A busy spring, ready for summer

It has been such a busy late winter and spring that I haven't posted since right after the new year!  Sorry, but this post will be a long one!

I taught 7 courses over the winter term, so that kept me very active at work. That didn't stop us from taking a week (February break week!) for a short vacation. Wendy and I took a trip towards Ottawa and stopped by for a few days to visit Wendy's brother and his family (Peter, Lynn, Spencer, and Henry. We took in a few curling games (our nephew Henry was playing) and toured around the Belleville area. Even dropped in for lunch at a fantastic café owned by a good friend of Lynn's in Camden East called Stone Corner (stonecorner.ca).

We continued our trip to Ottawa and took in a few sights along the way - mostly to take some photos for Eric's cannabis course.

In Ottawa, we stayed at Wendy's cousin's place (Sarah, Tim, and Christine). Did some shopping, met a friend of Eric's for dinner (Marcos), drove by some of Wendy's old schools and where she lived, and went for breakfast with our friends (Simone, Ken, and Kiera). It was definitely cold in Ottawa, but the Rideau Canal was surprisingly closed since there was not enough ice!

On our way out of Ottawa, we stopped by the Diefenbunker - a cold war underground military facility that is now a museum. 

The museum was fantastic! Wendy thought it was better than she expected. Reminded her of all the offices that her father used to work in. 

We headed up to Petawawa to visit our nephew and his family (Dan, Veronika, and Elizabeth). Had a great time there, toured the base, and had lunch in town. 

Although it was warmer in Petawawa, it got really cold when we headed to Haliburton! We stayed at an AirBnB in the woods outside of town. Saw a large number of wild turkeys - didn't know they could fly up into the trees for the night! We also went to dinner with our friends Carolyn and Bill, and spent the rest of the time relaxing, before heading back home. 

The crazy weather continued in March and April, with snow storms (wind chills below -20C)) and heat waves (above +30C with the humidex).  Parker bought a used car (2020 Nissan Kicks) so that he could get out and apply for jobs. The real estate company he worked for (3 years with Fair Square/Purple Bricks) closed all North American offices and he was out of work.

When spring sort of arrived again, we took Anton and Tanya to the Westfield Heritage Village for the Maple Syrup Festival! A few days later we went with them to a free concert at a church in Dundas.  

After many long months of waiting, we finally received the mechanism to repair our recliner couch. It was surprisingly cheap, but we had to rely on Adam to take everything apart and replace the mechanism on one side. Parts and tools everywhere, but it works like a charm now!

Parker did get a new job in real estate (his card is below), but he also got a job at the SnuggleBugz warehouse (high end Children's items) in Burlington to make some steady money.

Eric turned 59 and really started feeling his age.

He also celebrated 3 years in remission and had some cabernet sauvignon icewine to mark the occasion! 

Maddy went to the vet for her first 'geriatric wellness check' at age 12, and the heart murmur she had since birth seemed worse. We kept an eye on her as suggested, and just a few weeks ago Maddy started having some issues with breathing too fast.  After connecting with 4 veterinarian places on a Saturday morning, we got her seen and a few days later she had an echocardiogram. She definitely is worse and has multiple leaky valves and her heart is enlarged. We got a batch of medicines for her and she is still adjusting to them. Hopefully things will settle a bit, although it is unlikely to reverse any of the damage to her heart. 

Wendy and I started really feeling our age as we both got hearing aids! I lost hearing over the entire frequency spectrum (over the last several months it was noticeable) and Wendy lost hearing in the more typical pattern of high frequencies only.

As the term ended at McMaster, one of my students gave me a very thoughtful gift. I bet that I will feel younger when I wear them! 

Spring really hit with all the flowers and trees blooming around here.

Maddy continues to improve and even went to get her hair cut today. She was happy that she got treats, but wasn't as thrilled with the fake flower they stuck on her collar. 

Our next post will be in about a week. We are heading on an extended vacation out to British Columbia, but before we post about that, I will be posting something special here as a parting gift to my graduating students.  Stay tuned...

