Coping With Winter in the Byward Market

Lately, winter has thrown a few curves at us and the weather has made life difficult. I have been finding ways to cope with this dark and nasty part of the winter and enjoy life in the Byward Market area of Ottawa. For example, I recently enjoyed this exhibition of photographs at the National Gallery of Canada, "Made in America 1900-1950."   I took a picture of the banner outside, which shows Barbara Morgan's photograph of Martha Graham. What a beautiful picture! There were many fabulous photographs in this show and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the art of photography.

I also have been seeing signs of events that are coming up in the Byward Market. For example, this sign appeared on the Alexandria pedestrian bridge this week (the bridge I walk across every day to work). It says that the bridge will be closed to pedestrians on Friday February 3rd from 9 am to 10 pm. It doesn't say why, but I know that this is the kick-off for Ottawa's winter festival, Winterlude. There will be fireworks set off from the bridge that evening and they need to close it to make preparations. The sign also says there will be a shuttle bus for pedestrians while the bridge is closed and I think I will take a couple of trips back and forth just for fun. Winterlude is like a massive party in the Byward Market in early February and I am looking forward to it. 

We need some relief! The weather, as I said, has been really wretched. We had our third ice storm this past week. I had a difficult time walking on the sidewalks after the storm because they were either ice-covered or slushy and I had to pick my way along them, trying not to fall.  

This woman had the right idea for coping with the ice. She was walking along with two ski poles to keep from slipping. Unfortunately the picture is a bit blurry because she was walking so fast while I had to take baby steps because of the treacherous conditions on the sidewalks. I will have to get some ski poles too.

This evening, the conditions were a bit better and it was much warmer than it has been. These people seemed to be enjoying a lively conversation in the middle of the sidewalk on Clarence Street, where there are a lot of restaurants and bars. Bright lights and colour make it easier to cope with winter.

Speaking of bright, I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two women in bright red coats. Most people wear black in the winter and it is unusual to see such vividly coloured clothing. Another way to say, what the heck - winter's hard - let's put on some bright clothes and defy it and have fun!