What to do if you lose your cat

Sadly, this week we've had to learn what to do when a cat goes missing.

Our cat Bogey went out on Wednesday evening and has not come back. It not unusual for him to spend the whole night outside - but usually the morning he'll be crying at the door.

But it's now been two nights, and he's still not home.

So what to do if you live in Ottawa and you've lost your pet? Here's what I've learned so far.

1. Call the the Humane Society's Lost and Found department. They will ask for a description of the pet and the area of the city where it went missing. They check that against their database to see if your pet's been found already.

2. Fill out their online lost animal report so if they find your pet, they know where to reach you.

3. Email them a photo of your pet. (So if you have pets and don't currently have a good photo of each of them, might be a good idea to get those images now).

4. Call the city. In Ottawa, you can simply dial 311. You'll be filing two reports (easily done over the phone) - one with the City Bylaw Department to find out if anyone has called in a strange cat roaming around, and the other with Road Maintenance. It's awful to think about, but it's the Road Maintenance crew that is alerted when an animal has been run over on a street.

5. Go to the Humane Society Animal Shelter to see if you can find your pet among those there. Be optimistic and bring your pet carrier with you.

6. Print up posters with a picture of you pet and descriptions of any identifying features - as well as information about how to contact you if it has been found. You may even want to offer a reward as an extra motivation. You can hang up posters around your neighbourhoud - and chat with people you meet to see if they might have seen your pet.


I'm still holding out hope that our Bogey will come home. He's a lug of a cat with some quirky habits - and he's also quite lazy. But when I find him curled up on my bed, I'll lie down and put my head on him like he's my pillow. Instantly he'll start purring. And then I'll just lay there for awhile, listening to the comforting, contented sounds of his rumbling purr. I'm really going to miss that.

Pumpkin Walk in Iona Park

They started coming in the morning. Yesterday's jack o'lanterns. Those pumpkins that had been carefully carved and proudly displayed on porches, front steps and window sills. Normally discarded the day after Hallowe'en, now given one last chance to shine.

Tonight was Ottawa's first pumpkin parade. Through word-of-mouth, social media, and flyers, we'd been inviting people in the Iona Park neighbourhood to bring their Hallowe'en handiwork to the park. At dusk we began putting candles inside them and the jack o'lanterns began to flicker and glow as night fell.

The idea for this parade came from my friend, Allegra Newman. She used to live in Toronto where the Sorauren Park Parade amasses around 2,000 pumpkins each year.

Iona Park's inaugural Pumpkin Walk was a more modest affair. By 8 p.m. there were close to 30 pumpkins lining the northern pathway into the park.

But it was a good beginning. Violet Lowe, who has lived beside the entrance to the park for 56 years, was thrilled to see the decorated pathway. "This is fantastic," she said.

Several young families and local residents braved the blustery winds to come to the park between 6 and 8 p.m. and admire the skill and creativity of carves in the neighbourhood. In addition to grinning pumpkin faces, there was a howling wolf, a man being chased by a dragon, and a lovely snowflake pattern.

The pumpkins will spend the rest of the weekend in the park, where they will be enjoyed by squirrels and admired by children, then picked up on Monday by city waste management.

Wading pool challenge complete

Miya surveying Hampton Park wading pool

With less than a week to spare, Miya has completed the Kitchissippi Wading Pool Challenge of 2013 - she has visited all 13 wading pools and splash pads in our city ward. On a hot, sunny day like today, summer seems far from over - but several outdoor wading pools closed yesterday, and the remaining pools will fill for the last time on Friday.

Asked how she felt about seeing this challenge through, Miya simply said, "good." Frankly the whole concept of a challenge seemed a bit lost on her. But she's been a good sport.

