It makes sense

The day I decided I quite liked Canada was when I walked around the Ontario Science Center in Toronto and saw this:

The caption on the side reads "This lifesize silhouette of a sparrow hawk will discourage small birds from flying into the glass."

This makes loads of sense. Why wasn't this compulsory when people decided they would like to build a whole load of buildings where birds used to live (i.e. trees) and put up glass (i.e. transparent) windows so people can enjoy the "natural light"?

Not that I was scarred by the fact that when I was in the art room in Year 12 and studying at a school that also happened to be in the middle of land that was being "developed" (i.e. massive chunks of rainforest were being cut down to be replaced by shopping centers and houses) I heard a "thunk" that turned out to be a mini sparrow being hunted by a small hawk that had both flew head first into the art room windows to have their heads neatly snapped off.

A nice meal

After a surprisingly hot walk from Ottawa to Gatineau across the Alexandra Bridge, it was a pleasant to find that the beeline for the nearest bit of shade was the Café du Musée, part of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Lunch consisted of cold white wine, vichyssoise, baked salmon (with a kind of tasty foamy sauce, dauphinoise potatoes, summer veg) and a pretty good view of the Ottawa River and Parliament Hill.

Staircase of Wonders - Skeletal

Strangely eerie but childishly colorful ... jars upon jars of animals without skin. Bones are dyed red, cartilage blue.


What is this? I'm not sure myself.

Staircase of Wonders - Tin Soldiers

Taken at ROM - The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto in the Staircase of Wonders connecting the different levels.

Whale Watching in Tadoussac

In a series of four pictures - after a rather bumpy Zodiac ride out to sea where we glimpsed some whales (but too wet/bumpy to even contemplate taking camera out), we stopped by the Sanguenay Fjord to enjoy the warmer air and still waters. After about ten minutes, we got a glimpse of this pair of mother and calf feeding.

1 - The first sign of the location of a whale is usually a fin or a more likely a whoosh of air from its blowhole.

2 - As the whale surfaces to get a better angle on muching down on some food, it exposes a bit of ventral fin to help expand its jaws.

3 - Just as its turning over, we notice a little fin (the calf) coming up alongside.

4 - Loads of different species of whale come up to Tadoussac along the St. Lawrence River to feed on krill, capelin and plankton every summer. Quite spectacular to see some of the world's largest mammal a few arms lengths away.