The Canadian Tulip Festival

SPRING BLOSSOMS EVERY YEAR AT THE CANADIAN TULIP FESTIVAL

The Canadian Tulip Festival, which is also know as the Ottawa Tulip Festival, has become the world's largest tulip festival and takes place in May each year with more than three million tulips in bloom. It runs for three weeks and in 2009, Ottawa expected more than 500,000 people to enjoy the flowers and the festival activities.

The tulip has become a symbol of the friendship between Holland and Canada. This friendship began more than fifty years ago when the Dutch people gave Ottawa a gift of tulips as a thank you for providing a safe haven to members of the Dutch Royal Family during the Second World War and for the part that Canadian soldiers played in helping to liberate Holland from the Nazis.

The gift of tulip bulbs has become a beloved tradition and today, the celebration is bigger and better than ever.

Click here to order this children's book

about the Ottawa Tulip Festival in from Amazon.

VIDEO

Though dated, this 2008 video will give you a general idea of what you might expect at the Canadian Tulip Festival:

THEMES

1994 A Tribute to the Origin Country of the Tulip - Turkey
1995 The Friendship That Flowered, the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Holland
1996 Floral Tribute to Nice
1997 Floral Artistry of Japan
1998 A Celebration of Canada's Provinces and Territories
1999 Between Friends
2000 Tulips 2000: A Capital Celebration!
2001 Tulips Forever! A Salute to Britain
2002 Tulipmania! 50th Anniversary
2003 G'day Australia - Tulips Down Under
2004 Canada's Tulip Experience
2005 A Celebration of Peace and Friendship
2006 Tulips 2006 - World Flower Rendezvous!
2007 Celebridée Celebration of Ideas inaugural year
2008 Where Ideas Bloom
2009 The Tulip Route
2010 "Liberation" - The 65th anniversary of the liberation of Europe.
2011 "Kaleidoscope" - A celebration of Spring awakening through colour, culture and community

PHOTOGRAPHS

World famous photographer Malak Karsh is widely know for his photographs of the tulips and was instrumental in the establishment of the Canadian tulip festival.

CONCERTS

The festival helped create some of the artists who have appeared. Concerts have included Liberace who performed an opening concert in 1972, Alanis Morissette who made her first appearance when she was just 12 year sold in 1987, The Trews who opened for Big Sugar in 2003 and General Rudie who performed early in their musical careers in 2000. These 'free' concerts were both entertaining and career building for budding new artists. They proved to be great exposure. However, the concerts have been difficult because of the unpredictability of springtime weather in Ottawa.

WOODEN TULIPS

The Canadian Tulip Festival presented a very unique gift in the form of a 5 foot tall wooden tulip to President Obama on the occasion of his historic first visit to Canada on February 19, 2009. Large wooden tulips are a beautiful tradition of the festival. This one will represent President's Obama's messages of Hope, Change, and Yes We Can. It will also have his face in profile and other national U.S. symbols on it. This particular tulip is the work of Canadian artist Jill Alexander.

Have you ever seen the tulips at the Canadian Tulip Festival? 

See you

in the Tulips!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

OFFICIAL INFORMATION

Canadian Tulip Festival

The largest tulip festival in the world. Millions of tulips will bloom in Canada's scenic Capital Region (Ottawa) creating an exotic mosaic of colour and beauty.

Wikipedia
The Canadian Tulip Festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, with attendance of over 500,000 visitors annually. This major cultural event is held annually in Ottawa and Gatineau, Canada, over the course of 18 days in May...

360 Degrees of Tulips
Explore high resolution panoramic photography of the 'Canadian Tulip Festival' on 360 Cities. This will put you in a bed of tulips, literally. I have never seen anything quite like this...and the tulips are magnificent! 

MORE OTTAWA READING

A Bloom Of Friendship Book Review
This beautiful children's book does a great job of sharing information about the tulip festival.

The Great Glebe Garage Sale

Ottawa's famous neighborhood yard sale. 

