Photos from my favourite places.

Some places I always enjoyed at Christmas, of course Rome, Belleza Aeterna, Palermo, Sicily such charm and faded elegance, Berlin a re-born Capital. What did I enjoy, well the food, the atmosphere, often quiet in the city and neighbourhoods, the parks and the wintery flowers, the brisk air, the weather and the pleasure of walking in a city with beautiful sights. The people and the little courtesies of the Season and all the traditions which makes Europe special.

 Fireworks seen from the Tiber River, Rome. The Fireworks are on top of the Janiculum Hill. 

Pariser Platz, Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate

Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Sicily, one of the largest Opera house in the world

Warsaw old Town at the Royal Palace.

 Ottawa Christmas lights by the Rideau Canal

The Old Teacher's College on Elgin Street

Our Mayor Jim Watson, serving lunch at the Ottawa Mission, a great guy!

Garibaldi Memorial on the Janiculum Hill in Rome in the snow

For those of you who think it never snows in the Eternal City.

May you all have a wonderful Christmas wherever you may be.

The final hymn '' Puer Nobis Nascitur'' of the Lutheran Christmas Morning Mass of 1620 in Germany, by Michael Praetorius 

L'Hiver et la froidure

On this 18 November the weather in Ottawa has taken a decidedly wintery look, the sidewalks are icy  and the snow is a light hard icy cover. Our Nicky is not happy, he hates the cold so does Nora but she is tougher and won't complain as much as him.

The air is crisp and there is a smell of wood burning in someone's fireplace. No wonder I am thinking of Christmas.  My friend Dr. Spo in Arizona says it is around 14C right now and he is thinking of making hot coco, I am also thinking at -7C of hot coco. The winter night sky is dark blue and we have been having strong cold winds or rafale de vent.

All this to say that it feels like the Christmas Season already. Which brings to mind our annual little trip to the Christmas Market in Munich or Bologna, two different countries but each have a fun market with lots of cold weather and good food.
This little video is of the Christmas Market in Munich, we were there at the time when this video was done. Love Munich at this time of year, so beautiful and so much fun.



I also downloaded my Advent Calendar and started to play with the different functions, like making snowflakes, I like this one and they are easy to make.  I can then insert them into the Advent calendar scene and they flutter down.

I also decorated the Xmas tree which goes into the scene of the calendar and it changes everyday as we get closer to Christmas. The Advent Calendar has lots of items to choose from and you can decorate the tree in many various fashions. This is what I did today.

Some music by Emile Waldteufel, Les patineurs Valse. Because soon if this cold weather keeps us we will be skating on the Rideau Canal.

Wintery

Today was the first important snowfall after the dusting we received a few days ago. About 30 cm of heavy wet snow.

I am thinking I should try to by some hot chocolate mix it always comes handy on a cold day.
I also got a nice Xmas Cactus today, I will try to find the correct instructions to take care of it.
It was said on the radio morning news that this weekend people would be able to ski at Mont Cascade in the Gatineau Park. I know they got more snow than we did in the City.

So here in a few pictures today.

 The Canal side, the water is not yet frozen

Christmas Cactus 

Finally Spring in Ottawa!

Well Winter started on 24 November 2013 with the first snowfall and finally on 31 March 2014 it came to an end.

It was long and very cold, we had one of the longest skating season on the Rideau Canal and Ice Fishing on the many rivers and lakes. Now its Sugar Bush time, the Maple trees sap will start running with the cold nights and warm days, a sure sign of Spring.

So we need a little dance music to celebrate the New Season.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote le Devin du village, presented to King Louis XV in October 1752 at Fontainebleau.



I will write shortly about the two new exhibits I am involved in at the Canadian War Museum on paintings from the Canadian War Memorial Fund of Lord Beaverbrook. The two exhibits open on 10 April to the public in Ottawa.

http://www.warmuseum.ca/event/witness-canadian-art-of-the-first-world-war/


http://www.warmuseum.ca/event/transformations-a-y-jackson-and-otto-dix/

January what can you say....

