Summertime

As you can tell by my prolonged absence, I have enjoyed our season of repose. It's so true, that getting out in the natural world, away from our ever-present screens, does a person a world of good.  I always feel better after a swim in a lake, a drive in the country, a bike ride, or some time at a cottage.

We are truly blessed to have the entertainment, the excitement and the love of our grandchildren. Time spent with them is a welcome diversion from the steady stream of negative news which threatens to overcome us. Being outside with them was my favourite part of summer.

What fun, to watch kids running on a summer day.

Water fights are just so much fun.

It had been years since I'd been to Toronto's Centre Island. One fine July day I visited there with our grandchildren. What a wonderful oasis! While walking around there, in the vast fields, beside the water, or around the gardens, one can easily forgot you're so close to Canada's largest city. It's wonderful to see so many people, of all backgrounds, enjoying a day away from their regular city life.

Enjoying the merry go round on Toronto Island

The grandkids (and I) were thrilled with the rides on Centre Island. It was so much fun to watch their excitement. While watching them on the boat ride, I had a flashback to my own childhood.

Back in the late fifties and early sixties, Dad would take us to the Ottawa Ex. As a child, I went on this same ride. How did my life slide by so quickly? While watching my grandchildren, I could suddenly remember my own excitement all those years ago. I really thought I was in a boat and that we were in deep water!

Camping at Sandbanks was another special time shared with family this summer. I don't have a photo of the kids' faces, as we jumped up and down in the waves, but I hope I'll always remember that magical time of pure joy.

This past year and a half, since Dad's death has been filled with so many firsts. This summer was my first time back at Sandbanks. As I walked  onto the beach after a swim, on a wild and windy day,  I looked over to the campsites which we've been lucky enough to occupy over the years. While camping at those beach-side sites, Dad would set up a hammock in the trees, overlooking the lake. As I contemplated that area, as I walked along the sandy roads, as I roasted marshmallows with the kids, I was filled, not with sadness but with a profound sense of gratitude. I have been so lucky, to have had all those times with my family in such a peaceful place. When I returned home, Mom and I shared our memories of early camping days and I thanked her for all our wonderful family trips.

Infill Housing #15

Now it's on to # 65. Infill truly is like a cancer on this block. This house will also be destroyed and replaced by yet another set of doubles.

Here's an example of the cowboy mentality of some of these builders. One morning last month, an excavator appeared on the front lawn of this house. You can see the marks on the lawn.

Thankfully, a neighbour ran across the street to confront  the operator and ask what he thought he was doing. Of course he replied that he was about to tear the house down. She informed him that the hydro and gas were not yet dis-connected. Also, the contents of the house were still inside. It took some convincing, but he finally turned off his machine. What if she hadn't stopped him?!

And so, once the utilities are really and truly shut off and the proper permits issued, this house too will bite the dust.  Will the two trees also go? On just that one side of our block we will have lost five of our original houses.

And so we anticipate summer. After this long winter, it would be nice to think of spending some time relaxing on our front verandah. However, there will be a steady parade of trucks, noise, dust and dirt as we deal with three infill projects on our block at one time.

Happy Holidays indeed!

Infill Housing #14

Many residents are saddened when they learn that #77 is slated for demolition. The front of this place has so many unique features and we recently learned that it's on the city's heritage list. It turns out that heritage status offers little protection, other than the requirement that owners provide sixty days notice before demolition.

It sold for $905 000 so that's how much a property is worth here now, regardless of the building on site. It's only worth that much because the city will allow developers to build a double on this size (fifty foot) of lot, in our zone. That's what is planned here. Will either of the families who build, still live there in three years time? Time will tell.

We don't have a chance of saving this lovely dwelling but I still hope that the tree out front may survive. The two Japanese lilacs closer to the house will no doubt go. The tree near the sidewalk is an Amur Maple. It's a city tree with a circumference of 246 centimetres so that qualifies it as a distincintive tree.

It will be some kind of miracle if it survives. From recent tree news in Ottawa, it seems that if a building permit is issued and the tree is in the way of service hook ups like water and gas, then the tree goes. The city's tree conservation bylaws are rarely enforced.

Disregard for trees seems to be a characteristic of all developers. This tree at 77 is not only under possible destruction from its current owners but has also faced attacks from the builders at 79. When they were hooking up their hydro, the hydro company simply hacked away at branches that came anywhere near the new house.

