The Proverbial Call Of The Wild

Starting where I left off yesterday in the Queen's Lantern, here's a look up. 

The Victoria Memorial Museum Building, as it is still formally called, has a long and storied history, having had housed more than one subject in its walls. 

In 1916, when Centre Block on Parliament Hill burned, the House of Commons and Senate met inside for several years until Centre Block could be rebuilt.

Wilfred Laurier, seventh prime minister of the country, and whose tenure saw the creation of the museum, died in 1919, and laid in state here.

The next gallery led me on. The first area has had something of a changeover since I was last here, and focuses on wolves. This includes dramatic and beautiful photographs by the Canadian nature photographer Michelle Valberg, who photographed wolves on Vancouver Island and in Yellowstone for this series. We start with On The Prowl.

Howling Blues is this one.

A central display gives facts about the animal, while speakers play recordings of wolf howls. An animal that has been misunderstood for centuries, and which we're only starting to now appreciate for its role in nature. For me, the sound of wolves howling is achingly beautiful.

Alpha is the title of this photograph.

Looking At An Underground Realm

 The cave inside the Earth Gallery is quite an experience.

I departed from the gallery en route to the next one, stopping along the way to photograph in the Queens Lantern, in regards to the history of the building. The Lantern replaced the original stone tower, which had been found to be unstable and had been required to be removed.

A look up again at the Moon.

There are stories of hauntings in the building.

I end today with this shot looking down from this level inside the Lantern, where the staircases cross each other in interesting ways.

Treasures Of The World Beneath Us

 Returning to the Earth Gallery inside the Museum of Nature today, here are some of the minerals that can be found in sedimentary rock.

Sedimentary rock can preserve features of the environment as it once was.

Some of the world's great buildings feature sedimentary rock- locally Parliament Hill and this very museum do. Egypt's Pyramids and the magnificent site of Petra in Jordan do as well.

The last feature of this gallery is an artificial cave, one that you can bring a wheelchair or stroller into. 

Books at the entrance and inside explain specific features of a cave.

And in we go.

Even water, the most crucial element in making a cave, is found here, flowing down a wall that's glassed off.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Garden

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. For August, that theme is Garden. See how others are interpreting this theme right here.

I am in the midst of a series from the Canadian Museum of Nature, one of several national museums in the national capital area. The shots today were actually the first I took on a visit in early July, but held back for the theme. At the west end of the property is the Landscapes of Canada Gardens, which presents plants, grasses, shrubs, trees, and flowers from four distinct ecosystems in the country. I photograph the Gardens each season, and so now it is time for a summer view. I approached from the southwest corner, where Boreal Forest awaits.

Low lying shrubs here caught my eye this time out.

Prairie Grasslands is the next area, with the grasses and flowers of the western region growing like mad during an Ottawa summer.

They were starting to obstruct the view of the Museum itself.

A sculpture crosses the trail- an iceberg rendered in steel, by the late artist and inventor Bill Lishman.

A look to the left among the rocks finds plants and flowers of the third ecosystem- Arctic Tundra. These caught my eye too. Likewise, these plants grow very well in an Ottawa summer.

A look back at the Museum and across the Prairie Grasslands.

From the west side of the property, another view of the iceberg and Arctic Tundra vegetation.

I carried on along the path.

This view again of the grasslands- some of which were getting as tall as me.

The last ecosystem circles around a set of sculptures- Mammoth Steppe. A family of three mammoths has plants and flowers growing around it that were growing in the time these animals existed, in the wake of the last ice age. The glass tower in the background features a scale model of the Moon.