Rink of Dreams

As has been widely reported, the Rink of Dreams is now open on the Laurier side of Ottawa City Hall, on Marion Dewar Plaza. It's refrigerated, so it will still be open this weekend even if weather forces the canal to close. It's also free to use.

Mayor Watson is hosting a Family Day skating party this coming Monday from 11am to 2pm, with free hot chocolate. Details available on Jim Watson's website

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

Sunday 11am and noon: Rescue Bronson Avenue walking tour

This ain't your mother's Mother's Day Jane's Walk. Unless your mother lived on Bronson before they widened it in the '50s.

Sunday, May 8, 2011, at 11am, head on over to Bronson and Queen for a really exciting Jane's Walk on Bronson Avenue. If you're not the morning type, you can meet up with us at the Chinatown Arch/Raw Sugar where we'll get to the second half of the walk at noon.

This will be an illustrated walk. The photo below shows an historical photo of Bronson and Somerset. There are eight different location-specific posters of behind-the-scenes happenings along Bronson that you can't see while standing on location. I'll post copies of these posters on the blog on Monday, and hopefully the posters will stay up a while.

In honour of the occasion, the Mayor proclaimed Thursday May 7, 2011, Jane Jacobs Day in Ottawa:

Centretown Art Tour tomorrow

The fourth annual Centretown Art Tour is this weekend, on Sunday, September 12, 2010 from 10am to 5pm. A list of artists is available at the event's website, www.catwalkottawa.ca

There has been some turnover in the artists and locations from last year.

I went last year, and had posted about it beforehand.

Since I didn't get around to posting my photos from last year, now's a good time to do so to drum up some interest.


Here's a photo of Ellen Sloan, whose art consists of pottery such as these bowls and cups. Ellen is back on this year's tour.

It's interesting to see how people decorate their homes. For example, one artist's postal code was written out in their front garden with stones:

Nicole Beaumont, also on the tour again this year, showed off the room she uses as her studio. Not only do the walls have boards for hanging paintings, but she has attached drop cloths to the lower part of the walls that fold up when not in use, as you can see behind her in this photo taken near the end of a long day for her:

The part that fascinates me most about the CATwalk is to be able to get into some of Centretown's beautiful homes. Here's a neat stairway:

And here's an emergency exit walkway that bridges the driveway between two houses:

It's free, fun, and local, so go check out the CATwalk!

In addition to this special Saturday post, this week's usual Monday and Friday posts will be joined by additional content. There's lots of stuff going on in Centretown!

Centretown Art Tour this Sunday

If you haven't seen the posters or promotional cards for the Centretown Art Tour 2009, then your seeing eye dog did.

It's promising to be a very funky event, with eleven different artists showing their work. Here's the map. More details about the third annual Centretown Art Tour are available on their website.

The Centretown Art Tour is this Sunday, September 13, 2009 from 10am to 6pm. Admission is free, and some artists are selling their works. Go! Support local, independent artists!

Centretown Free Market @ Minto Park this Sunday

I picked up a small flyer for the Centretown Free Market, happening this Sunday, October 5, 2008, 11am-4pm at Minto Park, and I see a poster for it in the Bridgehead where I am writing this post. Both have really nice designs, but unfortunately the website (centretownfreemarket.wordpress.com) doesn't have either.

Minto Park, for those of you who don't know, is the park across the street from the Elgin Street Public School, bordered by Elgin, Gilmour, Cartier, and Lewis. It has a number of monuments, including the monument to women abused and murdered by men (photo available at the Wikipedia article on Minto Park) Here's a nice shot of the park from Elgin Street. It's from last week, just as the leaves started to change colour:

I lived a half a block away from Minto Park for a year, and one of my roommates thought the park's name was bought by Minto Group, the development company that built the gigantic tower near Westboro bus station. But I believe it was actually named after Governor General Minto.

One could be forgiven for not knowing the park's name, because the park didn't have a sign until this one was installed this past May:

I enjoy going to the park in the summer to eat my lunch and get away from my over-air-conditioned office. Only a couple of spots on the park benches and picnic tables are in the sun.

As for the story about the sign, that's one for another day, but I'll give a preview: it involves Dundonald Park and this old signpost in Minto Park:

Freedom comes to Centretown

In the suburbs, they need permission to leave stuff out on the side of the road for people to take away for free. Well, not so much "permission" as special days with special rules to leave stuff out on their lawn.

Not so in Centretown, where every weekend brings a new trove of perfectly useful things left at the curbside for the unprudish. This weekend was no exception. One household (whose house was under renovation) had a garage "sale"--without the "sale". They just left a bunch of stuff out in the driveway with a sign saying "free". Come to think of it, they might not have a garage, either!



I picked up a couple of shelf brackets, a game of Trivial Pursuit, and some toys for a friend's children. Another man checking out the scene picked up a jacket that fit him quite well.

Gotta love freedom.