Wednesday randoms

So, I was scoping out a location today for a wedding I'm taking some photos at on Friday. I had no idea I'd interrupt someone's meditation. Well actually, I'm not sure I interrupted anything, he didn't seem to notice me. Who knows...

I also saw this little wall today - thought it made it for an interesting photo :)



Sticking to the 'random' theme, we had the first tomatoes out of our garden for dinner tonight. So so good!

Doors Open Ottawa - Extras

Here are a couple of nonspecifics I took on our walk around downtown....

This is right next to the Supreme Court but I have no idea what it's for.

This is in the Rideau Centre parking lot; I notice it every time I'm there. This time I actually had my camera with me :)
As you know, I love reflections :)

Ok, so that's officially the end of 'Doors Open Ottawa' - hope you enjoyed the tour :)

Doors Open Ottawa - Carleton County Gaol

We're getting near the end of this series of photos - I promise!

I've wanted to visit this place for as long as I can remember but I've never had the opportunity before. These photos were taken at the former Carleton County Gaol. It was functional from 1842 until 1972 and today it's a hostel and a museum.

I probably would have missed this little herb garden had C.P. not pointed it out. I guess nothing's ever garbage at a hostel!
The gaol was the site of what is thought to be Canada's last public execution. Prisoners were hanged right here at the front of the building. There is a platform behind the wooden doors that would have been open for public viewing. Then the trap door would be opened and the person would be hanged for everyone to see :(
I couldn't get a better shot because the courtyard is enclosed by a stone wall so I couldn't get any farther away!

So dramatic :)

These are the night-time cells; they're literally just wide enough for a person to fit in. It would be hard to even turn around. Luckily the rooms where travelers stay have been reno'd :)

Hehe - and just for fun, this is a goofed-up shot but I couldn't resist. The building is thought to be haunted by Patrick James Whelan (the last prisoner to be executed) and this looks rather ghostly so I thought I'd post it :)

Doors Open Ottawa - Government Conference Centre

This building was once Ottawa's Union Station, the next stop on our tour. Today it isn't used for much, only for government conferences. It seems like a waste of beautiful space :(

Set up like it would be for a G8 meeting. QUITE underwhelming.
There's a section of the Berlin Wall in the lobby. I didn't get a chance to read about *why* exactly it's there. You can see the Brandenbug Gate and the Fernsehturm (tower on the right), I'm not sure what the one on the left is.

Doors Open Ottawa - Supreme Court of Canada

The next stop on our walk around downtown was at the Supreme Court of Canada. I think it's safe to say that we found it all a bit underwhelming, but we're glad we stopped by anyway. I can't think of another reason I'd get to see it!

This is just outside the actual court room.
There are 9 judges; I just managed to squeeze in all of their seats! The room is decorated with a lot of red and wooden embellishments (including the walls!), and the lighting is quite dim which made it a bit of a nightmare to photograph sans tripod!
Judge's robe or Santa costume??? *wink wink*
~More to come tomorrow~

Montreal's Chinatown

My hotel while in Montreal was in Chinatown. I was expecting it to be similar to the Chinese District in Toronto but this was oh so much smaller. It really only takes a few minutes to walk throughout the whole area. Despite it's quaint size, it still has a lot of character. Here are some of my favourites :)

This is built on the roof of the hotel I stayed at; I took the shot from the roof the 'Palais de Congres' (Congress Centre), where the conference was taking place.

MS conference in Montreal

So, I've been in Montreal all week for a conference; I always have a great time at them and usually come home pretty excited to get back to my job of "curing" MS and this time is no exception. I won't bore you with the conference details though; instead, here are some of the pics I took on the few breaks I found to slip away...

With the exception of the last shot, these were all taken in and around Old Montreal.

Can you guess what this is??? Please humour me and try....

