7 January 2014 Christmas Season is Officially over!!!

So it is over, we had some fierce weather from 23 December onwards. We took down the decorations today house is back to normal.  It also means we now enter the dark period of winter, no festive lights, it's winter and the reality of icy sidewalks and difficult driving conditions, cold unpleasant weather and dark days with little sunlight is our lot.

            The tree waiting to be put away, puppies taking the morning sun. 

In Ottawa we will have a kind of, sort of bureaucratically nice Festival called Winterlude Jan. 31 to Feb. 17.
Last year the weather cooperated and the ice sculptures at Confederation Park where interesting. Skating on the Rideau Canal was good. Hopefully this year the weather will stay sufficiently cold for all the outdoor activities, if not it can be a watery mess. Winterlude is really a weekend carnival of sorts, all activities are concentrated on the weekends of the festival with nothing much happening during the week. The activities are mostly about skating on the canal with activities for children.
Though it is 30 years old it seems that the organizers have not much thought about what else they could do to make this festival more interesting to visiting tourists from abroad and for the population in general.

Until the May Tulip Festival that is pretty much all there is in Ottawa, meaning this is the worst of time in the Capital. Lucky those who can escape to Florida or warmer climes wherever they may be.

For me it will be a return to my volunteer activities, reading and being a pillow to my dogs.
I am reading the new biography of Johnny Cash by Robert Hilbrun, a fascinating book, I can see why it got such good reviews.  I am not a Cash fan but he was a popular music figure while I grew up and remember him from the 1970's.

As for being a pillow for my dogs, well the hounds have decided that they can just sleep on us whenever they feel like it. Just climb on top and make themselves comfortable. They go into a deep sleep and weigh more than elephants. After a while you have to move them, to which they do not take kindly, giving you sleepy eyes dirty looks, uncomprehending.

Of course Nicky can be bought off for the price of a cookie, just say the word ''Biscuit'' and he stares at you the way wolves do before the kill. Biscuit is an important word not to be fooled with. Nora is the same though not so obvious. She also will make herself comfortable on you but you won't be, it is very one sided. Hounds will be hounds I suppose.

Poulenc for Lupercalia

This week we have Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Valentine's Day (Lupercalia) and Friday 15 February is Canadian Flag Day Proclamation (1965) so much celebration.

All ancient celebrations, Lupercalia is probably the oldest coming to us from Antiquity with a cosmetic change into Valentine's Day a few centuries ago by those Christian people. It is essentially a fertility rite. It is believed that it started with the founding of Rome in 753 BCE. It tells the story of Romulus and Remus being suckled by the She Wolf in a Cave below the Palatine Hill. It was announced in 2007 that the cave at been found and is located below the House of Emperor Augustus. It is under going restoration.

Mardi Gras is related to Lent and a Feast Day ending Carnivals celebrations. In Ottawa we had an excellent Winterlude this year, the weather was cold and the ice sculptures around Confederation Park where shining in the bright winter sunshine. Thousands of people skated on the 7.8 Km lenght of the Rideau Canal. At City Hall we had free figure skating shows by young skating champions accompanied by beautiful music. The City also re-used the Christmas trees it collects every year after the Holiday Season to create hedges of greenery which topped with fresh snow and coloured lights has a magical effect amongst the Ice sculptures in the park.

Winterlude old Canada treats

Ice Skating show at Ottawa City Hall

Skating on the UNESCO Rideau Canal

Ash Wednesday in the Christian Calendar 13 February 2013, not much mentioned nowadays in the age of ME First. I always liked it as a day of reflection. But then reflection nowadays is not much in fashion. We are 46 days prior to Easter and it is a time for Christians to reflect on life and death, life's choices and direction.

Friday is the birthday of the Canadian Flag (1965), 48 years ago the new red maple leaf was proclaimed on Parliament Hill by Queen Elizabeth II in the presence of the then Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1956) the Rt Hon. Lester B. Pearson. The original flag which flew that day from the Peace Tower of Parliament is now kept at the National Archives in Ottawa.

Finally why Poulenc for Lupercalia, well I wish to dedicate this piece of music to Will for Valentine's Day. Les Chemins de l'amour by Francis Poulenc, one of my favourite French music composer. Sung here by the great Yvonne Printemps.

Winterlude, Bal de Neige, Ottawa's Carnival

Today 1 February is the opening of the Winter Carnival in Ottawa which will last 2 weeks. Luckily this year the weather is going to be cold so the Canal will be splendid for skating all along the 7.8 Km. There is also the spectacular Ice Sculpting show at Confederation Park and the City is covered in coloured lights, very Fairy Land like.

Lots of parties and events and hot drinks served to warm the brave who walk, ski or skate. Not to forget, of course the famous Beaver Tails which goes with the Winter Carnival like Scotch and Water. Last Winter we went to see the Ice Sculpture and had Maple Syrup on Snow as a treat. The Maple Syrup is hot and drizzled on a patch of snow, you eat it with a stick. It is very good and every little kid loves it, there is no better treat.

The Ice Sculpture are imaginative and fun, at night lighted with coloured lights, it makes it all magical.

In other events last night I was invited by my old Alma Mater, Ottawa U. to speak on my career in the Foreign Service to a group of students at the Social Sciences Faculty. Some 250 students showed up, after my presentation I stayed an extra 90 minutes to answer multiple questions from the students. It was great fun. The Social Sciences Faculty has 34,000 students enrolled in its study program. I tried to explain to them the reality of working in the Foreign Service. I was able to make them laugh and they appeared interested. They certainly had lots of questions.

I am also going to Florida at the end of the month to see my brother and his wife in Clearwater. It will be a nice break from winter.

On Saturday 2 February the Carnavale di Roma starts there will be 135 events and the largest equestrian show in all of Europe. The parade starts at Piazza del Popolo and goes down Via del Corso.

see the website at: en.carnavale.roma.it

See the crowds in Piazza del Popolo in front of Santa Maria di Montesanto going down Via del Corso.