That time I was on the Skate Patrol for ten years (Part 1)

The 40th edition of Ottawa's Winterlude festival has opened this weekend, and its crown jewel, the Rideau Canal Skateway, is enjoying a good season. This year has had the earliest start in four years, after a record short 18 skating days in 2016 and 25 skating days in 2017.

The official @NCC_Skateway Twitter account often posts tidbits about the skateway, for example, a tweet mentioning that there is a team of 60 skate patrollers on the canal.

As it happens, I served on the Rideau Canal Skate Patrol for ten years, and I've been meaning to write about it. Now that I've been off the patrol for a while, it's time for me to come out of the shadows...

3D Thursday: Bicycles and icicles

This past weekend, Citizens for Safe Cycling's third annual Family Winter Bike Parade ended at 8 Locks' Flat, where a number of bike racks were laid out for us on the patio, which we diligently filled. A number of cyclists had already left by the time I took this photo:

Source photos for the 3D image: Left, Right

Mike from the Ottawa Bicycle Lanes Project posted a Vimeo video of the ride.

As I left 8 Locks' Flat, I noticed some people had hung some posters from the Corktown Footbridge. If you zoom in, you can make out the words "Marry Me Tia". Awww... (I didn't get a 3D photo of it)

I then headed to the Winterlude festivities in Confederation Park to check out the ice sculptures. As with previous years, there were plenty of military themes, in particular commemoration the start of World War I. This life-sized sculpture depicts women waving off their soldier husbands or boyfriends heading off to war by train.

Source photos for the 3D image: Left, Right

Another angle:

Source photos for the 3D image: Left, Right

Here's the official description of the sculpture, entitled "100 Years Later – The Beginning of the First World War"

This sculpture is presented by Veterans Affairs Canada, and Winterlude is for the first year being presented by the department of Canadian Heritage, as indicated by the banner at the bottom of the placard. (The NCC still maintains the Rideau Canal Skateway.)

The 36th edition of the three-weekend-long Winterlude festival continues in its final weekend this Saturday through Monday (Family Day) along the Rideau Canal, in Jacques Cartier Park, and at various venues elsewhere.

The skateway will remain open after Winterlude for as long as conditions permit. See current conditions on the official NCC Ice Conditions website or on this unofficial website which is more mobile-friendly.

[Tune in on Thursdays at noon for a new 3D image. View the 3D label for other posts with 3D images. 3D FAQ]

Last chance to see Winterlude

Today is the last day of Winterlude, which means your last chance to see the sculptures in Confederation Park, such as the ones around the fountain that came from Trafalgar Square:

And these muskoxen:

The Korean lantern garden decorations are still about:

As is the neat 15m tunnel of over 1300 lanterns (printed fabric shades over strings of Christmas lights), which celebrates the Jinju Namnang Yudeung Festival, as well as 50 years of Canada-South Korea diplomatic relations (the monument to Canadian soldiers fallen in the Korean war is right nearby, if not directly in line with the tunnel, up on the Mackenzie-King Bridge).

In addition to the sculptures at Confederation Park, there are many "Official Winterlude Restaurants", including Grill Forty One at the Lord Elgin Hotel. These restaurants, as well as the official Winterlude hotels, are usually marked by their own ice sculptures outside. The sculptures will go, but the restaurants will still be around in Centretown, for your patronage.

And the canal will also remain open beyond Winterlude, so long as the weather permits. Not all of the on-ice vendors will stick around after Winterlude, but the staples will (Beavertails, fries, and skate rentals). This shot has the Rideau rest area of the canal reflected in the glass of the Convention Centre.

The cold weather of the last couple of days is promising for the ice conditions on the Canal.

So get outside and enjoy Winter(lude) while it's still around!

Thunder and snow

Just over a decade ago, the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument was unveiled at Confederation Park, across from the Lord Elgin Hotel on Elgin Street. After a recent storm, snow covered the wings of the golden eagle, (representing the mythical Thunderbird).

I remember watching the monument being installed. For a number of months before the opening, the big square rock on which the statue is mounted sat on its own. Finally, a statue appeared and it made a lot more sense.

Snow also means winter, which in Ottawa means Winterlude. Confederation Park is one of the primary sites for Winterlude, and the Lord Elgin already has its banner up promoting the event. There's also a trailer for a vendor to set up a waffle tent during Winterlude. The timing couldn't be better, as local blog Apartment613 has been fuelling interest in local waffles.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

The miniature street sweeper

Back in October when the Occupy Ottawa protest was still well-established in Confederation Park, I went by a couple of times to see what there was to see. Someone with a generator, bucket, and various tools was at the NCC's miniature bronze map of downtown Ottawa-Gatineau. The more tourist-oriented streets appear to be brass, and this person was cleaning them with a Dremel and various abrasive sponges.

I didn't realize she wasn't with the protesters, as a gasoline generator and water jugs was the kind of thing the protesters would have with them. But it turns out she works for the firm of the original artist, which was hired by the NCC to do some cleaning and updating some features on the map (like adding the new Convention Centre and removing the Capital Infocentre).

I chatted with her briefly, but unfortunately it's been too long for me to remember any noteworthy details.

Click on the photos to view full-size. I think it's a neat throwback to the scale models used by Jacques Gréber to illustrate his plans for the capital (Such as #151 and others listed here)