National Gallery of Canada - Part 1

Back to more photos from Ottawa.  I am splitting the visit to the National Gallery of Canada up into three parts, otherwise you'll be dizzy with all the information.  The gallery was only around a 15 minute walk from the hotel, so nice and close.  Opposite it was Notre Dame Basilica Ottawa, and although it was under going renovations you could still tour it, we chose not to.

The National Gallery was impressive from both the outside and the inside.

You are greeted by the giant metal spider.  It is called Maman, and has 38 marble eggs, in it's sack underneath it's body.  You can read more about it here.

After you enter the building you walk up this huge hallway to where the first  galleries are.

The banner above you was really striking.

You then enter a large foyer and that too was impressive.  It helped that it was a glorious day weather wise.

You looked out over the Ottawa River and the Parliament Buildings.

Another view out of the window.

The Parliament buildings are being renovated.  

We had a coffee in the cafe and out of the window was this "sculpture."  We got talking to an employee and she said when they were installing this, they forgot to take the styrofoam off the top of it.  The employees were watching from the window and had to tell them to remove it.  I will tell you more about this particular employee in part two.

This is the information about the photo above.

If you look closely at this sculpture it all different outdoor lights.  You can read more about it in the photo below.

I thought this was interesting how it all came about.  Would have thought it would have been displayed in New Orleans, rather than Ottawa though?

Inside the gallery is the Rideau Chapel.  It was relocated from it's original site and placed inside one of the galleries.  You can read more about it's history here. There was choral music playing and the acoustics were glorious in there.

The ceiling was stunning.

That's part one, part two to follow soon...........

This story started with a deceased chiropodist...........

My mother had to recently find a new chiropodist as her original one died in suspicious circumstances earlier in the summer.  The police were called in; haven't heard anything else from my mother about this, so no update there.

She has found a lovely lady and she is part of a locally "famous" family.  Her great uncles were/are part of a locally "famous" group/band.  Now when my mother was telling me the story, hubby piped up, "oh I remember Rue and the Rockets."  That in itself is shocking as he can never remember anything musically!!

Anyhow, my mother was saying she remembers going to dances that they were performing in.  I talked to my dad about them and he knew them.  My dad also was in a band/group, so not sure if he played in the same venue's as they did, or just knew them in passing.

However, unless you were brought up in Cumbria or Northern England in the 60's to the early 2000's you will probably never have heard of them!  

They are your typical wedding/anniversary/dance band, with lots of oldies.  Hope you enjoy the video...it was a blast from a past for all our family.

Binge watched this on the weekend..............

Thoroughly enjoyed it, though it showed how some countries don't seem to want to play nice with one another, despite being on the same side 🤨  

It did show how the people in Lockerbie went above and beyond for all the families that were affected by this tragedy.

We have been to the memorial at at Dryfesdale Lodge in Lockerbie.  It was very poignant.

A side trip to Ikea........

Last week hubby had an appointment to see the surgeon as a follow up.  Practically across the road is Ikea, so we went there first.

First thing we did was have a coffee and a muffin.  I am a family member so coffee is free when you scan your membership.  It's free and you earn points.  I have enough get $25 off my next purchase.  

I saw this on the sofa, and wondered what it was.

When reading the label, I had doubts on how stable it would be.  Plus I thought it was expensive for what it was.

When I saw this fall garland over this table I thought it looked really pretty.  It wasn't overly stable though.  Also you can't seat anyone at the end of the table, as that is where it's secured onto the table.

There was a few Christmas/Winter items out and about and I really did like this set up.

However, when you are having to pay $24 plus 13% tax for a tree and pot, it will soon add up in price to stage multiple like in their display.

One thing I do love from Ikea is their rubber gloves.  I always wear rubber gloves when washing up.  These ones last a long time and cost $2.99 a pair.  I picked up 4 pairs when I was there.

By the time we had, had a good look around, we figured we would have a bite to eat before we went to see the surgeon.  Again got the coffee for free, so ending up paying $9 for two egg salad sandwiches for us.  They were tasty and very fresh.

We are back at the surgeons again this week, so I am seeing another side trip to Ikea, as I want to see if the advent calendars are in stock, they thought they would be..........we'll see.

Forgot to show you this...........

Daughter got her dad a custom birthday cake made at Dairy queen for his birthday.  

She used ChatGPT to design it.  I have no clue what ChatGPT is all about do you?

Funny thing is, it sort of looks like him.  It was super well done.  I will say, despite me having a super sweet tooth, I can live without ice cream.  In fact I really don't like the Dairy Queen ice cream cake; it's that chocolate cookie layer I hate the most.

Do you like ice cream?

Halloween cross stitch - part one

I mentioned last month I was going to take part in Durene Jones Halloween sew along cross stitch.  I have never done a Halloween themed project before, and I do like her designs.

The first week's pattern was released yesterday; which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I had just finished another puzzle.  So this was the perfect time to jump into another project.

Here is what the first part of the pattern looks like:

Please excuse how creased it is, I didn't pop it into a hoop.  I was being lazy!!

I am loving the pattern so far, as there is only three colours, and it's just full stitches.  Does anyone know what that "plant" is supposed to be to the left of the cat?

The pattern is free and here is a link to Durene's Facebook page.

Very surprised to see the size of this embassy.........

There are numerous embassies in Ottawa, and although we did see a couple it was the American one which surprised me.  It was huge and my photos will not do it justice.  There was a huge amount of security and cameras all around the building.

I don't remember who we were talking to, but we mentioned there wasn't a soul about when we passed by it; and we passed by it a couple of times.  They said prior to Donald Trump imposing all the tariffs and restrictions against Canada there would be numerous people lining up outside of the embassy.  It's now dwindled down to nothing.

There was a lone protester outside the embassy one day.  Very peaceful just holding up a sign telling people to buy Canadian.  I never said anything to him, just gave him the thumbs up as we passed by!