Tag Archives: family

spa…

09 Thursday Jan 2020

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for my last full day in Ottawa, we went to Nordik Spa in Chelsea… it is the parent of Thermea, where I was, just days ago…

but it is so much bigger… there are whole sections for quiet activities, as well as silent ones… every time I go they have added something new… this time it was Quonset hut saunas… the light reflecting on the ceiling was gorgeous…

we started in one of the warm glass beds and moved to warm pools, saunas, hot pools, had scrubs, and sat around fires in huts…

we drank tons of water and had a delicious lunch… we chatted with strangers, just ourselves, and we spent time in silence…

they don’t allow photos on site so these are a few I took: leaving home as the snow fell, the view as we stood in line to get our bracelets, and a picture my daughter took as we were leaving…

it was a wonderful relaxing and rejuvenating day, and a great way to end my visit…

we drove home in the dark, after watching the moon rise from various pools, and had a simple supper before all three of us watched a movie…

we didn’t want to go to bed because she had to work the next day and I would be packing and flying home;-(…

market…

08 Wednesday Jan 2020

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on Sunday we had breakfast out at Stan’s Diner, which seems to be similar to the “A”…

then a trip to pick up mushrooms, maple syrup, bread, a raspberry scone, and squash…

we also tasted truffle butter and truffle ice cream;-)…

then home for a relaxing day…

Atelier…

07 Tuesday Jan 2020

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what a wonderful treat it was to go to Atelier for dinner…

my daughter took me to celebrate my retirement… her hubby acted as chauffeur for the evening;-)…

it is a twelve course tasting menu and every course is more impressive than the last…

we also shared a wine pairing… this worked well as I only wanted a sip of each offering…

our appetizer was on a plate which rotated while we were enjoying the three different bites… it was very cool…

one of my favourite courses was the sable fish… it was very tasty…

every course came on a different plate… apparently the chef collects dishes from all over… many of the ones we had this time were different from the last time I was there… because the restaurant is intimate they don’t need tons of each dish…

at the end of our meal, we had the opportunity to meet with Marc Lepine, chef/owner of Atelier…

next time I’m in Ottawa I will be sure to check out his new offering – Thru… it is only open on Tuesdays and has seating for six with a menu of 50 items… it uses QR code’s to order… sounds very fun…

what a special gift… it was a magical evening;-)…

keep…

06 Monday Jan 2020

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so far, we’ve had two chocolate tastings, and a pairing…

I’ve had a number of tastings over the years and always enjoy them… this last one was all about chocolate with coconut flavours… and I love coconut;-)…

our pairing was chocolate and an orchid tea… lots of fun preparing and doing the tasting…

I’ve also earned my keep by helping with data entry for the list of all the bars that are located in her office, or maybe chocolate room would be a better description, lol…

Tulip…

05 Sunday Jan 2020

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I always try to work in some public transportation while I am visiting my kids, lol… I love bendy buses and for the longest time we didn’t have any in Winnipeg… they also have double decker buses here… and recently the train has been added…

so, took a bus and the train to get downtown where we had lunch at Tulip, in the Hilton Garden Inn…

the modern decor is amazing… tons of purple and beautifully done… delightful space to be in…

we had two appetizers… polenta and tuna, both were delicious…

our mains were not as exciting, or a tasty, and unfortunately they didn’t have the dessert we had been looking forward to, but we had a wonderful time together and fun with buses, trains and even a bit of walking to finally get home;-)…

village…

02 Thursday Jan 2020

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last night we went to Upper Canada Village to see the lights…

the weather was balmy, with a bit of wind blowing now and again…

we wandered around and admired the hundreds of thousands of lights that lit up buildings and trees, had two horse and wagon rides, ate cookies with hot chocolate, sang Christmas carols in the church and had a wonderful train ride around the property…

unfortunately we couldn’t ride the carousel because you had to weigh less than 100 pounds;-(…

an excellent way to get in some walking…

new…

01 Wednesday Jan 2020

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had a very eventful last day with my son-in-law’s mom, lol…

started with a 7 am call to have the plumber come out to fix an issue in the bathroom… this also meant we were up early…

meanwhile my son-in-law was outside shovelling snow while the neighbour snowblowed both driveways…

then we got dressed in our finery for a photo shoot by one of my daughter’s friends…

we worked from a list to be sure that we covered every combination we could think of… wore two different outfits, had pictures of various combinations of people taken outside and inside and had lots of laughs throughout…

a visit with the photographer, breakfast for lunch, and then I built a tiny snow person before enjoying a wonderful walk around the block in the falling snow…

many pictures later I returned, just in time to join the nap club;-)…

we had appies, homemade and store bought crackers and toasted the new year – at 10:30, which was New Year’s in Newfoundland, where my son-in-law’s mom is from…

we watched a movie, recognized the New Year in Ottawa and went to bed… we did not stay up for the Manitoba time, lol…

lights…

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

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a few nights ago we took a drive to Taffy Lane in Ottawa…

my oh my… those people are serious about decorating for the holidays, lol… so many lights…

such fun… there were very few cars so we were able to take it slow and admire all the lovely scenes…

my daughter took this shot of one of my favourites, with a dinosaur and penguin in it;-)…

afternoon…

30 Monday Dec 2019

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yesterday we had a delightful afternoon tea at Zoe’s in the Fairmont Chateau Laurier…

we dressed up a bit… nothing like when we went for tea at the Empress a few years back… at that time we even wore white gloves;-)…

the host took great care to seat us at a window with a lovely view of Rideau and McKenzie Street… we saw lots of bendy buses drive past;-)…

the settings were reminiscent of days gone by with lovely old cups and cute tea strainers… tea was delicious… between us we tried three different varieties and they were all tasty…

we shared two towers of treats and were very full by the time we were finished… we even brought home some of the dainties… our server, Dave, was extremely attentive to all of our needs and even recommended a few other places we might go…

my favourite item was the scones with clotted cream and freshly made strawberry jam…

we are having a delightful time and being treated like royalty by the kids;-)…

eventful…

29 Sunday Dec 2019

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what an eventful day yesterday was…

in the morning my daughter and I headed to Bulk Barn for bird seed and then on to Mer Bleue where it was way too slippery for a walk but we spent a lovely time feeding the birds from our hands… such fun;-)…

chickadees came and went from the surrounding trees… we saw blue jays, two types of woodpeckers, a nuthatch and maybe a partridge…

it was great fun… my daughter took the picture of the chickadee looking at me, lol…

then we picked up my son-in-law and his mom and went to the Canadian Museum of Nature where we saw exhibits about the arctic, the earth and Canadian birds… and we spent some quality time in the butterfly exhibit…

here are a few of my favourite photos…

birds AND butterflies…

finished the day off with a BeaverTail;-)…

those were for sharing, I only had half of one;-)…