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.

Garden In Summer

 Each season I come to the Landscapes of Canada Gardens at the Canadian Museum of Nature. On the west side of the property, plants, shrubs, grasses, and trees of four distinct ecosystems are found here. I came on Canada Day, with ominous skies looming. We start with Boreal Forest, which covers a vast portion of the country.

The west entrances of the property include these bricks, usually from family members honouring other family.

Prairie Grassland is the next section, with grasses, flowers, and shrubs growing tall in summer.

Arctic Tundra features the plants of the far north, planted amid rocks, and doing quite well in the summer here.

An iceberg sculpture by the late artist and inventor William Lishman crosses the path.

I always try to get a shot from the west boundary of the property, with Arctic Tundra, the iceberg, and the Museum together.

The last ecosystem is Mammoth Steppe, planted around a statue family of Mammoths, consisting of plants that existed in their day and still thrive today. The Queens Lantern is seen beyond, with the Moon inside. The Museum was exceedingly busy; I stopped in for a drink and continued on my way.

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.

The River Through Changing Seasons

 My second position to document the change of seasons in a given spot is on the Portage Bridge, upstream from Parliament Hill, roughly where the provincial boundary between Quebec and Ontario is. The Gatineau shoreline is at left, with landmarks including the Alexandra Bridge, Kiweki Point, the National Gallery, Notre Dame, the Supreme Court, and Victoria Island also seen. I come out here twice a month to do this series. You'll see the next post coming for the July theme day post, which deals with water.

I start with this shot taken in the latter half of July.

A few days later, I returned late in the day.

Around the middle of August, things were cooling down.

Towards the end of the month, I returned on a day with dramatic skies.

When I came back at mid-month in September, it was on a sunny day.

In the last days of that month, I was back.

When I returned on another day in the first half of October, it was under similar conditions.

And the same thing later in October- ideal conditions. The next day would bring in a lot of rain.

I stopped by on Remembrance Day en route to the War Museum. There had been snow two days prior, and the skies were clearing.

I returned late in November. The snow was gone, but it was a cold, moody day, with snow to come.

When I returned in the first half of December, the snow was back, and the river was in the midst of

freezing up.

My last shot in this series was taken on Boxing Day, after a visit to the War Museum.