January is one of those months where everything starts slowly after the Holidays. People are back to work, more debts on credit card than would be advisable, apparently this is why the Canadian dollar is falling in value on the Stock Market, too much debt by individual Canadians, unemployment is also up to 8% while it is going down in the USA. We are not past the ides of January and it's the first of two winter school holidays. Some will head south, others will go skiing, others will just go to the mall. One wonders what would we do if we did not have the malls, as if you could possibly need more stuff just after the Holidays. I have not set foot in a mall since 1985. I am no longer sure what they look like, not a bad thing.

The days are getting longer a few minutes everyday, on a bright sunny day like today when the sun is so bright as it is reflected off the ice and snow that you need strong sun glasses in order to see anything, it can give you a pick me up feeling.

Puppies continue to lounge in the sunshine, it seems that they cannot get enough sun on any given day. January is also the time of the year for yearly physical and I have already done my blood work. Next week it's the examination, I do not expect anything to be revealed. Good health is precious and worth more than gold.

The late Hugh Lord Cholmondeley (chum-lay) at his home in Houghton Hall, Norfolk with his collection of toy lead soldiers depicting here the battle of Waterloo.

Houghton Hall, Norfolk

This week is also busy with little things, like going to the car repair shop to have the damage to the rear bumper fixed. A minor accident due to very slippery roads and black ice. I was parked and in a shop and saw it happen. Luckily for me the gentleman stopped and gave me the necessary details and his insurance paid it all. For a minor thing it still was one thousand dollars in repair and handwork.

Even walking is difficult and most people walk in the street because the sidewalks are impossible as they are covered with a thick coat of very slippery ice. 

Next week two days of volunteering at the museum which always keeps me very busy and tired at the end of the day, but it is a lot of fun and challenging. I will try to explain the Renaissance to 11 year old kids in 50 minutes. I have to be efficient and to the point in my presentation, difficult to do when they have not studies geography or world history and have a very sketchy idea about art in general.

So the Renaissance is very far away from their preoccupations but who knows they may find it interesting, I will try to connect it to their reality in some way.

If you wonder about the late Lord Cholmondely and Houghton Hall well I also have a collection of about 140 lead soldiers, no where near his impressive collection and my house being somewhat smaller than Houghton Hall, I would have no room for such a large collection. But nonetheless I should rearrange my army. I do not know if David the current Lord Cholmondeley is an avid lead soldier collector.

Here is David Lord Cholmondeley who is also Lord Chamberlain of Her Majesty at Houghton Hall
posing by a painting of Geoffrey Kneller's of Juan Carreras. The only painting bought by Czarina Catherine II the Great in 1779 to have returned permanently to Houghton Hall. His ancestor Sir Robert Walpole sold his painting collection to Catherine the Great. A wonderful exhibit of the collection was held in the fall of 2013 at Houghton Hall, the first ever of this fabulous collection now permanently at the Hermitage.
My point is have you noticed his socks? Now you can tell this is a gentlemen, purple socks, I need a pair, such raffine taste.

Cold Ottawa

We had been warned by the Canadian Weather bureau that the New Year would bring Arctic air down to us in the south, well many cities in Western Canada have seen lows of -40 C and from Central Canada to the Maritimes its -30 C on average. Ottawa at -38 C today with the wind chill factor included which means that your skin should not be expose to the elements for more than 10 minutes if you want to avoid frost bites which are quite painful and can be dangerous to your health.

Last week the Director of the Soup Populaire (soup Kitchen) in Gatineau across the river from Ottawa was saying that it was known that 11 people in his area are homeless and refuse to come in, social workers and soup kitchen people have tried to entice them and speak with them, trying to convince them to come in. They may accept to come in maybe for a hot meal but will continue to sleep on the street at night. I cannot imagine how anyone can do that without risking death from hypothermia. Last winter in Ottawa 25 homeless people died from the cold. It is not that we lack space for people to sleep in warm and clean places or receive medical attention or get a hot meal. No, there is plenty of space for everyone and it is free, the problem as a friend of mine who works in social services explained, many are suffering from mental illness and are unwilling to stay indoors for what ever reason. They are adults and have rights, so we cannot stop or compel them if they refuse help. Sad but this is a reality in the big city.

