Canadian Tulip Festival 2014

Each spring Ottawa celebrates the Canadian Tulip Festival.  In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Now, the festival has over 1,000,000 bulbs, and approximately 500,000 visitors annually.

These pictures were taken around the beds near Dow's Lake, where it's reported that there are 300,000 bulbs. Enjoy!!  (all photos were taken with a Canon Rebel XTi with a Tamron 90mm Macro lens...I love my macro!)

The weather was perfect for an afternoon among the flowers! it was gorgeous and sunny but there was a nice breeze blowing, so photography was a little difficult at times, but it made for a wonderful day out!

The colours were amazing, and sometimes almost overwhelming, as were the crowds.  Many a selfie was taken while I was trying to get in good and close to take advantage of my macro lens. I think I did ok, some of the photos turned out great!!

While we were walking around, two couples and their kids stopped and one of the fathers started blowing giant bubbles! Needless to say, two seconds later we hear "Bubbles!!" and a bunch of little kids come tearing over to catch the bubbles. It was one of the best things of the entire afternoon :) after all, who doesn't LOVE bubbles!!

Jackson, the Blind GoPro Dog

Welcome to our zoo!!

Welcome to our Zoo!

So our house is literally a zoo! today I'm going to introduce you to our awesome pets (and one visitor).

I'll start with our awesome dog, Jackson, who is almost fully blind, but is an amazing pooch :)
We've had Jackson for just over 2 years now, and he's a wonderful dog. My daughter would love for us to get another little dog, I'm keeping an eye out at the Rescue Shelter where we found our Jackson - Hopeful Hearts - they are a great organization looking for homes for some older and some special needsdogs (which by the way are awesome!!),you never know maybe we'll adopt another one, but don't tell my boyfriend Scott I said that ;)

The sleepy Corgi, is Nella!! we are dog sitting her until January because her person is on a trip to Australia (lucky guy). We are enjoying Nella staying with us, the house will feel empty when she goes home. 

Now on to the cats!!

This is Mischief (or Kitten as we call her as she's the youngest of the 3),  She is an sweet little cat who gives lots of kisses and never likes to be too far away from her people (unless there are strangers in the house...lol).  Kitten is an amazing hunter and will stalk and kill anything that gets into the house from a fly or ladybug to the poor little mice that got into the basement last year. Kitten is Jackson's biggest fan, and if he's upset about anything, she is always on hand to comfort him. She also likes to fetch like a dog...good thing she doesn't bark, we'd never get ANY peace...lol

This beautiful girl is Gizmo! she's not always the friendliest cat, but when she wants attention, she will let you know.  My daughter is Gizmo's main person, most nights she scratches outside my bedroom door so I can let her into my daughter's room. She enjoys cuddling on the bed with Erin, and most mornings when I open the door to let her out, all I get is a dirty look from Giz as she puts her head back down on her paws to go back to sleep...lol  We sometimes call Gizmo "Death Glare Kitty" or DGT for short, if looks from this little cat could kill, I would have been dead a loooooonnnng time ago...lol

This gorgeous white kitty is the oldest of the 3, her name is Fluffy (so named by my daughter when she was 7 years old...lol).  She has heterochromia (2 different coloured eyes) also known as an "Odd Eyed Cat".  Fluffy is an affectionate, loving girl who likes nothing more to cuddle while I'm sitting on the couch watching tv. She loves all people, and will always go investigate when someone new comes into the house (the opposite of Kitten).  If you pet her, she'll be your buddy forever :) Fluffy also likes to fetch (I'm pretty sure she taught Kitten how to do it!)

We all enjoy the pets, and I think each of them has their favourite person too!! They definitely add some love  and fun to the household :)

Just for fun, here are a couple of Christmas pics!! enjoy :)

Aren't they cute!!!

Welcome to my blog!!

Hi there!! my name is Jen, and this is my first blog post EVER!! Although I've created this blog for a course I'm taking that's related to Social Media, I have actually been thinking about creating a blog for quite a while now...this just gave me the excuse to finally get off of my butt and do it :)

Here you will find photos I've taken around Ottawa, as well as a few other places I've visited.  I might also post links to things that interest me...I hope they interest you too!!

To get started, here are a few pics that I took last summer just doing a tour around downtown Ottawa. I've lived here for 38 years now, and I definitely consider it my hometown. It's a beautiful city, I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed taking them :)

A few photos of the War Memorial (or Cenotaph) located in downtown Ottawa

 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 Parliament Hill

The National Gallery

The Three Watchmen

The Peacekeeper's Memorial

And just for fun, a pic of my cats ;)
(I couldn't resist...lol)

This is just the beginning!! I have lots of photos that have just been sitting around in folders I've been waiting to show off.  I'll be back shortly :)