Before I forget

I recall now that I said I would post some more pictures from our trip to Ottawa. I had better do it today, before I forget.

The first thing I did after dropping Wendy at the Chateau Laurier was to walk over to Parliament Hill. The weather wasn't nice, so thought the fence around it was interesting.

My next jaunt was over to the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. It had been a few years since I was last there, and they have added a number of new displays.  Below is a view from a small balcony.

 I thought this first world war biplane was interesting. Looks a little worse for wear.

They had some more modern equipment, including this passenger jet engine. Might make a great wallpaper for my computer. It is a great museum for those interested in aircraft and aviation.

As always, my favourite piece is the front section of the Avro Arrow (CF-105) with "cut here" still visible, scribbled hastily on the aircraft by someone in 1959 in a rush to destroy the evidence...

Government workers and torches should never mix

Shame!

After a few hours looking at airplanes, I went back downtown and hit the Canadian War Museum. Not much had changed since a few years ago, but it was a nice quiet (and gladly warm) respite from the Ottawa winter weather. Below is Adolf Hitler's armoured staff car. I didn't show the "bullet proof" windows, but they are quite damaged by numerous bullet holes. This apparently happened (due to an unknown gunfight) before the vehicle was captured by the Americans in 1945.

There was a special display on Flanders fields and WW1 at the museum, but I didn't take any photos there. Below is a track on a tank in the heavy equipment area. There were way too many to see in a short few hours.

On the way back towards the hotel, I walked across a bridge and found a vantage point showing the partially frozen river with Parliament in the background.

Again, walking by Parliament, the wrought iron fence was more interesting than the Peace Tower. This also will go into my wallpaper folder.

Across the street is the War Memorial, and in light of recent events here, I thought this more solemn image fit the mood.

Towards Rideau Centre were a number of busts that I have often seen but had never really examined.

The most symbolic thing I could find about winter in Ottawa was this lonely abandoned bicycle, embedded in the snowbank and likely not to be disturbed until spring.

The ice sculptures on the canal were great the next morning, with no crowds to get in the way. Not many people out at 7:30am.

Some of them were quite detailed and many followed the stated theme of "play".

The most frequent ice-related item I saw all across the city were various versions of this sign. Apparently, everywhere you walked there was a threat of falling ice.

Wendy and I took in the National Gallery to look at some art on our last day in the city. This is the ceiling in the main entrance area.

This one is the ceiling in one of the wings of the museum. Being so grey and cold outside, the tiny splash of colour was most welcomed (this was before we entered any of the galleries!).

Between some of the galleries there were these strange port holes looking in/out from some oddly well-lit areas clad in lots of shiny yet partly tarnished pieces of metal. Wendy went to the other side for me to take this image.

This is more what it looked like with your own eyes. Might this be art....? Not sure.

Yes, we actually did look at the art and not just the building itself. Wendy thought this piece was striking. You wouldn't want to get too close though, as the circles tended to draw you in... a bit disorienting for me.

Both of us very much enjoyed the special exhibit of M.C. Escher prints. Fantastic work, and it was most interesting to see the variety of styles he had produced. The National Gallery has the second largest archive of his work in the world.

I realized that I very much like many of the works of Lawren Harris (Group of Seven) that were on display. I'm now getting some ideas for some potential similarly-styled stained glass pieces...

That evening we went with Wendy's friend Laurel (who organized her conference) to dinner and then took a cold and brief shuffle along the canal. We also went through the ice sculpture area but the crowds were horrendous.  There was no debate at all about skipping the hour long line just to see the ice sculptures - especially since I had taken pictures of all of them in the morning. Below is one near the main stage of the Winterlude festival.

Most of the sculptures, however, were brightly lit at night, adding a new dimension to the enjoyment of the pieces.

What struck me as most intriguing, however, was that even the crowd control measures were ice sculptures themselves!

All in all, it was a nice break for me to wander around Ottawa for a few days. Often Wendy does this while I go to a conference, but the switch in roles was really kind of fun for me.