Summer trip to Ottawa Part 2 National Gallery, white dresses and an eerie resemblance!!

Hello friends!  Welcome to our summer trip to Ottawa, part deux.

Here we are at the Apple store in the Rideau Centre.  These are the perks of visiting a large city.  We don't have an Apple store in Thunder Bay, so most discerning stylist brought her glitchy iPad along to see if it could be repaired.

Thank goodness!  There is wifi!!

I like the Apple store, it reminds me of grown-up kindergarten.  Plus there is a bevy of talented nerds, eager to help and instruct on the wonders of iOS.

Sadly, stylist's iPad wasn't damaged, and thus wasn't eligible to be repaired. It was just old.  And slow.

So we purchased a pair of ear plugs, as the cats had absconded with the previous pair and moved on.

The next day we visited the National Gallery of Canada.

The big spider (look left) is out front.  I think it's sister is in San Francisco.

The architecture is amazing!

View from the restaurant.

The exhibit was Vigee Le Brun, the portraitist of Marie Antoinette.

It was breathtaking!  The luminous colors seemed to float through the air.

And there was an interactive DRESS UP ROOM!!

You heard me people, I said DRESS UP!!

Back to the architecture.

White dresses.

Shoes to match.

Stylist and I wandered through the gallery all day.  There were so many interesting things to see!!

Due to the age of the paintings, some of the hallways were quite dark and gloomy.  Imagine our surprise when we turned into a secluded corner and found this lady.

Portrait of a Lady, Antonis Mor van Dashorst

1560

She reminds me of someone...I just can't think of who.

Back to the Ottawa skyline.  It's lousy with old edifices!

The Chateau Laurier.

The Parliament.

These historic landmarks were clearly visible from the Gallery, as parts of it are floor to ceiling windows.

Yours truly in a thrifted dress and purse.

Here are some snapshots we took on the way back to mom's.

The Chateau Laurier (again).

Random government building?

Old train station?

The eyes have it.

Back at mom's, heading out for dinner!

Heading home again!  There is no place like home!!

Waiting for our plane to arrive.

happy thrifting ;)

Summer trip to Ottawa Part 1. A sinkhole, sight-seeing and shopping.

Whew!  Where has the summer gone!  It started with cold, gusty, gloomy weather, then I blinked and now it's September!! I must get outside to bask in the warm weather before it's gone.  It's been 20-30 degrees Celcius lately, and we know that in twenty short weeks it will be minus 20-30 degrees. 

Ya gotta love living in Canada, eh?

Speaking of Canada, the stylist (and most discerning critic) and I went to the nation's capital to visit mum, and do some back-to-school shopping.

The stylist was determined to shop-till-we-drop.  I was equally determined to show her the sights.  If you ever go to Ottawa, here are some places you may want to visit.

Here is the Byward Market.  Located downtown close to the Parliament Hill, the Chateau Laurier, and the Rideau Centre.  

Are those beaver tails in the distance???

The beautiful thing about Ottawa is that there are so many things to see downtown!  You can walk everywhere!!  You can walk around Parliament Hill.  You can walk along the Rideau Canal.  If you are thirsty, you can walk along Sparks Street Mall and nip into a pub.  There are many delightful places to eat and drink.

If you fancy a late-night walk, and you wish to learn about Ottawa's nefarious past - then plan to attend the ghost walk. 

When I was a child, my parents and I would walk to the Byward Market to buy groceries.  It wasn't gentrified back then.  You could expect stalls of fresh vegetables, and clucking, hopping livestock.  When you bought direct from the farmer, you got the best price possible.  Haggling was commonplace.  The low prices and variety of fresh produce attracted lower-income shoppers with many mouths to feed. 

My little ears grew accustomed to a polyglot of accents.  There was the sibilant 's' of the Gatineaux, the flat elongated vowels of the Ottawa Valley, and accents of newly arrived immigrants, all buying and selling fresh food.

I loved looking at cages of fluffy chicks, chickens, rabbits and the occasional goat, sheep or pig.  I secretly hoped that one of the chicks would hop into my pocket and come home with me!  I longed to have one as a pet - I would have built that little clucker the best shoebox house ever!!

Well the livestock is gone.  The grisly sides of beef that used to hang in the butcher shop windows, have been replaced with trendy, touristy goods.  Today's Byward Market specializes in clothing, trinkets and maple syrup. There are bars and restaurants galore.  Some of the old-style establishments remain though. Plus you can still find fresh vegetables and baked goods.  

View from the Rideau Bakery

Of course, no trip to the Byward Market is complete without an Obama cookie from the Rideau Bakery!

This is me, wearing one of my thrifted maxis, waiting in breathless anticipation for my cookie.

Eyes are closed, but still breathlessly anticipating a cookie!

Stylist plumped for the cheesecake.

Yum!

The Byward Market is next to the Rideau Centre.  We did a lot of shopping there.

Let me repeat that, a LOT of shopping.  

That part of the trip wasn't frugal at all!!!

During the stylist's innumerable forays to the change rooms, I was able to observe The Sinkhole  from various vantage points offered by the Rideau Centre.

This was the sinkhole in June.

The construction zone around the sinkhole.  Rideau Street was re-opened to traffic during our July visit.  

The Rideau Centre is conveniently located in downtown Ottawa.  If you're visiting the Parliament Hill, it's a handy place to nip in for food, do a bit of shopping, or to hop on a bus.  The Rideau Centre is a hub for OC Transpo buses.  Stylist and I purchased OC Transpo tickets.  Ask about their family day passes - they are very reasonably priced.


Stylist loves playing with makeup - in our downtime, she doodled a magnificent eye using my makeup palette.

Mum has a car, so we were able to drive to the MacKenzie King estate in the Gatineaux.  

