject.

A Place To Dine For

Vietnam House was another stop during Doors Open; the link from yesterday's post had other images from this residence and embassy space. These shots of the dining and living rooms were extra shots in my folders. I didn't notice the fire extinguisher until the other day.

Trinidad And Tobago

Today I have two spare shots from my Doors Open visit to the High Commission of Trinidad and Tobago. You can find the original post here.

This year was my first time into this High Commission; it's a light and airy building inside.

Shooting The Glass

"Gee, Mr. Wilson, I have no idea how that rock smashed through your window. No, I haven't seen my slingshot lately." ~ Dennis The Menace, local miscreant, 1959

Stained glass can be such a bear to photograph. Inside the sanctuary of Blessed Sacrament, we have two other examples.

I have yet to photograph the church fully outside, so I'll have to do that at some point. It's a bit of a challenge to get the tower into the shot- the only way I can think of is diagonally across the nearby intersection. Directly across the street only leads one into a house before you can frame the shot.

Blessed Sacrament

I took additional shots inside Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in the Glebe during Doors Open. Check out the original post. Here we have the altar.

And this is one of the other stained glass windows.

Drawing Out Memories From The Past

My post last week about Oscar Peterson had me looking at the plaque behind the sculpture. It also made me think of the plaques for The Valiants, the series of statues I showed you not long ago. Click on it in the tags below if you haven't seen it. I photographed the plaques as a reference for myself at the time, leaving them in my folders. 

Looking at these photos again, it got me thinking of just how many historical plaques and markers there might be out there. It must be countless. I remembered from childhood driving up to see my grandparents regularly with my mother, a trip of under an hour up to Guelph. There was a historical marker along the route we usually took, and I would ask that question from time to time- how many of those do you think are out there? A whole lot, no doubt, and if you tried to stop and see every single one of them, you'd never get where you were going. It's odd how a photograph can draw such memories back to the surface. 

I like the plaques that are incorporated into these memorials. With the first, Frontenac's quote is one for the ages. Brant's Mohawk name spelled out is a good touch for the man who had quite a reputation among his people, not to mention among the British, the Canadian Loyalists, and the Americans. And Brock's plaque mentioning the capture of Detroit makes me wonder what the general would make of what has become of that city today.