Medusa And The Winged Lion

Today I have some odds and ends. The last time I did one of these, I featured a Medusa that looked a bit more friendly. This one looks more fierce. It's a nightclub up in the Byward Market, and this is their logo on the doors.

Back in the summer a fire broke out in the Market and destroyed three businesses. These shots from a few weeks back shows the demolition process. It could have been worse- alleyways on either side kept the fire from spreading to other buildings before firefighters could get it under control.

This shot was taken before the last game of the season for the Ottawa RedBlacks of the Canadian Football League. I happened to attend, though it's not a sport I go for. The team had a bad season, and did lose this game to Montreal, but at least they went down fighting, instead of getting mauled like several other games this season that had been blowouts. This is taken from the upper level of the south stands, while people were still filing into the stands.

Utility boxes in Ottawa are often decorated thematically in different neighbourhoods. Out in the Westboro area, the theme is nature.

I've never shown you this building before. The Plant Bath is a heritage building dating to 1924, at the intersection of Preston and Somerset at the north end of Little Italy. It has been extensively refurbished a few years ago, and expanded into a recreational centre with adjoining park. 

Out front is a monument commemorating the Vietnam boat people- the tens of thousands of refugees accepted into Canada in the 1970s and 1980s.

Taken a few days later, here's a close up of the monument.

Down the street on Preston is the Sala San Marco, a banquet hall. Two winged lions guard its entrance.

Back in the Glebe, a historic plaque is on the side of St. Giles Presbyterian Church, documenting the origin of the neighbourhood.

This is a sculpture in Centretown. The Listening Tree is a steel pipe installation by Jesse Stewart and Matthew Edwards, placed here in 2016. The pipes channel the breeze on a windy day and turn this into a sonic sculpture as well as a visual one.

I finish with another work of public art. Winston Square is out in Westboro, and includes this sculpture by Joanna Swim and Adrian Gollner. Winston Chandelier was erected here in a pedestrian square in 2017, and includes animals, plants, and constellations in its design.