Some are deranged to the point of walking aimlessly, screaming at imaginary people, cursing an invisible presence, in the summer it is annoying since they often do this in the middle of a busy intersection as people and cars try to go around them. In winter on a very cold day its scary because you know that they will harm themselves by not dressing warmly and suffer from exposure to the cold. What can be done for them is limited again because if they refuse help that is pretty much the end of it. In Ottawa the Police will no longer intervene, after being accused by several self-proclaimed rights groups of harassing the poor. It is up to the under-staffed and financially limited shelters to take care of such people if they can. But they do not have the specialize medical staff, mental illness is often seen as a marginal disease, unlike heart or other medical conditions which have a higher social profile.

All this to say that on a cold day like today I think of such people and what they are facing in our Canadian Cities.

One Word

FLORIDA, a word known  by 3 million Canadians as we prop up the Orange juice State and prevent it from going over the fiscal cliff by buying all the oranges and make delicious Screwdriver cocktails with Vodka. Yes Canadian Snowbirds are so numerous in Florida, the economy depends on them for most of the year, we think of it as the 11th Province of Canada. Mexico is the 12th Province and Cuba the 13th Province since the 1959 revolution.

Needless to say I am going there to do my bit for their economy, it is my own effort at Foreign Aid.

Will return to the frozen gulag in 2 weeks.

Les Patineurs, Die Shlittschuhlaufer, Gli Pattinatori

Inspired by Le Cercle des Patineurs du Bois de Boulogne in Paris, this beautiful waltz composed in 1882 by Emile Waldteufel is perfect for a bright sunny cold Winter day watching the skaters on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. The other piece of music is an arrangement of Meyerbeer's music by Constant Lambert for the choreographer  Frederick Ashton, Les Patineurs, this version from a Japanese NHK TV production. This second piece I did not know of and it was brought to my attention by our friend D.N. in London.

This is what I saw today in front of our house. Lots of people skating along the 7.8 Km. The Canal is to Ottawa what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Something everyone in the Capital enjoys summer or winter.

I did not go to the other end of the skateway which ends at Dow's Lake, on a sunny winter day
its very nice.





Wandteufel, Les Patineurs

A Winter Post from the frozen North

We are in January and it is snowing, the Rideau Canal is open in the section from Pretoria Bridge to Bank street bridge for skating, a distance of 2.3 Km. It's cold and frankly I don't like it.
Nicky and Nora love to run in the snow and stick their noses in the white stuff.
I had a very bad fall on Wednesday, we were going to dinner and walking in the parking area was difficult, thick polished ice is very dangerous and one wrong step and you are sent flying. This is what happened, I took one step and my left foot slipped I landed on my left side very hard on the ice using my arm to break my fall. My left arm and shoulder are still sore and sensitive, however did not break anything and no bruises. My doctor told me that I was very lucky, broken wrists and damaged shoulders are hard to mend. My art class presentation on behalf of the National Gallery of Canada was cancelled this week, labour trouble between the Ontario government and the teachers is playing havoc with our presentations this year.

I have also been reading a lot lately, several books friends recommended, love to read on Kindle. I will write a review of what I have been reading later.

I have been staying close to home, going out for errands but that is it. Puppies keep me company, I think that dogs purpose in life is to amuse us by clowning around. Nicky and Nora always appear to think of something to do to make us smile. Their birthdays is coming up in February, they will be 4 years old, amazing how time goes by quickly.

Yesterday was a bright sunny day and of course Nick the beach boy, like any good hound wants to lie in the sunshine, he will lie there on the carpet for hours not moving, only getting up for a little drink of water. He just loves the sunlight, I think it is his therapy to counter the dark winter days.

This photo was taken in Rome in 2010, I am holding Nicky and Will has little Nora.

Nicky on his blanket in Ottawa this week.

Nora peering from under the blanket, she has an Old Testament look about her.







  

Scène d'automne Canal Rideau

The waters have now reached their winter levels on the Rideau Canal and the different ducks and geese are feeding on the many little fish. Despite the cool weather and cloudy sky a walk along the canal in the Glebe from Pretoria Bridge is always nice.

The walls of the canal need much repair but it appears that only the most urgent is being done,
giving it a look of antique neglect.

