Odds And Ends In The City

 I have some odds and ends today. These snowball bushes are a sure sign of summer, and I took this particular shot in the north end of the Glebe, where numerous homes through the neighbourhood have them.

Another front yard in the Glebe, and a stone cat resting in the garden.

This car sticker made me laugh.

There was a car event one day at Lansdowne Park, with a lot of collector's cars lined up together outside the stadium.

Later that same day, two significant storms blew through the city. I was inside during the first one, and on the way home, saw that a large branch had come out of this tree in the Glebe.

Close to home, crossing from the Glebe over to the Glebe Annex, where my place is, the next storm was coming.

One night passing through the Glebe I photographed this limo. Bluesfest is a major Ottawa music festival each summer.

Another evening, another storm. I took this shot from the windows of my apartment looking west minutes before it all broke loose.

Another day, I was passing by Lansdowne when the Thursty Pedaler came into the site. These take drinkers on a neighbourhood pub crawl. I remember once hearing women singing Man I Feel Like A Woman by Shania Twain, badly and drunk, and turning to see this whole thing occupied by a bridal shower party.

Jos Galipeau is a local artist, and this is one of his murals in the Glebe, captured one morning. It's been there several years, and yet somehow I've missed it.

Another sign of summer- the Rideau Canal, here at the Ottawa Locks, where it rises up from the Ottawa River, with Parliament Hill looming above.

Major's Hill Park is on this side of the Canal, and in the park is a statue of Colonel John By, the British military engineer who led the building of the Canal, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The flowerbeds around him and behind him were occupied by tulips in May. After the bulbs were removed, other plants were planted, and do well over the summer.

The day after the 8.8 earthquake off the Siberian coast, I took a look at Accuweather, which I have on my computer at work. Aside from weather around the world, the site also includes data on wildfires and quakes. In this case, there were many, many aftershocks where that initial quake would have been.

I finish with this shot of the ongoing work at the future main branch of the Ottawa Public Library at Lebreton Flats.