My neighbourhood...

[fajrdrako]

I'm doing two things this afternoon that I've meant to do for months. Well, today is the day.

The first thing is to defrost the freezer. Seriously necessary.

The second thing was to feed the birds outdoors. Every day when I give my Little Feathered Guys fresh seed, I put their leftover seed from yesterday in a small pot, with the intention of scattering it by the canal for the wild birds.

I went to do that, and took my camera with me, because there were skaters on the canal, and a nice feeling in the (cold) air, and still some sunshine left in the day. My pictures:

(1)



The duck pond: hard to see where it begins and ends, this time of year, and we won't see ducks again for a while. But critters come out at night (both feathered and furred) and I'm sure someone will appreaciate the seed.

(2)



The path by the canal. They've ploughed it this year; runners and dog-walkers still use it all winter.

(3)



Skaters on the canal. Three miles of rink, and it's crowded from one end (the National Arts Center) to the other (Dow's Lake, where it opens up). In this light, it's hard to see how colourful they are.

(4)



This is at the entrance to Patterson Creek.

(5)



As I walked home, I was behind a lady in pink who had been buying groceries.

(6)



Readers of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett will recognize this as a demon who has tried to slip through Ottawa Hellmouth, or maybe it's the Ottawa Rift. In any case, I think this shopping-cart demon has had the worst of it. Ottawa is too much for him.

Comments

[raissad.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting those.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! My pleasure.

[maaseru.livejournal.com]

Isn't it 10 miles of rink?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia, we're both wrong. Wikipedia says:

In winter, a section of the Rideau Canal passing through central Ottawa becomes officially the world's largest skating rink. The cleared length is 7.8 kilometres (4.8 miles) and has the equivalent surface area of 90 Olympic hockey rinks. It runs from the Hartwell locks at Carleton University to the locks between the Parliament Buildings and the Château Laurier.

[maaseru.livejournal.com]

who knew? *g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Amazing what you learn when you look it up.

Good news - the old keyboard words perfectly. (Whew.)

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Brrr. Pretty, but. Brrrr.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It was cold enough, but not as cold as it has been - and not as cold as it will probably be over the next few weeks.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

Beautiful winter landscape, thanks for posting; we have here no winter, +6C and a strong wind that drives me nuts. I haven't seen any snow for two years now.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed my pictures. Snow in plentiful supply - and yes, it was snowing again this morning, though right now it's bright, with clouds. I'm not sure what the temperature is - well below the freezing point, no doubt.

[elebridith]

Pretty pics! Snow... *sigh* I hate german weather at the moment. One day about ten degrees, and oddly warm wind which makes you feel fuzzy, the other day two degrees and fucking cold wind *sorry for swearing, but that's what it is* and - raining. Either warm rain or cold. Sucks. No wonder everyone around me is sick. I'd really prefer cold but dry!
Rant over, now I'm gonna snuggle on my couch with a big pot of tea and watch Torchwood bonus material. \o/

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Most of my friends are sick just now too - just about everyone I know has a bad cold. I'm just getting over one. It's winter - doesn't seem to matter what the temperature actually is, winter just isn't good for us.

We get cold and dry. We also get cold and wet. And sometimes even not-so-cold and wet, which is the worst, because it means the snow melts a bit and then you get ice everywhere and it's difficult to get around.

Bright, though. Today was another bright day and I'm enjoying seeing the sunlight again.

I'm gonna snuggle on my couch with a big pot of tea and watch Torchwood bonus material. \o/

What a wonderful idea!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Clearly, the sign-post creature slipped under the shoppingcart-demon's radar, and one shot was then all it needed. Ottawa is saved!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Ottawa's champions! The Glebe is too much for any mere demon.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I think you are the one who first mentioned this to me, but it was years ago, so perhaps when I say it here it'll be as if a new thought to you... know how people put notices up on the utility poles along the sidewalk? When I last walked on Bank Street, I saw one that had been stripped of all the papers very recently. Ready for the next group of yoga classes and peace rallies and bands playing tomorrow and all the lovely stuff that makes up an urban life. The pole was covered, almost to the millimeter, with metal staples. It was fascinating. I took a photo of it, actually. (Think I can get TourismOttawa to buy it as a postcard image?)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Our telephone poles realy are interesting sometimes - with or without the posters still on them. Endlessly entertaining while I wait for buses.

