a peek inside the fishbowl

When I first heard that the plan for Alexandra Bridge for Ottawa 2017 celebrations, I was pretty excited. On July 2, officials were going to close the bridge to vehicular traffic and open it up to picnic enthusiasts. How cool! Unfortunately, I was asleep at the wheel when the tickets went on sale and they sold out quickly. I promptly forgot about the whole thing until a friend of mine was selling his tickets at the very last minute. I wasn’t about to let this once-in-a-lifetime about to pass me by, even though I had no idea if (a) there was enough food in the fridge suitable for picnicking or (b) how we were going to get to Gatineau (bike? bus? drive?) and (c) if there was parking to be found anywhere within a couple of kilometres. I threw caution to the wind and said YES.

Mark was booked to golf, so it was just the three of us girls. After a harried start (basically, me, packing everything I could think of in a huge cooler bag) we made our way.

We didn’t bother trying to park close to the core, but nabbed the first spot we saw along a residential side street. Thankfully, with the parking worked out, a big burden was lifted from my shoulders and we proceeded with a spring in our step toward the bridge.

I should, perhaps, explain about how this all worked. Participants had to check their tickets beforehand to see if they were to access their spot from the Ottawa or the Gatineau side. We were GAT. There were various seatings throughout the day and ours was at 4 p.m. The FAQ instructed us to be at the gate at 3 p.m., one full hour before our appointed time, which we were. This is almost preceisely when it started to rain.

For Ottawa folks, this is now a common refrain. The weather has been so variable these past couple of months that we’ve trained ourselves to go out and enjoy ourselves between waves of rain and appreciate every bit of sun that we can get, like the solar paupers we are, even if it’s a glimmer between cloud bursts. I wasn’t about to let it rain on our parade this time. We were going to persevere!

Sidebar: in all of my rushing to pack our things I neglected to pack a poncho or umbrella. Happily, my youngest brought a small collapsible umbrella, so the three of us huddled underneath it with the odd drip of cold rain running down the back of our collars.

Upon entry, security went through all of our bags quite thoroughly but thankfully they did not confiscate my cheese knife.

Ace Bakery was handing out baguettes at the get go and CIBC-branded picnic blankets were also on offer. So we grabbed our things and went to find our spot. The baguette was damp the second it was handed to us. The action reminded me of some kind of Olympic event; the baguette relay, which I hoped would be followed by cronut tossing.

By this point, I had abandoned all pretense of keeping dry.

Our assigned quadrant of sod was not far, and I was pleased that we had a good view, albeit a foggy one.

There weren’t many people around at that moment. It was all looking a bit sad until I realized that the SMART folks were probably staying dry somewhere until the rain passed. Sigh. Oh well.

The sod was soaked and muddy in spots. The water started to pool on our picnic blanket so two of us decided to pick it up and stand underneath it. It made poor shelter, but at least it was keeping the worst of the rain off our heads. We were starving so we ripped open a bag of chips and took turns taking hilariously savage bites out of the baguette, like some kind of wild animals. It was all quite comical, really.

And then, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, the rest of the picnickers arrived, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was going to be fine.

We dug in to the rest of our picnic – cheese, fruit, vegetables – and took the time to enjoy the scenery around us. We were close to stairs which lead to a bit of a catwalk for security purposes. I climbed up so I could get a better view. I fully expected to get scolded for my actions, it is, after all, for security, but the guard just smiled at me. Thus, I obtained a bird’s eye view of the revelry. Kids played, people snapped photos, ate, drank, and stretched out on their blankets. The girls went for a walkabout to check out the scene while I stared across the water and watched the water taxi cross and recross the river.

It was quite a lovely thing to behold, all of us there, still wet from the rain but somehow finding a way to make the best of it. It would have been much easier to stay at home and shrug it off, but we found a way and I’m glad we did. We even met someone new:

After awhile we packed up, brushed the mud and bits of grass off our feet to the best of our abilities, and went back home. It started to rain again, just as we were leaving.

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!

