Learning to love a new city

It has been over a month since we have been in Ottawa, and even though I miss Victoria terribly, I am learning to love Ottawa, or aspects of Ottawa. Firstly, I love our house. We have worked hard to make it "ours", and though there are still things that need to be done, it is a wonderful and, I hope, welcoming home. We have yet to entertain, but we will in the not too distant future. Here are a few pictures of our home.

Here is our bedroom:


Here is our guest room (aka our shark room, due to the colour:

Another view of our guest room:


In the staircase between the main floor and upstairs, we have our paddling wall, and the two massive paintings that Chris's friend James created.
I also love the river right at our door step. We have enjoyed several walks at various times of day. It is a busy path, with joggers, cyclists, rollerbladers, families and people walking theirs dogs (my favorite). The park is over run with squirrels, both black and grey. There are a few intrepid ducks still swimming in the river. I have been told by our neighbour Sue that they stay because they are fed by passer-bys. We have met all our neighbours, and I am very excited about one couple, Mike and Sue in particular, not only because they have two great dogs (a boxer Sadie and a corgi-cross named Jack) but also because they seem very cool. They had us up for a visit, and I have gone for a walk with Sue and the dogs. On our walk I discovered that they enjoy boardgames (HURRAY!), the outdoors and that we share an embarrassing propensity for celebrity gossip. They are kindly looking after Jazz when we are away.
Another nice thing in Ottawa is Hogs Back Falls, a man-made lock dam only 9 kilometers away. According to the Parks Canada Agency "This is where the artificial channel of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa departs from the natural channel of the Rideau River. The canal from here to the Ottawa River is man-made. The river continues to flow as it always has, to the Rideau Falls and into the Ottawa River.
The top lock at Hogs Back is a "guard lock" - it isn't used for lifting, but rather was put in place as protection, particularly from spring flooding of the main lift lock. Although several were planned, this was the only guard lock built on the canal." We went to visit it yesterday, and Chris took some amazing pictures.

All around the falls, there were signs warning you not to do something. We weren't sure what they were at first, but then we decided they were "No Vogue-ing" signs. You be the judge!

Well, that is all for now. I might post tomorrow, but if I don't , Merry Christmas all!