Ottawa

Siberian Cat Café in Chelsea, Quebec – S12E03

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On Thanksgiving Monday (Canadian holiday), I had the opportunity to check out the Café Chat Siberien, the French name or the English name, Siberian Cat Café over in Chelsea, Quebec. Cat cafes have become pretty popular throughout the world. I’ve been wanting to check it out as I enjoy seeing adorable cats.

The Siberian Cat Café has opened for over a year and it’s become a fun destination when heading down to Gatineau Park. Being a holiday, there was traffic for people going to Gatineau Park. Luckily for Google Maps, it gave us another route to avoiding the car pileup.

Getting inside to the café and to see the cats, you need to order either a drink (tea, coffee and cola) and grill cheese sandwich or some small sweet bites. They also had the Montreal cola, 1642 Cola. I heard good things about it. It’s a cola with maple syrup in it.

Heading inside the cat room, there were some cats hanging around and some sleeping. The cats were friendly and they didn’t bite or scratch patrons and myself. There were also art installations throughout the building.

Overall, it was a quaint and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday going to the cat cafe. You can check out the photos below.

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

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Summer Happenings

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It’s a summer entry as I won’t be posting regularly and it’s considered the off-season.

The biggest craze to hit parts of the world is Pokémon Go. Canadians have been waiting for the release, which came out on July 17th and made the game’s server crash. I haven’t played like crazy with the worry of the phone’s battery life. I’ve noticed seeing people play around my neighbourhood as there’s several Pokéstops located and a competitive gym to clash with.

On Tuesday afternoon, there was a Pokémon Go event in Ottawa called the Confederation Park Lure Party. There were lots of people convening at the park and catch whatever Pokémon are available.

Even the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson came out and joined in the fun to trying out Pokémon Go.
You can check the photos from below.

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Sunday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S11E34

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ODBF 2016 Sunday Main-1

It was quite a weekend to be at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. I wasn’t planning to go to Sunday’s event but decided to go because one of my lion dance member was participating in the race and also support Loon Choir play live.

Despite being another scorcher, there were some winds helping cool things slightly. It was fun to hop on the raft to check out the races as mentioned that my lion dance member taking part in it. The schedule for the races were delayed and I was able to catch it while on the raft. It’s just the thrill to seeing the races on the waters. Photos are posted below.

The concert series ended with Loon Choir, Young Empires (from Toronto) and Ottawa’s own A Tribe Called Red. Winds were blowing during Loon Choir’s performance while the loud tone from Young Empires rocked through. Lastly, A Tribe Called Red brought loud, strong beats and getting to crowd to dance it out with excitement. Don’t forget to check out the photos below.

Overall, an excellent 2016 edition of the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and the organizers and volunteers have done a great job holding the festival. It’s become the best in North America. Dragon boat racing, various activities and live music in the hot Summer, you can’t beat it in Ottawa.

This wraps up season 11 of the blog. It’s been fun filled ride with the music and lifestyle events covered in Ottawa. See you in the Fall.

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Saturday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and the Percy Station Opening – S11E33

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ODBF 2016 Saturday Main

There were a lot of events happening in Ottawa. From the Ottawa International Jazz Festival to Escapade to House Of Paint’s Community Jam and the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival.

My afternoon started in Chinatown as there was a popup structure on Somerset and Percy. There was a fire that destroyed businesses in 2015 and the city decided to create a pilot project to transform the streetside parking to space of activity and renewing the urban space. Local businesses from Jackpine and Atelier Ruderal help made the creation possible. On hand at the opening were Somerset Ward Councillor, Catherine McKenney, the Somerset BIA and Awesome Ottawa. Photos from the event are posted below.

After that was off to Mooney’s Bay Park for Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival again. I never had a chance to take photos of the actual race, I have participated in dragon boat race back in the mid/late 1990s but it was the first time to hop on the boat and just have fun shooting the races.

The concert lineup for Saturday night was a good one. It started with Ottawa’s Pony Girl, then Halifax’s Nap Eyes (they’re on the 2016 Polaris Music Prize Long List) and topping it off was Alvvays. All three bands were excellent. I originally planned to leave after the third song of Alvvays but I saw a few friends I know that were in the crowd. I decided to dropped by for a bit. The crowd was quite the spontaneity with the crazy jumping, dancing and bumping around.

You can view the photos below.
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Friday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S11E32

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ODBF Friday Main

Friday night at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival was crazy hot. I had to do a lot of running around because I decided to take some photos of The Beaches playing and then rush to my lion dance troupe for the opening ceremony. I definitely was in a sweaty mess.

I’ve been hearing good things about the Toronto female indie rock band, The Beaches. Their music is like glam rock meets new wave and just having a good time. It was a short time checking them out but they’re just wonderful. The band opened up Mia Rae and Mother Mother.

Onto the lion dance performance, it was different than the previous years because we were part of the parade of champions led by the RCAF Pipes and Drums. At least it was time efficient for us to start lion dancing right away than to wait for the speeches.

It was crazy and fun Friday night to be at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. The concert lineup is the best there is with Canadian content and it’s totally free.

