The Farm In Summer

One summer day in late July, I paid a visit to the Experimental Farm, mostly to see if I might be able to photograph the dairy herd out in pasture (they were either in a different pasture or, more likely, being milked at the time). The Farm is a government property, over a thousand acres of fields and pastures in the city dedicated to agricultural research. Roads and bike paths cross it. This view, beside a flowerbed with summer plantings, gives one view. It is quite likely that this flowerbed has tulips in May.

Corn was growing in one of the fields.

This view looks east from that field. The buildings of the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, as well as other working buildings of the Experimental Farm, are over there. The Museum uses a series of barns to house animals and displays on agriculture in Canada. Readers who haven't seen my series from the spring in which I paid a visit to the Museum might want to start with the first post. There were seventeen posts in total.

Continuing my walk, the first barn I came across was the Meadowview Barn, part of the Museum complex. A summer day camp was busy on the grounds around it- the kids were off to my right.

This view looks towards the Small Animals Barn in the background.

Across the road from the above view is this former house that would have likely been a residence for an administrator of the Farm back in the day. Today it houses offices for the Canadian Dairy Commission.

Returning back to the south side of the road, I photographed the Dairy Barn. The herd might well have been inside for milking time, and there was a milk truck parked here to make a pick up. This time of year, the animals spend a good deal of time outdoors.

Coming around the Dairy Barn, I had this second view of the Small Animals Barn. Cows were out in the paddock area, some visible near the trees. They would be the breeds who reside in the Horse And Cattle Barn, which I'll show you an angle of in tomorrow's post.

I leave off for today with this view of the Cereal Barn, taken from the south east. As I passed by, there was a notice on the back door that the building was being used for summer day camps, and I could hear kids inside. I have added today's post to Tom's Barn Collective post for the week, so go on over and have a look.

Fortissimo On The Hill

Fortissimo is an annual event on Parliament Hill, held on a weekend in July. It is a military ceremony bringing together marching bands from across the country, as well as one or two foreign units. The beat retreat ceremony, as it is called, dates back to the days of walled cities when gates would be closed up at sundown and guards would be dispatched for the evening. The Ceremonial Guard is involved each year, along with other units. This year an American unit took part, hence the Stars and Stripes alongside our own flag on the front lawn below the Peace Tower. I photographed as the ceremony went along, and did some videos, which you'll find in links below.

The bands play individually and as a whole throughout the performance, which is timed to end with the setting of the sun. 

The American group participating was the United States Army Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps, in uniforms dating to the Revolution period. Check out my video clip of them.

The centrepiece of the event is a brass and drums rendition of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, accompanied by cannons and the bells of the Peace Tower. A group of reservists based out of Hamilton, Ontario, took part as well, firing their muskets during the performance. I did a video of the Overture here.

Finally after the anthems (click here for that) have been played and the Canadian flag lowered, the bands march off from the lawn one by one.

Changing Of The Guard

In yesterday's post, I showed you the march of the Ceremonial Guard to the grounds of Parliament Hill. I returned the following day to photograph the ceremony of the Changing Of The Guard. A portion of the Guards take up position first, awaiting the rest of the group as they come up Elgin Street and around the War Memorial. There is narration done, in alternating English and French, by guides posted near the main stairs up to the Centre Block. A couple of soldiers walk the grounds during the ceremony. The red cross armband they wear gives them away- they're medics, keeping an eye on the Guards just in case. Summer is hot here, after all, and those dress uniforms (especially the hats) can be a recipe for trouble on a humid day. They're also on hand if any of the audience have a problem with the heat. It must be a trick of the light or the angle of my shot, but there seems to be a ghostly echo of a building at a diagonal angle in this first shot. And have a look at this video I did for a taste of the music.

When the ceremony is over, the Guards all march off the Hill together, back towards the Cartier Square  drill hall. A smaller version of this ceremony takes place during the season each hour on the grounds at Rideau Hall, where it might be four or six guards involved at a time.

Marching Towards The Hill

From late June to late August, the Ceremonial Guard conducts a changing of the guard ceremony each morning on Parliament Hill. The military group is made up of two units, the Canadian Grenadiers and the Governor General's Foot Guards. They conduct this ceremony through the day at Rideau Hall on a smaller scale, but at ten in the morning on the Hill, the ceremony commences. One part of the group is up on the Hill, while the rest march out from the Cartier Square drill hall, up Elgin Street, around the War Memorial and over to Parliament Hill. I photographed them one morning coming up Elgin. City police on motorbikes ride ahead and behind to stop traffic, while soldiers in working uniforms walk alongside or drive in accompanying cars. In the background, the British High Commission stands to the left, while the three buildings collectively called The Chambers are to the right.

Much of the group are carrying musical instruments, playing as they go along. The rest carry their arms.

They passed by me, with the War Memorial on the other side, and turned up the street at the Chateau Laurier to move west.

And here they are heading towards the Hill. Their departure from the drill hall is timed so that this part of the Guard arrives on the Hill precisely at ten. Tomorrow I'll show you the ceremony itself, as I went up the following day to photograph that.

No Sign Of Vin Diesel Here

A reminder to readers in the Ottawa area that the Impressionist Treasures exhibit at the National Gallery ends on September 9th, and is well worth taking in. I paid a visit on Labour Day again and enjoyed it. Photos will be forthcoming down the line. Now then, to today's post...

"The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys."

One weekend in July I happened to go down to the farmer's market at Lansdowne. Nearby, a series of contemporary sports cars were out on show, some of them from dealers, some of them from private owners. The characters from the nonsensical noisy franchise otherwise known as The Fast And The Furious were nowhere to be seen.

This one was of course the oldest of the set, since DeLoreans haven't been built since the 1980s. This one is a match in colour for the one from the Back To The Future series, without Doc Brown's additions of time travel equipment. Weren't we supposed to have hover cars by now?

The Porsche and Aston-Martin side by side both caught my eye. There was no sign of suave British secret agents around the latter car, nor any sign that Q Branch had made any additions.