Skating And Ice At Winterlude!

Although I live only two hours from Ottawa, I have not been to Winterlude since 2008.  With a little encouragement from an old friend from university, I made some time for a day trip to catch up with her and enjoy two of my favorite parts of Winterlude: skating on the canal and ice sculptures.

Of course, I took a few pictures from the day:

Skating the Rideau Canal - the world's largest outdoor skating rink

A lot more crowded downtown.  Canada's parliament buildings in the background.

Recognize her?  She's the queen from the movie "Alien"

Love the spirit of this sculpture

Hanging out by the fountain... and the power box.

The park benches had to be dug out of the snow from a recent storm

Fête Des Neiges

When I first moved to Montreal, I was looking forward to attending Fête Des Neiges, the annual winter festival encouraging kids and kids-at-heart to get out and enjoy the season.  Unfortunately, it was cancelled that year due to a labour dispute.  When it was finally brought back, I never found the time to go - until this year.  After a freezing cold week, the weather warmed up to a balmy -13C, so I grabbed my skates, my camera and my snow gear and checked out the fun in Parc Jean Drapeau.

Here are some photos from that afternoon:

The previous week was SO cold that even the snow sculptures were shivering!

Snow sculptor in action

Snow creations

Awesome skating path along the St. Lawrence River - 1.5km total length

View of the river and Notre Dame bridge from the skating path

Beaver Tail with cinnamon, sugar and a squeeze of lemon. Best way to wind up the afternoon!

Mini-Bloggiesta Time

This weekend the bloggers behind It's All About Books and There's A Book are hosting a mini-Bloggiesta - a weekend dedicated to improving your blog in the company of fabulous bloggers doing the same thing all around the world. I've participated in the last three and loved it!  I always look forward to when the event rolls around again.

Unfortunately, I have to work and have other commitments this weekend, so I will not be able to spend as much time on Bloggiesta as I would like.  Still, I will try to fit in whatever I can.  I plan to be home in time for the Twitter chat at 10pm tonight and I want to check out the mini-challenge on marketing your blog.  No matter what, I need to write posts, both for this blog and my business blog.

So, if you need to spend some time updating your blog, check out Bloggiesta this weekend. Hope to see you at the starting or finish line!
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Finish Line Update:

Considering I had work and other commitments this past weekend, it turned out to be more of a micro-Bloggiesta for me.  Still, I made some progress:

• Participated in the Twitter chat, met some fabulous bloggers and had a great time!
• Participated in the Marketing Your Blog and Comments Love mini-challenges.
• Wrote my February post for this blog.
• Started writing posts for my business blog, but didn't finish.  I'll chip away at those during the week.
• Tried to set up MyFreeCopyright.com, but never received the confirmation email.  I would love to hear if anyone has any advice on that service.  For those of you who use it, do you find it valuable?

Next Bloggiesta is March 22-24.  I'll make sure I keep the whole weekend reserved for blogging.

New Year Reflections

As 2013 starts and I hide from the cold outside, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on how I'm doing on renewing my love affair with Montreal.  At the beginning of 2012, I declared I would:

• Embrace winter (if it ever comes).  Go skating, tobogganing, maybe even snowshoeing - at least once a week.  Find and enjoy more tea or hot chocolate.
• Embrace summer (when it comes).  Find and enjoy new terrasses.  Eat outside on my own. Finally attend a show at the Just For Laughs festival.  Spend time at the Jazz Festival.  Have a picnic in a park.  Watch the fireworks from Jacques Cartier bridge.  Find and enjoy more shop-made ice cream.
• Walk or ride my bike just for the fun of it.  I got a bike bell in Amsterdam.  I should use it :)
• More solo street photography (outside of my monthly MEETin photo walks).
• Go to Jean Talon or Atwater market every week.
• Go to the Botanical Gardens (my favorite) or some other park once a month.
• Visit museums.  We have A LOT of museums in Montreal and admission is inexpensive.  Hmmm... I really should get an Access Montreal card.
• Explore more restaurants, especially in my own neighbourhood and around work.
• Wear fashionable clothes.  Yes, I like living in a city where I can dress nicely.  Now if I only worked in an industry that didn't think I had a job interview or a hot date every time I dressed up...
• Update this blog once a month.

