Sanctuaries Within The City

Today I'm featuring churches taken at various times. This late April shot of Centretown United Church features the building bathed in late day sunlight. The church dates to 1906, in the Gothic Revival style.

In early May, I passed by McPhail Memorial Baptist Church, also in Centretown. An off shoot of First Baptist Church, this was founded in 1888 and combines Gothic and Norman architecture styles.

On a July day, we had an incoming storm. I took a chance to photograph the familiar roofline of Southminster United Church in Old Ottawa South against the brooding sky.

Some days later, here we had a different perspective of Southminster.

Up in the Glebe, also in July, I took these views of St. Giles Presbyterian Church.

In August, I was passing through Sandy Hill, where the University of Ottawa dominates the neighbourhood. St. Joseph's is a Catholic church, one of two on campus. 

Up the street is St. Paul's- Eastern United Church.

On another August day I was passing once again through the campus at the University of Ottawa and photographed this second church on campus. The Paroisse de Sacre Coeur is a Francophone Catholic church, partnered with St. Joseph's. This modern structure replaces an older one that was destroyed by fire.

There is a chapel off the main entrance that is generally open during the day, with wonderfully abstract stained glass.

And I finish with this shot taken on Labour Day, inside Notre Dame Basilica. Aside from times of mass, the Catholic church is open to visits through the day.

The View In Different Seasons

I've been regularly going out to Portage Bridge for a view of the Ottawa River downstream from there a couple of times a month, and thought I would do the same with another location. There's a platform at the start of the Alexandra Bridge where it crosses the river. I've photographed there from occasion, with its view towards Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, and the Chateau Laurier. Last winter I decided I'd come back this way at least once a month to document the scene through the seasons. I'll be doing so again, of course, for a post sometime next year.

Here was the view one day in February.

Contrast that with this sunny day in mid-March.

Easter Monday in April saw the ice gone on the river. The Ottawa Valley was dealing with high water issues at the time, something that would go on for several weeks.

Here we have a view from Victoria Day in May.

In mid-June, I was up here around sundown.

This is how it looked on Canada Day.

In the latter part of August, I returned late in the day.

And in early September, I photographed it one afternoon.

And later in September I returned.

The relative quiet of the above shot was broken moments later by a jackass on a jet ski, an unfortunately common member of the sub-species homo sapiens idioticus jetskius.

Odds And Ends In A Capital City

I have some random shots today. The main farmers market takes place each Sunday at Lansdowne Park. One day early in August, an event going on around the usual spot meant that the market moved its location to a stretch along the west end of the stadium.

For a couple of years, the old main post office on Sparks Street has been undergoing refurbishment work, and so has been under scaffolding. Wooden shelters sealed up the lions that stand outside each entrance. In early August I photographed one of them, back out in the open after far too long.

I was crossing the Mackenzie King Bridge over the Rideau Canal downtown one day in August when this boat caught my eye.

One August evening, I was descending into Confederation Park. The last light of day was illuminating the cloud deck above City Hall.

On another August day I was heading along the Portage Bridge to photograph the view downstream from here on the Ottawa River. A large tent structure had been erected on the Gatineau shore. Cirque du Soleil was putting on a production of Alegria here during the month.

Sunflowers are a common sight here in August and September. The gardens outside the Sunnyside branch of the Ottawa Public Library always gets some good ones. I took these in late August.

This September shot in Major's Hill Park features the statue of Colonel John By, the man who led the building of the Rideau Canal. The floral arrangements are quite different from May, when tulips are here. The same happens in other tulip beds, with plantings that last into the fall after the bulbs are done.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing, and the Museum of Nature has had a large model of the moon hanging in its glass lantern. I photographed it one evening in September.

This sign was outside a restaurant in the Glebe.

And I finish with this cat on a windowsill in Centretown, taken on Monday. I've featured this adorable supreme life form in the blog a couple of years ago.

An Evening Stroll On Parliament Hill

One evening back in August I headed up for Parliament Hill. It was a clear night, the moon rising. It can be seen in this shot, to the right of the National War Memorial.

Centre Block was lit up for a reason. Northern Lights is the name of a multimedia show each summer that illuminates the Block each night, and which was due to start after I left. I'm still kicking myself for not photographing it this year, as it ended in early September. Oh well, there's an equivalent in December.

On this particular evening, as well as several others in August, fireworks are set off from a barge on the river as part of a competition of international fireworks production companies. I took photographs of them with Centre Block.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Orange

The first day of the month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. For October, we turn to Orange, and you can have a look at how others are interpreting the theme here.

I start with this one taken back in the late winter downtown. Utility boxes in a few blocks radius around the Byward Market have a fashion design, as this area is designated an Arts, Fashion, and Theatre District, having something of all three present and accounted for in the area. 

In early April, I paid a visit to the Canadian Museum of Nature, and this seemed orange enough to me for the theme, so I held it back. The Museum has a series of galleries, one of which is the Earth Gallery. This is quartz, with the sample having had been extracted in Switzerland.

The orange of this caught my eye and seemed to fit the theme. This mineral is hematite, and in this case it was taken from a South African mine.

This panel on buildings here and abroad fit the theme. Situated elsewhere in this gallery, it points out that sedimentary rock has gone into the building of this very museum and the buildings of Parliament Hill, but also places like Petra and the Great Pyramids. Each of the images has some orange to it.

As did this other panel, with a magnificent land formation illuminated in sun to feel orange. I'm pretty sure this is Perce Rock in Quebec, though at the time I didn't photograph the accompanying description.

This shot from May dates back to the time of the Tulip Festival, taken at Dow's Lake.

I took this one at Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau.

And I returned to Dow's Lake for some more orange. Even with a rogue tulip hiding in the midst.

The first weekend of June sees Doors Open in Ottawa, an event that opens up buildings to visitors. The National Arts Centre was part of that weekend, and performances were set throughout the day as the institution was marking its fiftieth anniversary. I held back this shot from a post done at the time of two dancers, with orange dominating the stage.

This view was taken in August. There's a fireworks event that happens for a couple of weeks, two nights a week each year along the Ottawa River. The orange fireworks stand out well against Centre Block on Parliament Hill, which was illuminated in preparation for the Northern Lights summer light show- which I should have stuck around to photograph, as I missed it this year. Tomorrow I'll show you more fireworks.

And I finish with the same subject matter as I started with. This is a short walk away from the first shot, but taken just a few days ago in the Byward Market.