I’m a Laird

The Kichi Sibi Woods near the Ottawa River have bears in them — but don’t worry, they’re not real. They’re actually snow sculptures.

For almost ten years, a local artist named Maggie Glossop has been making these cute snow bears along the Kichi Sibi Winter Trail, which is a popular spot for cross‑country skiers in Ottawa.

Some of the bears sit on tree stumps, while others are placed higher up in trees or even on benches.

This year, there are 15 bears in total. Glossop says that for some people on the trail, finding all the bears has become like a fun treasure hunt.

She’s made so many of them that people now call her the “Bear Lady.”

Glossop is 78 and lives close by. She spends a lot of time in the woods building new bears, fixing up old ones, feeding birds, and just enjoying nature.

A bunch of us from two different groups — The Ottawa Virtual Conquerors Walking Group and The Ottawa Shutterbugs — did a 5 km walk together to see the bears and take photos of them.

Valentines Day parkrun

parkrun is a free, community event where you can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. parkrun is 5k and takes place every Saturday morning.

parkrun is positive, welcoming and inclusive, there is no time limit and no one finishes last. Everyone is welcome to come along.

I have been doing the parkrun for a couple of years now as part of my physiotherapy to rebuild my muscles that were affected by my autoimmune disease.

The good folks at the Orleans parkrun have made me their official volunteer photographer. I get credit for volunteering and I get credit for participating in the actual parkrun.

The Imalaird Photography Team travelled to London, Ontario to a Sledge Hockey Tournament to photography TEAM ATLANTIC from the Maritimes

One of the players on the team is one of our former daycare kids and we try to support the team when ever we can.

The following pictures are from Sunday morning – Game 4. The game was played in the main rink at the arena. Access was great again, but the glass was very dirty with marks from all the puck play.

The Imalaird Photography Team travelled to London, Ontario to a Sledge Hockey Tournament to photography TEAM ATLANTIC from the Maritimes

One of the players on the team is one of our former daycare kids and we try to support the team when ever we can.

The following pictures are from Saturday afternoon – Game 3. The game was played in one of the smaller rinks at the arena. Thankfully, we got access to the glass at the ice level and the glass was nice and clean in this rink.

The Imalaird Photography Team travelled to London, Ontario to a Sledge Hockey Tournament to photography TEAM ATLANTIC from the Maritimes

One of the players on the team is one of our former daycare kids and we try to support the team when ever we can.

The following pictures are from Saturday morning – Game 2. The game was played in the main rink at the arena. Thankfully, access to the glass was much better, but unfortunately, the glass was very dirty with black puck marks – finding an open clear spot was the challenge.

The Imalaird Photography Team travelled to London, Ontario to a Sledge Hockey Tournament to photography TEAM ATLANTIC from the Maritimes

One of the players on the team is one of our former daycare kids and we try to support the team when ever we can.

The following pictures are from Friday night – Game 1. Unfortunately the viewing platform was not in the best place for photography.

The Imalaird Photography Team travelled to the East End Ottawa Sens Plex on Stafford Road to see one of our former daycare kids play Stand-Up hockey.

It was really nice to see him and his family as they moved away to the other side of the city. He was playing in a tournament not to far from our headquarters, so off we went to the rink to cheer him on and take a few photos.

parkrun is a free, community event where you can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. parkrun is 5k and takes place every Saturday morning.

parkrun is positive, welcoming and inclusive, there is no time limit and no one finishes last. Everyone is welcome to come along.

I have been doing the parkrun for a couple of years now as part of my physiotherapy to rebuild my muscles that were affected by my autoimmune disease.

The good folks at the Orleans parkrun have made me their official volunteer photographer. I get credit for volunteering and I get credit for participating in the actual parkrun.

parkrun is a free, community event where you can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. parkrun is 5k and takes place every Saturday morning.

parkrun is positive, welcoming and inclusive, there is no time limit and no one finishes last. Everyone is welcome to come along.

I have been doing the parkrun for a couple of years now as part of my physiotherapy to rebuild my muscles that were affected by my autoimmune disease.

The good folks at the Orleans parkrun have made me their official volunteer photographer. I get credit for volunteering and I get credit for participating in the actual parkrun.

The Imalaird Team met up with a couple of friends for a walk around the Landsdowne Christmas Market, then a wander up along the Rideau Canal to Downtown.

In total we walked almost 10 kms. They lights, sights and sounds were just magical.