The canal runs parallel to the Rideau River which is just half a kilometer away on the left side of this photo. At low water level the aspect of the canal is completely different.

All along the canal manicured lawns and trees, in the summer great floral display can also be seen.

one of the little inlets along the canal from the days of its initial construction, this one near Clemow avenue. You can see the black mark line where the water is usually during the summer.

Though we are in the centre of the city in a neighbourhood the flora has that rural aspect.

Lots of ducks and Canada geese at this time. The geese and ducks should fly south for the winter but many still linger in the shallow water.

On a Sunny Sunday in cold Ottawa.

As this is a quiet Sunday morning at -30 C in Ottawa under a bright blue Sun filled winter sky, I sit here with puppies quietly listening to Angela Hewitt playing the English Suite by J.S. Bach.  In fact winter officially arrived in Ottawa on Thursday 12 January 2012 in a snowstorm which created meter high snow banks on the streets everywhere, making street parking impossible for a few months to come and walking difficult and hazardous.  I wonder what was my ancestor thinking when in June of 1662 he boarded a war ship in Brittany for Quebec City in far away Canada. Knowing that life expectancy upon arrival in this French territoire outre-mer was at best one year. If disease or the elements did not get you the Aboriginals living in the dark primevil forest would. I would rather live in a more southern temperate clime.

Near our home while walking the puppies this morning at 8 am.

The Rideau Canal finally ready for skaters, the longest skating way in the world, I forget how many kilometers it is but it is very long indeed.

cleaning the snow off the canal for skaters to enjoy a good exercise.

 quiet streets and a brave few walkers along the canal.

This morning in the New York Times, Lee Siegel has a very good opinion piece on Mitt Romney and race.
Describing Mitt Romney as the whitest white presidential candidate anyone can hope for to replace that black fellow in the White House. It seems that Americans are incapable of accepting a black president, the old race card comes again to haunt the political agenda. Sad for a country which loves to present itself as forward thinking, modern and a defender of freedom and human rights. What is it they say about Freedom, '' the price of freedom is eternal vigilance''. The Americans or at least the Republicans are unable to free themselves of their old prejudices, they inherited the narrow minded and mean views of people like George Wallace of Alabama, nothing has really changed since the 1960.


Lee Siegel says and I quote; Of course, I’m not talking about a strict count of melanin density. I’m referring to the countless subtle and not-so-subtle ways he telegraphs to a certain type of voter that he is the cultural alternative to America’s first black president. It is a whiteness grounded in a retro vision of the country, one of white picket fences and stay-at-home moms and fathers unashamed of working hard for corporate America.

In this way, Mr. Romney’s Mormonism may end up being a critical advantage. Evangelicals might wring their hands over the prospect of a Mormon president, but there is no stronger bastion of pre-civil-rights-America whiteness than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Yes, since 1978 the church has allowed blacks to become priests. But Mormonism is still imagined by its adherents as a religion founded by whites, for whites, rooted in a millenarian vision of an America destined to fulfill a white God’s plans for earth. 


He goes on with: ''as became immediately apparent in 2009, millions of Americans were unwilling to accept the basic democratic premise that Mr. Obama legally and morally deserved to sit in the White House — and that was before they confronted his “socialist” and “un-American” policy agenda.

Mitt Romney knows this. He knows that he offers to these people the white solution to the problem of a black president. I am sure that Mr. Romney is not a racist. But I am also sure that, for the many Americans who find the thought of a black president unbearable, he is an ideal candidate. For these sudden outsiders, Mitt Romney is the conventional man with the outsider faith — an apocalyptic pragmatist — who will wrest the country back from the unconventional man with the intolerable outsider color.''

Terribly sad but so true of the USA. It seems that some ghosts of the past are unshakeable.

In Canada this week the law on same-sex marriage was firmly enshrined by the Federal Government by a simple declaration by the Minister of Justice, for anyone who thought that it could be changed by the current administration or some exception was about to be made in Divorce Court. The law was passed in 2005, giving full marital rights, recognition and protection to same-sex couples. Thousands of foreigners have come to Canada to marry because it was not possible in their own country. A great coup for Canada and the Government. 

