Reunion part II

On Monday it is Victoria Day in Canada, and all stores are closed. We contemplate going as planned to the Mer Bleue Bog conservation area, and then to Gatineau Park, to see some nice nature and vistas, but it is again grey and threatens to rain continuously, which it does on and off in the morning. So we sit, drink coffee and talk about all sorts of things. Eventually it clears up long enough to go for a walk in the immediate area and along a path by the river behind some large houses. We stand at the dam and watch the water rush by. In the one hour that we walk outside I manage to get sunburned on my neck.

At four o'clock we have to pick up the rental car for the trip the next two days. Because everything is closed, we have to get it at the airport. We get a Subaru Imprezza, and on the whole I have to say I was "imprezzed" with it, except for the super loose gas pedal, which made for pain in the front of the lower leg in stop-go traffic, or off cruise control.

On the way back from the airport we see a dead beaver by the side of the road. The big flat tail is plainly visible, there is no chance we are wrong. It seems the heavy rains and resulting pools of water in areas of unused land are making them very active, because it is very rare that you see this, and I saw one just a few days before. We drive back home and BBQ bacon wrapped chicken tournedos with watermelon and feta cheese salad. We have to get up early the next day, so we pack our stuff, and don't stay up too late.

On Tuesday we get up at 05:30 and are on the road by 06:00. We leave the usual photographer behind, as he has to go to work. We have breakfast at the brand spanking new Mallory Town truck stop, where Carla fulfills the first requirement for Canadian citizenship when she is converted to Tim Horton's coffee.

The grey skies clear up once we pass Napanee, and is warm and sunny by the time we stop again at Port Hope for another something to drink, more Timmie's coffee for her, and a tea for me. We make it through Toronto with relatively little traffic delays, except for the initial entrance onto the Don Valley Parkway, due to people racing ahead to cut in at the last minute when a lane ends. The down town Toronto skyline is dominated by the CN Tower, once supposed to be the tallest free standing structure in the world.

We continue along the Gardiner express way to the QEW, and are seeing Lake Ontario as a more or less regular companion on our left when we get close to Hamilton. We clip the very west end of lake Ontario via the Burlington Bay James N. Allen Skyway, and see the not so pretty steelworks of companies like Stelco on our right.

At Grimsby we get gas and collect some touristic pamphlets and magazines. From there it is not that far to our exit off the highway to Niagara Stone Road which we follow to Niagara on the Lake. Along the way we pass orchards (likely peach) and vineyards on each side of the road. This is after all "Fruitland Ontario". We arrive in Niagara on the Lake at 12:30, and since it is too early to check in to the hotel, we keep going along the parkway to Niagara Falls.

 We park the car across from the disused Toronto Power Generating Station of the Toronto Electric Light Company. It is such a terrible pity that this gorgeous building is not converted in to anything and left to decay. Hello.....developers.......opportunity........location, location, location!

 A picture of the decommissioned power building from an earlier trip.

We walk the short distance to the falls, observe the water rushing by and over the edge and take some pictures. At the building on table rock we explore the Adventure Passes on offer for the area. They include the Maid of the Mist, the Journey Behind the Falls, the White Water Walk and Niagara's fury. We go have lunch at Elements on the Falls restaurants upstairs. The iced tea is not instant but real, and the service is friendly and attentive. It is just too bad that they use refrigerated and somewhat stale bread for their otherwise tasty sandwiches. I get the impression they are made in advance and refrigerated, and the sandwich and salad plates put together when ordered. Not cool for the price tag, which makes you expect a freshly toasted sandwich.

Skyline at the falls. Photo credit: Carla

View upstream from the falls with in the center the scow which has been stuck there since 1918.

Photo credit: Carla

We purchase our adventure passes from a sweet lady who tries to speak German to us. (No, sorry, Dutch.) and walk along the river to the maid of the mist. Carla now really begins to feel that she sees far more tulips here than in Holland, every flower bed is still filled with them. Near the maid of the mist ticket booth we find a spectacular magnolia, miraculously still fully in bloom, even though the flowers have just begun to brown.

Magnolia near the Maid of the Mist. Unexpected beauty. Photo credit: Carla

There are no line-ups for the boat ride, and we get our cheesy picture taken, and are handed our blue plastic ponchos. We go to the boat's upper deck, dressed like two disposable smurfs and laugh because we just realised that the "can get wet" shoes we specifically brought are still in the trunk of the car. The fifteen minute boat ride is as always a thrill. You see the falls from the bottom, and so close that you actually can't see parts of them due to the spray. The water appears almost to be coming directly at you, and the height of the falls is impressive from this vantage point. The wind must be a different direction than the last time I did this, because we don't get nearly as wet as that time. When we get off the boat we both experience the sensation that the ground is still rocking for a while.

The American Falls from the water's level.

The Horseshoe falls from below, largely shrouded in their own mist.

Photo credit: Carla

When we get back to the parking area, the attendant has disappeared and the arms are left up, so we don't have to pay. Bonus! We take the car to the White Water Walk, but it is too late in the day, and they are no longer taking people down the elevator, and he woman there is none too friendly about it either. I actually have to ask her to come out of her office and serve us. Lazy lazy lazy! She could not possibly have missed us talking with the other customers waiting in the tiny little souvenir store. We go across the street and have a look in the glassblower's shop. Too much stuff crammed too close together, and what I like is as usual very expensive!

So we drive back to Niagara on the Lake, and check in to the hotel. Once we have dropped off our stuff and had a couple of glasses of water, we go for a walk in the town. It is entirely planted with.........(wait for it).............tulips. The lush plantings of annuals that you usually see have not been started yet. Most stores have closed for the day, except for the Christmas store, where some of the few other customers in the store are a group of Dutch people. Go figure.

 Proposed new design for the Canadian flag?

We walk the street and have a nice lamb wrap for dinner. Neither of us is exactly starving after the relatively late lunch, but if we don' eat we will be hungry later that night. The restaurant is full of Dutch people also. There must be a tour group, because this is more than just a coincidence. A nice lady approaches us and wishes us a nice vacation. We take the car to the water's edge and it is clear enough to make out Toronto across the lake. We drive back to the falls and park again in the same deserted and therefore free parking area. The sun is just setting, and after a little patience the coloured lights are projected on to the falls.

 American Falls under coloured floodlights. Photo credit: Carla

Horseshoe falls at night. Photo credit: Carla

By now it is about 21:30, and we decide to head back to the hotel and turn in.

Reunion part I

At the end of May I got together with my friend Carla for a week, after not spending any real substantial time together since 1983, when she visited me at my parent's house near Montreal. We used to write letters back in the day when the mailman had job security. At first we wrote a lot, there was a lot to say about the immigration, graduating schools and that sort of events, but as we both got busier, and our lives changed, sometimes there were some pauses. Later we connected again, and communicated via e-mail which made it easier to send smaller letters faster and more often.

There was lots of catching up to be done over 28 years and two continents, and the end of May is a nice time to come to this area. Usually that is. Shortly before she arrived it had been raining already for about two weeks, and I was convinced that it was about to stop. It just had to, because it is weird for this kind of weather to persist this time of year. Sure enough two days before her arrival we had sunshine and 27 degrees, and she was told: "definitely bring shorts!" We're good now! Spring rain has stopped.The photographer and I carried the oleander outside, convinced that frost was behind us.  At least as far as that is concerned we were right.

She arrived in the evening on Saturday May 21st, when it was already dark, and there was little to really see except to get a basic silhouetted impression of the area. She immediately recognized the house from pictures, and after unloading the luggage and unwinding with something to drink, we called it a night.

On Sunday it was the before last day of the tulip festival, and a trip into Ottawa was on the menu. We picked to scenic route and stopped at Hog's Back Falls. (Previously also described here and here.) The river was pretty swollen from the recent rains and there was a fair volume of water passing over and between the rocks. While it does not have anywhere near the impact of Niagara Falls, it is nevertheless a little oasis of semi-tamed rough nature in the city, and the churning water fascinates the same as a fire does.

  Hog's back falls. Photo credit: Carla

We continue on and explain that we are passing by the Central Experimental Farm, and what it's purpose is. The gardens are still very bare, and it is not worth it to stop there at this time. We stop at the nearby Hartwell locks. While the locks look very rustic with all their hand operated equipment, they are in itself nothing special to a Dutch person, and Carla is surprised to notice on the explanation boards that the Rideau Canal and its locks constitute a UNESCO World Heritage site. The canal is actually two rivers that start at Big Rideau Lake and one half flows to the Ottawa River, while the other half flows to the St-Lawrence river. Panasonic makes sure that the text and diagrams on the interpretive board are forever available in JPG format with the click of a single button.

On we go to the park on the shore of Dow's Lake and immediately get stuck in a mini traffic jam. At Preston Street a fair has been set up with a Ferris wheel, and everyone is trying to park as close to it as possible. We take the opposite approach and drive to the northern end of the park's tulip beds and park in a residential side street. Although this is the end of the festival, there were still plenty of tulips to be admired, although many were clearly past their peak beauty. The place was pretty packed with people and a good number of hobby photographers. We walked the length of the park to the point where every year interpretive boards are set up for the duration of the festival, explaining the situation in Holland during WWII and the origin of the festival. Carla is surprised at the amount of people admiring the flowers, and we explain that this is both the first and possibly the most important festival of the season. You have to really have lived through our winters to understand how obsessive we can be about spring.

Tulip beds in Commissioner's Park. Photo credit: Carla

We saunter back to the car along the same route, and then drive via the rest of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway to Elgin Street, past the National War Memorial and the Chateau Laurier Hotel and move on to the Byward Market.

Once in "the market" it is time to have a bite to eat, and we settle on the Blue Cactus. Delicious salads and club sandwiches are served, and we spend some time talking and resting our feet before going for a walk around the market itself. Produce stalls are mixed with maple syrup, jewelery, scarves and sweaters. We come across a basket of fiddleheads, something that is considered (perhaps erroneously) very Canadian.

Couple in the Byward market with stalls in background.

On a corner is an EQ3 store where we admire furniture that is priced more like second hand cars. We're in love, until we look at the price tags. Carla informs us that "copies" of this furniture can be purchased for a far more reasonable price if you know where to find it. This is being kept in mind for future research.  The website is quite reasonably priced, but the items we saw in the store are not there............

"Maman" sculpture on Sussex Drive. Photo credit: Carla

We move on to take a drive along Sussex and point out 24 Sussex and the entrance to the park surrounding Rideau Hall. In my snotty opinion neither the park nor the exterior of the limestone block house itself are anything special to see, so we don't stop there. We continue along the Rockcliffe Parkway and the river to Rockcliffe Park, the poshest neighbourhood in Ottawa, where many an ambassadorial residence is located. We pass by Stornoway, now the official home of the leader of the opposition in Parliament, and in WWII the residence in exile of Princess Juliana and her children. Carla begins to notice that everywhere in people's gardens large amounts of tulips are planted, rather more than she expected.

We double back and make our way over Wellington Street and past the Parliament buildings and the Supreme Court of Canada. We follow the Ottawa River Parkway, and take a drive through Westboro Village, an area undergoing a metamorphosis into a more European style shopping street, and also not to far from "the house we almost bought", which now when we show her, looks positively like a dollhouse.

We then make our way back to Manotick, and drop by Nichol Island Road, pointing out my favourite abandoned house subject, and stopped at the locks to have a look. Carla thought it was a pity that no boat was transitioning through the locks, and I thought it funny that there were also no Parks Canada employees on site. Later that evening I read on the internet that the locks and canal have been temporarily closed to deal with water level issues created by the persistent heavy rain.

As a final nugget we take a tour through the Rideau Forest neighbourhood nearby to gawk at what people build when they have more money than they know what to do with. All very impressive but very isolated and devoid of people. Later in the evening we look these properties up on real estate web sites and discover that the two million and up pricetags get you more bathrooms, offices, and home theatres or playrooms, but not necessarily more bedrooms.

At home we order Chinese food.

Sometimes you have to fake it!

In early November last year we had our sewer connection completed. It made a mess of the area over the septic tank, but it started to snow the week after, so we didn't really care about it too much. What you can't see doesn't really exist....right?