The Historic Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building
Discover this amazing historical building.

Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles

The Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Company was created in 1991. It produces interesting wooden puzzles in a factory that is located in England. Their puzzles can be found in specialty shops around the world and some are even custom made. 

Wentworth's website says that they use “state-of-the-art, computer-controlled lasers” to create their puzzles and that they follow “the Victorian puzzle-making tradition by using whimsies." That is, pieces that are related to the puzzle. For instance, a piece from a Harry Potter puzzle might be shaped like a sorting hat.

With puzzles ranging from 25 to 1,500 pieces in size, there are puzzles available for experienced and inexperienced jigsaw puzzlers. The fact that they are made out of wood means that they can be made and remade without deteriorating the way cardboard puzzle pieces do. The puzzles are beautiful, making extra nice gifts that your recipient will have forever. 

You can see all of the Wentworth wooden jigsaw puzzles available on eBay by clicking right here.

EARNSCLIFFE PUZZLE

The puzzle shown here is from Wentworth's Fine Art Collection and shares the architecture of Earnscliffe, the iconic Ottawa, Ontario home of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. The box says that this puzzle is "cut in the classic Victorian style, in which every piece is a different shape and some pieces are cut in shapes that may reflect the image. Pieces are cut in patterns that challenge, intrigue, frustrate and confuse. Corners are frequently bisected and straight pieces can be in the middle of the puzzle." 

It features a fall-themed image of the building that now and since 1930 has served as the Residence of the British High Commissioner to Canada. It has 250 pieces and will measure 10 inches by 14 inches when completed. It would be perfect for fans of Canadian history and architecture.  

Find Wentworth's Earnscliffe puzzle here in my eBay store. Currently, it is the only one available on eBay and, once it is sold, it may be difficult to find another.

See you

at the puzzle table!

Brenda

Quick Links:

Find more PUZZLES and CANADIAN-themed items in my eBay store!

Our Petrie Island Ottawa Breakfast in the Park

During 2020 when the world as we knew it had changed because of the pandemic, my husband and I started a new weekly tradition. That is, Breakfast in the Park. Every week we awoke early and headed out the door with breakfast, tea and coffee in hand.

Chris is retired and I work from home selling on eBay. With the arrival of the virus and the resultant safety measures that meant it was no longer safe to participate in our regularly scheduled activities, it quickly became evident that we needed to plan outings. If we did not, life was going to pass us by while we hung about the house and walked around and around our neighborhood in our new daily exercise routine.  

We called our outings Breakfast in the Park (BITP).  I shared them and related photographs on Facebook and Instagram and now I am going to share them here on my blog. While our outings may have happened in 2020, they remain destinations in Ottawa for anyone looking for a local outing.

Our first Breakfast in the Park (BITP) was at Orlean's Petrie Island. We had a nice walk well before the crowds arrived for the beach.

We saw Canadian critters including turtles and Canada geese and their adorable goslings and we heard lots of bullfrogs. In my cellphone photograph, you can almost see a pair of turtles sunbathing on a log. Sorry, cellphones do not zoom far enough to take a good picture in this situation so I have chosen to illustrate the top of this post with an canvas print available from Etsy by clicking right here.

According to the Petrie Island website, Petrie Island is home to painted, snapping and map turtles with the last two considered at special risk on Ontario's Species at Risk list. Finally, one musk turtle, a threatened species, was seen on the island in 2008.

After our walk, we had breakfast on a bench overlooking the water. Petrie Island is well set up for picnicking with lots of space and a good number of benches and picnic tables if you go early in the day. It is an active family destination as the day goes on, especially in the summertime. Ordinarily, there is a canteen and washroom facility open in dedicated buildings. As far as I know, they did not open last year but there were a number of portable washrooms available.

Are you contemplating visiting Petrie Island? Looking for a day trip in the Ottawa area?

Happy Trails!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

Quick Link:

Buy this turtle image on Etsy by clicking right here.

