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What We Think We Want
When Eat, Pray, Love first came out and I got the big check, I bought a big house, a five-bedroom Victorian with a wraparound porch in this small town in New Jersey. I put a ton of money into making it really magnificent. I spent four years restoring it, putting in amazing gardens, a new kitchen and…
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24 Sussex Drive is Falling Down
Contrary to opinions offered by former tenants of the building, reality television stars, CBC listeners, and social media commentators, there is no single right answer to the question: What should become of the Prime Minister’s residence at 24 Sussex Drive? In fact, it doesn’t matter whether the building is razed or retrofitted. Either way, there…
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Cruising in My Neighbours’ Amphicar
It’s a car! It’s a boat! It’s a 1964 Amphicar looking for adventure on the Rideau River at Burritt’s Rapids. And it’s better than a dog for meeting people.
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A Zibi Kind of Day
Sunshine. Twenty degrees. Light breeze. Birdsong out-gunning any human distractions. Views to the Ottawa river. And wildflowers, vines, bushes and trees in bloom everywhere. It was just another perfect day shooting the Domtar lands as part of the Workers History Museum cataloguing project. While the industrial buildings remain the focus, Mother Nature with her natural green roofs, biodiverse ‘gardens’…
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Joyce Frances Devlin: Spring Show 2015
This afternoon I dragged my nose away from the grindstone long enough to bathe, swap my grubby work clothes for something more civilized and walk the short distance to Joyce Frances Devlin‘s home and studio. After the success of last year’s show, Joyce has been exhibiting her gorgeous new work over these past two weekends and the show remains…
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Walk for Reconciliation
Until last Sunday I’d never done this kind of thing before. By 3:45am I was driving through rainy blackness heading to the Sunrise Ceremony on Victoria Island, in the middle of the Ottawa river. The ceremony would mark the beginning of the close for the six-year-long Truth and Reconciliation Commission examining the effects of Indian residential schools…
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Homing
There is human time and there is wild time. When I was a child in the north woods, before I learned there were four seasons to a year, I thought there were dozens: the time of nighttime thunderstorm, heat lightning time, bonfires-in-the-woods time, blood-on-the-snow time, the times of ice trees, bowing trees, crying trees, shimmering…
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Shooting the Domtar Lands – Part 2
Another glorious day working outside, this time photographing a series of attached buildings beginning on the corner of Rue Eddy & Boulevard Alexandre-Tache. The mostly stone buildings are encased in high chain link fencing, held tight by cross-wires and reinforced by steel posts and beams endeavouring to keep all the bits together. Bill worked the overview from across…
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Jane’s Walk Burritt’s Rapids 2015 – Day 1
Being Canadian, I have to lead with the weather: How on earth did we luck out getting the warmest most perfect day of the year so far? It provided an excellent backdrop for Day 1 of Jane’s Walk Burritt’s Rapids. In another few hours we’ll launch Day 2 with Jane’s Yoga with the Locals, Jane’s Worship…
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#BeLikeJane
It’s here! It’s here! Jane’s Walk weekend is upon us and the Jane’s Walk Burritt’s Rapids Community Festival launches at 9:00am this morning with a Jane’s Run with the Locals. The festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am until 4:30pm. Pack your lunch, sunscreen, water, walking shoes and curiosity and come #BeLikeJane. The best parking is…