Another Watermelon... and this time we're smiling!

Remember the watermelon plant Alain had growing in the garden? Well, it yielded the big watermelon, which was white inside and a tiny little watermelon that we finally decided to open this week. I swear, this thing was about the size of a softball and we thought there wouldn't be any good to it, but we opened it anyways just in case. It was red!! We could actually eat it!! We think that we didn't let the other one ripen enough before cutting into it, which was why it was all white. We didn't like it much, but Kelly sure did, she ate the whole thing!

Anyways, here are some photos of us enjoying the tiny watermelon this week.. Yum.

Hi All! Things are busy, as usual, which means less time for the fun stuff.

I did get out to Fort Wellington in Prescott this week though. Just in case you're wondering where Prescott is, it's almost right at the junction between the 416 heading to Ottawa and the 401 headed to Kingston, Toronto, or the rest of Southern Ontario. Prescott itself is pretty slummy, at least what we saw of it, but the Fort itself is nice.

It's a small fort, much smaller than Fort Henry, but as this was a thesis-related visit I was thrilled to see a large focus on archaeology at the fort. There were a lot of great exhibits showing how archaeology is used to tell stories about a site and as some of you may know, this is precisely what my thesis is on. It was a lucky choice, as this is the second and only other national historic site I will be studying for my thesis and I basically chose it because of its proximity to me.

Ultimately though, it ended up being and good choice and I got very excited, like a kid in a candy store! Since it was a school related visit, most of the photos I took are not very much fun, basically I took photos of the exhibits and their captions so I could later use the information in my research. I've included a few here however: one of the main entrance, one of Alain in the Caponniere (not sure if that's how you spell it! anyways, it's a long tunnel leading to a chamber on the outside of the Fort from which to attack) and one of the blockhouse.





























It was a cute little fort and as I mentioned before, the museum displays were great. I would highly recommend it to any one who is going to be in the area (or passing by on the 401).





















There was only about one other person there while we were there, so you can imagine how excited the guides were to see us! Unfortunately, Fort Wellington closes for the season tomorrow (Sept. 30) but will reopen again in the spring.

The 2006 Canadian Idol Big Reveal

This was a stressful moment in Canadian television and now, here on Melissa's blog you can watch the whole moment unfold. I know I already ruined the big reveal, but hey, it's still a fun moment to watch.

Congratulations to Eva!

I knew Eva was going to go far in this years Canadian Idol competition from the very beginning, so obviously I was thrilled when she took home the crown.

Here is Eva singing her new single "Meant to Fly". I like the song and Eva does a great job performing it. I can't wait to see how Eva and her career progress.

Mer Bleue Conservation Area

Did you know that one of the largest bogs in Southern Ontario is the Mer Bleue Bog just outside of Ottawa? Did you even know Ontario had bogs?
















I read about Mer Bleue quite a while ago, but never had a chance to go before now. Alain and I rode the bike over this weekend, it's actually about 10 minutes from my apartment! The bog is interesting because as a boreal peat dome Sphagnum bog, it is well outside of its regular ecosystem. Usually this type of ecosystem is found much further north in Canada (in the norther boreal forest).



















It is part of Ottawa's 20,000 acre greenbelt and has peat deposits as deep as six meters thick!! The bog is currently used for wildlife observation, nature trails, show-shoeing and cross country skiing as well as for research. We picked a great time to visit the bog, it was beautiful and sunny and the leaves were starting to turn. We were treated to fields and fields of red and green ferns.















We did the 1.2 km trail, confined to a boardwalk as the peat is so sensitive that a single footprint in the peat will cause scarring that could take thousands of years to heal. The bog regenerates that slowly.
















I hope you enjoy the photographs, although, as usual, they never do justice to the actual experience.


Learn more about the Mer Bleue Bog at the following websites:

http://www.satelliteimpressions.com/ncrmerbleue.html

http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-9735-9743&lang=1

Fort Henry

A couple of weeks ago Alain and I headed out to Kingston to visit Fort Henry. I hadn't been back in over a year, but let me tell you, they are doing an incredible job with the restoration of the fort. We spent hours touring the Fort and taking photos of the exhibits for my thesis. Fort Henry will be one of the case studies in the final chapter of my thesis.
It was a beautifully sunny day, but unfortunately, since we were on a "work" trip, we didn't take a lot of touristy photographs, but here is one of us inside the reverse fire chamber within the lower Fort. Visit Fort Henry's website and learn all about the continued restoration there at http://www.forthenry.com/home.htm



After our visit to the Fort we headed down to the waterfront and had some ice cream before heading back to Ottawa.

Ok People, I've been slacking and I'm sorry about that. What can I say except that I've been working super hard on my schoolwork. I'm finishing up my second chapter, which is really exciting for me. Only one more to go.. Yay!

One Tree Hill Season 4 promo

One Tree Hill has never really caught on here in Canada, yet remains incredibly popular in the US. I've always enjoyed the drama of it all. Check out the promo video for this season.

Gilmore Girls Season 7 Promo

The CW (the new network that used to be the WB) is starting to release promo videos for some of my favourite shows. Since I'm hooked on youtube you can also view these promo videos.... Enjoy!