Do people not staple things to telephone poles in PA?

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Sure, I suppose. However, areas with more pedestrian traffic get the most such, and around here people drive a lot more than they walk. So, in short, the poles along Bank Street are much more interesting than those on West Union Street in Somerset.

Old towns with old street-layouts and old architecture. Somerset, and Berlin too. The other day when I was in Berlin to go to Bingman's Meat Packing store, on the way back out we passed the extremely old cemetery in the center of town... the town dates to about 1740, so old is pretty old, comparatively; some of the headstones are worn blank by decades of weather. But, anyway. It just happened that Bingman's had a directional sign right on the corner of the cemetery. I thought that I should take a photo of it, there with the headstones in the immediate background... heh.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

around here people drive a lot more than they walk

Quite. I sometimes underestimate the effect of the car culture.

the town dates to about 1740, so old is pretty old, comparatively; some of the headstones are worn blank by decades of weather.

I love that!

It just happened that Bingman's had a directional sign right on the corner of the cemetery. I thought that I should take a photo of it, there with the headstones in the immediate background... heh.

Neat.

I should go for a walk in one of our graveyards. Soon.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I know that you like to wander cemeteries as much as I do. I've just realized that, in all these years, you have never shown me any of Ottawa's. Imagine.

What are your favorite cemeteries (in Ottawa, and elsewhere)?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't think of going to the local cemeteries often because none of them are near me.

The best, I think, is probably Beechwood Cemetery.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I don't think of going to the local cemeteries often because none of them are near me.

...Yeah, I actually can't recall ever having seen one. Never realized that till now!

I've actually been wondering if the house I'm living in -- the farm it sits in the middle of, nearly a hundred acres -- might have a family cemetery somewhere. You've maybe seen the little fenced-in burying grounds that sit all by themselves in the middle of a field, usually at the top of a hill? Or maybe you haven't. Is it a Pennsylvania Dutch/small-townish thing, perhaps?

In the little town of Armagh, which is between Johnstown and ... uh... somewhere else, there is a delightful cemetery near the center of town, whose very small, very simple church was in use until about fifteen years ago, but then was struck by a truck and damaged so that it had to be demolished (after the congregation had moved elsewhere, and reverently closed the church building and posted a plaque on it). I had driven by the spot many times, and one day finally stopped to walk around in it. I found that the stones dated from the early 1830s, and that families were in groups... luckily, they faced east (as is the tradition in this area), and the weather comes from the west, so most were still legible. Two were quite poignant: a young brother and sister of the same family, who died five days apart in March 1853. Now, when I drive past, I sometimes think of that family, those parents, who mourned their daughter and son so long ago, and lived out their own lives, and perhaps are not remembered by name or deed by any people now alive... except, someone thinks kind thoughts of their family's ordeal a century and a half ago.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There are a number of cemeteries tucked around Ottawa. I have been known to shock people by forgetting which cemetery my mother is in (though I think I know). She would very much approve of my forgetting, though.

You've maybe seen the little fenced-in burying grounds that sit all by themselves in the middle of a field, usually at the top of a hill? Or maybe you haven't.

I've certainly seen them in movies and pictures.

The last cemetery I wandered around in was in Malta.

[gillo]

These are great! I particularly love the demonic shopping trolley!

I so miss the snow - we've had hardly any this year. We've got japonica and camellias blooming in the garden, which is ridiculous for mid-February.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

particularly love the demonic shopping trolley!

It has long since been taken away to wherever they take defeated demons on the roadside. I was glad I captured it on film - er, I mean, in pixels - beforehand.

We've got japonica and camellias blooming in the garden, which is ridiculous for mid-February.

But how beautiful! I haven't seen a real growing flower in ages. Except in pots.