Midnight Doghouse Run

 Ever see someone walking down a snowy street with a doghouse in hand? 

Well that was my gang last Sunday. We were alerted by a post on Buy Nothing Hintonburg that there was a dog house available on the corner of Gladstone and Irving and 20 minutes later we were out the door going to pick it up.

Buy Nothing is an interesting phenomena. People are literally giving away almost everything on this site: TVs, plants, pots and pan, even half eaten boxes of cereal. And guess what? There are takers for everything! Well... almost everything. Glosette Girl tried to give away some teaching books earlier this year and there were no takers :( 

Oh well. Guess open boxes of Cheerios are more interesting.

Anyways, if you haven't done so yet, check out whether there is a "Buy Nothing" group in your area. There probably is and you will be surprised at what you can find.

As for me, well I am now a proud owner of a doghouse, which takes pride of place in my backyard. By the way, I don't have a dog.

Margot is hoping to rehabilitate the doghouse for our cat, Panda

Étoile du Squat

Ah the simple joys of childhood...

This week, Margot was recognized by Télé Quebec as the Étoile du Squat. Squat is a french supervised social media website that does a surprisingly good job at keeping Margot on top of current affairs in a kid-friendly way. It's like a french CBC website for kids. On the site children post comments about hot topics and also have the ability to comment on each other's posts. 

The Internet loves Margot

Well Squat has apparently been paying attention to Margot's posts because she received the award for her polite tone, her positive comments and her kind words towards others. 

Margot was literally BEAMING when she found out she had received the award. To top things off, after Squat announced she was the Étoile du Squat she received 289 comments or posts congratulating her. Of course she had to respond to them all personally!

The only downside is that has to check every morning for new Squat comments!

What a great day to be a squatteuse!

Hintonburg lineups

 Ottawa is known for a lot of things:

• There are more than 14 museums in Ottawa, and apparently the Canadian History Museum is the most visited museum in Canada.
• A skilled and competent civil service (20% of all adults in the Federal civil service alone)
  
• We take great pride in civic responsibility (we are above the national average when it comes to voting woohoo!)
• We have an educated population (four universities plus colleges)
• The Rideau Canal is the largest skating rink in world
• It's the seventh coldest capital in the world...*
  

Hmmm not exactly the most riveting list is it? It probably explains why people often claim it's a boring city even though, as I've said before, I would argue that's unfair.

And true to form, even a worldwide pandemic can't stop Ottawan's from our organized and officious selves! I snapped this photo of people standing in line to buy Suzy Q donuts on Sunday when it was a (crazy) 20 degrees Celsius outside. Now don't get me wrong, Suzy Q isn't half bad but standing around for 20 minutes at 2 pm...for donuts?

Still, it's great to support local. And who am I to judge what people stand outside for? I've seen lineups around the block for ice cream (in October) and grocery stores at 8 am when they open (waiting 30 minutes after opening avoids the lines).  Compared to the passion in that country down south of us... maybe standing around in lines isn't such a bad quirk!

*Ulaan-Baatar (Mongolia), Astana (Kazakhastan), Moscow, Helsinki, Reykjavik and Tallin (Estonia) apparently beat us.

US Election: And So It Goes

I rarely write about politics on this blog. It's not that I'm not into politics and world affairs, it's just that I like to focus my writing on the quiet quirks and moments that make up my little corner of the world. 

However, every once in awhile something happens that I can't help but take notice of. Not a Canadian election! Those are yawn fests (expect when Quebec seperatism is on the table). Canadian political disagreements are akin to arguing which colour of beige is best for the walls. Sometimes UK or European news captures my attention...but, let's be honest, no one does crazy, epic, political fights like the U.S.  

It's like everything Americans do - amusement parks, hamburgers, sleaze, celebrity, rock and roll - they do it bigger and badder than anyone.

With no direct skin in the game, I'm more bemused than anything these days. It looks like Biden has the election wrapped up but the results are a lot closer than many people thought it would be at this point although I don't understand why journalists seem surprised about that. Don't they know what country they live in? From my vantage point in the Great White North, the U.S. is a conservative inclined country with periodic liberal interludes. This is the exact opposite of Canada, which is a naturally liberal country with occasional conservative periods. Trump just brought out an extreme version of what was always there.

Honestly I think too often journalists and other smart people substitute what they want to happen with what will happen.

Anyways, eventually this period of turmoil shall pass. The U.S. is almost out of the crassness of the Trump era. A modest Democrat era begins. And it certainly is modest - there was no "blue wave".  I hope that at least gives both sides pause. The U.S. is a divided country and each side needs to realize that they must live with and listen to the other. Will anyone try?