A Flourish Of Colours

My maternal grandfather worked in the tulip business in the Netherlands before immigrating to Canada. On a visit back years later, he was astonished by how many new types of tulips had been developed in his absence. These beds along Dow's Lake would have appealed to him. 

Taking In The Tulips

Today is Victoria Day here in Canada, so odds are I'm not around. I will have to play catchup tomorrow. It's also the final day of the Tulip Festival, but more of these shots are yet to come. This first shot is another perspective of the last tulip bed from yesterday's post. Dow's Lake can be glimpsed in the background- and I noticed the hint of spring blossoms in a tree on the far shore. I see I've also captured another member of the tulip paparazzi photographing at the left.

These tulip beds offer up differing vantage points for the discerning photographer, such as the path behind this set.

Or the quiet street on the other side of this tulip bed. I always like photographing here- the stone wall's a great backdrop.

Tulip Paparazzi

I always try to take a pic at some point during the festival of people photographing the tulips. At least in this case, they're not adding themselves into the shot. I saw a number of people with selfie sticks on Friday evening, taking shots with themselves front and center, the tulips behind them. It's like the same sort of people who go to the Grand Canyon and have their family in every shot.

Red And Gold

The tulip beds at Commissioner's Park are the center of attention this time of year. Some of you might remember this portion of the park from last year.

Over at my writer's page today I'm paying tribute to the King Of The Blues.

First Blooms

These beds of tulips at Commissioner's Park are always the first to bloom at Dow's Lake.

The tulip beds above can be seen in the background of this group of daffodils growing out of the grass by the parkway.

Close Bonds

The Tulip Festival is underway here in Ottawa and Gatineau. This festival is a legacy of the Second World War and the close ties between the Canadian and Dutch people. The Dutch Royal Family and the Netherlands continue to send tulips each year, adding onto the many the Canadian government has planted through both cities. To start things off, there were a series of displays on the Netherlands at Commissioner's Park by Dow's Lake, where many of the tulip beds can be found. I photographed several of them with the aim of getting the text in. If you enlarge these, they should be readable. Tomorrow we start looking at tulips.

The Stadium

These two views into the stadium at Lansdowne Park are taken from a footbridge that overlooks the field on the east side.

The stadium hosts soccer and CFL football games, while the arena beneath the north side stands hosts the OHL minor league hockey team, the Ottawa 67s. This summer some games in the FIFA Women's World Cup will be played here.

Famous Five

This is the second most recent sculptural addition to Parliament Hill, the Famous Five. Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Henrietta Muir Edwards were activists, politicians, and attorneys bringing forward the question of if women were legally considered persons. The case was resolved in 1929 in their favour, and more on their story can be found here. The sculptures are somewhat larger than life, and the faces have a vibrant energy to them. This is one of two sets; the other identical set can be found in Calgary.

Old Soldiers

I returned to Parliament Hill for shots of the War of 1812 monument under better conditions than I had in April.

Once A Church

This is something of a curiousity in Centretown. Logic says this must be the remnant of a church; the windows and structure suggest a side chapel off what was once a sanctuary. The structure runs most of the length of a city block, with row houses on the north and east sides. What would have been the basement is a parking garage for the homes, and there is a private playground on what would have been the sanctuary floor, now open to the elements. I imagine at some point the church that stood here may have been in a fire, much of it destroyed, and the developer who built what came after found this part of the structure to still be sound and worked with it in mind. The row houses appear to date back to the eighties, while other homes in the neighbourhood date back much further.