National Holiday of Québec

Monday 24th June was the national holiday of Quebec, known as St Jean Baptiste, so the Quebec side of the Outaouais region all had a day off work, and put on a festival, including concerts, a funfair, a parade and other attractions.  I went to the Parc de L'Imaginaire to hear "la Chorale Gospel Outaouais" singing on what was a very hot day (temperature in the late 80's).  But then it got so heavy and close that an inevitable storm followed - not sure what happened to the fireworks that evening ...





la bouchère

This lady is the local butcher - I asked if I could take her photo; the Fleur de Lys is part of the Quebec flag, and with her apron and bunting, she had the most patriotic-ly decorated shop front along the whole of Rue Principale! 

Pictures of the cycle path

Silène enflé ["bladder campion" in English]

I wanted to share these views that I have every time I'm out on the bike.  Mostly, I don't know what the wildflowers are, but they're such a treat to see along the verges - and the views of the water are gorgeous.  As cycle routes go, this one takes some beating (though crossing the Thames over Lambeth Bridge and going along Horseguards Parade is pretty good in a different way)...  Last week I saw a couple of wild rabbits and yesterday a large tortoise ...

Cookery results ...

Fifty Shades of Pink!

Ha!  This morning, I've been out for my first run in just over a month.  So, looking like a tomato with my breakfast in hand, I thought I'd post a photo for amusement.  What's in the glass?  Beetroot, celery, cucumber, carrot, strawberry, ginger, almond.  The blender is made by Black & Decker (yes, really!) - and makes light work of raw veggies.

Qwerty or not Qwerty ...



Open air Ottawa

Assorted pictures from assorted strolls in the capital city ....

View of the Rideau Canal towards Parliament ...

Oscar Peterson grew up in Montreal, Quebec.  This statue in his honour is outside the National Arts Centre and, according to Wikipedia, was unveiled by QEII in 2010.  As you walk past, you can hear recordings of him playing.


This is the Confederation Building, reflected in
 the Bank of Canada Building, on Wellington St.



Dragon boat racing ...

I seized a chance to join the Ottawa Outdoor Club team when someone else dropped out.  They were entering the 20th Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival.  Some facts:

• Part of a larger Chinese cultural tradition that goes back 2,400 years
• Began in South East China as a fertility rite to avert misfortune and bring rain by worshipping the dragon
• A dragon boat is a slim 44’ racer with a dragon’s head at the bow and a tail at the stern
• Each dragon boat holds 22 athletes including 20 paddlers, 1 drummer and 1 steersperson
• Over 200 teams participate in competitive, corporate, and community groups
• New race every 9 minutes  
• Approximately 5,000 paddlers
• Paddlers participate in dragon boat clubs across Canada and the U.S. 

I went along for a couple of practice/coaching sessions, was given a paddle and a lifevest, and had great fun.  The event was held in Mooney's Bay on the Rideau River on Saturday 22nd, and it had free concerts and entertainment, the rain held off during the day.  There were wittily-named teams (Blades of Glory, Dirty Oars) and lots of competitive souls.  Our team came last!

Jane, me and Guylaine 



Ottawa Outdoor Club - waiting for 'staging'

Look away, vegetarians

Another food post ...  I didn't try any out this time - not when wearing white!

Here are some of the award-winning rib-shacks ...

 

S'avouer vaincu*

My French course finishes on Friday and the grammar has been hellish.  I don't think I'm any further forward than I was four weeks ago (whimpering noise).  Here are some extracts from my on-line course which show why I have found it so difficult.

My woeful lack of English grammar knowledge hasn't helped.  I struggle with the notion of verbal auxiliaries and indefinite determiners, transitive and intransitive verbs, and what are indefinite and partitive articles with nouns?  It hasn't been any easier in the classroom, but my teacher Stephen [a Francophone from Quebec] has been patient!!  Oh well, my comprehension is good, and my vocab is improving, I just hope I'm not making too many mistakes with the dialogue ...

*To admit defeat !!

Lobster Tails for tea ...

Wanting to try new things, I bought and cooked lobster tails for the first time this evening (as they are in season and it is short).  They come from the Maritime region - not too far north of Maine, known for its lobster.  When food is hot and on the plate, I like as little time as possible to elapse between plate/fork/mouth, but in order to enjoy this experience, I cast aside the usual rules about not 'working' to get the food (out of a shell, from a skewer, from a cob etc). 