The Historic Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building in Ottawa

 

Our travels during this past year have looked significantly different because of the pandemic. We travelled nowhere, as was necessary, and even our local outings changed. While we went for walks in different parts of the city and the surrounding areas through our weekly Breakfast in the Park outings, we were not able to personally visit any of Ottawa’s amazing museums, galleries and buildings nor to participate in any of the city’s usual offerings, which were cancelled.

Last night we joined Heritage Ottawa and Conservator Kelly Caldwell for a lecture on Zoom. Normally, Heritage Ottawa provides walking tours but things have changed for them, too, and they have pivoted to providing lectures about Ottawa’s history. 

Last night’s lecture was called Gold, Snakes and Mother Insurance: Preservation of the 180 Wellington Building Mosaic. We learned about a building that we previously knew nothing about. That is, the 1920s era Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building as shown above on a postcard from eBay.

Located downtown, the building was built in 1927 and is an example of Beaux-Arts architecture that was designed by architects D. Everett Waid of New York and J.A. Ewart of Ottawa for the Canadian headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that some call ‘Met Life.’ 

What you cannot see or even guess at from looking at the outside of the building is that the interior contains an amazing vestibule with an elaborate Byzantine-style mosaic ceiling. The mosaic, created in the United States by American muralist Barry Faulkner, has nearly one million pieces of coloured glass tile. It was designed as an elaborate advertisement of sorts to promote Metropolitan Life and their products and depicts “The Great Metropolitan Mother” protecting her policy holders.

Since then the building has evolved and changed hands. In the 1950s, two levels and a wing on the east were added. By 1970, Metropolitan Life was finished with the building and had moved out and, in 1973, the building was purchased by the federal government for offices and to house the Canadian Postal Museum. In 1984, some Members of Parliament (MP) had their offices moved to the building.

The building was closed in 2010 for a 425 million dollar renovation that saw the interior pretty much demolished and the foundation rebuilt with important historical details preserved. The work included asbestos abatement and seismic reinforcement and in 2016 reopened as a modern, safe office space, which now houses MP Offices, committee rooms and a library.

The following is a three-minute video about the building, the restoration and the mosaic. It will make you want to see the inside of the building, too.

Considered a hidden jewel, you need to walk through the brass doors at 180 Wellington Street and look up. My husband and I would love to see the interior of the building, but do not know if the public is welcome since it is now a secure government building. 

Have you been inside the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building or the Wellington Building, as it is now called? Do you know if it is open to the public?

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

Quick Links:

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building postcards & collectibles on eBay.

Keep Calm and List On: A Message for eBay Sellers

When you are stuck at home like millions of people around the world are right now and you are an eBay seller with a backlog of unlisted items, you might as well Keep Calm and List On.

My eBay store is closed. We are 100 percent in support of physical or social distancing and the effort to flatten the curve here in Canada. Doing so should reduce the immediate pressure on our medical system and our front line workers, like our nurses and doctors. Hopefully, it will also lower the mortality rate of the virus that is making the whole world sick right now.

I am trying to remain focused on my business because it fills time. Routines are good for us, giving order to our lives. My daily routine includes listing items on eBay so I continue to do so. However, because my store is closed, I schedule new listings to appear at an unknown time in the future. When the world goes back to normal, hopefully sooner rather than later, I will be ready with new items for my online customers.

I am writing this post on March 21, 2020 from Ontario, Canada. The province of Ontario is under a State of Emergency. This means that many establishments must be closed including bars and restaurants (except for takeout and food delivery), indoor recreational programs, public libraries, private schools, licensed child care centres, movie cinemas, live theatres and concert venues. Regular schools were previously closed for three weeks. With the major exception of grocery stores and pharmacies, many businesses and retail establishments are closed or are closing their doors. Everyone and anyone who can is highly encouraged to work from and stay at home.

We are still allowed to walk in our neighborhood, which feels pretty good right now. My husband and I take two walks every day. As part of our walks, we are participating in the Orléans Neighbourhood Window Walk 2020❤️, which encourages people to decorate their windows with an item for walkers to to find. On St. Patrick's Day it was shamrocks and more recently it was silly faces.  Originally intended for people with children, it makes you smile when you find a window full of silly paper faces no matter what age you might be.