Tour of Parliament

When Monica was visiting we did a tour of Parliament in preparation for her Government unit at school. I hadn't done a tour since 2000 and although not a lot has changed (security definitely has!) The Library of Parliament is one major improvement that the Parliamentary Precinct has had. The last time I did the tour, the library was open. It closed shortly after and remained closed until June or July of this year. The whole time the structure was tented in white sheeting of some sort, making the ongoing restorations incredibly obvious even from the outside.

Finally, the sheeting is off and the library is open again. I have to say that it looks amazing, but, unfortunately they no longer allow you to take photos inside (they say it is for the security of the people working inside the library). It's too bad, I'd love to show you what it looks like, but this photo of the exterior (which also looks very good) will have to do.


This is photograph of the main entrance lobby from upstairs
















We went up to the Peace Tower and enjoyed the fabulous view on a very clear day. I haven't included the cityscape here, but here is a view of the roof of the library.















These photos were taken as we were waiting to head up to the Peace Tower. Did you notice my hair cut? haha, I got it cut the day before.

Watermelon... Sort of...
Alain is going to be SOOOO mad at me for posting one of these photos (he hates it, but in fairness, he was just putting on the sad face for the photo, and I think it's funny and cute) but they are just too cute to not post.

Alain had planted some watermelon seeds in the spring, and to our surprise and delight, one of them actually grew! We were so excited to watch the watermelon grow from a tiny quarter sized melon to this substantial basket ball sized melon throughout the month of August. We turned it often to make sure the skin didn't get bleached in the sun and really were looking forward to enjoying our homegrown watermelon. By the end of August the melon had stopped growing, so, over the long weekend we decided to go ahead and cut it open. We were hopeful, but weren't really sure what we would find. Well, the photos pretty much do the talking I think....


































































Obviously we were disappointed, but we tried the pale-fleshed watermelon anyways. It pretty much tasted like a normal watermelon tastes at the edge, the white part near the skin.... Not so tasty, at least not to us. We threw it out into the garden where we figured it would compost... Kelly got to it first and ate the whole thing clean. She loved it!!! I guess for now we will have to stick to buying our watermelon.

Carrots!

As most of you that have been following along with this blog will know, Alain and I have been enjoying the fruits of his labour in the garden all summer long. Right now we're into the carrots, which have been very tasty, and quite abundant. Here is me with some freshly picked carrots, and Kelly dying for a taste. It's not the best photo I've ever taken, but if I'm embarassing everyone else, I should embarass myself as well...

Monica is going to kill me for posting these photos but they are worth seeing (if only for you to believe that she actually did this!). I convinced her to take a short ride on the motorcycle with Alain while she was here visiting, and although she was a little scared at first (we all are!) I think she really enjoyed it. Here are some photos, they are pretty cute.

Gatineau Park - King's Mountain

Monica was visiting last week and we did a hike in Gatineau Park. We didn't see any bears this time, but we did do a trail with an incredible look out point. Enjoy the pics, sorry about those darn people blocking the view. :-)

Whiskas Commercial -#1 Hubert

I absolutely love these Whiskas commercials... They totally crack me up...

Whiskas Commercial #2 - Boris

Whiskas Commercial #3 - Hank

Grey's Anatomy Season 3 Promo


I'm so excited about Grey's Anatomy this coming season. They just released a new promo trailer and since I'm now addicted to YouTube, you should check it out.

Enjoy!

Will you see "An Inconvenient Truth"? Click on the pledge Widget to show your support

An Inconvenient Truth - Trailer

Alain and I saw this movie tonight, a $3 film at our local independent theatre that still thinks Tuesday's are cheap nights. It was the best $3 I've spent in a long time. I've attached the trailer because I truly think that everyone NEEDS to see this film. I know I get passionate about a lot of things, but this, is important.

Al Gore has done an amazing job of putting the spotlight on global warming in an understandable and affective way. This film will grab you attention and hold it. It will stun you and terrify you, and ultimately it will empower you.

I knew nothing about Al Gore, and I'll admit, way less than I should have about the impact global warming is having on the planet, but Al (I'm going to call him Al) has done a great job in creating a film that can introduce both himself and the subject to mass audiences. He goes between stops on his lecture circuit, to news footage and footage from trips across the world exploring the issue of global warming. He tracks environmental trends from the past century, as well as from the past 650,000 years. He provides scientific evidence that global warming IS happening and forces us to question why political figures are determined to have us believe it's not.

I will admit that you will probably have a hard time leaving this film and NOT liking Al... He comes across as very likable and of course there is some bias there. He's arguing his side, no if ands or buts, well... one but... IF he is over-exaggerating the real danger of global warming, I'm willing to buy into it hook-line-and-sinker. Why? How can we not? I don't think we can ever do TOO MUCH to perserve our environment. We can't recycle too much, we can't change our habits too much.

Watch the trailer... Get out there and find a screening of the movie...
If you can't find the movie, the next best thing would be checking out the associated web-page www.climatecrisis.net There are lots of great tips on how to lower your energy consumption and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide you produce.

I hope Al runs for president in 2008. It gives me chills to imagine what a different place this world would be had he won in 2000.