kingston-wayne.ca – Page 3 – Don't step in that

Blogging?

As well as copying in old posts that may be still of interest I am thinking of more regular writing here. I assume that if I don’t link to this site from Facebook or Twitter it will never be found other by anyone other than spam bots. This may serve me just fine.

One Year

I have spent the last few weeks thinking a lot about the upcoming anniversary. January 8th has loomed large in my mind for a while now. I have thought a lot about being sad and grieving and what life looks like without Laurie Kingston. I think I have come to some understanding of sadness and grief but I am still at a loss as to what life looks like without Laurie.

I do know that it ok to be sad. And I know that Laurie touched a lot of wonderful people who are also sad. I am thankful for everyone that reached out today, and especially over the last year. I feel cared for.

Dow’s Lake Causeway

As the water is drained out of the Rideau canal the remains of the Dow’s Lake Causeway becomes visible.

I’m not sure when the causeway was removed but the picture below is from the Report and Correspondence of the
Ottawa Improvement Commission (Ottawa, 1912).

A quick picture taken today.

Cropped map of Ottawa from 2nd Edition, 1915, Atlas of Canada

Metro Music

My kids have been taking music lessons at Metro Music on Bank St. for a while so I have spent some time hanging out there while they learn. It is in a old commercial building that in the 1920s was a car repair and/or a tire dealership. It has been a music store for while.

Here is an ad from 1966:

Much has changed on that stretch of Bank St., but not everything.

Stanley Cup

 
From "The hub and the spokes ; or, The Capital and its environs" (1904)
 Author: Gard, Anson A. (Anson Albert), 1849-ca. 1915
 Page 113

Monster at Brown’s Inlet in the Glebe

Terrible People Productions New Video

A summer well spent!

Tough Love by Joel Plaskett

Sacha and some very talented friends made a video for Joel Plaskett’s Tough Love from “Scrappy Happiness”. This is for a contest. Please ‘like’ it on YouTube! It’s great!

Back in Time with Vinyl LPs

Thanks to cleaning out some of my mother’s house we now have a working turntable and a bunch of old vinyl.

Over the last few months the teenager of the house has stared to collect new vinyl. Mostly singles from current bands, plus some older stuff. Over the last few days we’ve been listening to almost nothing but vinyl. I am somewhat stumped as to the appeal. Most of what has been played we also have in digital format which is easier to use and doesn’t sound dusty and scratched.

Now, we do have some old albums, mostly folk and blues, that will never be re-issued. I will get around to digitizing soon I hope. Also it has been fun to nostalgically recall hunting for used LPs through the bins at the Incredible Record Store on Yonge St., or haunting the Vinyl Museum on Bloor. I can remember the exact feeling of finding some odd import or some unknown collaboration between favourite artists.

Maybe the best part of 12″ LPs was the album art.

Or text as the case may be.

Glebe Report Archives

I’ve shared items from Library and Archives Canada and many from the City of Ottawa Archives. I’ve recently discovered that the Glebe Report, the community newspaper, has put their archives online at http://www.glebereport.ca/Newspaper/Archives.php.

The archive is not searchable or indexed, but the PDF files high-quality and are easily browsable. Every issue I looked at has something of interest from the ongoing debate over Lansdowne Park to the controversy over enclosing the Fifth Ave. Court. It turns out that renovating/closing/reviewing Glebe area schools has been going on a long time.

This is a fanstastic resource for local history and heritage.

The school news sections are great, trying to imagine what the grade six students with their science projects are up to 30+ years later. I have copied some examples below.