Three Amenities all in One

Question: what's more convenient than a convenience store?
Answer: a convenience store that is in fact a convenience store, post office and dry cleaners all in one!

"Where is this amazing store you speak of, good sir?" you might ask me.
 And I would answer "Why at the end of my street my good man (or woman)!"

Wellington Cleaners: multi-task specialists

City living means people coming up with all sorts of creative ways to survive. And "Wellington Cleaners" is the perfect example of that. Somehow they make dry cleaning and the post office seem perfectly natural together. Like two peas in a pod or birds of a feather... or, well you get the idea.

It's actually quite useful. If ever I need to mail a birthday parcel, I can just walk over and, whoosh, off it goes. And if I happened to fall into a mud puddle on my way over? No problem! I'll just add my dirty clothes as part of the bargain.

I should be honest and admit that the "convenience" store aspect of the store takes a distant third place to the other business they do. It seems mostly knick knacks and birthday cards from the 1990s. But they add to the charm of the place. One day I'll buy one just to add a bit of spice to the store owner's day.

Ski de fond?...ski de fun!

This past weekend was a holiday weekend and we decided to take full advantage of it by trying something new: cross country skiing! While Glosette Girl and I have skied before it was Margot's first time.

It takes a special someone to enjoy cross country skiing. It's fun...but it's also hard work. In other words, a perfect activity for adults but kids...not so much. We really weren't sure if Margot would enjoy it.

So to make things extra special, instead of trying just any old trail in the Ottawa area (there are lots) we rented an airbnb in nearby Fort-Coulonge, Quebec to use as a home base for exploring the trails in a more rural and beautiful setting.

The weather has been up and down lately (either insanely cold or quite warm) so this was a bit of a gamble. For all we knew we'd end up trapped in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. Luckily the ski gods were on our side and everything went off without a hitch.

For Margot's first taste of skiing we tried some trails in Bristol, which is about an hour from my house on the Quebec side of the border. Coincidentally there was a mini loppet going on and we were welcomed to the ski trials by lots of friendly loppet volunteers. The trails were flat and gentle - the perfect introduction for Margot and she picked it up right away.

And guess what? We were even photographed by a journalist and our pictures are going to be in the local paper! Pretty good if I do say so myself. Anyways, after 50 minutes of skiing or so we continued on to our final destination in Fort-Coulonge where we crashed for the night.

The next day, after a perfectly lazy morning, we hit up Le Patro, a park on the outskirts of town that was supposed to have great cross country trails. Again, a total gamble. And again...our luck held! The trails were so nice Margot wanted to just keep skiing. All told we skied for about 3 hours and in that whole time we saw two other people. We had a huge park to ourselves! When we finished we were pretty tired but in a happy sort of way.

So it looks like we've found a new activity to add to the family repertoire. I'm pretty psyched about that actually. Margot is growing up to be an interesting little spark and finding activities that I can share with her make it that much more fun to be a parent.

March 6th update! Here is the photo/article of us in the local paper - the Pontiac Journal:

A Very Red and Black Valentine's

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone! 

After so many years together it's hard sometimes to think of creative ways to spend Valentine's. Going out to restaurants isn't that special because we already do that that together relatively frequently. Plus, notwithstanding last year's amazing Valentine's Day dinner at one of our favourite restaurants,  it seems kindof... overdone.

So this year we went in a different direction.

Step one: skip the fancy meal and instead book over to Chinatown for a big fat bowl of Vietnamese Pho and a plate of vermicelli. Mmmm comfort food.

So THAT's how Glosette Girl feels about me?!

Step two: head downtown. Kill some time at the central library catching up on the latest good reads.

Absorbing the atmosphere of the lovely and timeless library carpets and walls

Step three: the main course! Let's just say, if I said to you "do you hear the people sing?", how would you respond? Probably you'd note that it's the songs of angry men. And then I'd say "It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again." And then you'd observe "ahhh...but does the beating of your heart echo the beating of the drums." And then...

Those wacky French and their revolutions

What am talking about? Why, Les Misérables of course! Les Miz was the first musical I ever saw (when I was 9 if you can believe) and it has had a place in my heart for years. The Broadway touring production is currently in Ottawa and we decided to make it the crown jewel in our Valetine's Day extravaganza.

We stayed like this for the whole show. The people behind us were less than impressed

I know, I know, it ain't no Shakespeare. But it hits the right notes (haha pun intended) with its balance of comedy and tragic romance. Margot was just a little too young for it this time, but I'm still keeping my eye open for a good first professional musical experience for her. But this time....this time was just an intimate evening me between me, Glosette Girl, Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine and dozens of Parisian urchins.

Not the closest seats...but enjoyable all the same!

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot the most important step of all! Step four! Waiting for our groggy bones when we got home at 11 pm (way past our mid-week bedtime!) was a Margot creation made with her special brand of Valentine's Day creativity.

Neigh!

A perfect evening!

Winter Jogging

Have you ever seen someone do something, apparently for fun, that makes you wonder "Why on God's green earth would anyone do that?" or "What the Dickens is that person up to? Why the devil..." well you get the idea.

In Canada those people are winter joggers. And I am here to tell you that, yes I am one of them.

It takes a special sort of person to run in freezing cold temperatures on slippery sidewalks for pleasure. Well, maybe pleasure isn't the right word but I do try and run twice a week all winter - once during the week and once on the weekend.

The main reason I do this (I think) is that it's the easiest way for me to get a health fix during the long and dark winter months. Going to a gym is tough when you're a dad and skating, snow shoeing and cross country skiing are "bigger" activities that require more time and hard to do on a regular basis.

I'm not crazy! I have a haphazard array of winter jogging clothes that I've collected over the years and that allows me to jog reasonably comfortably down to about minus 20 Celsius. That's my limit.  Those negative 30 Celsius joggers - now those guys are nuts. ....right?

(crickets)

I have two basic routes from my house: one where I jog pretty much straight west along the Byron linear park and one where I run around nearby Dow's Lake.

Here is my Byron linear park route.

A couple minutes from my house I'm still in a residential neighbourhood.

 

A few minutes later I've entered the Linear pathway. It's a nice tree-lined park that is about 2.5 km long and varies between 5 and 15 metres wide.

When they say linear - they mean linear!

I run in the park until I hit a dead end at Churchill street in Westboro.

Just think...it's only 3 months until spring...

After that I double back home. There isn't much action beyond dog walkers and other crazy winter joggers but occasionally I run past something interesting like this remnant from Christmas.

It's not much but I'll take it!