Forgotten Corners of Hintonburg

I'm always intrigued when I come across forgotten symbols of an earlier time. Take the Elmdale Lawn Bowling Club, which is only a couple of blocks away from my house. I'm sure lawn bowling is a fun game but I'm amazed places like this still exist in Canada. Just looking at the club's grounds and building makes me think of the late 19th or early 20th century.

The club house really stands out from its surroundings. On one side are the gentrified upscale houses of the civic hospital neighbourhood. That's not so bad. But just behind the lawn bowling grounds roars Ottawa's Queensway - a multi-lane elevated highway. How the club survived the construction of that behemoth is a mystery to me.

That said, in a sign of how topsy turvy the times are, a lot of old things, like drive-in theatres. are being rediscovered by a new generation. Given that lawn bowling can be played outside in a relatively socially distanced and safe way, perhaps lawn bowling will have a revival. Time to invest in lawn bowling equipment manufacturers, me thinks!

Me Kayak et su Kayak

Just over five minutes away from our house is Dow's Lake. It's not really a natural "lake" but the widest spot on the Rideau canal, which runs through Ottawa.

Fun fact: it was created in the 19th century when a dam was constructed along the north shore. Even more fun: in the spring and summer there are boat rentals available, including paddle boats, standup paddle boards and kayaks. Now if you're an innocent tourist you're probably going to gravitate towards the paddle boats. Don't be fooled! Paddle boats are clumsy, almost oafish vehicles that are very hard to steer. Worse, I find the wind is often at your back when you take your boat out. That means the trip back to the rental shop is against the wind that takes twice as long as the ride out.

Anchors away!

Go for the kayaks! These sleek vehicles allow you to glide across the water without much effort at all.  That's what we took out this past weekend. The weather was perfect for a boat ride and surprisingly, there wasn't any line to rent them so we were able to get on the water pretty quickly. The safety instructions definitely didn't slow us down: "have you ridden a kayak before? Yes? Here's your paddle".

Lots of scruffy hair on the water these days!

Even with a kayak it was a bit tough to get our boats back within the one hour time slot but Margot was in a great mood and sang songs from The Greatest Showman to boost our spirits and give us energy. We made it back with minutes to spare.

Coronavirus in Hintonburg: Week Twelve - Pho Van Van

The provincial government has announced that most regions of Ontario have entered "phase two" of our provincial economic re-opening meaning places like restaurants, hair salons, splash pads for kids and a lot of other amenities will soon be allowed to open again.

And with that I think I'll end my "covid-19" series of blog posts. It's not like the disease is solved, but it does now seem, in this corner of the world, increasingly something that is just in the background of life rather than the forefront.

My last "covid-19" post (for now) will therefore be an a benign one: we had our weekly take out last week at Pho Van Van at the corner of Holland and Wellington. We've made a point at trying at a different local restaurant since this crisis began. As I mentioned before, support local!

They have good pokemon stops in the area too according to my helper

Pho Van Van is a Vietnamese restaurant that Glosette Girl like to go to before we (used to) catch a play at the nearby GCTC. They make yummy pho soup. But this time we discovered all their other delicious platters: salad rolls, crispy fried noodles and fried tofu, and various vermicelli combos. It was quite yummy and their online ordering experience was painless (surprisingly a lot of restaurants still have horrible websites or none at all!). The portions were good too - enough for dinner and a good lunch.

So if you're hankering for some take out Vietnamese, you can't go wrong with Pho Van Van!