He was set up out in front of Juniper restaurant. Here’s the menu.

Gosh, Toto… Not bad! And only 8 bucks. For that I’ll forgive the spelling mistake.

I regretted not having my bike when I found out that Mountain Equipment Co-op was doing free tuneups in the street.

One of my favourite things at Westfest isn’t really part of Westfest. It’s just this painted wall beside a kids’ store. I like the wrecked car too. This is one of my favourite pictures of the day.

Westfest is a family show. I started smiling as soon as I saw the gourmet barbeque out front of Juniper, and I kept it up for quite awhile. Here’s a little kid playing with a ball.

Big chess. That little girl is having a hard time hefting her pawn. She probably won’t move her queen out of the dire peril it is in, because she won’t be able to lift it.

These guys were playing their hearts out for the food bank.

Him too. Maybe not for the food bank. (Identified as Guy Delvillano. Thanks zoom!)

I took another picture of this young woman and posted it on June 9. I took a picture of another young woman playing the violin at the Glebe Garage Sale. I think young women who play the violin on the street at community festivals help to gladden the hearts of a weary world.

Eventually I made it to the main stage. I’m sorry to have to say it, but these guys were terrible. Too loud. No finesse. I don’t remember their name and I wouldn’t be so unkind as to mention it anyway.

Hearing that band made me feel tired and depressed. I don’t have a high capacity for crowded events like street festivals at the best of times, and ear-splitting cock rock at two in the afternoon wasn’t helping. I could remember smiling when I first arrived at Westfest but I wasn’t smiling anymore.

I went down to the river and walked home. That’s where I took the pictures of birds and animals that you might have seen in the other parts of this post.

I saw this bike rider in silhouette at the top of Booth Street.

I went back to Westfest on Sunday, only this time I went on my bike. I wanted to hear local singer/songwriter Ana Miura. She was good.

And that’s it for the road to Westboro. Thanks for coming!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Then on the other side they have one of those 70′s pimp ones. I think these are really stupid. I guess the word pimp has been redefined by television, so now it just means flashy or stylish. OK fine, but we’re going to need another word for the scumbags that run the hookers.

I love the O-Train! Anytime I see the O-Train I’ll always take a picture.

Strange bedfellows in Hintonburg. Levonian is an elegant custom hand-made shirt maker. Bonkers is… something else.

I’m not sure where Hintonburg ends and Westboro begins. Maybe there’s another neighbourhood in between. Here at Wellington and Holland is the new location of the GCTC (Great Canadian Theatre Company), soon to leave their grotty digs on Gladstone in Little Italy. I think this is still in Hintonburg.

I like seeing little scooters on the road. I bet she’s on her way to Westfest. That’s where I’m going too!

This old Canadian Tire can’t be in Westboro. Too small, too old, too funky. Like the one downtown on Kent St, it’s going to have to go.

Look! What’s that shining in the distance? Why, it looks just like Camelot! Could it be… Westfest?

First I’m going to drop in to the Superstore and get a couple of things. This place is huge. Look at all the happy shoppers, and this is just the produce section.

I call that place the Westboro Loblaws, proving that I, at least, think I’m in Westboro. Maybe this intersection is the border line.

Now entering Westfest! Come on back for part four.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 4

Squirrel

Goslings

A traffic light. I like the colours and the simple lines. It’s on Bank Street.

Clouds. Ditto.

Woman at a bus stop on Somerset.

Shadow pictures painted on the Prince of Wales railway bridge. I can do a better bunny than that. Call that a dog?

The Wood. What is it, a gay bar? Is there no irony left in the world?

Whenever I went to take a picture as I was walking through Hintonburg, this guy on a bike was there too.

Hintonburg is a poor cousin to glitzy Westboro. Not for long though. Even I can see that it would have been a good idea to buy some cheap property in Hintonburg in the last few years. Probably too late now. I don’t have to worry about stuff like that because I don’t have any money.

That’s it for part two. Stay tuned for part three. I’ll get this road show to Westfest pretty soon, I promise!

Part 1
Part 3
Part 4

Here are some spider webs on the iron footbridge at the Arboretum.

There are five boarded-up houses on my street. (Cambridge north, dead-ending at the south side of Somerset.) You can see three of them in this picture. My landlord, who usually knows what’s going on, says they have been bought up by the owners of Yangtze restaurant and they are going to be razed for condos.

I think the zoning here only allows low-rise development, so maybe it will be ok. But I like the old houses better, especially that one that is set in behind the other two in this picture. It isn’t even on a street!

Every time I go by these trees I take a picture of them. Then when I get home with it, it doesn’t seem like much. But I like it enough for this grab-bag post. It’s the tender green of the lower one that I like, but the dark one provides the contrast.

This is a reflection in the window of the Vietnamese Buddhist centre on Somerset. I don’t know who this is. Is it Buddha himself? Is that a bottle in Buddha’s left hand? Maybe someone who knows something will fill me in.

Continuing on the religion theme, here’s the Ottawa Mosque. I was struck by the way the spire and the dome are used to depict the male and female principles. (No, I’m not going to spell it out.)

Then just down the street there is a Christian church, with its lonely spire. Aren’t they forgetting something?

Here’s a lion at the International Buddhist Progress Society of Ottawa. I don’t think Chinese lions look very fierce. They don’t seem to have any teeth.

Another window. This is the window of Thee Elegant Junk Store [sic].

That’s the end of part one. Part two might get as far as Westfest. Come back again!

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4