How did it turn out?

• Winter was really mild, so instead of enjoying winter sports, I walked to work a lot more often than I normally would, went back to yoga and discovered hula hoop.  
• Summer was consumed by work, so I didn't accomplish any of the items on that point.  Still, a lot of the remaining points did get done over the summer, so I still found ways to enjoy what Montreal has to offer.
• I cycled and I love it every time.  I even did a cycling event with MEETin and inadvertently toured Verdun.
• Solo street photography... Once I got my new compact camera, I carried it with me so I could take a lot of impromptu photos as I walked around town.  When it warms up again, the camera will go back in my bag.
• We signed up to have a box of locally grown organic fruits and vegetables delivered to the office every week, so I had no need to go to the markets every week.  We got a lot of vegetables, enjoyed a healthy summer diet, and learned a few new recipes along the way.
• From late May through late September, I grabbed my camera and spent an afternoon a month at the Botanical Gardens.  I have even more photos of the beautiful flowers and plants.  My only regret is that I missed photographing the Fall foliage in October.
• For the first time, I participated in Museums Day and discovered two fascinating museums on Parc Jean Drapeau.  As that day wrapped up, I was already planning what I wanted to do in 2013.
• Not at the same level as 2008, but I did explore some new restaurants, mostly in my neighbourhood.  Memorable meals include a succulent lamb tajine at Au Tarot, excellent fish with Jerusalem artichokes at Bar et Boeuf, and fabulous game at Le Club Chasse et Pêche.
• Slowly my wardrobe is getting updated...
• Only missed July and November updates on this blog.  Not bad, considering I hadn't regularly updated this since 2008.

My goals for enjoying Montreal in 2013 are pretty much the same as last year.  Instead of writing journal posts summarizing what I'm doing, I'll work to make this blog more interesting. I would also like to do more travelling this year.

Happy 2013 everyone!

And Autumn Passes Into Winter...

Autumn is spectacular in Quebec.  Fortunately, I was able to get out and enjoy it in between work and attending a conference in Vancouver.  Since pictures speak a thousand words, I'll share a few of the photos I took over the past three months.

Anyone know what these are?

I concluded my monthly visits to the Montreal Botanical Gardens in late September, catching the last of the vegetable gardens and the Dahlias.  It was also the start of the Chinese lantern festival and one of the best displays in the past five years. Unfortunately, I forgot my bike light so I could not stay until it was dark.

Thanksgiving weekend, we did a roadtrip up to Bois Franc for the annual Balade Gourmande during which local farms open their doors and sell their harvest goodies.  We visited a cranberry farm, a game fowl (pheasants, quail, guinea fowl, etc.) farm, Fromagerie du Presbytère, a coffee roaster (for D, of course), a flour mill and concluded with a deer farm.

Colourful pheasant at Faisanderie St. Albert

Right before leaving for Vancouver, I participated in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk.  I joined a group that walked around Atwater Market early Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful day, but it was too early for me to feel particularly creative. 

Autumn at Atwater Market

That evening, I participated in my third Light the Night Walk. Our team raised over $2000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we agreed it was the best walk out of the three years.

Although it's not Quebec, I thought I may as well share a Fall photo from my week in Vancouver:

View of North Vancouver from the Conference Centre

For the past three years, I have had perfect weather for a photo walk on the first weekend of November.  This year... it was freezing cold!  However, the light was perfect for shooting reflections in the glass skyscrapers downtown.  It was one of the most creative photo walks I've had in a long time.

Place Ville-Marie

As the Christmas lights came out, I started to carry my camera in my work backpack so I could snap pictures of the lights as I walked around work and home.  The display along St. Catherine in the neighbourhood where I work is particularly festive:

Christmas Lights leading into The Village

I hope to get some photos with both lights and snow between Christmas and New Year. 

Happy Holidays, everyone!