Miya playing around at Woodroffe
Park Pool

And while this challenge may seem like a walk in the park, Miya did not come through without some battle scars. After a chilly dip in the Parkdale Market wading pool one Saturday, her mother wrapped her up tight in a towel to warm up. Foolish mother. The towel was so tightly bound that when Miya tipped forward while sitting on the ground, she had nothing to catch her fall but her face. A fat lip and nasty scrapes around the nose were testament to the ordeal. (Luckily, her daddy happened to bring back some homemade ice cream sandwiches shortly afterward, which magically dried the tears.)

Despite such mishaps, exploring the local wading pools has been a great way to get to know our neighbourhood better. Watching the dog wading hour in Reid Park, joining a community party at Champlain, listening to African drumming at LaRoche, making a bunny craft at Woodroffe, and attending a birthday party at Hintonburg - it's been a more diverse experience then we had anticipated at the start.  Miya was even interviewed about it all by the local community paper.

Map of Kitchissippi splash pads & wading pools.
Miya put a sticker on each one after visiting it.

After 10 pools and 3 splash pads, Miya still counts Iona Park as her favourite pool (it does have home court advantage) but she was impressed with several of those she visited - especially McKellar Park that has penguins painted on the bottom of the pool. All in all, a successful summer mission.



Anyone else visit some good wading pools this summer?

Kitchissippi Wading Pool Challenge

It's not a challenge for the faint of heart. It takes commitment, tenacity. It also requires a bathing suit, beach towel and sun hat. Pool toys are optional.

The challenge? Visit all 13 splash pads and wading pools in the Kitchissippi area before the end of this summer. Do you have what it takes?

Miya at Parkdale Market Pool

Four-year old Miya is determined to see this challenge through. "I believe I have the fortitude and discipline to rise to the occasion," she said - or something to that effect. (It might also have been something like, "Can't we go to the pool now?")

So armed with a pink bathing suit, flowered hat, sunscreen, and a favourite beach towel, she ventures forth. For a girl still unwilling to submerge her face in water, she is making an admirable conquest of the neighbourhood pools.

Of the 10 wading pools, she has already visited 6. Asked which is her favourite, she chooses Iona Park - the wading pool closest to home in which she has spent many summer hours.

So are you up for the Kitchissippi Wading Pool Challenge of 2013? Leave a comment and let us know how many of the local pools you've visited this summer - and which one is your favourite.

Wading Pools in Kitchissippi:
Ev Tremblay Park: 108 Beech Ave
Reid Park: 40 Reid Ave
Parkdale Market Park: 366 Parkdale Market
Champlain Park: 140 Carleton Ave
Hampton Park: 645 Parkview Rd
Iona Park: 223 Iona St
Lions Park: 294 Elmgrove Ave
Westboro Kiwanis (Dovercourt): 411 Dovercourt Ave
McKellar Park: 539 Wavell Ave
Woodroffe Park: 180 Lockhart Ave

Splash Pads in Kitchissippi:
Hintonburg Park: 1064 Wellington St W
LaRoche Park: 52 Bayview
Roy Duncan Park: 295 Churchill Ave

Two couches, two worlds

http://communitycouch.tumblr.com/

There is a photographer in Ottawa who has been taking a beautiful old couch into neighbourhoods around  where we live. He invites people to sit, stand, lounge, etc on the couch while he takes pictures. Some of the shots are posted on his site.

What a lovely idea, I thought when I saw this, a great way to celebrate the places and people around here that I love so much. Sure, it's gentrified and all, but Westboro is a great place to raise kids. At a recent community event in our neighbourhood park we had over 100 people show up, despite the cool, rainy weather.

The Community Couch project seems like a neat way to capture some of the local vibe. I even pitched a story about it to my editor at Kitchissippi Times before realizing they are already going to be running a story on this next week.

Muzaffar Salam/Reuters

Then I sat down with last Saturday's edition of the Globe and Mail to read an article on the latest turmoil in Egypt and the Arab Spring movement. Opening the paper I was immediately struck by this image from Syria.  The couches are so similar, yet the setting couldn't be more different.