Every day we are reaching out. Talking to family and friends on the telephone. Posting and sharing positive and helpful posts on social media. Helping those who do not know how to use video chatting to figure it out though we are rather new to doing so ourselves. Doing so is good for the recipient and good for us, too. We are still laughing, trying to focus on the positive rather than dwelling on the negative.

At home, I could be spring cleaning but I am instead choosing to Keep Calm (Be Positive) and List On!  My goal is ten new listings a day. That's not a lot for some sellers who manage to list 30, 40 or 50 items a day but that is what works for me.

What about you? Are you an eBay seller? Is your store still open? Are you still listing? What is your listing goal normally and what is it now? If you are not an eBay seller, are you working from home? What are you doing to fill the hours?

Take Care and Be Healthy!
Brenda

Follow Me:

Please follow me, Treasures By Brenda, on Instagram and on Twitter. 

Vincent Van Gogh Coffee Mugs

Vincent Van Gogh's paintings are worth millions. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit the Up Close exhibition when it was in Ottawa and to visit the museum in Amsterdam. More recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Though I love many of Van Gogh's images, including Wheatfield with Crows, The Starry Night and Cafe Terrace at Night, I will settle for a coffee mug.

Shown here is the beautiful fine china mug set by McIntosh that includes four images of Van Gogh paintings nicely packaged in a gift box. Give this set to anyone who enjoys fine art or Vincent Van Gogh's works in particular. You can find it on Amazon by clicking here.

Brenda

Charles Meynier's Wisdom Defending Youth from the Arrows of Love Painting

I don't usually write about art and I am not an art expert but I am definitely interested in the subject. I am taking an art class at the National Art Gallery through the University of Carleton's Learning in Retirement program and have encountered some stories that I would like to share here with you.

Just in time for Valentine's Day we discussed Charles Meynier's Wisdom Defending Youth from the Arrows of Love. It is a magnificent, large painting the theme of which is drawn from the classic 17th-century story by François Fénelon called The Adventures of Telemachus, the story of Ulysses’ son. A love story, of sorts. Definitely seemed appropriate for the day we viewed it because of the cupids attacking with their arrows of love.

The story goes that the youth Telemachus dreams of two choices. In the first option, Venus, the goddess of love, offers him a life of pleasure and luxury and in the second, Minerva, the warrior-goddess of wisdom, offers a life of struggle, virtue and glory. Telemachus is tempted, but will give up on the life of pleasure for the more noble option.

According to the National Art Gallery's website, critics at the time of the painting in 1810 questioned the youth's decision and asked:

"Is he (Telemachus) being prevented from falling into temptation, or had he already fallen? If Wisdom were not there, would he be able to resist? Was he faithlessly abandoning his sleeping beloved? What of the next time he was faced with a similar choice?"

The critics of the day may have had questions but they apparently liked the emotional balance of desire and regret shown in this image. Meynier's works were popular in his time and later lost some of that popularity when, according to the Press Reader, neoclassical works like this were deemed "boring and contrived." Today, they have regained popularity and this painting was acquired to fill a spot in the Art Gallery's collection.

Wisdom Defending Youth from the Arrows of Love is considered one of Meynier's best works. It was purchased by the Art Gallery in the summer of 2015 from a private collector. Exact details of pricing and the seller's name are not shared with the public.

When you visit The National Art Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, make sure to take a look at this painting. I find any painting more more interesting when I know the story it tells. You can find it in the European Art Collection.

See you
In Ottawa!
Brenda

A Bloom Of Friendship by Anne Renaud

A non-fiction, children's picture book written by Anne Renaud and illustrated by Ashley Spires, A Bloom Of Friendship: The Story Of The Canadian Tulip Festival tells the story of the history behind the world's largest tulip festival held every spring in Ottawa. It is thus far the only book about the Canadian Tulip Festival that I have been able to find. Therefore, we are extremely lucky that it is such a great book!

