A reminder to members of City Daily Photo: the theme for December is The Future.
A couple of days back I mentioned that I headed up to Confederation Park. I wanted to photograph the monuments and fall colours in this park. This is one of the entrance points, across the street from City Hall.
This fountain is in honour of Colonel John By, the British military engineer who oversaw the building of the Rideau Canal and the founder of the city. Thus it is the first of the monuments in the park.
Another one is close by, a large mounted plaque honouring a number of pilots from the Second World War.
These were Canadian pilots who died in the line of duty while flying missions over occupied Poland during the war.
More fall colours. The next two monuments are visible beyond the trees.
City Hall is beyond these trees.
The oldest and the newest of the park's military monuments are together. The South African Memorial was placed here by locals after the South African War of 1899-1902 in which Canadian soldiers served. The Animals In War Memorial is more recent, and includes plaques about animals in military service, and a life sized statue of a dog. Footprints of a dog and a horse are printed into the pavement.
I have seen real dogs look at and inspect this dog in different ways. Some are indifferent. Others are curious. And others start barking.
A look up at the cenotaph.
Towards the west end of the park is a totem pole.
And the largest of the monuments here is the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument. An eagle stands at the top, with four Indigenous people below it. Four busts of spirit animals- the bison, the elk, the wolf, and the bear, complete the set.
The Monument is probably best photographed before one in the afternoon. After that, it lies in shadow.
On another sunny day early this month, I was passing back through the park and this tree caught my eye. I decided to photograph it in pairing with the nearby staircase.
The staircase has art on it, painted on the vertical side of each step. Seeing The Forest For The Trees is by Canadian artist Christopher Duffy. The trunk of each tree is made up of tree dwelling animals, while birds in flight make up the leaves.
A lovely walk through the park. I like the dog sculpture and pretty fall colours.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful park.
ReplyDeleteThe Future, oh. Let´s see what that brings. I´m looking forward to what you´ll come up with!
ReplyDeleteGreat fountain. And dog - and stairs!
A nice park ! I like the dog sculpture and also the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument.
ReplyDeleteWhat a grand set of stairs!
ReplyDeleteI like your sunny shots under a clear blue sky. The photo of the fountain is my favorite today.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteLove the beautiful trees and the dog sculpture. Pretty fountain!
Have a great day and a happy new week!
@Nancy: it's a good park.
ReplyDelete@Italiafinlandia: indeed.
@Iris: work in progress is how I went with the theme.
@Gattina: I go for all in turn.
@Revrunner: I come down those stairs more often than going up.
@Jan: thanks. The fountain is now off for the winter.
@Eileen: thank you.
...William, you found so many wonderful pieces of Ottawa's art!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully captured!
ReplyDeletewhat a nice visit to the park, especially when it was still in colour. While I have walked through a few times, that's what it mostly was -- a walk through.
ReplyDeleteThere are possibly more monuments in Ottawa than in all the other Canadian cities combined.
ReplyDeleteThe dog reactions to that dog statue must be fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteLove those stairs and the dog!
ReplyDeleteLovely autumn colors and great monument photos ~ favorite, of course is the dog! Wow! ~
ReplyDeleteDo hope you are doing ok ~ sending distant reiki healing energy hugs for a quick recovery ~ Xo
Living in the moment,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
@Tom: it's a good spot for that.
ReplyDelete@Magiceye: thank you.
@Anvilcloud: I like this park.
@David: we do have a lot.
@Sharon: if I see dogs being walked in that direction I will stop to watch.
@RedPat: I do too.
@Carol: I'm healing, still have my sense of humour, but feel out of sorts. I'll probably post about it in my writing blog tomorrow.
That's a very colorful staircase!
ReplyDeleteThose steps are unique.
ReplyDeleteThe dog sculpture is great. I could sit and watch the reactions of other dogs for hours. :)
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful place you live William!
ReplyDeleteThe steps are fascinating; I enlarged the photo, would love to see in person though!! Each of the sculptures are so interesting, I was particularly interested in the Aboriginal Veteran's one -- a lot of history of the kind we tend to forget in that wonderful monument. So funny about the dog one -- it is quite realistic and it makes me laugh to think about the confused pups trying to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazingly creative staircase art and the dog--a German Shepard? --is very realistic.
ReplyDeleteThe fountain, dog and the totem are my favourites here.
ReplyDelete@Red: it is.
ReplyDelete@Marie: well, the York Steps in the Market do tend to get painted.
@Bill: it is amusing.
@Cloudia: thank you.
@Sallie: they can at least smell that it's not real.
@Pat: yes, it's a shepherd.
@Gemel: thank you.
This is a lovely park. I understand the dogs barking. Our kid's "Charlie" barks any time a four-legged creature comes on TV. He even went berserk during 101 Dalmations! I mean, it's a cartoon!
ReplyDeleteDogs will be dogs.
DeleteAll of the monuments are in amongst some really nice scenery.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
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