North Bay to North Bay, ON
Traditional territory of the Algonquin, Ojibway and Odawa
0 km
Sunshine, perfect, 24 ºC
I’m exhausted. Jonathon wrote about this earlier about Ottawa not being as much of a respite as we’d hoped it would be. I could not agree more. My friend Grant, when I was requesting our first rescue (the next day was the second … !) said that we’d been celebrating the 150th too much. Radio-Canada said as much when we were being interviewed. If there is anything I’ve been celebrating, it is the resilience of communities and dear friends and these rain clouds. There was a perfect picture I bicycled past the other day, of a flower sprouting through a crack in the asphalt. You get the picture even though I didn’t take it.
Minjha is the resident guard dog and an adorable but needy one.
The brunch crew was fabulous and Tobin made a leaning tower of crêpes of astonishing high-quality with incredible consistency.
Very Jackson Pollock-esque, one of them at least.
A lot of the day for me was spent at a local coffee shop, Twiggs, where I talked to two resident anesthesiologists about shadflies, life up North, cycling, and more and more. The slow wander back to the family-owned bike shop, Cheapskates, where our wheels were being trued as well as mailing some formal attire back home to my sister. Remnants from Ottawa. There is something magical about this city which boasts among other things, an artist-run centre which was celebrating it’s 40-year run.
It was a majestically long day, exciting for our hosts for completely different reasons, and a series of long, meaningful conversations. Good practice for the ears and the heart.