Things I Love About Ottawa

So one of Glosette Girl's friends, S, is moving to Ottawa. Yay! More adult company!

To give S some comfort that she's made a good call, I've decided to write a blog post about some things I love about the burg I call home. It's not too hard - Ottawa has lots of great thing going for it. However, it's not perfect and I can be a bit opinionated about the not so-perfect parts. Hopefully, that gives this post a bit more authenticity than some of those recent articles about Ottawa that list things like going to a liquor store as one of Ottawa "trendy" spots.

In any case, here's my Ottawa love list!

• It is ridiculously close to nature. In about an hour you can be in some serious wilderness - especially on the Quebec side. I saw a bald eagle in the Market the other day. I can't say that's a regular occurrence (I've never seen one in this area before) but a bald eagle?!
• You can choose what culture you want to live in: French or English. OK OK, for sticklers, the area that is in Quebec is in a different city (Gatineau) but that's a technicality in my books. What really matters is that here are few places in the world that I can think of (maybe Strasbourg?) where crossing a river results in a different dominant language, different school system, different cost of living, different tax system, different everything! It's fascinating and you have real options when deciding what system best suits your lifestyle.
• The "good" part of Ottawa is walkable, and is full of shops, restaurants and green spaces. What's the "good" part you ask? That's for another blog post!
• It feels like it's improving. Some towns and cities feel like they've stalled or are slowly dying. It can be quite sad. Ottawa, though, is finally getting a real mass transit system and urban renewal is evident everywhere. 

Jen walking past a future station of Ottawa's underground light rail system

• It feels safe. Indicators: walking at night is normal in most places. People leave stuff outside without fearing it will be immediately stolen. The problems of the world are very far from Ottawa.

Marching in the Woman's March on Jan 21st was classic Ottawa-safe

• It has four seasons. Long time residents might laugh when they read this one as they wait for the next snow storm to hit but I love how we have summer, spring, fall and winter. Being in Costa Rica for Christmas felt...off! 
• Its big enough to have interesting cultural events but small enough to avoid big city problems like traffic congestion and pollution.
• Ottawa (and the people who live in it) are genuinely nice and modest. That could just be a Canadian thing though.
• This one is personal: it may be the only place in Canada where Jen and I can both have successful careers as I am only licensed to work in Ontario and her dream job pretty much requires her to work in Quebec.

So all-in-all lots of good stuff! S, if you're reading this, you made a good choice!

p.s I think this be the first blog in a new category of posts on "Tough Cookies" relating to lists.
p.p.s if you're counting bullets you'll notice I listed 9 things and not the usual 5 or 10. That's just how we roll in Ottawa.

Up and Down

"Go away!" 

"No! I hate it! It's horrible!!!!"

"You're a T!!" [Margot knows 'idiot' is a bad word and somehow 

has shortened that to 'T' as a way of saying the bad word without going too far]

- All words that have come out of Margot's mouth on a semi-regular basis.

There are five primary sources of conflict: TV; eating; bathing; going to bed and Margot's hair.

Her hair is a particularly brutal one. Every school morning, without exception, Margot asks Glosette Girl for help with Margot's hair before she goes to school. And every morning, without exception, Margot hates everything Glosette Girl does until everyone gives up in frustration.

Ironically, last semester, when it was just Margot and I because Glosette Girl had to leave early for work, there were no problems. I think Margot knew that I was bad at arranging her hair that she didn't bother to fight about it!

It's not so bad of course. After 10 minutes of terror, and as soon as we're out the door, Margot changes to a completely different kid - the sweet one that jabbers on about whatever crosses her mind.

Grrr. MARGOT!!!!!!

There is a whole other side to her of course. She randomly tells me she loves me all the time. That's heartwarming. I also love it whenever her imagination runs wild and she creates a whole little scene or story in the most unlikeliest places.

Arranging her "tou-tous" so they can visit her hallway restaurant

Best of all though is when she just completely takes me by surprise. Jen found this assignment amongst a pile of her homework.

That one made my week.

Sigh. Up and down, up and down. That's my life as a parent!

Teaching Margot

 

What? More skating photos?! Is Tough Cookies: Hintonburg changing its focus full time on a sport with such esteemed terms as the cherry-flip or the camel spin?

Well...not yet!

While Glosette Girl, Margot, and I do have a plan this month to go skating once a week,  skating is just one example of something that I find to be one of the best parts of being a dada: teaching!

It really is fun to teach Margot new things. She gets so much joy out of learning something new and her positive emotions are infectious. It can be a slow haul of course. Glosette Girl and I have been trying to teach Margot skating off-and-on again for the past three winters and there's been many falls, tears and scrapes along the way. However, she keeps picking herself back up and trying again. I have to admire her spirit.

This time we went to the Fairmont Park rink

One of the aspects about teaching Margot that's particularly cute is the almost blind awe and confidence she has in my abilities in whatever it is we're practicing.  On our walk to the rink (the closer one I mentioned in last week's post) Margot kept asking me when did I become such a good skater and how long it would be until she skates as well.

[I learned skating pretty late in life and "ankle burner" may best describe my skating style. If you don't know what that is - Google it]

Of course, I gave her the answer that I use for all questions she asks me: "when you're 19". Good ole 19. Get a cell phone? 19. Stay up late? 19. Go on a date? 19. Haha just kidding... maybe.

Anyways, the way her eyes light up when I show her how to do something new is one of those things, like holding hands, that I hope lasts for a few more years. I can't help but feel privileged to have her admiration and appreciation.

Of course, she'll eventually "figure" figure skating out, just like she did swimming this past fall and biking this past summer. She'll probably skate circles around me! In the meantime we'll have our walks to the rink.

So Canadian

A week back from sunny Costa Rica I feel so...Canadian.

I can't help it. It's such a cliche but it's because of the snow. The heaps and piles of snow. It's everywhere. I have a long driveway which, after a snowfall, is really just a big target for more snow.

It really adds up.

What's extra frustrating is that I have no place to put the snow other than my backyard. So whenever it snows (i.e. every day since we've come back) I shovel it to the back of the house and pile it on top of the snow that's already there.

ARGH!

At least Monday (which was a holiday) was sunny and not too cold. We took advantage of that fact and found ourselves a  skating rink at nearby Dovercourt Centre. There is actually another skating rink closer to where I live but we opted for this one as they do a good job of keeping it clear even though it can fill up with hockey players some time.

Sigh. I can't believe I mentioned snow, skating and hockey in the same blog post. My Canadian radar is definitely on today.

Oh what the hell, in for a penny, in for a pound: "maple syrup".