Hanging up the Skates

I guess it had to happen sometime. Still, as far as I'm concerned, it's a sad day. My mum has hung up her ice skates for good.

After skating for many, many years shefell last season and broke her wrist. She was in a cast for around a month and a half. And after she got it off it took quite awhile before the swelling went down and flexibility returned. Not wanting to take any more chances she decided that was it.

She's still active. Both my parents go swimming three or four times a week. And they go for walks around the neighbourhood too. But it's too bad there's one less activity in her life that she used to enjoy doing.

Little Accident

Mom and Dad.

It finally happened. After many, many years of uneventful activities (which included weekly outings to the local arena in winter), my mother actually sustained an injury serious enough to require being put in a cast. Last Saturday she fell while skating and broke her wrist.

I got the call the next morning when I was getting ready to meet up with my friends for lunch. My mother phoned to tell me the news. After she fell she had called my sister to ask her to take her to the hospital. She would be required to wear a cast for six weeks.

Thank goodness the pain was limited to the evening of the accident. The awkwardness of wearing the cast is the worst thing so far. It seriously limits her ability to pick up and hold things. I'm sure that's for the best. It'll give her wrist a better chance of healing properly.

She's already had the cast changed once. The new one is a little less cumbersome, so that's good. Here's hoping for a full and complete recovery.

Ottawa - Winterlude Pt. 3

Our last full day in Ottawa was slow compared to the others. Our room got up relatively early for breakfast. After that Sid and I decided to go for a skate. He had spent most of Saturday in bed trying to recover from being sick. I suppose he didn't want to spend the whole trip inside though.

The others stayed in to watch the Canadian men versus Finland, Group B hockey game. It would have been nice to watch, but it would have cut right into the middle of day. Since it was my first time in Ottawa in the winter in around 20 years I figured I'd better take advantage of it and do outdoor stuff.

It was chillier out today compared to Saturday. The forecast high was -10C. When we left the hotel it probably was even colder. I decided to wear my snow pants over my jeans instead of just wearing my cycling tights underneath my jeans. On the plus side the skies were beautiful blue which was great for pictures. That was nice compared to the overcast grey of the day before.

Like the day before, we were out a long time. And, like the day before, it was because we were taking pictures (mostly me).

We had a decent skate. I even took Sid on part of the route he had never been on before (even though he's skated the canal many times). He always thought the end was at Dow's Lake. That's what he told me too.

When I arrived at it for the first time the day before I thought I was finished. But, when I looked at the map there I noticed another part. It branched off a bit earlier. On my way back I found it. It was an arm that split off towards Carelton University. That's where the real "The End" sign is.

After skating we returned to the hotel. The girls had gone out shopping at an indoor mall. I guess it was too cold for them to do anything outdoors. Sid and I took naps. He still was trying to get some rest from being under the weather. And, me... well, I'm not used to getting up before 9:30 a.m. so that was my excuse.

The group decided to order pizza for dinner. Originally we were going to eat it in Danny and Judy's unit. But, we arranged to use the common area on the 4th floor with the hotel staff. It was much larger. Our group was about 20 people after all.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to have some quality group time. But, the hotel staff only lit a long, narrow part of the common area so we were stretched out pretty thinly. I ended up just sitting with Sid and Pauline.

The adults sat in one area and the kids another. As usual the youngsters finished first and left to do stuff on their own. We took a bit longer enjoying one another's company.

Afterwards I took a short rest then headed out to take some night photography. I started at the ByWard Market. It was largely deserted. There were some people inside the bars and restaurants, but at that time of the night in the dark and cold, there weren't too many people wandering around.

After that I headed over to the National Gallery of Canada and nearby Notre-Dame church. The church was lit up pretty well. The National Gallery was undergoing renovations and was surrounded by scaffolding. Not nice for photos.

I ended up seeing the back side of the Parliament buildings (where the library is) on my walk. I tried to take some pictures of it, but I believe my wide angle lens was frozen by that point. It didn't seem to want to focus. At that point I decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel.

We left for home fairly early the next day right after breakfast. We wanted to beat the exodus of guests from the hotel and the return traffic into Toronto after a long weekend.

Ottawa - Winterlude Pt. 2

Saturday was our first full day in Ottawa. We started off with a buffet breakfast provided by the hotel. They had things like scrambled eggs, sausages, diced potatoes, baked beans, pancakes, muffins, cereal, bagels, yogurt, and juice and coffee. Needless to say, I ate well.

