Les Moulins La Fayette

If Hintonburg somehow separated and floated away from the rest of the world we would have lots of:

• Barbershops
• Ice Cream Stores 
• Coffee shops 
• And bakeries/pastry shops (it may be sacrilegious in say, France, but some bakeries over here in Canada dabble in pastries too)

All the stuff you need to live, right here in a few square kilometres!

The most recent pastry addition to our neck of the woods is Les Moulins La Fayette. Actually this place is a triple threat: coffee shop, pastry shop and bakery. Margot stopped by Saturday morning and boy was it rocking! Les Moulins La Fayette is a chain store and while I prefer independent companies it seems to have a nice atmosphere. People were on their computers, chatting with friends*, drinking coffee, doing work or just ordering stuff for take out like us.**

I'm also hoping it lasts a bit longer than some of the other stores I've seen around here. There are too many vacancies on Wellington Street.

* p.s I am always a bit jealous of people who seem to have the time to spend their mornings lounging at coffee shop. Where do they find the time?!

** p.p.s we ended up buying a Caramel cake for a get-together we had on the weekend. Mmmm caramel decadence...

Beggars of Hintonburg

I had a nice cheery blog post all lined up about my adventures with Glosette Girl and Margot at Hotel Mont Gabriel in Sainte-Adèle last weekend but something caught my attention. When I came home to Hintonburg I noticed three beggars in a short two-block span around the Giant Tiger near my house.

There are beggars in my neighbourhood, it's just a fact of life. But because I see them every other day or so, sometimes I find they simply blend into the background. It's kindof sad and I have to catch myself to remember that these people are real human beings who, for whatever reason, aren't doing as well as I am.

What's extra sad is that like many advanced economies, Canada (or at least downtown Ottawa) is quickly becoming a cashless society. So there is an ever diminishing pot of money for these people to beg for.

I grew up in such a different environment - in the surbubs of the GTA - where I didn't see a beggar unless I went to downtown Toronto. It was such a sheltered existence! Margot is having a much different experience. She gets scared sometimes because some of the beggars appear dirty or have mental health issues so don't look "normal". I'm trying hard to teach her to respect everyone, and not be scared, but at the same time be sensible. It's a tough balance. It's not easy but no matter what I hope she keeps a little charity in her heart.

Still At It

Two years after Margot first tried cross country skiing we're still at it.

We aim to go roughly four times a season. You'd think that with a winter that's around three months long we'd have no problem hitting that quota but we actually have to do a decent amount of planning to make it.

Why, you ask? Because unless you're into night skiing, weekdays are out.  And sometimes the weather is just too cold for us to go out into (I draw the line at negative twenty degrees Celsius). And fortunately/unfortunately Margot has discovered downhill skiing and if she goes downhill during the week she is not in the mood to explore the wonders of cross country skiing on the weekend.  And finally the shoulder seasons are generally out because there is either too little snow (November/some of December) or too icy (March). Hmmm this is making me sound very picky...but in any case, after all that, we end up with around five to six days from which to choose from between Christmas and Easter.

In the Ottawa region the obvious place to go cross country skiing is just over the bridge in Gatineau Park. However, I'm not really a fan of paying $20 per person to go on crowded trails that are 20 minutes from my house. So we're always on the lookout for free places to ski. This weekend we discovered a nice one just outside the city in the little township of Beckwith.

Into the woods...

The trail is called Goodwood Marsh Nature Trail and although it wasn't as groomed as some of the trails in Ottawa's Greenbelt, it was flat, still, and practically empty.

In other words, perfect for cross country skiing! The few people we came across were very friendly - like we all shared a special secret that other Ottawans had overlooked.

Honestly though, the main reason I like going on these ski trips is that when they work (and they don't always work - think angry Margot crying about cold hands/feet) they are a great chance to spend time with my honeys.

Honey #1:

and Honey #2:

Homework Bribery

Being a good dad is a tricky balance.

Take homework. What tactics are you supposed to apply to your kid to get them to do their homework? Fear ("you dont want to fail that test")? Compliments ("I'm so proud of you!")? Patience ("I'm just going to sit here...")? Flattery ("you'll be the smartest kid in class!")? Parental wishful thinking ("homework is fun")? I'm not proud of it, but I often subscribe to a simple solution. Hint: it starts with a "B" and ends with "-ribery".

Haha actually that's a bit of an exhaggeration. It doesn't take that much to get Margot to do her homework. She likes reading so to her that is fun. She does complain about math, but often if I sit down and explain some of "tricks" to solve some of the more complex problems she really gets into it and wants to try them out on new problems. There's a term for when she wants to do extra homework: dad heaven.

But when that doesn't happen I'm not going to lie, I don't have any qualms about slipping a little bribery into the mix to tip the balance into getting her homework done.

Ice cream cone and pencils...nice.

Lately, we've combined completing homework with the daddy-daughter dates we occasionally enjoy. We've done math problems at Stella Luna and practised reading at our local Bridgehead coffee house. It's nice because it gives us something to chat about (not that her regular stories about the trials and trevails of grade four aren't interesting!). And c'mon. It spices up an overwise mundane task! Haha maybe Margot is going to develop a mental association between her multiplication tables and lemon sorbet?!