Sometimes it just takes a simple thing like the contrast of two images to remind me how fortunate I am to live where I do.

Byron Path Parade II

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Byron Path Parade - a fun, community event to celebrate Westboro's Byron Path.

Last year, the parade took place as the community was rallying to protest the over-development on the convent site - a property formerly owned by cloistered nuns which was bought by developers. Ashcroft, the developer, was defying city zoning guidelines and development plans and the community was incensed.

Many years ago, the Byron Path was a tramway line. Now it is a cycling/foot path. No matter the time of day, you can see people cycling, strolling, and walking their dogs under the bordering canopy of mature trees. Before and after school hours, the path is especially busy with children hurrying to and from classes.

Last year, Ashcroft threatened to cut a road through the park. The community fought back. This wasn't just about green space and over-development, it was an issue of safety for all the kids and families using the path. Finally Ashcroft back down. Or so we thought.

Shortly after I had started organizing the parade, the news came that Ashcroft was again filing for a road to cut through Byron Path. If I had wanted extra publicity for the parade, I couldn't have picked better timing. A local paper even picked up the story and my tweets got some traction on Twitter.

On Friday, the day before the parade, Ashcroft withdrew this part of its request (it's still asking for other things, like an extra story and a cut through a small residential street). I'd like to think it was the parade's superheros and fairies who scared them off.

So yesterday was a celebration after all. The fight against Ashcroft is not over, but many people expressed their relief that this valued path will be spared. We joyfully jangled, rattled, tweeted and clanged our way past the development site. We know that what we have is worth fighting for.

Ottawa Summer Bucket List

Hard to believe it is already the first day of August - summer is halfway through. And while the heat doesn't seem to be letting up, the days are getting shorter and fall is just around the corner.

If flipping over the calendar page makes you feel a little nostalgic for the fleeting days of summer, it's not too late to make up a summer bucket list of things you want to do before the leaves start to fall.

Here are 10 things on my own summer bucket list:
1. Go to an outdoor festival (music, theatre, arts... lots to choose from in this city)
2. Get out in a canoe
3. Swim in a lake
4. Lie on my back and look at the stars
5. Hear Janet Cardiff's Forty-Part Motet at the National Gallery before the exhibit closes on Aug 26
6. Have a nice cold drink on a patio
7. Hike in Gatineau Park
8. Check out 3 different farmers' markets
9. Join Ottawa City's Sunday Bikedays
10. Organize a neighbourhood parade

Here's 10 more for me and my kid:

1. Go to the Toronto Zoo (this weekend - so excited!)
2. Visit 5 different splash pads / wading pools (find a map of locations on the City of Ottawa website)
3. Watch the Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill
4. Play hopscotch
5. Make mud pies
6. Finger painting outside
7. Have a picnic
8. Fly a kite
9. Go on a scavenger hunt
10. Make a balloon sculpture

What's your bucket list for the remainder of the summer of 2012? I'd love to hear your suggestions! Please add them in comments below.

Miya's big race

On Sunday, Miya and her family participated in the 2012 Minto Run for Reach. This intense competition pitched our young Ottawa native against some of the best athletes in the region - including Paralympian runner Jon Dunkerley.

Though she had been keen to face her rivals in the Half-Marathon competition, out of consideration for her mother (who, to her daughter's chagrin, is a hopeless runner), Miya consented to limit herself to the 3K Family Walk/Run. Since this event was not timed, when her decision was announced there was an audible sigh of relief among other racers.


Miya showed early promise as a marathoner, and  just a few days shy of her third birthday, she proved that she is ready to take on the challenges of road racing. Bolstered by the support of her family - mom, dad and grandma - as well as the companionship of Baby Penguin, she smoothly sailed to the finish line.

John Stanton, President and Founder of the Running Room who was the Run for Reach race starter, is rumoured to have been  studying Miya's running technique and may be introducing a line of pink croc racing shoes at his stores this summer.