Hot weather

It "feels like" 40º in most of Ontario at the moment, and that includes the Ottawa Valley. The usual July heatwave is upon us and people either want to stay in the shade of the trees (I see that several more trees have been planted in our neighbourhood park this year) or stay indoors in air-conditioned places, or go swimming. The local rivers offer free swimming, if you don't mind the crowds on some of the beaches, and the City of Ottawa publishes information about the cleanliness (or not) of the water, publishing daily updates on the levels of E. coli per 100mL of water, with a No Swim Advisory at Mooney's Bay today, for example, after the levels tested yesterday turned out to be risky. They'll be flying a red flag on that Rideau River beach to make the point.

Petrie Island beach

Britannia Beach on the Ottawa River is usually a safe place to swim, by the way, because the curve of the bay protects that part of the river's edge from the usual pollutants. I'm adding a picture of one of the Petrie Island beaches on the eastern side of the national capital region (my photo taken at a less populous time of year).

Today Chris and I were in Wakefield for lunch and saw people swimming in the Gatineau River, downstream from the covered bridge. What is more delightful than to float in comfortably cool, sparkling water gazing through your wet eyelashes at a blue sky?