Getting out there

There are ski tracks, boot prints and paw prints all over our riverside parks where people and dogs have been enjoying themselves in the snow. The best way to get acclimatised to cold weather is to keep going out in it and Ottawans seem particularly good at this. The other night near the Minto Bridges we saw a very young baby cocooned in quilted wraps being pulled along on a sledge by his (her?) energetic father. This week, the Rideau Canal between Pretoria Bridge and Bank Street Bridge is open for skating again with many families out there, appreciating the good quality ice.

The air temperature wasn't particularly low yesterday, but away from the shelter of tall buildings or hillsides the strong wind made it feel chillier. There were some who took advantage of the wind at Britannia Bay on in the west end of town, to go kitesurfing on the frozen Ottawa River, as can be seen from a picture posted on the Weather Network's website. That's an activity more likely to keep your blood circulating than is the more static sport of ice-fishing, very popular in the national capital region all the same.

Diplomats and Canadians snowshoeing, January 2010

For six weeks, starting this week, the ladies of the Ottawa CFUW's Diplomatic Hospitality group host a series of Friday morning snow-shoeing outings for any diplomats and spouses of diplomats who are free to come and experience the Ottawa winter in this way. People from the Philippines, say, or Angola, for whom snow is an unfamiliar phenomenon indeed, are intrigued by the opportunity to do something like this during their posting. I've been a member of Diplomatic Hospitality (on the Canadian side) for nearly 14 years now, and haven't tired of participating yet. This Friday we're going to plod down the trail beside the Ottawa River near Blair Road and the Rockcliffe Parkway in the east end from which there are some beautiful views across to Upper Duck Island, Lower Duck Island and the Quebec side. My picture was taken at the same event this time last year.