winterlude vacation

Here I am in Ottawa! It is frigid! It was cold in B.C. when I left and even more cold in Calgary where I was for 2 days and now to the land of the polar express. Actually it is not as cold as it could be and has been over the years; but it is cold enough.
I'm here to help a friend pursue one of her life goals. She wants to skate on the Rideau Canal. It looks like Thursday will be the best day this week so we plan to go then. Not me skating, but the ice sculptures are quite nice--I've seen them before.
Anyway that is for Thursday. Tomorrow is Parliament. We pick up the tickets tomorrow morning and then go to Question period.

The last time I went to Question Period was the day Pierre E. Trudeau died. I had been disappointed because none of the 'senior' Liberals was around. No one had said anything about his death or even impending death in the House. After the period was over I walked across the bridge over the Ottawa River, on the way to the Museum of Civilization to meet my son and family. I did notice that the flag was flying half mast and wondered who had died. While we were around that weekend, we did not line up to pay our respects. The lines were very long! I did think it was more fitting to be there on the hill and have a picnic lunch. I thought he'd approve. On Sunday we went to the usual nearly silent meeting of the Quakers, which was not that day as many spoke of Trudeau's impact on themselves.