Ends And Odds

More odds and ends today. Spring blossoms are a delight to see. These are close to home, taken in late May.

In late May I attended the opening night of an exhibit at the War Museum. The exhibit was about Canada and the American Civil War. It was a busy event, and I've been back since to photograph the exhibit. But on that opening night, this artist was working out in the lobby, on a painting of Mary Ann Shadd. She was a free woman who came to Canada and established an abolitionist newspaper. He told me the painting would end up at Carleton University's school of journalism. A fitting spot.

Close to home again, this kitty is one of a pair in a home down the street from me.

I photographed this ad on a bus shelter for one reason. The placement of the hands on the watch made the watch look mad.

On an afternoon in early June, I went with friends to see Pressure out at a movie theatre in Kanata. This is the film about the meteorologist whose forecast affected the timing of D-Day. En route, we picked up one of the guys, and the route took us through Riverside South, part of the Gloucester area, and across to Barrhaven to the west. This meant crossing the Vimy Memorial Bridge, which spans the Rideau River. This was my first time seeing it.

Returning later on, I took another shot.

Also in early June, the Mexican embassy had an event at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park. This vivid display- all sand.

The skies were darkening that day. A thunderstorm was en route.

This was a storefront display downtown one day in June that got a laugh out of me.

I finish with this view from the west on a late June walk. The future main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, which will share space with some facilities from Library and Archives Canada, continues to have work done, most of it inside now.

Odds And Ends

 I have some odds and ends from the last few weeks. This is Glebe-St. James United Church in the Glebe in early May, taken from the west side, which I haven't photographed before. I usually photograph the church from the east.

This oddity was in an event I was passing through.

One morning when I was heading over to photograph tulips at Dow's Lake, I noticed this little one on the sidewalk.

During the same visit, I photographed the lake itself.

On another May day, when I was photographing tulips over on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River, one of my stops included the Museum of History. The water feature, which spills over a series of terraces and makes its way to the Ottawa River, was running.

Down below, two Canada geese went for a swim in the pool that contains this work of art by indigenous artist Mary Anne Barkhouse. It is called 'namaxsala (To Travel In A Boat Together) and is based on a story from her grandfather, telling of how he gave a lift to a wolf through treacherous waters.

Heading back across the Ottawa River on the Alexandra Bridge, I paused to photograph the shoreline.

This sticker is on a car near my place, and meets with my approval.

On Victoria Day, coming back from Dow's Lake, I photographed these flags outside the Logan Building, near home. The Union flag is flown with the Canadian flag on such occasions.

Also close to home. This house is relatively new, and an example of infill housing. Oddly, it does work to fit in with the neighbourhood.

Spring blossoms, a short lived sight.

One night passing through Lansdowne Park, I photographed the Aberdeen Pavilion.

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.

Cascade

 At the end of April, I stopped at the Chaudiere Falls, where the Ottawa River drops through a ring dam into a long cascade of falls and rapids. At this time, all of the gates on the dam were open, and the falls were at full force. It made for quite a sight.

I took a panoramic shot. I must have paused it, as it has the look of two photos stitched together.

I took two videos on this visit, here and here.

Good timing with this one- a gull was flying by.

The falls were raging that day.