Odds And Ends

 I have some odds and ends from various occasions in the last few weeks. In the second half of December I went out to Nepean on errands. This sculpture caught my eye, outside the entrance of a building that serves as headquarters for Scouts Canada.

On another December evening I took this shot of Abbotsford House in the Glebe. Originally a 19th century farmhouse, today it is a senior's centre, with a retirement home to one side and a nursing home to the other.

Late in December I went out to Orleans, the furthest east of the city's urban areas, and once a city in its own right before amalgamation. St. Joseph d'Orleans is a Catholic parish church.

And on another late December day downtown, I photographed this, which some of you may remember from its previous location. 12 Points In A Classical Balance is a 1982 sculpture by Chung Hung of British Columbia. This large sculpture resided for many years in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, which lies below its current location in parkland that has a view towards the Ottawa River. It was moved up here a couple of years back as part of a measure to build a new memorial down in the Garden.

My last photograph taken in 2021. I was at Lansdowne Park on a snowy evening and wrote this in the snow on a retaining wall by the stadium.

An early January day was a snowy one when I took this photograph of the Supreme Court.

And across the street from the Court is St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

During my series on the War Museum I made mention of the Gouzenko Affair and how it was one of the triggers of the Cold War. The defection of cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko from the Soviet embassy here with proof that the Soviets were spying on their Western allies is commemorated in Dundonald Park in Centretown, where two plaques stand across from the building where he lived at the time with his wife and first child. I had to brush the snow off the first of them when I took these two shots in late January.

Decking The Halls

It's Christmas Eve, and I will be largely off for the next three days, thanks to closures, but there will be posts throughout. I will have to play catch-up; thanks to those photo captcha issues I've been having, I'm over three weeks behind in reading and commenting.

Orleans is an urban area on the eastern edge of the city of Ottawa; before amalgamation, it was a city in its own right. Its major shopping centre is Place d'Orleans, and this spot was where they had their Santa photos. I was passing by one morning as the Jolly Elf was presiding over things.

When I started this series I showed you the Christmas tree in the Rideau Centre downtown during the day. This is it at night, after the mall's stores have closed up for the evening.

The Rideau Centre has its Santa photos done here, on the pedestrian bridge linking the mall to the Hudson's Bay across the street. 

This house downtown caught my eye as I was coming home one evening. This is now a private residence, and had been a business until a few months back. The Silver Rose operated out of this 19th century house for many years until the owner retired. The florist shop was well known in Ottawa, and the house itself is neatly decorated for the Christmas season. Given the artistic flourishes and the lack of for sale signs after the closure, I presume the retired florist still lives here.

One day a couple of weeks back I happened to be out in Kanata, the western most of the major urban areas making up Ottawa. I passed by this place. It looks like a 19th century farmhouse. Today it houses a place simply titled The Spa. The wreaths in the windows caught my eye. Tomorrow's post will include a church close to here.

This is the Christmas tree in the lobby at the Lord Elgin Hotel. Note the bust of Lady Elgin in the background at the left.

I went into the National Gallery of Canada one evening to take in some art, which I'll have in a series in January. It was the evening that the Christmas tree was lit up for the season in the glass tower.

One evening I stopped by the National Arts Centre, where a performance of The Nutcracker was to be held, with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in attendance. The lobby areas were busy with crowds, as you can see. Note the ballerinas chatting with a group of people among them.

This display caught my eye. The rocking chair was definitely oversized.

And I finish with this Christmas wreath that was one of several hanging here. Snow shoes, a hockey stick and glove, ice skates, and a lacrosse stick- the only things that could make it more Canadian would be a bottle of maple syrup and a teddy bear in a Mountie uniform.