Let me start by saying that I am not a history expert and this is in large part a history book. It is perfect for children aged eight- to ten-years old, but it is also great for adults who want to learn a bit about the history of the relationship between Holland and Canada and the tulip festival. It is beautifully illustrated with pictures that have been painted and with both historical and modern day photographs, newspaper articles created to tell the story and lots of historical tidbits woven in and around the main text.

This page can serve as an introduction to the history of the Canadian Tulip Festival (which is sometimes incorrectly called the Ottawa Tulip Festival) as well as a review of this book. I am actually giving more of the history of the tulip festival than is normal in a book review because I think that this page will also be good for people who are looking for this background information who are planning to attend the festival. I would, however, encourage you to check out the book whether or not you have children. It is really very beautiful; I think the artwork would be lovely framed. It also tells a beautiful story ~~ the history of the Canadian and Dutch friendship.

This book was republished in 2014, hence the two images to the right. The top picture is the new cover. The second picture, the original cover from 2005. You can find A Bloom of Friendship: The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival on Amazon by clicking right here. The more recent book is only available in paperback. If you want a hardcover copy, you will have to buy the original book.

"The Canadian Tulip Festival is a celebration of the friendship between two countries more than 50 years ago."

The Canadian Tulip Festival and Barbara and Malak Karsh

A Bloom of Friendship opens with a letter from Malak Karsh's wife, Barbara Karsh who tells of their discovery of the thousands of tulips in Ottawa in 1946. The pictures that Mr. Karsh took that day have since travelled the world telling Princess Juliane's Canadian story. Eventually, in 1953, his interest in the tulips would cause him to be instrumental in the creation of the Canadian Tulip Festival.

The Second World War, The Dutch and The Canadians

A LONG-LASTING FRIENDSHIP IS FORMED OUT OF THE TOUGHEST OF TIMES...

On May 10, 1940, the Dutch people were awakened by the sounds of airplanes and the sight of hundreds of soldiers parachuting to the ground as Hitler invaded Holland. This was the beginning of a horrible five-year period for the Dutch people.

The Little Princesses: The Story Of The Queen's Childhood By Her Nanny Crawfie by Crawford, Marion (2003)

 Buy Now

Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch Royal Family Escape

Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch Royal Family escaped to England but even England was not a safe place to be. The Queen's daughter, Crown Princess Juliana, nine-month old Irene and a two-year old Beatrix found a safe place to escape too and that was Canada. They arrived in Halifax via the dutch ship Sumatra in Halifax in June 11, 1940 and from their proceeded to the home they would live in, which was located in Ottawa.

Perhaps the most notable event while they lived in Canada, was the birth in the spring of 1942, of Princess Margriet Francisca who was born a Dutch citizen because Canada named the place of her birth extraterritorial -- meaning outside of Canadian territory.

At Home, The Dutch People Struggled

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, life was very tough and the Dutch struggled to survive under the Nazis. Living conditions were terrible; supplies scarce. Eventually over 100,000 Dutch Jews were sent to Nazi death camps.

The Battle of the Scheldt, The Battle of the Rhineland and Freedom

In support of the final phase of the war in Europe, the allies needed to get supplies to their advancing troups in Belgium and The First Canadian Army was tasked with clearing the banks of the Scheldt of Nazis so that supplies could arrive through the Scheldt Estuary. For two months, the Canadians fought the German army along the Scheldt. In the end, more than 6,000 Canadian soliders were killed or wounded but, thanks to their sacrifices, the port of Antwerp was opened successfully. These Canadian soldiers rested in December and January; many of them in the homes of the Dutch where they made friends that would be remembered forever.

Rhineland, however, was one of the places that remained in German control. On February 8, 1945, the First Canadian Army once again was tasked. This time with clearing a passage for allied troups. At the end of this campaign, more than 5,000 Canadians were dead or wounded but at becauase of their efforts, the Allies were able to defeat Hitler.