As I mentioned there were a number of families who came. Some stayed at other hotels. We all met up at ours and after we ate went on our first outing. It was to nearby Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau, Quebec. They had a snow park there. There were a lot of different activities for kids like big snow slides and tubing and different demonstrations and performances.

Sid, Pauline and I returned to our hotel a bit earlier than the others. They all had younger kids who could hang out and enjoy the age specific activities while Sid and Pauline didn't. I think they wanted to eat lunch. Since I had a big breakfast I wanted to get out onto the Rideau Canal for a skate while the light was still good for pictures.

Before I hit the canal I dropped by Parliament Hill to take some shots since the skies were relatively clear. There was some cloud cover, but it was still all right.

The canal was pretty busy by the time I got there. I was a bit surprised to see a number of people walking the route. Ice is quite slippery as I'm sure you know. I guess they just wanted to say they were on the canal regardless of their footwear. There were even some joggers I noticed.

Of course, most people were skating. People with babies or young kids would be dragging them along on sleds or pushing them in strollers or big red and white sleighs that you could rent.

Since I took so many pictures along the way, my skate along the 7.8 kilometres route took nearly two hours. I think the total distance would be closer to 13-14 kilometres (instead of 15.6 kms) though because it wasn't just a straight there and back route. At the end it split into a "Y".

The ice was okay. A bit bumpier at the start/finish where most people were. Not everyone skated to the very end where the ice was a bit better. I'd say it was similar to the ice at Toronto City Hall. Though there were places where grooves were gouged out. So you had to be careful not to trip on them.

After skating I returned to the hotel and took a nap. Normally I don't get up as early as I did this morning. Sid stayed in during the afternoon because he was sick. He had a persistent cough that just wouldn't go away. So we rested until dinnertime.

Even though our suite had its own kitchen we never used it. For dinner we went directly across the street to the East Indian buffet restaurant. It was just the five of us this time - me, Sid and Pauline and their son Nathan and his friend, Andy. It was the closest place to the hotel and it was relatively inexpensive. Dinner was only around $15 before tax and tip.

The food was fine. At that price you wouldn't expect anything fancy. For me it was about the volume. I figured I had done enough exercise during the day and needed the calories for future activities.

After we ate we went back to the hotel. A short time later we met up with the others to go back to Confederation Park. They had some musical and dance performances there.

I have to say, at this time of the night, it was freezing outside. During the day the high was about -5C. Quite pleasant. At night it probably dropped to around -15C or so. Some of the performers wore t-shirts. And there was one group of East Indian dancers that came out on the stage in traditional costume and bare feet.

After they performed they came back out to teach some of their dance moves. This time they had boots and shoes on. Smart move.

I don't know exactly what time the show ended. I left as it was winding down. I'm guessing it was probably around midnight or so. Time to get some rest and prepare for another fun day in Ottawa.

Ottawa - Winterlude Pt. 1

I went to Winterlude in Ottawa over the Family Day long weekend with Sid and his family. There were five of us in his minivan - me, Sid, Pauline, Nathan and Nathan's friend, Andy. Joseph was at home. He was supposed to go to Montreal, but his plans fell through.

We left on Friday afternoon. Traffic east out of Toronto was slow. We hit rush hour unfortunately. Things didn't open up until we passed Whitby I believe.

Our first break was at a rest stop in that general area. We stopped at a place for dinner. Most of us had Burger King. We saw Danny and Judy's family there. Judy is Pauline's younger sister. They were also going to Winterlude as was their other sister, May, and her family. There were a number of families and friends going in fact.

I forgot if this is where we changed drivers. After Sid, it was my turn.

We arrived in Ottawa fairly late. I'm guessing it was shortly after 11:00 p.m. I'm not sure why it was so late. I know they had to pick me up at my parents' place. Then we went to pick up Andy. Rush hour traffic was a headache. That probably had something to do with it.

Sid and Pauline had booked a suite at the Marriott Residence Inn close to Parliament Hill. Along with May and Judy's families, we were all on the 8th floor. All the rooms had a kitchens (we didn't actually use ours).

After we checked in we went out to nearby Confederation Park. Even though it was late the ice sculptures they had there were still lit. It was all part of the ongoing two week Winterlude festivities.

I hung out at the park for 1-1/2 hours taking pictures. It was pretty cold being out for that long. I don't believe the temperatures were that bad though. Maybe -10C or so overnight. Relatively warm compared to what we've had for most of this winter.

