This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War 1. I had the distinct honour of piping for several veterans at a local seniors home.
Tonight we visited a couple of interesting Remembrance Day sites. Veterans Affairs Canada had installed a very interesting display of sound and light in Confederation Park in downtown Ottawa. They had several light Orbs with video about people who had answered the call to war for World War 1.
We then walked up to the National War Memorial. It was still busy with lots of people paying their respects and dropping their poppies onto the tomb of the unknown soldier.
Every year one of my best friends hosts a Cottage Closing party for all his friends. Although it is a Boy’s Weekend, it is very relaxed and laid back, with no stress, lots of Hockey and Football on the Big Screen and as much fresh air as you can stand. Here are a few of my favorite shots
Our Host
The Cottage
Long Exposure and zooming the lens
Someone, a long time ago, wrapped barbed wire around this tree. The tree has grown around it and it make a ring around the trunk.
Someone put a post near this tree and it seems to have hugged it right into the core.
May one of my most favorite photos this year. A small barn in a field.
Stars in the moonlight. It was so dark I had to use manual focus. (Manual Focus at night is going to be a Google Search)
I love the effect that long exposure gives you of moving clouds against the stars
Light painting with a flashlight. 15 second exposure.
Today we took a quick drive and ferry ride to a place we visited this past winter, Plaisance Falls, Quebec. The Plaisance Falls is a historic site with a scenic lookout, observation points and a hiking trail that let’s you get right up close to the site’s spectacular natural beauty. With their 63-metre vertical drop, the Falls were an important economic factor in the founding of the 19th-century village of North Nation Mills (now only a memory). On-site interpretive activities bring to life this important part of the history of the Petite-Nation.
I took today off so that I could go out and do a little bit of photography of the fall colours around our little neighborhood. These photos are all taken around Renaud Rd and Anderson Road in the south-east end of the city. I think next week the colours will be even more brilliant, but I just couldn’t wait to get out and capture the fall colours.
We took a drive to Montreal to visit with friends. I knew that they lived near Dorval Airport or Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport (YUL), but what I didn’t realize was that they live almost directly under the approach to the Airport.
It was very distracting to sit with our friends while so many wonderful planes from all over the world were flying overhead. I finally broke down and grabbed my camera to shoot these planes in the dying light of the day. I used an ISO of 800 to keep the photos sharp, but I can see a bit of noise in the photos when I zoom in.
Hopefully our friends will invite us back again soon. We had a wonderful visit with them and the show above was spectacular.
Boeing 737-7CT (C-GWSU)— WestJet Airlines
Boeing 787-8 Air Canada
C-GJZZ Air Canada Express Bombardier CRJ-200
Boeing 767-300ER Rouge/Air Canada
PH-AOF KLM Royal Dutch Airlines – Airbus A330-203 – This is likely the daily flight from Amsterdam.
Boeing 787-8 Air Canada
C-GJVT Air Canada Airbus A320-200
The next time we go, I will attempt to write down where each plane is arriving from or going to and include that information. There is a great website you can use to view flights in and out of your local airport. It is called www.flightradar24.com
Today we took in the Beechwood Cemetery 24th Annual Historical Walking Tour. The purpose of the tour is to highlight some of the famous people who are buried at the cemetery. I could have filled several pages with photos from the tour it was so interesting.
At each of this year’s highlighted people headstones, several actors would bring that person “back to life”. I would have liked to showcase all the various actor’s but with 150 people in our “small” group there were too many people for me to feel comfortable including on my page. It was hard enough to just get photos of the headstones on their own.
I would really recommend their tours, which are held on frequently. Check out their website for more information. http://www.beechwoodottawa.ca
I have been taking a new route to the office since the beginning of August. For the past 5 years I have taken mostly back-roads and a Parkway to travel from our home to downtown. Our office was re-located to the south east end of town and so now the easiest way to get to work is via the 174/417. It was during my new drive in that I started to notice these Sunflowers along the side of the 174 just before Montreal Rd. The move at the office and life in general kept me from heading out to take some photos for almost 3 week. Here are a few of my favorites and a shot of my wonderful photo assistant.
If you have been reading along since the beginning, you will know that I have Scottish roots.
Maxville, Ontario, a little town of about 900 people that is 45 minutes east of Ottawa, is home to many Scottish settlers from days gone by. Many families, including my own came to the Glengarry area directly from Scotland back in the early 1800’s. My ancestors emigrated from Glenelg, Inverness-Shire.
My ancestors farmed the land just outside of Maxville for several generations before my grandfather moved the family into the town proper to own and run the hardware store. He and several other businessmen put up some money to the help organize the first Maxville/Glengarry Highland games and 71 years on these games have turned out to be one the largest Highland Games in North America.
I have played both the Pipes and Drums in these and other highland games in and around the Ottawa area. But playing the pipes at these games, in front of my extended family was and is still one of my best memories.
Please enjoy these few photos from the games this year
Just looking at this makes me hungry.
Something for everyone
Jim of The Sons of Scotland Pipe Band
Garth Hampson – sings the 3 national anthems like no one else. A great all round nice guy too!
At the start of the day, highland dancers encircle the field and do a massed highland fling. A crowd pleasing start to the day every year.
The guest of honour this year. Captain Bob Pearson, a true Canadian hero who saved 61 passengers when the 767 he was piloting ran out of fuel. He glided the 767 down from 41,000 feet to Gimli, Manitoba with out a serious injury and no loss of life.
The RCMP Pipes and Drums – National Division.
RCMP Pipes and Drums – playing at the halt
78th Highlanders from Halifax, Nova Scotia
The Grandstand and playing field from the eastern mound.
While waiting for one of my daughters to arrive from the U.K. for a summer visit, I spent some time Plane Spotting from the main terminal at the Ottawa Airport.
The Airport’s Official name is Macdonald–Cartier International Airport and is named after two of the founding fathers of Canada, Sir John A. MacDonald and Sir George-Etienne Cartier. The Airport code for Ottawa is YOW or CYOW. The Airport was active as of July 2, 1927.
An interesting fact is that in 1950 the village of Bowesville was expropriated to expand the airport. The current main terminal now stands on the site of the crossroads at the center of the village.
I have always had a fascination with planes and I am a fairly proficient MS Flight Simulator pilot. I hope to spend some more time plane spotting in the future.
So today we travelled north of Ottawa through places that I have heard of most of my life but never visited. Places like Brennan’s Hill, Low, Kazabazua, and Gracefield Quebec. We took Highway 105 all the way from Ottawa past Gracefield and then east over to the south end of 31 Mile Lake. We visited friends at their trailer. The scenery was spectacular and it was a great day to take photos.