March 25

When I complained, the young man had the nerve to tell me that it would probably help the tree. I reported the incident to the city forestry office and they sent out a forestry inspector. In early April I learned that the forestry inspector arranged to have the maple pruned, to address some of the damaged branches from the hydro connection. They noted that the tree was in good condition for its size and age.

April 10

Next came this lovely machine, to do the gas hook up. All our residential streets now feature these cuts across them, at the sites of all the new builds. Anyhow the operator of this machine also took a few good whacks at the tree branches until I told him to stop. He reluctantly re-positioned his machine.

In early May I had the opportunity to speak to the developer at #79 and I voiced my concern about the manner in which his workers were treating the tree at 77. There was no apology. Instead he told me that the tree was coming down, that the arborist working for the new owners had told him the tree was dead anyhow. At that point, I told him to look at the tree which was full of buds. It is definitely not dead.

June 4

If this tree lives,  it will shield us from the doubles he is building. It will enhance the look of whatever happens at 77. However, I'm not counting on that. Chances are, we'll be looking at two sets of doubles with not one living thing in front of them.  We didn't buy in this area so that we could look at a street that resembles a brand new suburb!

Infill Housing #13

Forgive my lack of updates. Of course, the site at #79 looks a lot different now. Over these past few months I have heard about a few specific problems, related to this build, but I am reluctant to publish them. Instead I will provide a photo update.

March 14

With the walls up, the roof trusses were dropped into place.

Even in winter, you can appreciate why we are hoping that the tree in front of #77 survives. With just a little snow on its branches, it provides a lovely visual screen.

March 25

So by this point we knew what the final size of this project would be. A city inspector checked the height. It complies with the height restriction  for our area, which is 11 metres.

Of course, there has been a steady parade of trucks of one kind or another.

Apri 10

How many of these road cuts will our block have, as infills are built up and down the street?

April 21

With the roof on and windows installed, work has shifted to the inside of these structures.
Too bad they don't match. If they were both going to be a more traditional design, like the right side,  that would be easier on the eyes.

Pot Shop Re-visited

So, I'll reverse my opinion once again. On May 14th  I wrote that the local plot shop was not causing any big traffic problems along Wellington Street. If anyone from Warren Avenue ever read that version of events, they would be furious. The potshop (Superette) is at the corner of Wellington and Warren.

Last week I attended the AGM of our local community association. The meeting was fairly calm until many residents of Warren Avenue voiced their concerns about their new situation. Those poor people. Warren Avenue is only one block long, a dead end street. Until the past two months, it was probably one of the best blocks to live on, in this neighbourhood. Kids played out on the street on this quiet block. No more! Parents are now afraid to allow their children near the street because of the constant stream of cars who, in spite of the dead end sign, come looking for parking on Warren. Because it's a dead end,  they then have to turn around, when there is no parking available. People who have lived on this block for years, said that it's now a living hell. Besides the traffic and parking woes, they've also encountered extremely rude behaviour, with some people urinating on their lawns.

I felt badly for them at the meeting. They are desperate for someone to help them. There doesn't seem to be any easy solution to their problems. What a terrible transformation for them.

Wellington West

If you hang around long enough and write some grouchy oped pieces, eventually you may get asked for an interview - that is, if the young writer is looking for a neighbourhood curmudgeon. That's what happened a couple of months ago, when I had a call from Taylor Blewettt, of the Ottawa Citizen. She had read my 2008 piece about Wellington Street.  It was called Losing a Useful Store.

My friend Christine and I sat down to talk with Ms. Blewett, about the current state of our main street, Wellington.  The area is called Wellington West but it's confusing. There is our Wellington Street and there's also Wellington St. downtown, where Parliament Hill is located. To add to the confusion, our Wellington Street changes names, to become Richmond Road. Anyhow, it was interesting to read Ms. Blewett's piece, with other opinions on what happens when an area becomes so desirable.

Click here to read Ms. Blewett's piece, which appeared in The Citizen on May 9th.

From January 15, 2008, here is my Losing a Useful Store:

When my husband and I moved back to Ottawa in the late '80s, we decided to come back to this end of town, now called Wellington West, because it was a lovely old-fashioned neighbourhood.

There were children, bikes and strollers all over, so we knew we were in the right place. We liked the fact that we were near the Transitway and within walking distance to shops all along Wellington Street and Richmond Road.

