A Walk On A Late Winter Afternoon

For the last three days I've been showing you scenes in Sandy Hill. Today I bring that to a close. Finished with the bridge I showed yesterday, I took this shot looking north in Strathcona Park. In the distance you can see people skating on some of the ice that had formed on top of the snow as part of a freeze up days earlier. A careful eye might find a squirrel closer to me.

A historical plaque is in this section of the park.

I headed out. Along the way, I noticed this planter box outside a restaurant. Very Canadian, with hockey sticks being used as a frame for plants to climb on.

This also caught my eye. I can't recall the last time I've seen a New Mexico plate. Most American visitors in this area tend to have plates from the Northeast states.

A house caught my eye, including the historical plaque on one of its walls.

There is a fire house situated in the midst of the campus at the University of Ottawa, which forms the western side of the Sandy Hill neighbourhood.

Tabaret Hall is one of the older buildings on the campus.

Further west, a view of the Rideau Canal. Open water can be seen on the ice below in this view from the Laurier Avenue Bridge. 

And on the west side of the Canal, this view of the Cartier Square Drill Hall, which stands alongside City Hall.

A memorial to Ottawa fire fighters stands here on the grounds of City Hall.

A view of the contemporary wing of City Hall. The skate rink outside was still active.

And I finish with this view. In 2017 for the 150th anniversary of Canada, a torch was erected here at City Hall. The torch was lit as I walked past.

Canadian Sith Lords

Today I have some odds and ends shots.

I start with this shot taken in October. It's a familiar view taken from the Mackenzie King Bridge over the Rideau Canal, with landmarks like the National Arts Centre, Parliament Hill, Chateau Laurier, and the government Conference Centre seen. The strange light, late in the day, caught my eye.

I bought a hoodie sweater back in September. I've never owned one of these before. I see myself in a window at night and I look like I'm about to sneer at a Jedi Knight.

"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision. Now, young Skywalker.... you will die."

Our LRT expansion finally opened up after many delays. I have taken a portion of the line on a couple of occasions, though realistically it is of little benefit to me at present. This is the Lyon Station at track level, buried beneath the downtown core of the city as part of the tunnel segment of the line. Back in 2017, when the station itself was ready, the multimedia show Kontinuum was held here as part of Canada 150. If you haven't seen any of my posts from that event, click here for the first of four posts from one of my visits.

Each of the stations along the line was meant to have public art. This is With Words As Their Actions, a sculpture honouring 32 women who founded the local chapter of the Canadian Women's Historical Society. The text of a speech given by one of the society members in 1954 is laser cut into the steel, both in English and in French.

This sign stands outside a pub in the Glebe.

Here it was a few days later, at the time of our setting the clocks back tradition in the fall.

I came across this old firehall in Hintonburg one day. It's been converted to other uses.

Nearby, this store caught my eye.

And over in the Westboro area, the name of this one drew my attention.

Nearby, this cheerful Medusa was painted onto the window of a hairstylist shop. Admittedly I've always felt a degree of sympathy for her. In some takes of the Greek mythology, we have a young maiden and priestess of Athena who's raped by Poseidon... and instead of Athena turning her wrath on her uncle where it belongs, she turns the victim into a monster with snakes for hair, and who turns you into stone if you look directly at her. A rather rash act for the goddess of wisdom. And then for her trouble, Medusa gets decapitated by Perseus. You'd think he could have simply asked for help, but no....

Fire Hall

Today I'm starting off a Christmas series that will carry me through past Christmas itself.

This former fire hall, dating back to the 1920s, can be found in Old Ottawa South. These days it has been converted to a community centre. You might see the cross atop Saint Margaret Mary Catholic Church in the background. The community centre was hosting a Christmas artisan fair early this month.

Odds And Ends And Random City Views

Some random shots today. This first one is from Sparks Street, taken at some point in early September, I think. This is one of the entrances to the downtown postal office. 

This mural outside of an auto shop caught my eye for the use of colour and the different eras

By contrast we have this. In late October a small building housing restaurants and apartments caught fire on the east edges of Chinatown; the entire thing was a wreck by the time the fire was put out. This is the rubble, a couple of days later. 

This is Rideauview Bible Chapel, taken in the evening in September while I was on my way back from the Hog's Back Falls area.

I photographed these two in October. Rabbits can be found in the area around Confederation Park. They'll keep an eye on passing pedestrians. By now they'll be in their burrows for the winter. Wascally wabbits!

This is a fire station built in 1897 in the Lowertown area. Back then it would have featured horse drawn wagons. The place was closed down at some point, and has since been converted into a house, still retaining tell tale signs of the original structure.

This view is of two linked buildings, Arts Court on the left, which I showed you during Nuit Blanche. The old courthouse stands beside the more austere building on its right, which was once a jail and is now a traveler's hostel. The place is said to be haunted. Having had been in there on occasion, I can confirm that it feels like you're being watched.

I finish with this fellow outside a shop on Sparks Street. This Mountie appears to be knackered.