Ready for the pot.

Five minutes later ...

Five minutes after that ...

I spent just over $12 for the three, so I won't be doing it again, but they were delicious!

There's been a birthday ...

It was going to be a different kind of day from the usual birthday, so I decided that I would register as a volunteer at the Festival Franco-Ontarien.   In its 38th year, it was held from 13th-15th June at Major Hill Park; situated very close to the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa.  The purpose of the festival is a celebration for the Francophones living in the province of Ontario.  It featured singers, bands, entertainment for children and families, food stalls, etc.  My role was to give information, and to ask people to complete surveys - how they heard about the event etc - I was quite busy for the four hours.  I had a passport-bracelet that let me into the events in the evening, but I was too worn out to go back for those.  Here's a picture of my outfit ..

Earlier in the day, I had had the pleasure of having an IM chat with daughter (in the Philippines, but on her way to Bangkok) and opening a couple of posted birthday cards - here is my little card corner -

I caught the bus into Ottawa very early (only one per hour early on Saturday mornings) and had a couple of fresh bagels for breakfast in the Byward Market - it was sunny and warm, and I sat next to the pavement in the shade watching the stall-holders setting up for (what turned out to be) a busy day.

After my shift, I got home and had to have a nap as I was exhausted.  When I woke up, I had a couple of messages on Facebook and some e-cards to open ...  here's a close up of one particular favourite card ...


....it's amazing how similar we are !




And lastly, it being a special occasion and all, I decided to remodel my room - so here's the current layout ...

Something is VERY wrong ....

I thought this kind of thing was the stuff of urban myth, but it must be true, because it was in today's freebie newspaper.  Where is the voice of reason at the  DD product development meetings?  How can this kind of rubbish get on the market?

Gardener's Question Time

This challenge is called 'guess the vegetable':

OK.  Any ideas?



 (Hint: we're going in reverse order of time)



Yes, to the keen-eyed among you.  It's asparagus! [well, it used to be in April ....]

Tell Me More

‘Tell Me More’ is software/programme for learning French. There are various levels, and various themes. In order to pass the course, we have to complete 60 hrs of online learning in the four-week period. It is quite clever, there are written, oral and comprehension exercises, with different activities (so you don’t get bored). In the oral exercises, you practice phonetics (single words), phrases and elsewhere you can practise having a conversation (er, with a machine. I am already an expert at having written IM conversations with machines, but that’s another story).

This morning, I have spent two hours doing my homework, and thought I would give some examples of how well (or not) I have done with some of my oral exercises. In order to be tested, first you press a button and have the French person say the phrase, then you press ‘record’ and bark the answers at the laptop (I didn’t buy the headphones – I just get to a quiet space in the house where I can’t be overheard). If you get it wrong, you can try again. The machine listens and grades you, tells you what your target should be, and then you are given a little audio-graph thing showing where you have tailed off where you should have had an upward inflection; so it’s quite thorough. It also helpfully tells you which words you need to work on.

So:

garçon (7 tries)

thè (9 tries)

1. Please may we have a table? (4 tries)
2. In the name of Chapuis. (first attempt)
3. For the four of us and another couple who are on their way (4 tries)
4. We would like to be near the chimney (2 tries)
5. Three gin and tonics and three orange juices (first attempt)
6. I think we will just have tomato juice (first attempt)
7. May I have chips instead of spinach? (first attempt)
8. It’s tempting, but I haven’t decided yet (8 tries)
9. You don’t have any lobster, by any chance? (2 tries)
10. Yes, and some Brussels sprouts (2 tries)

And the original versions (in case you’re dining in a French restaurant any time soon) …

1. Pourrions-nous avoir une table, s’il vous plait?
2. Au nom de Chapuis.
3. Pour nous quatre, plus un autre couple qui arrive [work on the word ‘quatre’]
4. Nous aurions aimé être près de la cheminée!
5. Oui, trois gin-tonics et trois jus d’orange.
6. Je crois que nous allons tous prendre un jus de tomate.
7. Puis-je avoir des frites à la place des épinards?
8. C’est tentant, mais je n’arrive pas à me decider.
9. Vous n’auriez pas de homard, par hasard?
10. Oui, et des choux de Bruxelles.

I had to get tea and a chocolate biscuit after all that.