Autumn

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo that the theme for November 1st is Happy.

Continuing where I left off yesterday, I kept walking out to the Portage Bridge. I took this shot looking back at the old mill ruins.

Heading back, I noticed the fall colours at Richmond Landing.

Canada geese were nearby.

My path led me to Major's Hill Park, where more colour was to be found.

This is close to home. These leaves are largely down now.

Also close to home in the Glebe.

I took this shot at night in the Glebe, with a street light illuminating the autumn colour.

While this was at Lansdowne Park, behind the stadium.

On another day, I noticed this tree at Bayview Station.

I was taking the LRT south, and photographed the view as the train crossed the bridge spanning the Rideau River between Carleton University and Vincent Massey Park.

Coming back, waiting on a bus on campus, I admired this tree.

Royal Canadian Navy Monument

 Richmond Landing is older than the city itself. After the War of 1812, veterans of that war, with their families, landed here on the shores of the Ottawa River and made a trail inland to found the village of Richmond, which today is within the city boundaries of Ottawa. Here on the other side of an artificial channel of the river that serves to be a home for white water kayaking is another monument, this one to the Royal Canadian Navy.

There is a naval yardarm here, with a low wall of names of ships and navy stations from the long history of the Navy.

Many of them were named after cities and towns across the country. If they've been used repeatedly, the number is listed after the name. I wasn't sure about the markings on the stone, but this spot is relatively low in relation to the river, and I've seen the aftermath of high spring waters get in here.

The other portion of the monument is this large stone wall.

Inscribed on it are theatres of war and military operations the Navy has served in- many of them from the Second World War. The only one without a date refers to the Persian Gulf. Canadian ships were part of Desert Storm, and have been on duty there on a regular basis ever since.

I went down to the river itself. Quite a view downstream.

One last shot. The dark shape before the monument is that of a dog, patiently waiting for its human to stop doing what I was doing- taking photos.

The Supreme Court

 One day earlier this month I stopped by the Supreme Court of Canada to photograph around the grounds.

A statue of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent is placed here, looking east towards Parliament Hill. It is a deliberate placement- had he not gone into politics, this brilliant lawyer might have ended up a member of the Court.

The building is in the Art Deco style, lying to the west of the Parliamentary precinct.

Two statues out front are allegorical in nature, by Walter Allward.

I noticed a groundhog.

Out back, views of the Ottawa River.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Water

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

Twice a month I come out to the Portage Bridge, which crosses the Ottawa River between Gatineau on the left and Ottawa on the right. This is to document the view downstream through the changing seasons for a series of posts that turn up here twice a year. The river is a big one, more than 1200 kilometres in length from its headwaters in central Quebec to its confluence with the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. A good part of its length forms the border between Ontario and Quebec. At this bridge, landmarks include the Alexandra Bridge, Kiweki Point, the National Gallery, Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court, and Victoria Island.

This first shot was taken in the second half of January, on a cold day. The waters here do not freeze up in the winter, due to the currents caused by the Chaudiere Falls upstream.

This was taken on the last day of the month, a cold day with falling snow.

When I returned in early February, it was on a sunny day.

Coming back in the second half of the month, this was the view on a cold, mostly cloudy day.

I returned around mid-month in March. The ice downstream was breaking up.

By late month, most of the ice was going.

When I returned in the second half of April, the water was raging.

By month's end, more of the same. The Chaudiere Falls upstream from here was at full torrent.

The water was still turbulent at mid-month in May when I crossed the bridge over into Gatineau to photograph tulips.

When I returned in the last days of May, it was en route to the War Museum late in the afternoon.

I returned on an afternoon in the second half of June. There had been a downpour an hour or so prior. We've had a lot of this kind of days as of late- rain followed by clearing.

This last shot was taken two days ago to round out the month. I'll next have this series of seasonal shots in early January. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians.