Tag: Ottawa

Posted on in global relations, Historical, sports, travel

A winter celebration at Rideau Hall

Author and winterlude mascots outside of Rideau Hall

Yesterday, my South Frontenac Stocksport Club at the invitation of the Austrian embassy in Ottawa participated in a Winter Celebration at Rideau Hall as part of Winterlude, followed by dinner at the Austrian ambassador’s house.

It was a frosty bone-chilling day—one of the smiling volunteers who greeted us had icicles hanging from his moustache!, but the sun was shining, the skies were blue and everyone was in high spirits despite the looming threat of a trade war brewing with the US.

Even though I lived in Ottawa for a year, I had never been to the residence of the Governor General located in the beautiful Rockcliffe neighbourhood near the Prime Minister’s residence. The original stone villa was built in 1838 by Thomas MacKay who was one of the contractors on the Rideau Canal. Rideau Hall has been home to the Governor General, the Queen’s representative in Canada every year since Confederation. Rideau Hall is free to tour year-round, although reservations are required in the off-season.

I took a break from helping demonstrate ice stock (for more on the sport of ice stock, see this post) to tour the expansive grounds. There were booths and exhibits from several embassies and organizations. The Embassy of Finland had kicksledding, the Embassy of Norway skiing, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands showcased Dutch shuffleboard.

All the booths were handing out free treats and drinks native to their country and there were live musical performances and dancing . Since our club was set up on Rideau Hall’s skating rink, a nice alternative when the canal is chock-a-block full of people, we got to see a figure skating demonstration presented by Can-Skate Canada.

At one point, the Governor General herself, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon came by, threw a stock and had her picture taken with our club members. I met her husband Whit Fraser and enjoyed petting their friendly lab pup Neva. I later saw them watching an Indigenous square dance at one of the other exhibits. You can learn more about the incredible work Mary Simon and her husband have done on Indigenous and northern issues on the Governor General’s website.

Our Stocksport Club with the Governor General

Above: Our Stocksport Club with Her Excellency, Mary Simon, the Governor of General, pictured third from the right. Below: our club President, Karl Hammer chats with her excellency and representatives from the Austrian embassy

Governor General Mary Simon and Karl Hammer, president of the South Frontenac Stocksport Club

Everyone was so lovely and kind, and I enjoyed meeting people from all over the region—students, government workers, military and security personnel who braved the cold to enjoy the outdoor activities.

After the event was over, we went to the Austrian ambassador’s house for a delicious Austrian meal of goulash, gluwhhein or glogg, a mulled wine, and fluffy Austrian pastry. Our hosts were His Excellency Andreas Rendl and his lovely wife Ava, and I enjoyed chatting with them to learn more about a day in the life of an ambassador and their experiences in Canada, their final posting before Andreas retires in a few years.

It was a wonderful day and experience and made me especially proud to be Canadian on a day that I’m sure will define us as a nation in the years ahead.

This week’s #HappyAct is twofold: visit one of Canada’s beautiful heritage properties or museums and get out and enjoy the last vestiges of winter since according to the groundhog, it will be an early spring! Winterlude continues in Ottawa from now until February 17.

man skating on ice
Indigenous dancing at Rideau Hall

Her Excellency Mary Simon watching Indigenous dancing at Rideau Hall

Rideau Hall in Ottawa
People in the living room of the Austrian embassy
men standing in front of a fireplace

Karl Hammer, President of our South Frontenac Stocksport Club with our unofficial club ambassador Tyler, with Andreas Rendl, the Austrian ambassador to Canada.

Posted on in entertainment, family, Food and drink, health and wellness, lifestyle, travel

A day at Nordik Spa

Four ladies in spa robes having lunch at Nordik Spa in Chelsea, QC

Last week, Dave’s sister and I took the girls to Nordik Spa in Chelsea Quebec.

It was a combination graduation gift and final girls’ trip before Grace and Clare leave for university this fall.

A day at Nordik is the ultimate in indulgence and relaxation.

As you walk up the several flights of steps to the impressive main lodge with massive wooden beams, you are welcomed by the sound of trickling waterfalls and the smell of burning wood in the fire pit cradled by bright red Adirondack chairs.

I’ve been to Nordik once before with my girlfriends and I remembered it takes an hour or so to fully embrace the spa experience.

The spa is divided into three main sections, Borea, where you can talk in whispers and low tones, Panorama, where you can chat freely and Kaskad, where there is complete silence. Thermal hot pools, some with waterfalls are interspersed with cold pools and saunas. Lounge chairs, hammocks, hammock chairs, and reading pavilions with wood fires are available for those who just want to sit and read and relax or listen to music.

Nordik spa is designed around the ancient Nordic ritual of thermotherapy, a treatment that alternates between hot and cold temperatures, followed by a rest period.

Thermotherapy deeply cleanses the body, eliminates toxins and can help with injury, chronic pain, rheumatism, arthritis, depression and sleeping. To truly embrace the full spa experience, you’re supposed to complete the entire cycle three times.

We started the morning in the social area with its infinity pool and magnificent views of Gatineau Park and the city of Ottawa. It was a cool, cloudy day, so the warm bubbles of the thermal pool felt wonderful as we chatted and caught up with Dave’s sister.

Clare embraced the full spa experience, opting to do a cold plunge next, but I figured I get enough cold water immersion experience swimming in my lake, so I went for a sauna and some hammock time instead.

Grace’s favourite was the heated rock bed sauna. It was so relaxing, a person fell asleep and was snoring!

After a few hours of thermal pools and saunas, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in their Finalandia restaurant. One of the things I love most about Quebec is you never get a bad meal and their restaurant is excellent. We enjoyed a cheese board, roasted red pepper hummous, broccoli soup, brisket sandwich on focaccia bread topped off with a tiramisu cheesecake and warm chocolate brownie with ice cream.

As the afternoon sun finally peeped out, we finished the day where we started, chatting in the thermal pool and looking over the gorgeous views of Gatineau Park.

Grace kept asking me what we should do next, and I would reply, “Whatever you want, that’s the beauty of this place.”

This week’s #HappyAct is to pamper yourself at a spa day. Enjoy!

Four ladies in front of the entrance to Nordik Spa in Chelsea, QC
Posted on in entertainment, Historical, pop culture, Technology and social media, travel

Immerse yourself in art

Van Gogh immersive exhibit

Last weekend, my girlfriend Leslie and I went to the Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit in Toronto.

It wasn’t at all what I expected, but was quite interesting. I expected to walk through a gallery of rooms of Van Gogh’s art projected on walls, but you actually enter one room and stay there the whole time as the theatrical experience engulfs you.

It was a massive space—the exhibit is showing at The Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge Street and I suspected the space on the first floor was the former printing plant.  

The first time we watched the 35-minute production, we simply admired Van Gogh’s masterpieces paired with classical music as they surrounded us in 360-degree views projected on the walls and floor.

Van Gogh’s famous sunflowers, lilies and almond blossoms surrounded us, followed by a starry night, scenes of fields and cafes, and portraits of courtesans, farmers and compatriots of his day.

The second time we watched it, the images transformed in a new way, dancing across the walls, rising and falling, coming to life. The smoke from a cigar billowed upward, a steam train rolled across the countryside, and a windmill slowly turned amongst threatening clouds as the animated images immersed us in their beauty and brushstrokes.  

Art aficionados and purists may balk at commercializing works of art and masterpieces, but for me it created a new and wondrous appreciation of the work of Van Gogh.

Here are some pictures of the exhibit. The Van Gogh 360 exhibit is on until May 30 in Toronto and this summer at Lansdowne Place in Ottawa. Be sure to put it on your summer vacation happy act list.

Van Gogh a starry night
A starry night
Van Gogh painting
Van Gogh art
Van Gogh lillies
Van Gogh masterpiece
Van Gogh's lillies
Posted on in family, travel

The world’s longest skating rink turns 50

Me skating in front of a big beaver

One of our true national treasures is the Rideau Canal Skateway. Since skating has always been a passion of mine and I lived in Ottawa for a year, skating on the canal always brings back a flood of memories.

When I was a student in Ottawa, I’d skate to school, skate to the movies, and skate downtown to the bars and back. One of my favourite memories was turning the corner near the Laurier bridge at night right at that serendipitous moment when fireworks were going off over the majestic spires of the Chateau Frontenac to honour the opening of Winterlude.

There’s no better time to skate on the canal than Winterlude, Ottawa’s outdoor winter festival, and yesterday, we spent a cold frigid February day on the canal. Since two sections were still closed—be sure to check the interactive ice conditions map on the NCC website if you go, but they were saying the full canal should be open today—we made our base Fifth Avenue and skated north and south as far as we could go.

My husband and daughter on the ice

We watched them film a Hallmark movie in the little park under the romantic stone bridge (Dave thinks he got in a scene). We watched a guy juggle hockey pucks and sticks—only in Canada! We ate beavertails, which is mandatory if you skate on the canal in case you didn’t know. And we skated, and skated, and skated, until my wool socks chafed at my ankles.

This year, under the Bank Street bridge, the NCC has erected a photo exhibit of 50 years on the skateway.

Juggling hockey pucks

There was a picture of Douglas Fullerton, the chair of the National Capital Commission from 1969 to 1973 who came up with the idea to make it a skateway and helped the canal open in 1970. There were pictures of 7-year old Justin Trudeau on the canal as a boy, and the unsung heroes who flood the ice every night. Since I lived in Ottawa, and skated at night all the time, I would see the NCC workers, huddling out in the freezing cold digging holes in the ice and then using their long hoses to flood it so it would be in pristine condition the next day for the hordes of visitors.

Ice sculpture
You could make your own coloured ice block and add it to this ice sculpture

After we could skate no more, we visited the ice sculptures and interactive outdoor installations on Sparks Street (very cool, pun intended!), and walked past the Parliament buildings, the war memorial and the Chateau.

I can’t imagine a better day or way to spend a winter’s day.

This week’s #HappyAct is to get out and embrace winter, ideally on the world’s longest skating rink. Happy skating!

Snowplows on the ice
The unsung heroes who keep the skateway clear

My daughter on the ice

Girls eating maple taffy
Eating maple taffy as the sun sets on a great day

Posted on in nature

Watch the world awaken

Darkness out a car window

5 a.m.

Pour the coffee

Pack the car

Hit the road jack

 

The car headlights cut through the fog

Blurred darkness

 

6 a.m.

The world begins to lighten

We pass through sleepy towns with quirky names like Tichborne and Wemyss

 

Signs never seen before

The Battle River Bison Company

10 acre hobby farm for sale

Even the wildlife sleep, save for a lone bat startled by the car headlights

 

The blanket of mist slowly lifts

Revealing silhouettes of Jack pines

Standing guard, protecting the quiet, still dark lakes

 

7 a.m.

Movement.

A few drowsy cows graze outside my car window

A light flickers in a farmhouse

Round hay bales sit forlornly in the fields

Saluted by the stands of corn

 

Daylight.

The fog persists

But another day has dawned

 

Ed.note: I wrote this poem in my head early Sunday morning driving to Ottawa for Clare’s provincial kayaking championships. I’m not a morning person, so you won’t see many “enjoy an early morning happy acts!”, but there is something special about watching the world awaken. Try it (if only once!) The trip was definitely worth it. Clare got a gold, silver and bronze medal.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Find your happy place

saying about happinessA couple of week’s ago, I posted this image on Facebook.

All my life I’ve lived by water. Growing up in Port Credit, I lived by the Credit River and Lake Ontario. I’d spend my summers swimming in the Credit or at one of the many beaches along the lake. (Sadly, the beaches are often closed now due to high eColi readings and only a crazy person would swim in the Credit River anymore).

In Ottawa, when I was studying my Masters degree at Carleton University, I lived by the canal and not far from the Ottawa River. I biked in the summers along the river and canal, and skated to school and downtown in the winter on the world’s longest skating rink.

When Dave and I decided to get out of Toronto, we targeted five areas. The area north of Kingston, with its honeycomb of lakes was at the top of our list, and today I live on a lake and work at an office where I can see Lake Ontario from our offices.

There’s a scene in Happy Gilmour, where Happy’s golf coach tells him to go to his happy place.

This week’s #HappyAct is to find your happy place. Mine is water. What’s yours?

Posted on in Uncategorized

Top 7 gardens to visit

Garden walkway
One of the many beautiful paths at Spindletree gardens

For some people, the thought of spending time in a garden would be a yawnfest.

Even if you don’t like gardening, spending time in a garden can be cathartic. I’ve always found gardens to be peaceful, inspirational places where the wonders and beauty of nature unfold and transform from season to season.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit two spectacular gardens this year: numbers 1 and 7 on the list. For those of you in Eastern Ontario, I’d highly recommend you visit Spindletree Gardens in Tamworth—it is truly a treasure in our own backyard and one of my all-time favourite gardens. They also serve a great lunch.

Here is my top list of favourite gardens to visit and spend time in:

  1. Longwood Gardens, in Pennsylvania: we visited this garden in July. I loved the fountain show and the conservatory, which had one of the largest pipe organs I’ve ever seen
  2. Larkwhistle, the home of garden authors Patrick Lima and John Scanlan’s on the Bruce Peninsula—simply stunning but you may be too late—when we visited it last summer we heard it may be the last season they open to the public
  3. The Rideau canal in Ottawa in May during the Canadian tulip festival
  4. The gardens at Chatsworth Hall, in Bakewell, England: 105 acres of formal traditional gardens and where they filmed my favourite version of Pride and Prejudice
  5. Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens—beautiful in the spring when the cherry and apple trees are in full bloom
  6. The garden atrium and conversatory at the Opryland hotel in Nashville–nine acres of inside oasis
  7. Spindletree gardens and tea room in Tamworth: a gem in our own backyard

This week’s #HappyAct is to spend time in a garden. Find a quiet bench to sit on then look around you. You never know what you may find and where your thoughts will take you.

Flowers in a conservatory
The conservatory at Longwood

Flowers in bloom
My garden