If you follow me on Twitter you probably already saw a few tweets go by about my visit to the new WE Store at the Rideau Centre the other day. I may have gushed a little bit:

At the media launch of the new WE store @CFRideauCentre. Wow wow wow! Purchases are life changing& help families in the We community. pic.twitter.com/7N7jNYRU3Y

— andrea tomkins (@missfish) June 23, 2017

Are you familiar with the Me to We, and the WE movement? WE is essentially about bringing people together – especially young people – and giving them the tools and inspiration they need to foster social change on a bigger scale. I’ve attended a few WE Day events here in Ottawa (this archived post will give you an idea of what that’s all about) and am a big believer in the power of one person to kickstart something bigger than themselves. (You can read more about WE at WE.org!)

I was pretty keen to check out the WE Store at Rideau. Ottawa is the ideal town for this kind of store. There are many socially minded people here, and a downtown location – which is both a destination for residents and ground zero for tourists – is kind of perfect.

Some have been calling the We Store a pop-up, but it’s not quite the right term for it. It is, however, temporary. As it stands now, it will be there until January 2018. (After that, “anything can happen,” at least, that’s what I was told when I was there.) I will say this. The store is BIG. Imagine 2000 sq.ft of comfortable, breezy shopping space:

Shoppers will find a range of products: clothing, jewelry, school supplies, and more. Proceeds from WE Store purchases are funneled to a number of different charities and projects around the world. Every purchase makes an impact. Take for example, this necklace:

Note the code on the tag. If you punch it in on the WE website you’d see that your new favourite necklace actually helped make transformative changes in Kenyan village.

Each piece is handcrafted by a mama in Kenya who earns a fair wage for her work. And when women work, change happens and communities become more prosperous. I do like shopping that gives back; gifts that give multiple times over.

I imagine that what helps the WE Store business model is that the merchandise is so inherently “buyable.” It looks good. I’m sure people would buy the kind of products for sale at the WE Store, even if they didn’t come with a great story or a charitable aspect attached to it. For example, their new semi-precious collection is something I would totally wear to the office or on a night out (see these online).  I am also in love with their Imani bracelets:

It’s a very cool bracelet, totally wearable. The added bonus is that I know my purchase is doing some good in this world.

The We Store also has a Rafiki bar. (I should point out that Rafiki is the Swahili word for friend, but in this case, the term refers to beaded bracelets.) Modeled on the Menchies build-your-own fro-yo concept, the Rafiki bar represents an opportunity for anyone to drop by and make their own bracelet from the ground up.

It’s easy. You choose where you would like to direct the proceeds of your purchase (Education? Health?), pick your beads, and go to town. “Recipe” cards are available if you’d like to achieve a particular look and style. The workspace here is actually quite large and could easily accommodate a dozen people at a time. (I sense this could make a great birthday outing for Ottawa families. Just call ahead!)

I am already looking forward to bringing the girls to make some bracelets of our own. Interestingly, it takes 20-30 minutes to make one, but that’s how long it takes for a novice. The Kenyan artisans clock in at seven minutes.

One of the ME to WE Artisans, Mama Helen, was at the media event. I was happy to learn a little bit about her story.

Mama Helen is from a rural village in Kenya where opportunities to earn an income are scarce. With the help of the folks from ME to WE, she’s become a manager in the beading production chain. She’s the mother of five sons, and from what I understood, two of them are in university, which wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t have paying work. Amazing things happen when the cycle of poverty is broken. She gave the example of buying catch basins for rainwater and tanks to store it. And to think, it all starts with our purchase of a beaded bracelet that sells for $10, made in Kenya by Mama Helen or one of her neighbours. It is, in the truest sense of the word, life-changing.

Next time you’re downtown I do hope you check out the WE Store.

Related to this: have you heard there’s a WE Day event happening on Parliament Hill on July 2? Some amazing Canadians are going to be sharing their stories with the crowd, including Chris Hadfield, Margaret Trudeau, Penny Oleksiak, Romeo Dallaire, and many others. Having been to past WE Day events, I can tell you that the WE program has an especially big impact on tweens and teens. Somehow it has a way of feeding that fire that’s probably already smoldering inside them. If you’re looking for something do to, do it!