Everyone was back by the time I returned from the park. Nathan and Andy decided to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room. I guess they didn't plan on sleeping much at night so didn't want to share the second bed in the bedroom with Nathan's parents and keep them up. That's how I ended up with it.

End of first night.

Skating @ Harbourfront

Our Cornerstone Sports Night team went skating at Harbourfront on Saturday. Well, at least four of us did. We had asked people to pick a day that suited them best and this was supposed to be it. But, there were some last minute cancellations and one person forgot and another just didn't show. So there ended up being four of us.

It was still good. I like skating outdoors. And the Harbourfront is a great place to skate outside. The scenery is nicer than Nathan Philips Square where you're surrounded by concrete and buildings. At least you have Lake Ontario nearby when you're by the waterfront.

After skating we went to dinner at Gonoe Sushi which was just across the street. We ordered a huge 80-piece sushi boat and split it between the four of us. It was impressive looking I have to say. Maybe we'll try again soon and see if we can get a few more people out.

Skating at Habourfront

We went skating at Harbourfront on Saturday evening. Ken and Tom organized the evening for our group. We started pretty late at 9:00 p.m. I arrived early having already been in the downtown area in the afternoon.

It was snowing quite heavily when I arrived not long after 8:00. I decided to put on my skates and go for a few laps around the ice while I waited for more people to show up. A short time later I saw Ming pass by as I was taking a break on one of the benches on the west side of the ice.

Tom and Florianne came next. They were pretty much on time. We all skated around as people drifted in throughout the next hour or so to join us.

Ken was a bit late. But, he appeased us by bringing two Thermoses full of hot chocolate for everyone to share.

After the skate we headed over to Marché at Brookfield Place (formerly BCE Place) for dessert/drinks/snacks. It's quite a popular hangout being so close to the Roger's Centre and Air Canada Centre.

A few people had light meals while the rest of us indulged in desserts. I ended up getting a seasonal fruit crepe which was quite lovely. We sat and chatted and the few of us who were photo enthusiasts took pictures of everyone else.

All in all it was a great evening. Hopefully we'll get the chance to do it one more time before spring hits and the ice melts.

Skating Outdoors

My friends and I went skating last week at Mel Lastman Square. It's the former site of North York City Hall. It's along the Yonge Subway line at North York City Centre stop. Of course, the picture above was taken at Toronto City Hall at Nathan Philips Square. It's just a representation of what it's like to skate outdoors.

I quite enjoy skating outside. It's really fun. Much more interesting than skating inside a grey concrete box where people normally go. You get to see the skies above you and the surrounding scenery. You may have to battle the elements though. But, if you're dressed properly it still can be nice skating while it's snowing or windy.

We hit the ice pretty late on Saturday when we went out. The traffic was terrible because it snowed quite heavily just before we got on the road. It was closer to 9:30 p.m. by the time we got started.

Luckily for us, the rink guy had just taken the Zamboni around the ice before we got on. As well, at that time of day there weren't a lot of other skaters on the ice. So that was good too. It gave me, for one, a bit more space to skate around and swerve in and out.

I really wanted to skate around the ice in a clockwise motion, but I really couldn't go against the flow. Everybody always skates in a counterclockwise direction because it's easier. But, you'll never learn if you don't go the other way.

Anyway, I had a great time. Afterwards we went to the Wendy's fast food restaurant across the street from the rink. I thought they would have had hot chocolate there, but they didn't. So my friends had a hot tea and coffee and I had a Frosty. I know it's a strange thing to have in the middle of winter, but I like them and haven't had one in a long time.

My Toronto - Skating at Nathan Phillips Square

This is a photo of the skating rink at Nathan Phillips Square looking east. I took it in the middle of December, 2006. In the background (behind the arches) is Old City Hall. Beyond that is a shiny, glass office tower by the Eaton Centre.

This is one of the larger outdoor rinks open to the public in downtown Toronto. The other one is by the Harbourfront. It's quite nice down there because of the view overlooking Lake Ontario. Though that can also be a problem because it can be windier and colder there. So there's a trade off that's for sure.

I have to say, skating outdoors is much more enjoyable than skating indoors. Who wants to look at grey, concrete walls when you can look at endless, blue skies and enjoy the wind in your face? You have to make sure to bundle up though. Mittens, a scarf and hat are a must. And though it's forbidden, you can always bring your hockey stick and pass the puck around with whoever else has theirs after the ice has "officially closed" for the evening.