It was their first time there.
They played on play structures their father had enjoyed as a child..
We hoped to see some pond animals ...
Sure enough, Jericho spotted a turtle sunning on a log.
I wonder if these black eggs in the water are future tadpoles.
So much beauty - and young life - in the park in spring.
I always love going there!
We had just returned from eating at our favourite vegetarian restaurant (the Green Door), trying to maximize the little time we had left together before her move to Toronto.
The sky looked ominous as we drove back to the apartment, but the rain held off. Then a few minutes after we got there, ... a sudden downpour!
When the rain stopped, we headed home. She still had s lot of packing to do...
On the drive home, the sky was pink and blue. It looked so amazing - so different - that I kept taking pictures as we drove.
Later I wrote a blog post about the pictures.
I wonder how many people shared pictures of that sky in Ottawa, I wondered, as I checked the Weather Network's photos..,
Nobody?!!
Gotta fix that! I uploaded one... It was hard to choose.
So here it is!
(I learn so many things from my kids! They were the first to tell me about Uber, Uber Eats, banking e-transfers - and so much more!)
A recent discovery: One of my son’s friends has a lovely swimming pool at home. It is mostly used on weekends - so during the week he often rents it out for an hourly fee - via an online app called “Swimply”…
Only in Ottawa? I wondered…
Apparently not. Some of my daughter’s friends recently gathered for a “girls night” at a rented rooftop pool in Toronto.
I never realized that people would rent out their backyard pools… But why not?
(Live and learn!)
Intrigued by our yearly cycle of lengthening and shortening days, last year I kept track of sunrise and sunset times. Now I’m into my second year of tracking.
I’ve learned some interesting things along the way. One is that the “shortest day” where we live is actually 4 days - from December 19-22.
Though sunrise and sunset times fluctuated, each of those days had 8 hours and 43 minutes of daylight.
Since January 1, we’ve increased a minute of daylight each day - in the afternoon. We currently have 8 hours and 58 minutes of daylight - according to the weather app.
But, based on last year’s data - starting today we should be jumping to 2 or 3 extra minutes a day... which adds up to about 20 minutes a week... That should be noticeable!
With Ontario under stay-at-home orders since early April - and no end in sight - Terry and I have decided to make a list of parks where we haven’t walked in. Yet ... we keep coming back to the same ones.
But there’s something very comforting about the familiar, I said... We know exactly what to expect...
And sometimes we go to parks with memories - like this one where our youngest son played soccer for years. It was his team’s home field.
(Though in those days, I remembered it for the mosquitos - not for the lovely river view.)
Andrew Hayden Park has become a favorite walking destination for me the past little while.
It’s not far away...
The fresh air near the water is invigorating...
The scenery stunning.
But the river does bring a breeze.
The weather is colder. Time to dig out my winter hat and gloves! Fall is truly here...