The photos are below and there’s a lot to look at.
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Saturday's Glow Fair and a Bit of Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market – S11E31

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Glow Fair Saturday Main-1

There were lots of events happening on Saturday in the Nation’s Capital. From Ottawa Explosion Weekend to UFC to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market and Glow Fair, there’s not much to miss around with the fun and Summer around the close corner.

I first went to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market at Lansdowne Park, as my lion dance troupe performed for the opening ceremony. With the hot weather, it was pretty tough to perform in the sun. Photos posted below.

Day 2 of Glow Fair’s concert had Gang Signs from Vancouver, Ottawa’s own The Balconies, Halifax’s Rich Aucoin and Toronto’s Dragonette. Each ranged from the rocking to the dancing beats. Aucoin was the best from Saturday’s lineup because of his interactivity to the crowd and bringing in total fun. The Balconies, who I haven’t seen in a long time had some new members, a change from when they were a trio. Dragonette brought the crowd to its feet as Glow Fair concluded the concert series.

I also took a few Impossible Project black & white instant film photos. Finally tried to B&W 2.0 600 film as it improved the development process but the first photo with Rich Aucoin didn’t turn out good because parts of it was white.

It was a weekend to not forget from the events happening in and around Ottawa.
You can check out the loads of photos below.

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Saturday’s Glow Fair and a Bit of Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market – S11E31

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Glow Fair Saturday Main-1

There were lots of events happening on Saturday in the Nation’s Capital. From Ottawa Explosion Weekend to UFC to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market and Glow Fair, there’s not much to miss around with the fun and Summer around the close corner.

I first went to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market at Lansdowne Park, as my lion dance troupe performed for the opening ceremony. With the hot weather, it was pretty tough to perform in the sun. Photos posted below.

Day 2 of Glow Fair’s concert had Gang Signs from Vancouver, Ottawa’s own The Balconies, Halifax’s Rich Aucoin and Toronto’s Dragonette. Each ranged from the rocking to the dancing beats. Aucoin was the best from Saturday’s lineup because of his interactivity to the crowd and bringing in total fun. The Balconies, who I haven’t seen in a long time had some new members, a change from when they were a trio. Dragonette brought the crowd to its feet as Glow Fair concluded the concert series.

I also took a few Impossible Project black & white instant film photos. Finally tried to B&W 2.0 600 film as it improved the development process but the first photo with Rich Aucoin didn’t turn out good because parts of it was white.

It was a weekend to not forget from the events happening in and around Ottawa.
You can check out the loads of photos below.

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Friday's Glow Fair Festival – S11E30

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Glow Fair Friday Main-1

In its third year, it’s the first time to attend the Glow Fair festival as I had been going to Toronto for NXNE in previous years. This year’s NXNE has been confusing with their changes and what not better way to finally go to Glow Fair.

From its website, it’s a Music + Light + Art festival. It closes 9 blocks of Bank St. in Ottawa. Friday’s music lineup were Caveboy, Fevers, Young Galaxy and Keys N Krates.

It’s been quite a long time I have seen Young Galaxy live. Seeing them live at Glow Fair, I did not know about the changes in their lineup. Missing was their lead member, Stephen Ramsay. Catherine McCandless was mainly on the vocals. Overall, a great performance from Young Galaxy.

Glow Fair is a fun festival for all ages and there’s various activities throughout Bank St. The festival runs until Saturday.

You can check out the photos from below.

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Yes We Mystic and Sounds of Stories at Pressed – S11E29

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Yes We Mystic Sounds of Stories Main

Yes We Mystic and Sounds of Stories played at Pressed on Thursday. It’s been awhile I have stepped foot at Pressed and didn’t realize an expanded space in the back.

Starting with Sounds of Stories, they’re an Ottawa band which is now a 6 member piece. Their genre is on the indie folk and rock side. They started off Thursday’s show at Pressed and made a great impression with their performance. The Voyage is their current album released and possibly a new album to be out in the Fall. You can check their album on Bandcamp.

Yes We Mystic is a Winnipeg indie rock band. They recently returned from Europe and back in Canada. Ottawa being the first on their Canadian tour. The band recently released their album, Forgiver. I was able to catch some of their performance and they were pretty rocking and full of melodic sounds.

Overall, a fine Thursday night to be out and about in the Nation’s Capital. June has a lot of events happening right now. Summer is in full form.

The photos are posted below.

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Saw Gallery Summer Opening and Party – S11E27

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Saw Gallery Summer Opening and Party Main

Saw Gallery held their Summer Opening and Party on Thursday night. There was a new exhibit displayed along with live music outdoors. The event was in collaboration with CHUO FM, Ottawa Explosion Weekend, National Campus and Community Radio Conference, and the Embassy of Finland in Ottawa

With the opening and party, there were food served by Friday Lunch Project. It was a healthy menu of sandwiches provided.

The live music consisted of Scary Bear Soundtrack, Crabe and Telecomo. Unfortunately, I only checked out Scary Bear Soundtrack as I’m dealing with a cold.

You can check out the photos below.

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