The previous year, in mid summer, the pipe was installed, and after that was done,the contractor put top soil and grass seeds which sprouted relatively well. This time five tonnes of sand had to be hauled into the backyard via mini-backhoe, and shoveled manually into the decommissioned septic tank. The trips with the machine into the backyard caused some ugly ruts, and of course not all the sand ended up in the tank.

So we had a mess on our hands this spring when the snow melted.

We have been waiting for years to redo the patio. There was no point in doing this while sewer work still needed to be done, and that was hanging over our head for years, until there was consensus in the village. The existing patio is a really too small, but more annoyingly, it was never properly installed. There is no edge and the outer rows of bricks are slowly sinking into the flower beds. There is no crushed stone under it, just a tarp, so it is horribly uneven. The previous owner also managed to get paint stains on it, which we have not succeeded in removing completely.

A phone call to the same contractor brought minor disappointment. He has a huge number of connections still to make in this area, and won't be able to consider this job until later in the year. I know I could call someone else, but this guy delivered on his promises, so why mess with a good thing? Are we really that impatient to spend money? Besides, I know many households (especially those with small children) have problems with their septic systems, and I just want cosmetic work done. (Did I really just say that?)

At the same time we really did not feel like living with this mess for a good part of the summer. It's just too ugly to leave like that.

I have had a mini-obsession with Japanese style gardens and Zen gardens for a while. If I had the time and the money I would revamp our whole yard into a Japanese style garden. What the heck, a girl can dream. We had some big 24" by 36" tiles leftover from where the path used to be. So we made it look like it was intended to be this way, and not just a "fix" to tide us over until the reliable contractor is available to do the work.

I'll probably have to re-rake the patterns in the sand every few days. An I have a few more rocks I can move into the squares. But in the mean time for about an hour's worth of effort we now have something we can live with for a while. I can even pretend I sort of like it.

Progress of spring: us working hard, nature working hard.

The last two weekends we managed to do something we have never accomplished before. Right on time we did all the steps of spring lawn maintenance that you're supposed to do. Usually we start out full of good intentions, but somehow never quite finish it. This year we started to rake two weeks ago when it was finally dry enough to do so. In total we raked eight of those huge lawn waste bags of thatch out of the lawn. The photographer got ugly bleeding blisters that have just now closed.

After that was finished last weekend we did the (organic) fertilizing, over-seeding, and peat pellet treatments. One week later, we have an actual green lawn! (Well....mostly....where the grubs are/were, it is still pretty yellow.)

As soon as we were done, the city of Ottawa imposed an outdoor water ban for the entire summer. You cannot  water the lawn, water the plants, wash your car or fill the pool if you have one. They are replacing a water main, and we are temporarily connected to a different reservoir of much less capacity. We'll have to enjoy the green lawn while we still have it.......bummer.

The perennials have started to emerge, and it doesn't look like we lost anything this winter. A new layer of mulch makes it all look very fresh. Despite the fact that black mulch seems to be the thing to buy at this point, I still prefer the red mulch.

Re-emerging plants. The hydrangea is fine, tiny buds are in there

The theme in Ottawa at this time of year is tulips, and of course we have some in he garden too. They are going to be in bloom soon. Squirrels have buried some bulbs from someone else's yard in another flower bed in our yard,so it looks like we will have random extra ones in odd spots.

Next to the emerging tulips, the daffodils are pretty well finished.

 Brand new maple leaves that were not there two days ago.

After all the work was done for now, we took our bikes and went for a ride in the area to enjoy the new green things. The abandoned house stands in stark worn contrast to the tiny new green leaves colouring the trees around it.

For a moment I forgot how early in the season it still is. The parking lot for the recreation area is still closed, but that doesn't seem to stop anyone. There are several cars parked right up against the wooden barriers, and people are pick-nicking on the water's edge at the locks, despite the fact that it is only 15 degrees.

In town, the water in the canal has been raised to summer levels, and the tulip festival kicked off this week. But here the level is still low and the barrier keeping the water out of the lock is still in place.

Seriously, did they have plastic sheeting in 1830?

The docks are still in the empty locks, waiting to be floated out.

The canal will open to boaters on May 20th, so no doubt the lockmaster's house will open soon, and the docks will be floated out of the locks to where they belong.

  

At the speed everything is going now, that tree will also be green by next week end.