It is a beautiful day but too cold despite the fact that the Canal is open to skating, I can stand the cold and even the puppies don't want to go outside for too long. So we will enjoy the view from inside.




 
Nora in the Sunshine

Nicky dozing in the morning sun

  

a sleepy, slow day 1 January 2012

First I find it difficult to believe that 12 years ago we were living in Warsaw, Poland and the big topic had to do with Y2K and a theory that the Earth would collide with other planets and planes fall from the sky etc... the hysteria from our collective leaders around the world was something to behold, a bit like bird flu and frozen rock hard chickens scare a few years later, we were all going to die, all this seems like a million years ago now. This year some Mayan Calendar and the end of the world, looks more and more like the news is run by the tabloids at the check-out counter of your local supermarket.

First here is my official 2012 New Year's portrait taken on 30 December at the house of our dear friend CP where she served us a wonderful multi-course dinner. I told her this could be a second career and celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay and his mini-hamburgers at Laurier Bar-B-Q in Montreal could take a run for his money. She served amongst other things Cornish Hens, they were very good and I got from her a sea scallop recipe, simple and wonderful. The dinner service is well over 100 years old, very elegant.

During the Holiday period I promised myself I would tend to my army and take care of arranging it all properly. Took me 3 days to do it, quite the task, I know how Kim Jong Un now feels in underfed and hysterical North Korea. I had to arrange them by century, period, monarchs, battle and in an historical context. Have four basic periods, the easiest is the Coronation parade for Queen Elizabeth II, then comes the 7 years war at Quebec City, September 1759, I know my ancestors were there as they lived not far and were soldiers. In fact August 2012 will mark the 350 anniversary of the arrival of my ancestors in Canada, (1662-2012).

Then comes the Napoleonic wars, etc.. though it is not a period I like, 12 campaigns in a very short term if you think of it, a whole male generation in France slaughtered and economic chaos in Europe over some Corsican fellow, who admitted he did not like France or the French that much to begin with.
At any rate it is a lot of work but much fun, each piece has a history and a different provenance.

Today I also did a little housekeeping, polishing the silver ice bucket, a Christmas gift of my sister back in 1983 in New York, where my parents then lived. Will and I spent 3 hours at Fortunoff on Fifth Avenue deciding what we would get. It had gotten quite tarnished and it was inexcusable so now it is all clean again.

We also listened to the New Year's day concert from the Musikverein, Golden Hall in Vienna, the flowers in the concert hall are magnificent, a gift each year I am told from the city of San Remo in Italy. The tickets to the concert are obtained through a lottery and for 2013 you can apply now for your tickets, from the reasonably priced to the very expensive in Euros. See the web site, well worth it, www.musikverein.at


Last night the weather in Ottawa was miserable, slippery and wet, cold, humid, so like most of the people we knew, we stayed home and had a lovely dinner with fine wines and a lovely annual fruit cake by our friend J who has made them for the last 30 years, this year's cake is excellent. By 10 o'clock we were ready for bed but did stay up until midnight listening to the radio from Toronto to ring in the New Year. Had a glass of Marsala Vergine and went to bed. Today the 1 January the weather was quite warm at +5 C, water everywhere under heavy grey skies. Just quiet time.

Winter and Xmas

As I was sitting in my cubicle office on the 16th floor looking south over Ottawa on a cold morning this week, it was -1C outside and windy, it suddenly occurred to me that your brain tells you to eat more as a form of comfort against the cold and greyness outside. The coffee shop across the street called Les Délices, is privately owned and has beautiful Belgian chocolates, butter croissants and other pastries in the morning to have with your coffee. It is very tempting and the cold weather entices you to just get a cappucino or a caffe machiato and a croissant which was made just an hour prior with that freshly baked scent. Of course it is all a question of control and not overindulge and over eat. Winter is approaching slowly this year, with a record breaking warm autumn in Ottawa. Today was a bright sunny day with a cold wind, the puppies put on their coats before going out. They find it cold now at -4C I wonder how they will feel on those winter mornings when the temperature is -30C.

