Canada Day didn’t exactly have an auspicious beginning here at Casa Fishbowl. Racoons ransacked our green bin for mussel shells – the detritus of dinner the night before – and left them strewn all over the driveway. Mark cleaned up the mess.
I was feeling a little sad that we didn’t plan to take full advantage of everything that Ottawa had to offer on this very special Canada Day. Shouldn’t a proper Ottawan be downtown, hooting it up, rain or shine? And then I saw the weather reports, and then I saw the photos of the security line ups, and then I shrugged my shoulders and thought, why would I do that to myself?
We took a different approach. The youngest ventured downtown in the afternoon and managed to avoid most of the stormy weather, but rest of us were happy enough just to chill at home. (For the record, last year we checked out Pinhey’s Point Historic Site, which turned out to be a fun way to spend Canada Day.)
We watched the CBC broadcast from Parliament Hill, did a few things around the house, ate cheese, had a nap, and later, prepped the coals for a little BBQ in between the waves of rain. Sidebar: I’ve been keen for the coals since our picnic at Andrew Hayden Park and have learned that it’s a good idea to let the coals burn and settle before putting anything on the grill, otherwise they cook a little too quickly. And start to burn.
We aren’t huge hotdog eaters around here, but that’s what we ended up with, along with ketchup chips, and maple-flavoured marshmallows for dessert.
I picked up the marshmallows at Loblaws, mostly for the novelty factor, because I knew they’d be part of our Canada Day menu. The maple flavour is fairly subtle, and let’s not kid ourselves, they are artificially flavoured. What I liked most about them is the shape. They’re a little flatter on the one side, like a tire, so I think they’d be well suited for s’mores. I will say this, toasting marshmallows over charcoal prevents them from setting on fire, which is a bonus (at least for me)!
In the evening we went downtown. Our usual plan involves driving part way, parking, and walking the other part. This strategy has worked many years for us and I’m happy enough to hoof it for a reasonable distance. Our usual viewing spot behind the Supreme Court building has been closed for a couple years, so we found a spot overlooking the water a bit off to the side of the building. As a bonus, there were no security checkpoints to wait through on this side of the Hill. After they were over, we walked back to our car and set off for home in the cool summer night.
July 2 was a tad more exciting. Mark went golfing (that’s not the exciting part) and the three of us had a picnic on the bridge. (YES. THE. BRIDGE.) More about that, later. I hope you all had a great long weekend!
