Vaccinations complete

Don received his final vaccinations for our African adventure.  We are both inoculated for:
Hepatitis A & B, polio, tetanus, Yellow Fever, seasonal flu, and typhoid.  We also got a prescription for anti-malarial drugs, and bought lotion and spray-on deet, as well as a mosquito net.

Then we traveled to CAA and got international drivers' licenses, one exceptionally light suitcase, and a variety of travel items.  Whew!  Getting ready to travel is a lot of work (and money)!

Knit Knackers

Unusual shopping was the order of the day.  Went to Knit Knackers, a fabulous yarn store.  (The store should have been called 'Yarn Yackers', as the sales person was quite a talker!!)  The store is upstairs on Bank Street and houses a huge area of hand dyed specialty yarns (wool, silk, alpaca, etc.), an enormous table for knitters to gather at, a separate business/spa area, and even a bunny cage for an angora rabbit (super soft).  Check it out....
www.knitknackers.com

National Art Gallery

Checked out the Byward Market today.  It is a very unique shopping area much like The Forks in Winnipeg.  Saw some awesome artisan type clothes and jewelry.  As always at this time of year there are still a few outdoor stalls selling sweaters, hats, scarfs, mitts, etc.  Also, some outdoor stalls sell christmas wreaths out of real balsam, pine, evergreen boughs.  They smell fabulous!!  I would love to bring one home, but not sure how to 'pack' it.


www.gallery.ca/en/

After strolling through the ByWard Market area, I went to the National Art Gallery.  As always, I loved the Group of Seven works.  This time I also managed to find some other famous works that I hadn't seen before - vanGogh, Monet, Picasso.  They were wonderful!!  Here is a photo of the vanGogh painting called Iris the NAG has on display.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Went to the TSO concert this afternoon at ScotiaBank Place (formerly known as the Corell Centre where the Ottawa Senators play).  It was fabulous.  Great light show and pyrotechnics!!  I was in row 3 so felt the heat from the flames.  I even caught a pick thrown out to the crowd by the bass guitarist.  Woohoo!  Too bad I wasn't there when the lead guitarist gave his guitar away!!

Check out the link below and you will see what I mean about the TSO.  It was an amazing show!!  At the end of the show all the pyros started the fire alarm and three large fire trucks showed up!

I'm back!!

Traveling again....  now in Ottawa.

Here I am in the capital of Canada.  The government is sitting, so today I went to question period.  I thought I was being smart this year and contacted my MP, Candace Hoeppner, for tickets, rather than wait in line.  Don't think I will bother doing that again.  I waited for over half an hour for someone for her office to show up.  Then, when I did get my seat in the gallery, it was on the side, so all I could see were the members of the Conservative Party.  I leaned over to try to see some opposition members and got reprimanded by the security guard.  Embarrassing!!

Question period was decidedly dull without Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe firing questions at the Conservatives.  Not only that but I couldn't even see Justin Trudeau. According to the MP seating chart he was directly below me.  I did hear Olivia Chow question the government about housing for underprivileged and seniors.  All the government could reply is that the NDP voted against the budget, therefore they voted against housing for these people.  Also, lots of questions from Quebec regarding the Omnibus Bill.  All questions were answered in the same way..... "this motion has already been discussed a length".

Looks like the majority government is going to ignore questions raised by the opposition and ram bills through parliament.  Sigh.....