In March of the same year, the First Canadian Army freed the remaining parts of Holland and, when it was clear that the war was nearing an end, a truce was made allowing for the dropping of much needed food and supplies to the Dutch. This time it was the Royal Canadian Air Force 405 Squadron that helped out by dropping 12,000 tons of needed items.

The Gift of Tulips

Finally on May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was over. Princess Juliana's family returned home and discovered a people who were extremely thankful to the Canadians. In 1945, the Dutch Royal Family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada by way of thanks. Every year since then, they have sent 20,000 additional tulip bulbs. I am sure that I will remember this story whenever I see tulips in the future. Will you?

Buy A Bloom Of Friendship on Amazon

A Bloom of Friendship: The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival

 Buy Now

A Bloom of Friendship: The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival (My Canada)

 Buy Now  

I am especially interested in this story because I reside in Ottawa and am able to see the tulips every year. Have you ever visited the tulip festival?  What did you think of it? Are you interested in the history behind the tulips and this book, A Bloom of Friendship?

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda
You Never Know What 
I Might Have in Store For You!

More About the Canadian Tulips

• The Canadian Tulip Festival
  The Canadian Tulip Festival (sometimes called the Ottawa Tulip Festival) has become the world's largest tulip festival and takes place in May each year with more than three million tulips in bloom. It runs for three weeks every spring and this...

Now Playing...Eastern Canada Frozen Editorial Cartoon

Love this editorial cartoon from the February 19, 2015 edition of the Ottawa Citizen featuring the artwork of Greg Perry. It depicts a man attempting to dig out the driveway and his wife attempting to walk the dog and I love how it alludes to Disney's Frozen movie with the Now Playing...Eastern Canada Frozen caption. 

I figure that the image is representative of my husband and I as we head out in a few minutes for part two of the snow removal for the latest snow storm that we were gifted with this weekend in Ottawa.  

We are definitely feeling FROZEN this month though we don't have a dog that has to be walked out there in the frigid Arctic air and I feel sorry for those dogs (and their owners) when they do have to go out.

How about you? Is it cold where you reside? What are you doing to stay warm?

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

You Never Know What 

I Might Have In Store For You

The Great Glebe Garage Sale

Another year, another wonderful day at the Great Glebe Garage Sale in Ottawa. This year my husband went with me. We were there bright and early and had found a cart full of treasures for my eBay store by 10 a.m.

A cart is a must since the Glebe sale is a huge neighborhood sale at which you must park your car and walk and, if you are really going to shop and not just to soak in the atmosphere or people watch, you definitely should take something to help you carry around your treasures.

This year I was thrilled to find a Big Hug Mug. It's a mug that I have written about on this blog before and one that was, just a few months ago, selling for up to $100 on eBay. However, due to the natural laws of supply and demand, this mug is now more readily available on eBay and therefore, much less expensive.  If you are curious about what all the fuss is about this particular coffee mug, you can read my original post about the Big Hug Mug here or if you are looking to buy one, you can check this one out on eBay by clicking here.

The items I found included a vintage talking Garfield that has never been removed from the box, a couple of new Lego sets and a new pair of leather Reebok hi top sneakers that, if they fit, are destined for the feet of my grown son rather than my eBay store.

We loaded our finds into the car and headed for the FarmTeam Cookhouse & Bar, who is no longer in business, where we were early enough to choose a wonderful street-side table on the patio from which to enjoy breakfast and do a bit of people watching ourselves.  The fact that the cookhouse created a special menu for the day is testament to just how crazy busy the Great Glebe Garage Sale is. 

What a wonderful day out! I hope you did something fun this weekend, too!

You Never Know What I Might
Have In Store For You!
Brenda





Quick Links:

Buy this Big Hug Mug on eBay.

Visit Treasures By Brenda on eBay.

Christmas and My Board Game Collection

The 2013 holiday season is almost gone and for me it was a highly successful celebration.

