Mostly, I just want to get close to NaNoWriMo wordcount numbers in my novel-in-progress.
It’d also be nice to make some time to work on the WordPress Multisite project I’ve got going.
Patrick
Hallowe’en 2017 count
Here’s the tally for this year’s Hallowe’eners:
- Mad scientist
- Minion
- 2‑year-old (approx.) in a bee costume who was apparently scared of me because I’m a stranger, and had to be convinced by her mother to accept a chocolate bar from me
- Morty
- Zombie banana (however that works)
- Princess
- Witch
- Vampire cat
- Cowboy in a snowsuit
- Cat in a snowsuit
- 3 more cowboys
- Ghoul with flashing red LED eyes that made him look like a dire Jawa
- Jason Voorhees in a parka
- Princess in a parka
First doorbell: 6:15 PM.
Last doorbell: 8:45 PM.
Leftover candy: sufficient but probably not fatal.
Hollow Bean 2017
Happy Hollow Bean, y’all.
…“And what is the purpose of this celebration?”
“To collect the all-important food.”
“Which is?”
“Candy.”
The Weekend
Our last couple days in Ottawa, Kathleen had a cold and I felt the start of one.
Saturday
We got moving about 12:30, and headed out — for the first time since Monday — with no clear idea what we were going to do. I’d posted a photo to Facebook hinting that we were in Ottawa, and predictably many friends had many suggestions. Some of them we’d already done, some we had yet to accomplish. Continue reading “The Weekend”
National Gallery
We headed out around noon, and walked down to the Canadian National Gallery. We spent almost four hours touring the galleries, where I discovered that I prefer paintings of landscapes to portraits, generally, though I did find a few portraits interesting as well.
Museum-a-palooza
Thursday we got moving by 11 AM or so. We went to the Canadian Museum of Nature first off, and purchased a museum passport (3 museums, 3 days, 1 price!) which would also allow us access to the War Museum, the Museum of History, and the National Gallery. (Also the Aviation Museum, but that train had sailed.)
Canadian Aviation Museum / Rideau Hall
We had a lazy morning: breakfast in the room, showers, and so forth. We left the hotel about 11 AM, and drove out to the Aviation Museum, where I got to indulge one flavour of my nerdiness (including wearing a fighter-jet helmet during the ejection seat demonstration). Continue reading “Canadian Aviation Museum / Rideau Hall”
Ottawa: Parliament Hill
Tuesday, I got up at the crack of 8:10 to go stand in line for Parliament Hill tour tickets. I assumed the office would open at 8:30, but it turned out to be 9 o’clock. I was glad I got there early, though, when I saw how very long the line had gotten behind me. Kathleen joined me with my camera and watch before the office opened.
Ottawa: By Water
Monday morning we went downtown and stumbled into the very last Rideau Canal tour of the season (the tours were supposed to end on Sunday, but a group had already booked on Monday’s ride, so they ran it). Since they also offered an Ottawa River tour, with an almost 20% discount on combo tickets, we decided to do both.
Ottawa: Sunday
We’d travelled to Winnipeg on Saturday, because our Sunday flight was an early one. Got to the YWG airport in plenty of time to go through security (unlike a woman behind us in the security line, who said to the officer, “My flight’s in 15 minutes,” to which he responded, “You should’ve got here sooner then”).
Uneventful flight, or I guess flights: Winnipeg to Toronto, where we changed gates and got on the Toronto-Ottawa flight. Kathleen watched Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 on the flight, and I snoozed and watched the very first Silicon Valley episode.
In Ottawa, we got the rental car, found the hotel, checked in. Then we wandered around the downtown, discovering we were literally three blocks from Parliament Hill. The War Memorial was easy to find, and in our aimless sauntering we also discovered the US Embassy, the Mint, the National Gallery, the Rideau Canal, and Byward Market, among many other points of interest. We paused on the National Gallery’s plaza to admire the silver towers of Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica across the street. Also the giant spider on the plaza was pretty interesting.
A giant spider at the National Gallery.
It’s hard to miss.
We found a Darcy McGee’s, which had been recommended to us, and ate on the patio, then bought tickets next door for Monday evening’s Ghost Walk.
We got back to the hotel about 6:30 and climbed into bed. I read, briefly, then fell asleep before 8 PM, for which Kathleen laughed at me for the next couple days.
Step count: 9526.