Since our return to Canada a few months ago our friend C.P. has been an angel, she has arranged for us to be kept informed of what is happening at the National Arts Centre and in various other locals, sending us information on concerts, choirs and cultural events. We have been to quite a few choir concerts and symphonic concerts thanks to her. C.P. is a soprano and sings with the Cantata Singers of Ottawa under the direction of Michael Zaugg. Thanks to her, we met with pianist Angela Hewitt who is from Ottawa, at a private function, she is one of my favourite pianist and such a nice person, it was a delight to be able to speak with her while enjoying desserts at Le Café of the National Arts Centre. We also saw maestro Valery Gergiev, he too is one of my favourite conductors, Riccardo Muti being the other.  This evening we are going to hear yet another choir concert, with Christmas Stories read by Adrian Harewood of  CBC Radio and the Ottawa Cantata Singers at Knox Presbyterian Church (c.1844) at the corner of Elgin and Lisgar Street . This is a beautiful stone church, a landmark in Ottawa with its roof of Red British Columbia cedar and red Oak doors. We will dress warmly for our walk down to the church as the wind is biting and cold.

About the NAC apparently plans are afoot to change the outside look of the building,first inaugurated in 1967 for the Centennial of our Canadian Confederation as the cultural and national showcase of the Federal Government to the country. Plans call for a transparent glass wall to replace the current pebble brown concrete exterior with a new entrance off Elgin Street. The idea being that it would reflect openess and transparency, themes dear to the heart of the Civil Service in Canada. This renovation of the building's outside exterior is to coincide with the Anniversary of 2017 when Canadian Confederation will mark 150 years.

On Parliament Hill and everywhere in the centre of the Capital Xmas lights have started to appear. It is quite beautiful. We are putting up our tree on Saturday 10 December. A new tree this year to fit into our smaller apartment. Our neighbours have also started to decorate, a nice change for us, because in Rome no one put out any display of lights, or at least it was rare, even at the Vatican, you had the corporate looking giant crèche and a sorry looking tree with white lights, usually a gift from Catholic Austria, but that was all. So we are looking forward to all the lights and decorations around the city. The concert at Knox Presbyterian is also a chance to re-aquaint ourselves with a tradition that of the Xmas sing along Hymns which is very popular in Canada.

Sunday Morning ROMA

Pictures taken this Sunday 9 January 2011, between 09:30 and 11:30 walking between the Amphitheater of the Flavians down Via dei Fori Imperiali to Piazza Venezia and then up the Capitoline hill and back down towards the Corso and ending up in Piazza Spagna.

Arch of Emperor Constantine located at the beginning of the Via Sacra

Amphitheater of the Flavians, started by Emperor Vespasian in 70 AD and completed and inaugurated by his son Titus in 80 AD. It could seat 50,000 spectators. It remained in use until 550 AD. and only became a shrine of the Church at the time of the Renaissance.

Ruins of the basilica of Emperors Maxentius and Constantine and the Vittoriano on Via Fori Imperiali

A glance in the background at the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of Septimus Severus, seen from Via Fori Imperiali

The columns of the Temple of Saturn where the Saturnalia took place on December 21 and the entrance to the Mamertime, State Prison of Rome were all the famous rulers defeated by Rome ended up after the triumphal parade through the Roman Forum, all died either strangled or starved to death.

Palazzo Venezia on the piazza of the same name, next to the house of the Bonaparte family, where Napoleon's mother, spent her last days looking out unto the Piazza in imperial splendor, not bad for a peasant women whose son did good.

It must be Sunday morning, just married, newlyweds kissing on the stairs of Rome Campidoglio City Hall.

Church of Santa Maria AraCoeli entrance, tombstone of Flavio Biondo, (1392-1463) born in Forli, Romagna, first modern historian, father of archeology, he coined the term Middle-Ages. He wrote 3 encyclopedias on Italian history from the foundation of Rome to his time.

A side view of the Altar to the Nation (Vittoriano), all white marble and the facade unfinished of the Church of Santa Maria Ara Coeli.

The column of Emperor Trajan and the 2 churches at the corner of Via Fori Imperiali and Piazza Venezia.

The Spanish Steps and the French Church Trinita di Monti