I define a successful holiday season as one in which my family is together and has time to enjoy our favorite pursuits including plenty of good food, a couple of great movies and LOTS of board games from our game collection.

This year was wonderful!

Our youngest son, now 20, returned home from university for a couple of weeks. Having him around the house is always fun.

We were thrilled to squeeze in a number of visits with our oldest son, who lives nearby in Ottawa, when he was between shifts.

We took a 24-hour trip to Amherst Island to visit my brother-in-law, his wife and their four children.

We had my sister-in-law visit for a number of days.

And yes, we have had plenty of delicious meals, including family favorites like the sloppy joes and the cranberry coffee cake and we even tried a few new recipes from Pinterest, too.

We finally saw Catching Fire at the movie theatre.

But most importantly, we played a number of both new and favorite board games. This year that list included Smallworld, Outburst, Trivial Pursuit Young Players' Edition, Settlers of Catan and even Yahtzee.

Because games play an important part in our family's tradition, I often look for new, used and vintage board games to sell in my eBay store. You can see all of the new, used and vintage board and card games available in my eBay store by clicking right here. Wherever we have played the game, I have added a personal note to the description of the game. 

How about you? How were your holidays? Did you play any board games?

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda
You never know what I
might have in store for you!

Summer Is Almost Gone & Soon It Will Be Time To Put Your Blue Jeans On!

Would you believe it? Summer is almost gone and it will soon be time to put your blue jeans on! 

We had a wonderful summer, enjoying some of Ottawa's endless summer celebrations including the Ottawa Fringe Festival, the capital's Canada Day celebrations and the Ottawa Bluesfest where we lucky enough to see the bands Fun, Tegan and Sara, Serena Ryder and the legendary B.B. King.

We also had a quick trip to Nova Scotia for my father's wedding on the beach and for the 50th Anniversary of the Sea King helicopter. 

Finally, we squeezed in a camping trip during which time we went caving in the Lusk Caves in Gatineau Park in Quebec. It was definitely a physical challenge for me and, after I relaxed, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The pictures shows me with my elder son who went through the caves not once but twice with me.

Now it is back-to-school time. A bittersweet time, I think, for those with grown children. I have just one son going back to school, which means he is moving out, again. He is going into his third year at Queen's University in Kingston and his companionship will sure be missed. No longer will I have the chance to TRY to beat him at Scrabble. Well, not until next summer at least and in order to improve my chances of one day beating him, I think I should spend the long, cold Canadian winter ahead doing Scrabble worksheets!

Once again, we will be empty nesters. I wonder what is happening in your household this September. Do you have children? If so, are you sending little ones off to school or are they all grown up or somewhere in between? If you don't have children, does September feel like the beginning of a new season for you?

We always start school with new jeans so I decided to gather up some fabulous denim pieces from my eBay store, including some name-brand blue jeans as well as some great jean jackets for this post. They are perfect for the fall days ahead whether you are going to school or not and remember, all of my items feature FREE Canadian and U.S. shipping.

Take care until next time.

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

I Bought A Rock at the Great Glebe Garage Sale

May 25, 2013 dawned a beautiful but cool Saturday morning with a blustery north wind. It marked the umpteenth time I've been to the Great Glebe Garage Sale and, as always, I totally enjoyed myself.

As an eBay seller, I shopped for treasures for my eBay store but, given the difficulties of carrying purchases around an entire neighborhood, I shopped in a very limited way.

While I am always happy to come away with an interesting find or two, the Great Glebe Garage Sale is really more of an opportunity to be outside and enjoy a lovely part of the city on a beautiful summer day than it is a serious shopping day.

This year my university-aged son dragged himself out of bed at 7 a.m. so that he could see what all the fuss was about and I do believe he enjoyed himself, too.

We parked far outside the Glebe and set off in hunt of treasures. Driving within the Great Glebe on garage sale day is, in my opinion, a mistake and of course taking the bus doesn't work either if you are a shopper.

