Pretty on the Outside too!

This shot was taken after eating my first Phily Cheese Steak outside of the museum. I Unfortunately never went outside in front of the building to capture that view. There is a neat series of waterfalls that cascade from step to step. Above is a picture from behind the falls.

Gaurdian Demi-Gods

Here is one of many totem poles displayed in the grand hall.

The Museum of Civilizations - WOW!

My last stop in Ottawa was the museum of Civilizations. I don't think I did it much justice in the 4 hours I was there, but I did enjoy it. They have a knack of creating mood and settling around their artfully displayed artifacts. However, I wasn't up to digesting all the fine print, so after the first floor, I mostly just looked at the artifacts and only read when something caught my eye. This grand hall is in front of the first nations and west coast native exibits. It is far more impresive then it looks, kudos to the architect and designers.

Jaberwocky

Hopefully I didn't leave the impression that I'm currently in some kind of personal hell. That wasn't my intention at all. I was just pointing out that the darkest moment in my life was the trials and tribulations of a first year teacher, up north, teaching grade 8 of all foolish things. I don't even have nightmares about it 7 years later. I got caught up being dramatic, but I fear I missed the point. There are people who suffer through some terrible things out there - abuse, neglect, addiction. Stuff that makes teaching look like a picnic. I meant to highlight just how good I have it, and how much more society could do to help people in need. Yet, even solving those problems is mind boggling. Oh, and of course you can't really solve other peoples problems - they have to find it in themselves to take up the challange - but you can try to give them the scaffolding they need to at least make it easier and a few vorpal swords wouldn't go amiss to scare off the monsters and predators.

Today's excitement is that after coming into the office early to aviod bad driving conditions with traffic - I appear to be locked out of my office. Sigh. So, I'm huddling in this chilly room trying to work on my stuff, but it isn't really great. Hopefully they'll open the doors soon and I can go up to a nice chilly room with a desk. In the meantime... life continues. The picture is of a lake somewhere between Ottawa and Kingston last October. Saturday, I met with a couple of old friencd at "the Harp" in Port Credit. A bit of a drive for a pub, but the decor was nice and the bathrooms were almost perfectly clean. It was nice to see everyone, although the volume of the coverband "Sonny Boy Mick" precluded much meaningful chat - hopefully next will be easier.

Anywho..

Ta for now

JP

Ottawa River Pictures

I'd actually love to hear what kind of superheroes you all turned out to be. :P Please feel free to comment.

Here is a quick poem:

The world is a wild run.
A saultation from heights
Into oncoming brights,
But in the long run, wickedly fun.

Jennith

P.S. The picture is from Ottawa in October on the nicest weekend all fall. I can't wait to actually go back their and see some of the museums