Musings Of A Feline

"Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reason." ~ Robertson Davies

"Meow means woof in cat." ~ George Carlin

"If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much." ~ Mark Twain

Today I thought I'd return to adding memes to a picture. I took this shot at Dow's Lake during the Tulip Festival- the original post is here- and added on the memes through Imgflip. Enjoy!

Projectionist Perch

Another holdover from Doors Open. I was in the Mayfair Theatre on that weekend; the first post is here. At the back of the theatre, the projectionist's booth was open for viewing. It was crowded when I peeked in, one of the staff members speaking with a couple of visitors about the equipment in here. It's crowded, as you'd expect out of such spaces, and yet it has touches you expect out of the Mayfair, like movie posters on the walls.

Laurentian Centre

I return today to the J.R Booth house, currently the Laurentian Centre, from my visit during Doors Open. You can find the original post here. This first view is from the south side of the house, with the trees nicely leafed out.

I should have posted this pic at the time. This column was at the base of the main staircase. I liked the craftmanship of the carving into the wood.

Somerset House

I have something a little different for today. Somerset House is at the corner of Bank and Somerset Streets here in Centretown, and it has seen better days. It dates back to 1900, and was a hotel and pub in its various incarnations. It has stood empty for years, with renovations up in the air due to a dispute between the city and the developer who was trying to restore it, after a slight boo-boo inside during construction work. By slight boo-boo I mean disaster. Supposedly the work will be getting underway again in the not so distant future, but then again, it's been years since that incident and progress has been non-existent. I will be returning here again in time with further details, but for the moment,  I leave you with the front of the place. The bare bones of Somerset House has potential to be restored to something better. It just needs the work to be done.

A News Crew

I thought about leaving this pic for the people in their workplaces theme day later in the year, but decided to go with it today. I took this on Canada Day, at the corner of Elgin and Wellington Streets. Parliament Hill is in the background, along with quite a few revelers. The woman in red is a CBC reporter, who was walking around with a cameraman, talking to people attending the festivities downtown. On impulse, I took the shot.

Quite A View

Another shot from Barron Canyon today. A canoe can be spotted far below, and having another hiker in the shot gives perspective and scale. The canyon was formed as a fault line, part of the massive slab of granite that is the Canadian Shield. It has more recent geological history- in the wake of the last ice age, the water that ran through here drained a glacial lake to the west. Its flow at that time has been estimated by geologists to be the equal of a thousand Niagaras. It is considerably calmer now. The Barron River flows out from Algonquin, joining the Petawawa River and emptying into the Ottawa River at Petawawa, up the valley from the capital.

Barron Canyon

I have these shots from the archives as well, pics I took on a visit in the early fall of 2012 and saved in my email, as the camera belonged to friends. The Barron River flows through this canyon on the east side of Algonquin Park. A hiking trail follows the canyon rim. Canoes can often be seen down on the river below. It's a hundred metres up from the river here, so a fall would result in a very bad day. Well, for your family and friends, anyway. Odds are you'd be dead.

It is a magnificent canyon, and far from the Highway 60 corridor, which is what most visitors think of when they think of Algonquin. For those of us in Eastern Ontario, this part of the park is more quickly reached.

Hints Of Winter

Something from the archives today, and a harbinger perhaps of an early winter (yay!). This is from early December 2012. I think it's the Bonnechere River here in Eastern Ontario, but I was with friends, and we visited a number of places that particular day. Doesn't that snow and cold river look inviting?

In stark contrast, last evening brought the news of the death of Robin Williams. A great comedian, and an extraordinary actor. The world's become darker with him gone. I will be posting something in my writer's blog for Wednesday, so keep an eye out for that tomorrow. This editorial cartoon was one of the first to show up yesterday evening. It's by David Fitzsimmons. No doubt many more will follow.

Canadian Memes

After the rather somber subject of the weekend, I thought I would lighten things up today. I have as of late started to write some memes for the occasional post at my writer's blog. My most recent example can be found here. I decided to do the same with some of my photos here, writing memes for them through Imgflip, which I've found to be a very easy site to work with. Enjoy!

Voice Of The People

Two things struck me watching this march of protestors with links to the Armenian community. One was the solemness of the occasion, and given the circumstances, that's entirely understandable. The other was one of the banners. It quoted a Turkish leader from years back who noted that healing could begin if his country simply owned up to the truth of what had happened during the Armenian genocide. 

If only.