12 on 12 January 2008

[UPDATE: Gah! I got the title of the project wrong. It's 12 OF 12 (not 12 on 12... )]

Finally, a chance to get my 12 of 12 for January onto the new blog! My last (well, first actually) 12 on 12 was in Dec and is located on my original blog which I encourage you all to take a peek at and let me know what you think about the issue. Chad Darnell's 12 of 12 photo projects don't really fit with the theme of the Keep Insite Open blog however, nor do many of the things I get a hankerin' to blog about and thus begat Mendelbrot! the frivolous blog. Welcome.

So Saturdays are big reading days--I did have to go to a meeting with classmates later in the day, but the morning was spent with coffees, homemade granola (dried dates, cranberries, mangos and raisins), and reading materials. Anyone who is lamenting the finishing of Ian Rankin's Rebus series should check out the books by Giles Blunt featuring Detective Cardinal of Algonquin Bay, Ontario. Good stuff.

Saturdays are also the "fat paper" days in Canada, not Sundays like in the US (& Britain?). So, a quick trip to the cornerstore for the Sat. Globe and Mail (Grope and Flail) is a must. Canada's national newspaper.... Canada's news with a bunch of info about Toronto. But still, the best of the bunch.

The darkness of this tree outside of Lisgar Collegiate (a public high school) looked all stark and grim compared to the bright blue sky.

Lisgar's facade. Prettiest high school around. Sure puts mine to shame.

The treacherous paths heading towards the canal. The aftermath of the big snow storm (visible on my flickr pics once I figure that out) meant that some paths and sidwalks didn't get ploughed until way too late in the game. Once packed down by foot traffic it's bound to get icy once the temps warm up. Watching some of the lil oldersters navigate their walkers over this mess to get to the grocery store is scary.

A patch of very green grass by the canal. This segment is in daylight all day, but that's no reason for it to be bare of snow AND green. Makes ya wonder what the heck is underneath!

Looking back towards Parliament from our no-longer-quite-so-new-pedestrian bridge. In winters past the canal would be teeming with skaters--you can skate for 10 km from downtown to the funky lil Glebe neighbourhood and onward to Dow's Lake. This year though, we've had lots of snow (which makes for rotten ice) and warm-ish temps (which makes for thin ice). We need a couple of good solid -20 to -30 weeks to get the thing open. It likely won't be open for Winterlude. More Beaver Tails for the rest of us (fried dough with sugar)

The "modern" industrial complex that is the University of Ottawa/ Universite d'Ottawa. All the glories of 1960's-1980's architecture can be found here. Oh, and there is a nice historic building too.

Leah and me in reflection on the sloping facade of the Monpetit building. 'Kay, that funky architecture is useful for something...

The late afternoon brought me from the University home past St. Theresa's RC xch which has this pretty stained glass near the door. I like to think it is a turtle and in homage to Iroquois First Nation's creation story wherein the little turtle is sent by the great turtle to collect lightening from the sky to create the sun. This turtle would look all zingy with light shining through.

Traditions I can't let go of: we still have our Yuletide tree up... it's drying out rapidly. We may have missed the City's collection days where the trees get made into mulch. It was just such a great tree... [there would normally be a flickr link here]

And there you have it, another successful 12 on 12. Thanks Chad!