This was taken on my walk down Saint Catherine Street yesterday afternoon. I found a great dress on sale for 50% off at BCBG and I actually bought it!! It'll be perfect for all the weddings Brannon and I are attending this fall!Tomorrow I'll post a few shots from Montreal's Chinatown, which is where my hotel was. I fell in love with an Asian 'patisserie' and practically lived on pastries for the week! :)

In lieu of sunflowers

One of my neighbours told me about a sunflower field that she thought I might like to photograph; she told me about it ages ago but I just never found the time to drive all the way out there. I still see a lot of sunflowers in yards so I thought I'd go out this afternoon in search of this field. I definitely found it but unfortunately I was a bit late to capture them while they were alive; but to prove I did go there I took a photo of some dead ones anyway :(

Since I was driving around anyway, I stopped a few times to take pictures when something caught my eye. We had strange skies today; mostly cloudy but every now and then the sun would peek out. I liked how this field looked - dark but with a bright sky!

There was barely enough room on the side of the road to stop to photograph this spectacular red barn (the colour is spectacular, not-so-much the barn) but I did manage to get one. I LOVE buildings that are falling apart!

There were 4 horses in this group including this little guy who decided I was more interesting than eating :)

I have a soft spot for cattle so when I stopped to photograph something else (what I think I'll use as my contest shot this week) and saw this I had to shoot them too. This little baby, when lying down, looked more like the size of a cat. He's still a bit wobbly :)

Happy Canada Day!

Our House!

Introducing.....our first home!
So, we had some minor hiccups pertaining to our move (for instance, when we arrived with our stuff the previous owners were still here...they got their days mixed up and thought they had an extra day....'NOPE' said their lawyer) but it all worked out in the end. I must add some disclaimers before going on.....I didn't clean anything up for the photos; in fact, I didn't even move junk boxes out of the way. I'm so tired of moving things around I couldn't do it again, just for the sake of photos. Please don't mind the mess, nor the fact that it's largely unfurnished (time to shop!); in fact, it's so empty it echoes!! I didn't include photos of the master bath nor the dining room or 2 spare bedrooms. So, without further ado, here is our new place!!

I cut the bottom off this shot because I didn't want my license plate on view for anyone and everyone to see....

One of the first things I did was buy a nice planter for the front step......

....then I added some matching petunias to the one and only little flower bed I currently have. I also planted some dahlias but I made the mistake of not buying the "dwarf" variety so the ones I did plant (with the petunias) are going to grow to almost 1m in height so I think I may have to dig them out and put them somewhere else. The lawn also needs some TLC....

Our empty living room which is just off the kitchen as you can see by the little sliver of counter-top in the bottom left. We don't know where any of that furniture is going to go yet; probably downstairs when we get our new living room set. The chair still wrapped in plastic is the one I bid on and won at the "FurBall" a few weeks ago. It's ridiculously comfy!

The finished portion of the basement. It's hard to see the gas fireplace behind that tv box, but I assure you it's there!

The only photo I have so far of our master bedroom. Please excuse that icky dresser; it's all we have for now! And say hi to Blue who is following me everywhere I go...
Notice the lack of blinds; it's been hard changing clothes and coming out of shower (the ensuite is just to the right of the dresser)! I hope I'm not giving the neighbourhood an unwanted show :)
On the other hand, maybe it'll make me really popular! Haha!

This is the guest bathroom; I wasn't able to take one of the master bath but it's essentially the same only it has a different shower curtain and dark cupboards like the kitchen (seen in next shot).

My kitchen; it's not as big as our last kitchen and it certainly lacks cupboard space but it's WAY nicer than what we had before and we've set up some shelves in the storage area of the basement where we can keep appliances we don't use every day and non-perishable foods. No biggie! Again, notice Blue running across the screen! I'm loving the breakfast bar and stainless steel everything....but how do you clean it correctly?!?!?!

The eat-in area of the kitchen; it's not nearly as cramped as it looks here. We had that table/chairs before and it just happens to match perfectly - thank goodness, because our list of must-have furniture is already way too long!

The funky stools at our breakfast bar!

And lastly, just for fun, here is my first load of laundry in our new front-loaders!!!!!