Centre of the Universe

Ottawa is a pretty mellow place so it can be pretty easy for me to forget that it's the centre of political power in Canada.

Occasionally though, when my family comes to visit, I have an excuse play tourist in my hometown. This past weekend I took my Dad on a free tour of the House of Commons, which is where Canada's Parliament sits. I've done this tour a couple of times in the past but I couldn't remember the last visit very much.

It was pretty interesting.

First off, I was surprised to see there were so many other tourists on the tour considering it's the end of November - a typically dead time around here.

Second, even though the tour is a brisk 40 minutes or so you do get to see the main room where legislative debates happen and the House sits. For people with a slightly policy-wonkish nature, like me, that's pretty cool.

Where the Law of our Land gets made

Our tour was cut a bit short because an actual debate was going on in the Senate regarding a postal strike that's been happening. But we did get a chance to see the Parliamentary library, which is probably the most beautiful library in Canada.

Queen Victoria minding over the books

Now, as someone who has actually testified before a Parliamentary committee, and seen how Parliamentary work came be overly theatrical, you might think that I would have a jaded view of all this but surprisingly I'm still an optimist. Call me naive, but compared to most places in the world I think we Canadians have figured out how to run a government pretty well. And seeing all the places where work is done reminds me how close to the centre of power normal people (like me) can get.

No tour is complete without climbing something tall and this one was no different. We ended the tour by going up the Peace Tower, which is the big tower that you see in the middle of our Parliament buildings. From there my dad and I could see from the golden fields of Saskatchewan to the potato fields of Prince Edward Island.

Just kidding.This is Canada. All we saw was snow :)

Air Millenial

My job can be pretty intense sometime. But once in awhile a little adventure will happen that is kindof cool! This past week I had an opportunity to hop on a 6-seater plane because I had to travel to a little-used airport in St Catherines, Ontario.

The airport "lounge" for the airline I took, FlyGTA, was pretty funny: it was basically a shed next to a parking lot. All the pilots and crew seemed to be in their mid twenties. I kept wanting to ask them to show me their ID.

Me and my chariot

The airport we landed in was tiny. It's the first time I've ever been to an airport with literally no staff - just the ones who flew in with us on the plane! There was no baggage check, security or anything else. Just us.

But the best part was the flight back to Toronto (where I had to transit through in order to get back to Ottawa). The twenty-something crew flew in really close to the CN tower and then banked pretty hard to avoid hitting the tower! OK I'm exaggerating a little :) The ride was actually pretty smooth. Props to FlyGTA (pun intended).

Hard Left!

Definitely an unexpected but fun mid-week adventure. Just another day at the office!

Remembrance

There are so few things in modern society that everyone can agree on. I would like to think that having a moment's reflection for the people who sacrificed everything they believed would help make a better world would be one of them. Sadly, that's not true. They, and the symbols around Remembrance Day, are just one more thing to analyze and critique and debate.

I love a good debate. And I'm trying to equip Margot with skills that, I hope, will one day allow her to consider the tough questions of the world. But I am also trying to help her realize that the world wars of the 20th century involved real people - my English family members among them - persevering through the scariest situations possible.  And maybe it's not too hard to give them a minute of respect.

One day soon the last living connection to those people will pass on. There won't be any veterans (like my grandfather), children of veterans (like my father) or even grandchildren of veterans anymore. But I will do my best to ensure that at least one more generation in my corner of the world remembers.

Lakes of Canada: Get Out There!

On Saturday morning I happened to hear on the radio that a band called Lakes of Canada was playing a 4 pm kid-friendly show on Sunday.

Now, for the most part, I stopped going to see concerts at least 10 years ago (not counting local festivals). I'll be honest, even in my heyday I was never a huge concert-goer. But a couple of things about the Lakes of Canada show appealed to me.

For starters, they were playing in a small little church.  I liked that because even when I used to go see more shows I much preferred seeing them in small, intimate spaces instead of massive venues (I once saw Radiohead play in front of 35,000 people in Montreal...I got bored about 30 minutes into the performance even though I liked many of their songs. In contrast, Glosette Girl and I once dropped in on a free concert to see a bunch of nobodies play in a small New York City bar. The musicians were 25 feet away and they passed a bucket around to collect money at the end instead of having a cover charge. It was random, quirky, and...brilliant!)

Just your typical rock-and-roll venue

 Second, although I had never heard of the band before, I found the way they described themselves ("a four piece progressive pop group with gospel and soul vocal harmonies") intriguing.

Finally, I liked how it wasn't a concert aimed at kids but still something kids could enjoy. I mentioned it to Margot and as she seemed up for it, on Sunday evening Margot, Glosette Girl and I made the drive up to the Mill Road Community Space in Chelsea, Quebec to see the band play.

Rockin' out with the band

It's hard to convey how happy I am that we went. There were only 50 people (at most!) there but the band made the room come alive with their presence. Their songs were, at times: atmospheric, haunting, uplifting, loud and beautiful. The a cappella style songs at the end were especially catchy. Honestly, Lakes of Canada rekindled my interest in seeing live music.

A capella NOW!

So a good show! But as we were driving home I couldn't help but think, it would have been so easy for me to have skipped this - to have stayed home and watched Netflix or done chores. And had I made that decision I would have missed something that really inspired me. How many people make choices like that everyday - to decide to do nothing because its easy and familiar rather than trying something new? I know I've made decisions like that all the time...

If there is a morale to this story I guess it's that there are amazing things going on at every moment of every day often just a little outside your comfort zone. But you'd never know unless you get out there and experience it.

And guess what? This is Margot's first true concert (not counting 'fests or kids shows)

Lil Mac's

Margot isn't a super picky eater but I'm not at the stage where I can take her to a fancy restaurant and feel good about it. Hell - I feel guilty even when Glosette Girl and I go out sometimes when I think about how much other stuff I could buy for the price of a fancy meal!

So we're still pretty selective about restaurants we take her to. Cheesy-but-fun-suburban-bar-and-grill is more our thing for the most part.

This past week we tried something a bit more adventurous: Little Mac's, a little hole-in-the-wall down the street. It's a diner - but a diner with an edge.

 
There was ultra cool music playing in the restaurant when we arrived (the kindof music that makes you cooler just by being in its presence). So that was a good start. Also, the food selection was very Margot friendly (lots of fried food) but with a twist.  I had a big plate of of fries, waffles, gravy and chicken. I think the whole waffle/chicken combo is an American thing. I've never had it before. It was...interesting...but I'm not sure I'm sold on waffles for dinner just yet!

My big plate of waffles and ribs is looking at Glosette Girl

As for Glosette Girl and Margot, while they loved their meals, a portobello mushroom burger for Glosette Girl and chicken and fries for Margot respectively.

So if you're looking for something different than your standard McDo's and you're in the area check it out. Just a heads up though: there is no insulation in the walls. So if you go in the late fall or winter - bring your coat!