Auto Shoppe

I once wrote that Hintonburg has a lot of barber shops. That's true.

And another time I wrote that it has a lot of ice cream stores. Also true.

But there is yet another type of store this area has in spades.... auto repair shops!

GROAN! Auto Repair Shops?! Where are the cute photos of Margot I can hear some of you thinking! Well hear me out! This is part of our little life here in Hintonburg.  And within 3 minutes walk of our house there are three of 'em. One is literally at the end of our street. Walk a little further and you find more garages.

Lots of vehicles

 They are a sign that this is still a working neighbourhood not a gentrified fantasy world like Westboro or the Glebe or a tourist zone like the Market.  People work here. People commute from here. And people drive from here. And some of those people take their cars to one of the auto repair shops.

Like us. This past weekend the heavens poured a small pile of snow on us and we decided it was time to put on the ol' winter tires (is this a purely Canadian tradition? Do people in Norway or Sweden put on winter tires every year?). So we dropped ours off at Jim Dickenson Auto Repair. Jim. Dickenson. If that isn't a proper auto repair sounding name I don't know what is!

Jim's shop

Having a repair shop within walking distance of your home is actually super convenient. These types of stores in Canada are often situated in massive parking lot deserts in the middle of nowhere, which forces you to stick around until the repairs are done.

But, honestly, I  have trouble imagining these shops will be around for many more years. The land they are sitting on must be worth a fortune. How tempting that must be for the owner to sell...and then "poof!" a new condo building...with probably a barber shop or ice cream store at the bottom! Oh well. Enjoy it while it lasts and then who knows. Maybe in a few years we'll all be in self-driving cars.

What do you think Margot?

More ice cream? Must be Wednesday!

Yeah. There's the Margot snap!

Daddy Daughter Wednesday Dates

Every Wednesday the past few weeks Glosette Girl has been in drama rehearsal for a play she's working on. And that means every Wednesday it's just Margot and me!

So does that mean it's time to do homework and take a bath?

No! It's time to go on a daddy-daughter-date!

Two weeks ago we visited Stella Luna. We almost had the whole place to ourselves and it was quite relaxing. Even though it's tuques and mittens weather Margot enjoyed a fat ice cream cone.

The day you eat ice cream wearing a tuque is the day you realize you're still young at heart

 I stuck to a big ol' fat cup of hot chocolate (really good by the way!) 

Really yummy

Last week we tried a coffee shop (Bridgehead). It was quite busy - full of people plugging away on their computers or reading newspapers (Question: do you think people who go to coffee shops are working, people watching or both? I've always wondered...)

 
I don't actually drink coffee so what did I get?

Why hot chocolate of course! Unfortunately it was a hot chocolate fail :( Too watery - yuck! At least Margot liked the cookies she got.

That girl in the back isn't actually working. She's spying!

Finally, tonight, we visited the Royal Oak, a nearby pub, for a late night (6:30 pm) plate of na-na-na NACHOS!

 
It's the loudest place we've visited yet with music and boisterous conversations.  Margot got into the rock-and-roll spirit.

What fun it is to be a dad on the town with your little girl! Maybe not the most responsible thing to do. But, seriously, what fun!

Bread by Us? ...Femme Focaccia!

I love having "locals". Local video store. Local library. Local school. It's just more human!

Bread by Us is our local bakery in Hintonburg.

I hit it up on a semi-regular basis.  Glosette Girl goes there so often the staff there associate her with her regular order: focaccia bread!

Femme Focaccia basking in the sun of her purchase

My favourite baked good? Their sourdough bread! It is amazing with a capital "ZING" and compliments soup perfectly! Pottage soup and sourdough bread...sooooo good....

But here's a tip: only go after 3 pm. If you go before 3 the bread is still too warm for the bakery to slice for you and for some bizarre reason that means it just doesn't taste as good. It's good...just not mmmm good! But be careful - if you go after 4 pm all the bread may be gone!

Kaiser Love

Of course, like most "local" stuff, the bread they sell is not as cheap as bread purchased at a grocery but you know what that means? It tastes like real bread!

The New Old History Museum

This past weekend was rainy.  Depressingly rainy. Depressingly November rainy - the type of rain that is so cold it almost falls as snow.  In other words, the perfect day to visit a museum (or stay home in your PJs and do laundry)

I haven't hit up Ottawa's Museum of History (formerly the Museum of Civilization) for a few years now. I used to go a lot when Margot was a toddler but lately we've focused more on hikes and activities than museums. But I'm glad we went.

They've really revamped the space to have a more modern feel and to emphasize Canada's aboriginal heritage. The "great hall" in the museum, which is full of totem poles and aboriginal art, has always been pretty cool.

Glosette Girl explains the Bill Reid sculpture

But the other showpiece of the museum, "the Canadian History Hall", now has a whole section devoted to pre-European contact whereas previously it previously much jumped from the Viking discovery of Newfoundland to the French and British colonists with little in between. It also presents the information in a more organic space and contains less hokey dioramas and more interactive multimedia displays.

This land is my land...

But really I think it was the way they presented aboriginal history that was the most impressive. It wasn't boring or preachy. It was interesting. Non-Canadians may not realize this but most non-aboriginal Canadians (at least in this part of the country) have practically no contact with aboriginal Canadians. So for many of us, this is new. Margot was certainty attentive as Glosette Girl explained the various panels and artifacts to her.

Anyways, we were so impressed we bought ourselves a museum pass. Great job History Museum curators!