Eclectic

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo- the theme for November 1st is My Favourite Place In Town. 

Today I have some odds and ends. I start with a spot I'm keeping track of as it develops. The future site of the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library is being built at Lebreton Flats. When finished, the building will share some of its space with Library and Archives Canada. It's due to be finished in 2025. Things are moving along.

This view in Major's Hill Park includes Notre Dame and the Peacekeeping monument in the background. The flowerbed in the foreground is where tulips bloomed in May, before being replaced by these plants and flowers, which grew well over the summer. Before month's end, these will be gone, and the bulbs will be back in the soil.

Here we have the Philippine embassy, situated in the Byward Market.

The Panda Game is an annual tradition held in the first weekend of October at Lansdowne Park. It's one of the biggest football games in the country, after the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup. It's held between two cross-town university teams, Carleton and University of Ottawa, and it's always a sell out. I attended this year. It was hectic and the crowd was enthusiastic, but less in the way of problems than the game has often caused in years past. There was nothing in the news of the raucous post game out of control parties that have caused issues in previous years- done by UOttawa students, I might add. Carleton students can behave themselves.

One night at Lansdowne Park, I took these shots of the Aberdeen Pavilion. On the west side is a monument to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, a regiment first formed for the First World War and which endures today in the Canadian Forces as an elite unite with a great deal of service.

This is from the northeast.

While this view is from the east.

I finish off with two shots from outside the Government Conference Centre, once the main train station. The five larger than life statues here are the Famous Five, a group of women who were petitioners in the Persons Case of 1929. They are down here at present while work continues on Parliament Hill- an appropriate spot, as while that work goes on, the Senate convenes inside the Conference Centre.

Scenes From A Capital Celebration

I was out and about on Canada Day, the first proper celebration of the occasion since Covid wrecked havoc with the world. I wanted to photograph some of the landmarks before heading to my destination for the day, and stopped first at Parliament Hill. The presence of some malcontents- the idiotic alt-right remnants of the 'freedom' convoy that tried strangling the city back in February- persuaded me otherwise. Generally the police kept a good eye on them throughout the core during the day. Instead I went east and photographed the National Arts centre, with its glass lantern lit up with a red stylized maple leaf.

A turn to the left gives us the National War Memorial and the Chateau Laurier beyond it. This area is called Confederation Square: the Canadian equivalent to Britain's Trafalgar Square, with national landmarks around it and the Memorial at its heart.

Crossing onto the grounds of the Memorial, I stopped to take this shot of the Hill in the background. The building at left is the distinctive main Ottawa branch of Canada Post.

The Memorial, with tourists paying their respects. Canadian Forces personnel are standing at post during the day now.

A short walk over to the east is the Rideau Canal. On the far shore is the Government Conference Centre, presently home to the Senate while work goes on at Centre Block.

A look down along this side of Plaza Bridge.

And at the front of the building, where the statues of the Famous Five presently reside. These five women brought forward the Persons Case nearly a century ago, a victory for women's suffrage in the long run and a chance for women to serve in the Senate.

Here we look over the other side of Plaza Bridge, with the Ottawa Locks descending down towards the Ottawa River.

I headed through the Byward Market, where these painted onto the walkway caught my eye.

Not sure what happened with this shot, but I like it. It's a new phone, and I think I clicked a different setting. Anyway, these are the York Steps, and each year a new design is painted onto them. I took these up from the Market towards Major's Hill Park.

Taken from the park itself, this shows Parliament Hill. The Canal lies between here and there.

This view towards the National Gallery and Notre Dame includes flowerbeds that were home to tulips in May. Now they're home to other plants and flowers that will last into October. I was going to the National Gallery for a visit, in a series I'll start showing you tomorrow.

But I stopped over on the Alexandra Bridge for a couple of shots. This one looks to the Gatineau shore of the Ottawa River, with the Museum of History at right.

My final shot taken on Canada Day. I didn't attend the fire works, though I certainly heard them. I went to a restaurant and picked up some take-out for dinner. This was on the wall inside. 

Poutine is one of those Canadian essential meals: fries with cheese curds and gravy. My choice of extra toppings from the menu was entirely fitting for Canada Day. The Canadian, with ground beef, mushrooms, bacon, and maple syrup. 

Oh, so good. 

No, I didn't leave any left over to share.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: City People

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo, and for August, that theme is City People. Check out how others are interpreting this theme right here.

It has been awhile since I've featured the sculptural set here, which is my take for the theme. The work of Canadian artist Barbara Paterson, The Famous Five monument is one of an identical pair, the other located in Calgary. It honours five Canadian women involved in the Women Are Persons case that ultimately went before the Privy Council in 1929 and confirmed that yes, women are persons under the law, and could be appointed to the Senate. This was part of a broader movement at the time for suffrage. The sculptural set was unveiled on Parliament Hill in 2000. At present, with the work going on around the Hill, the decision was made to move them over here, as opposed to encasing the set in scaffolding to protect them as has been done with some statues on the Hill. This is outside the Government Conference Centre at Plaza Bridge, where the Senate is currently meeting, which makes it a fitting spot for the monument. The building started out as the main train station, more than a century ago.

A set of plaques features the story of the case, as well as profiles of all five women: Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Marryat Parlby, Louise McKinney, and Henrietta Muir Edwards. Their signatures are inscribed in the paving stones before each sculpture. Two of the statues, all larger than life, are sitting, while the others are standing. The headline confirming that women are people too is proudly displayed by one of them.

I took multiple angles of the sculpture set, with landmarks in the background that include Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal and National Arts Centre, the War Memorial, and the Chateau Laurier.

These sculptures tend to be a popular one for photo ops, as we can see here. Having people in amid the statues gives you a sense of the larger scale of the statues. The artist did wonderful work with their design. For the time being they will remain here, until work around Centre Block is completed.

Land And Sky

Going around the church allows the visitor to look in through the windows and see the chancel of St. Onuphrius. 

Quotations of life in the Canadian West are printed on the wall nearby.

Two more views of the sanctuary.

Life for women was changing as one century gave way to another. This elaborate dress is quite Victorian, an availability of the old Eaton company.

But it was also the era of women fighting for their rights. This is best expressed in the Famous Five, the petitioners in the Persons Case. These women activists brought forth a case in courts to get women to be able to serve in the Senate, and by extension entrench the right of women to be seen as persons in their own right.

A statue set of the five women was erected on Parliament Hill and is quite popular with visitors. With the work going on around Centre Block, the set has been removed and re-installed nearby, outside the former main train station, where the Senate is meeting for a few years while the work proceeds.

The second gallery area of the Canadian History Hall comes back out to the hub. The third gallery is up on the upper level, taking a long, winding ramp curving around this area. A physical relief map of Canada is laid out on the floor.