The Medal for Holding Medals

You wouldn't believe what's going on in the community sometimes - well I wouldn't at least! Yes, even in COVID times, just down the road there might be a charity food drive or a race or a pop up shop. 

Well this past week the Canoe Kayak Canada National Sprint Championship was held in Ottawa at Mooney's Bay, which is on the Rideau River, about 15 minutes from my house.  It's amazing that this is going on for a few reasons. To start, it's one of the first big post-COVID athletic championships to be held in person in Canada. Second, it's a great opportunity to meet some of  Olympians who participated in the recent Tokyo Summer Games.

I am sure 99% of Ottawans don't realize this event is going on even though it's occuring in the middle of the city! Honestly, the main reason I know is because Margot took summer camp at the Rideau Canoe Club and they sent out a call for volunteers.

Of course Margot, who is always game to try something new, volunteered to be...someone who holds the medals when they are given out! I had an opportunity to see her performing her medal duties and she had the biggest smile on her face. You would have thought she had won one of the events!

First she walks out with the winners...

I wonder if anyone noticed I was taking photos of the girl holding the medals and not the medalists

 ...then after the medals are awarded, she stands around looking happy!

A cool bonus for her was that she met Lisa Bissonnette who is a great Canadian kayaker and went to Tokyo but wasn't allowed to compete.*

The winners, a sponsor, Lisa and a beaming Margot

Anyways, Margot had a great time helping out. I said it before and I'll say it again, it's amazing what's going on in the world if you just take the time to look.

Extra bonus karma: I volunteered too (handing out coffee, so not as glamorous!)

* The story is kindof sad actually - you can read about it here. 

It's Tough to be a Kid

Yesterday, I took Margot to see a local orthodontist. We've known she's needed braces for sometime, and have visited the orthodontist before, but this was the last appointment before actually starting installing the braces on her.

The orthodontist laid out the information in a very matter-of-fact way: metal braces; two years, on average, for them to be installed; etc. etc.  There wasn't too much room for chit chat. Margot just took everything in stride and listened as I asked follow up questions. However, after the appointment, once we were outside and walking home, she stormed ahead and then burst into tears. It was heartbreaking. 

I remember when I had braces installed when I was a kid. Worse - I had to get glasses at the same time. I still remember praying to God asking to have all this just go away. I remember praying for better vision and teeth! It's still a raw memory even after all these years.

So my heart went out to little Margot. I just wanted to be there for her and comfort her.

It's hard to blame Margot for not wanting to put these in her mouth!

Luckily, she is a trooper. By the afternoon she was much better and instead of crying she was resorting to her usual trickery: telling me that she would get braces if I got her something! Honestly, it's a small price to pay and Margot is already ready to get braces installed in return for something special. What that "special" thing is is still a mystery to me! 

We are still shopping around a bit so she's in the clear for a couple more months. But hey, things aren't that bad. According to Margot, if there is one good thing about covid-19 its that she has to wear a mask at school. So no one will see her wearing her "ugly" braces!

What's Faster than Walking but Slower than a Bike?

What is the biggest thing to hit Ottawa in 2021?

No, not COVID-19. It's the hundreds of scooters zipping all over the city! They are everywhere as part of a city pilot project.

I first saw cities mass deploying scooters as a form of public transport in Lyon, France, which we visited on our last trip to Europe in 2019. I marveled at how fun and efficient they seemed to be and I was curious whether they would work in Canada.

Well, now I know they do! Well, at least in Ottawa. People - young people especially - are loving these things and they are all over the neighbourhood. I'm curious to see if people will still use them in the shoulder seasons when it gets really cold, but for now it seems like a big success.

There are at least three companies competing for business: Bird Canada, Neuron and Lime, and it'll be interesting if all three survive this year's pilot project.

Guilty secret: I haven't tried one of these yet. Call me old fashioned by I'm happy relying on my old two legs to get around the city. When I have to go farther, it's usually to go really far so a scooter won't work for that either. But mark my words, I will try one of these days!

Likes, Camera, Action!

After an eventful vacation, I was wondering what I would write about this week when life handed me a great blog topic: apparently a movie is being filmed just down the street at our local ice cream shop, Stella Luna!

There was noting out of the ordinary at Stella Luna yesterday but today there are several film trucks lined down the street, a Christmas tree in front of the store and film crew scrambling left, right and centre putting the production together. (Is it just me or do film crew people always look busy but edgy with a professional, but devil-may-care attitude?)

Film trucks just around the corner...

Except for the fact that it relates to Christmas, I have no idea what the movie is about. However, according to Stella Luna's facebook site, this has happened before! Back in 2019, the store was one of the location's for Hallmark's next made for TV Christmas Movie "Double Holiday".

...and a Christmas tree out front!

Hmmm, can you say, Double Holiday: the Sequel? Remind me to watch the 2019 movie sometime. Maybe I'm bumbling around the background without realizing it!

I wonder if all Christmas movies are recorded in the summer? Hmmm... I'm going to have to start paying closer attention to them because it currently feels like 40 degrees Celsius and if they are normally recorded at this time of year, perhaps I'll start noticing that all actors enjoying "winter" are sweating through their scenes!

Tour of the Rockies: Forest Fire Disaster

In my last blog post I talked about how the skies in Calgary were hazy due to forest fires in British Columbia. But I didn't realize just how bad things could get until we crossed the border. After doing the typical tourist stuff in Banff/Jasper we crossed the Rockies where we visited Mount Robson provincial park. Fun fact: Mount Robson is the tallest mountain in the Rockies at 12,989 feet.

We then meandered south until we arrived at Clearwater, British Columbia, which is a really village in the middle of nowhere. There's not much there but it does have the distinct advantage of being at the base of Well's Gray Provincial Park, which has 39 named waterfalls and is a hidden gem in the middle of the province.

Dawson Falls

It's a beautiful area but it was at Clearwater that we really started to notice the distinct smell of smoke in the air. Also, the sky started to get much more grey. Luckily we were pretty distracted by all the waterfalls and some fun whitewater rafting, but our luck ran out when we headed further south to visit some friends in the tourist town of Revelstoke.

I kid you not, I have seen an eco-disaster and it lives in British Columbia. Imagine day after day of featureless soul-sucking sky where the colour of the sun shifts between a pale white and a sickly orange.  Image smoke rising from the hills where the fires are burning out of control as no one is putting them out (as there are too many forest fires).

Smoke rising from the hills. This photo was taken in mid afternoon but it looks like evening.

But by far, the worse thing was the air. It tasted like ash. In my home province of Ontario, people eat outside as they are afraid of COVID. In Revelstoke, it was the opposite: we went to a pub and they closed the patio as it was too dangerous to breathe the air outside!

We weren't in Revelstoke very long and soon we moved on to Radium Hot Springs and beautiful Kootenay National Park.

The surreal paint pots trail

We've also had a few great adventures since Revelstoke including seeing three bears on a hiking trail just today!  But how the disaster in BC isn't getting more press is beyond me.