William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada’s 10th and longest-serving prime minister.  He bequeathed the vast, estate, which is perched on the top of the Gatineau Hills, to the people of Canada.  Today is a beautiful tourist area that is maintained by the National Capital Commission. There are heritage buildings surrounded by acres of lush greenery, with interesting doodads scattered about.  This is the guest cottage in Kingswood (the estate is divided into Kingswood, Moorside and The Farm).

Kingswood Guest Cottage of Kingsmere Lake.

Bedtime!!

Dindins anyone?

Next we moseyed through Moorside.  Mackenzie King was fascinated by otherworldy items. In particular ghosts.

Here is a cool bench flanked by stone angels.  Bits and pieces are from Westminister Abbey.

Secretary's office by day, seances at night.

Mackenzie King and his medium Etta Wriedt.

The view from the second storey.  Magnificent being at the top of a hill in the Gatineaus!!

Another item brought back from England?  I was quite taken with this lion.

While waiting for a table in the tea room, we read some old, government texts.  I wonder what kind of data overages Cablegram charged?

To Hitler, From Mackenzie King.

Smoked Salmon, salad and tomatoe soup - eatten on the veranda at the estate. Magnificent!

Of course, no trip is complete without checking out a thrift store.  Here are some finds from Value Village.

Pyrex in the wild!

A rather splendid maxi, I wish I had bought it.

Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned for Part 2.

A bientot!

Massive mid-summer savings and cold-weather countdown!

Hello friends! It's the end of July, the weather has been glorious and sunny.  And nothing says glorious and sunny like distressed denim.  I had a hankering to buy jeans and distress them.  Luckily the Salvation Army was having a 50% off sale, and I was able to purchase several pairs for cheap!

Funny thing about distressed jeans.  As a child in the seventies, I remember wearing jeans until they were so worn that there were holes in the knees and inner thighs.  Ripped knees were patched with colorful pieces of fabric.  Inner thigh areas were invisibly patched by carefully matching the color of the patch to the jeans.  Our family was very frugal with money, and I wore my clothes to threads.

When the eighties arrived, shredded and acid-washed jeans became popular, thanks to artists like Madonna and Def Leppard.  I'll never forget the shredded jeans in Pour Some Sugar on Me.

At the time some people considered shredded jeans scandalous.  The idea of purchasing clothing that had been deliberately damaged was shocking to some.  Now it's commonplace to fork over wads of cash for torn and patched jeans.  

Here are the pics of the jeans I purchased.  I plan to wear them as is.  Once I figure out how I want them to look I will distress them.  Perhaps I'll recreate a pair that I had when I was a kid.  The knee was patched with a colorful, homemade apple applique.

American Eagle and Gap jeans. Plus a 'granny' patchwork vest.

I also picked up a vest and a hoodie.  Don't fool yourself, crisp autumn weather is on the way - and layers are a great way to stay warm (without hauling out the parka).

Quilted light-blue vest and hoodie.

Whoa! What's this I see?

I managed to find some high-end jeans.  A quick Google search yielded the identical pair of Lucky's selling for three digits online.  Score!

I also scooped up another jean jacket.  Everything I purchased was $5 or less.

I have a fatal attraction to rayon, granny prints, and long flowing skirts.  Enter the 2-piece Tabi set of my dreams!!  I can hardly wait to wear them (separately).  This set was $3!!  How on earth did it not get scooped up by someone else?

A mint condition, oversized, black cotton blazer.  Perfect with a white t-shirt and jeans.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a vintage, mannequin head at the Salvation Army, silent auction.  I also snaffled this FOUR-POINT, Queen sized Hudson's Bay blanket.  I threw it in the delicate cycle in the wash and hung it to dry.  Now it's waiting for a cold, winter's night!!

These blankets retail for about $650 (I know, I priced them online).  So for $50 I was ecstatic to take this home with me.

FOUR POINT baby!

It pays to check all the departments at the Sally Ann.  I found these 3 Fire-King mugs for 99 cents each!!  Bring on the cold weather and the hot-chocolate!!

I conservatively estimate that I would have spent over a thousand dollars, had I purchased these brand-new.  My total was a little under a hundred dollars.

haha!

happy thrifting ;)

Thrifty handbag haul

Hello friends!  Well another interesting week for news indeed. Turkey foils an attempted military coup (good thing because dad is there!), Trump has a VP pic, and Pokemon GO has gamers stumbling about outside.

Phew, where to start?  How about some handbag pics. All of these handbags came from the Salvation Army for $10 or less.  I collected them over a period of several months.  They were in excellent condition.  I wiped them down with a disinfecting wipe and they were good to go!

I dithered whether or not to buy this purse, as I already have two others in this color.  But the workmanship was beautiful. - look at the even stitching that pieces the leather pieces together!! So this patchwork lovely came home to join the hoard collection.

Burgundy patchwork Ellepi, made in Italy, genuine leather.

I spied this adorable black and white purse on the racks and pounced on it.  I love Betsey Johnson!!

White and black, heart motif, Betsey Johnson.

Our Salvation Army has random bins of smallish items.  That is where I found this snakeskin clutch for $4.99!!  If you have time, check all bins and corners.  Poke high and low when you thrift.  You'll never know what you find, or where you'll find it!

Snake clutch, $4.99

On the topic of reptiles, this eelskin handbag was also $4.99. Whew!!

This lovely travelling set holds all  the essentials.  Manicure scissors, eye shadow brushes, eye-lash curler...indepensible, and a steal at $3.99!!  It will come in handy the next time I have to travel and look glamorous.

Our Salvation Army periodically has silent auctions.  I was the winning bidder on this mannequin head.  I call her Julie, as she reminds me of Julie Andrews. 

happy thrifting ;)