While many extol the virtues of this currently fashionable neighbourhood, some of us old-timers are mourning the loss of the way it was. If you think it's a great place now, you should have experienced it before it yuppified. It was just ordinary families walking and biking to small, local stores. That was before house prices went crazy, before people started tearing down perfectly fine houses to build mansions, before retailers convinced us that bigger stores were better for us, and before Wellington Street had all these exclusive baby stores selling infant undershirts for more money than we paid for a second-hand stroller.

At our main corner of Clarendon and Wellington, we had Carver's Drugstore, with a post office, a branch of the CIBC, a video store and for many years, Wellington News -- a great place for newspapers, magazines and cards. The drugstore is now blocks away, at the corner of Parkdale Avenue and Wellington Street. It's much larger and probably sells 50 different kinds of shampoo but I'd rather have the original, cramped store. There was a post office at that corner for as long as my mother can remember (and she just turned 80) but last year, when Wellington Street Cleaners moved to Hintonburg, the post office went with it. CIBC closed their tiny branch, making Carlingwood the closest branch for its loyal customers. The video store and Wellington News are also gone.

At Holland Avenue, we had some real frills: a Laura Secord Store, a Biway, a liquor store and our own movie place -- the Elmdale Theatre -- all gone now. Of course, pretty well all our old movie houses have disappeared, in favour of the flashy, multi-screen warehouses. This year we lost the liquor store. If you want to pick up a bottle of wine now, you've got to go west to the new, (huge, of course) LCBO, next to the Superstore -- the grocery store where you have to walk the distance of a city block to find milk.

I'm not a fan of big stores. I'd much rather go to our local Loeb, where I can find what I want and inevitably meet some of my neighbours. When I do go into big stores, I waste too much time looking for items and waiting in line.

Fortunately, we still have some of our long-term establishments that make life enjoyable: Ottawa Bagel, Herb and Spice, Home Hardware, Fresh Air Experience, John's Quick Lunch, Thyme and Again are but a few. Some of the newer places like the bakeries and restaurants, GCTC, Collected Works and World of Maps, are all great additions.

So, it's not that I'm against progress and new initiatives. I simply find that the loss of basic services to a neighbourhood is detrimental, both to the 'environment' and the community. Back in the '50s, before we had heard of the word environment, our neighbourhoods were actually fairly eco-friendly because we were able to satisfy most of our needs in our own geographical areas. Then came the suburbs, with their houses set up far from stores, necessitating all that driving to malls. Now, as some of our inner city neighbourhoods become more popular, causing retail rents to rise dramatically, many small businesses leave, forcing inhabitants of these traditional old areas to do what suburban dwellers do -- drive to access basic services like banks, post offices, pharmacies, hardware and grocery stores -- in big impersonal stores. With all that driving, we lose the friendly, community feeling that comes with running into the same people as you shop in a small geographical area. Isn't it ironic, that as the environmental movement is constantly encouraging us to buy local and drive less, some of us who moved to traditional neighbourhoods to do just that, are being forced to travel farther?

On my last trip to that Canadian Tire store, I asked a cashier about the new store. "You should see it!" she enthused. "It's so big, it has criss-cross escalators." Well, I don't give a darn about criss-cross escalators. I'll go to our tiny Home Hardware for as many of our hardware needs as they can provide. Unfortunately, they don't have an automotive section, so the next time I need to replace a windshield-wiper blade, I'll have to venture in, to the newest shrine to retail excess.

As I left the old store, I read, once again, the memorial plaque on the front of the store. It's dedicated to the late Trevor Smith , who worked there for 40 years. That's the kind of time it was, when you would shop at your neighbourhood store and see the same employees, people who knew you. That was back when my dad first took me there, when he was teaching us about cars and later sending us there, to pick up parts, downstairs, in the automotive section. There were no escalators, criss-cross or ordinary, just the stairs to the basement. It was another era.

I'm Back

To anyone who has been checking this site, my humble apologies. In an ideal world, I would write regularly. I would also exercise regularly and even sit down and play the piano again. Ah, so many resolutions. My grandmother used to say that the way to hell is paved with good intentions.

Anyhow, lately we have been fortunate to have enjoyed a lovely holiday on the west coast. As well, we have been busy with family commitments.  In spite of all the busyness, I really do intend to make more time for writing. There is no shortage of news about Kenora Street - the drama continues.

I will end with an admission that I was wrong about the pot shop. Once in a while, I'll see a lineup of people on the sidewalk, but other than that, I haven't noticed any horrendous traffic because of it.