I was looking for any of the sorts of  treasure you'll find in my eBay store with due consideration to the fact that anything I purchased would have to go in my small wheeled cart and be pulled around all morning.

My son wasn't looking for anything in particular though we did determine midway through our morning that he could use a new griddle since he's the pancake expert amongst his friends at university and that he was interested in an inexpensive Nintendo 64 to replace a broken one that belongs to one of his house mates.

My first purchase was a small and lightweight rock, which is shown in the photograph on this page. Okay, maybe it was not so light but it was an impressive piece of Newfoundland that the vendor was asking a whopping .25 cents for. How could I leave it behind?  I didn't and we had a chuckle as I placed a 'rock' in the bottom of my cart.

Of course, it didn't take long to fill my cart once I'd purchased a couple of wooden Korean masks, a toy soldier Wilton cake pan, a giant bag of Thomas the Tank Engine Duplo, a large Walt Disney snowglobe and a sealed Mickey Mouse World's Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle. In due course, you will find all of them listed in my eBay store.

Once my little cart was full, we hiked back to the car and put my purchases away returning once again to the Glebe in search of sustenance.

Stopping for lunch a bit early proved helpful as we were able to score a patio table right on Bank Street. We enjoyed our lunch at the The Farmteam Cookhouse and Bar while watching hoards of happy shoppers pass by with their purchases.  I'll never forget the young man struggling with bicycle, skis and a shiny silver...mannequin.

Have you shopped at the Great Glebe Garage Sale? What did you think? Did you discover any hidden treasures? Or maybe you have a favorite neighborhood sale of your own elsewhere?

You never know
what I might have in store for you!
In this case I can offer a little piece of Newfoundland.

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

Quick Links:

Find treasure in my eBay store.

The Ottawa Senators Gift Ideas

For those of you who might not know, the Ottawa Senators is a hockey team that plays in Ottawa, Ontario and in the National Hockey League.

Woo Hoo! Wikipedia says that the Sens made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs twelve times in the last fourteen seasons, that they've won four division titles and a President's Trophy and that they appeared in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals.

I'll never forget when the Sens made it to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals.  The town was alive with Sens color then as it is right now.

I'll admit that I am NOT a big hockey fan. However, when your home town team makes it to the playoffs, you cannot help but be enthusiastic! 

Because I am not a big hockey fan, it never occurred to me that I should have an Ottawa Senators shirt but I think I should, in part for the fun of it and, of course, to show support for our team. If I had one in my t-shirt collection, I could wear it every year whenever the Sens were playing and be part of the Red Army.  I do love the slogans that appear on the older Ottawa Senators t-shirts like Red Army, Bring Home Stanley and This Is My Team.

I have a wonderful selection of Ottawa Senators themed hockey items in my eBay store.  I have a number of out-of-print, nostalgic Sens shirts that might generate some good memories of hockey seasons gone by as well as some other interesting items including a plush version of the Mascot, Sparty; a gorgeous plush Christmas stocking; and, two highly unusual Ottawa Senators themed Hawaiian shirts. (Yes, that's right, Hawaiian hockey shirts!)

I think that any of these items would make fabulous gift ideas for an Ottawa Senators fan. I've even thought of keeping the Hawaiian Senators shirts and both my husband and I could wear them to the annual tacky Christmas party we attend.  If we both had one of those shirts on, I know it would be tough NOT to give us the prize especially since we'd be in the company of some very serious Sens fans!

How about you? Are you a hockey fan? An Ottawa Senators fan? Do you have a shirt to show support for your favorite team?

Go Sens Go!
Brenda

See all of the Ottawa Senators gift ideas in my eBay store.

Ottawa Board Game Summit

Safe to say, I think, that all of the members of my family including my unofficial third son enjoy playing board games though, of course, we don't have as much time to pursue this activity as we would like and we no longer live under the same roof.

I read with interest therefore a story in this week's Ottawa Citizen called Fun For All At Board-Game Summit and thought wouldn't that have been fun.  

The summit was started in 2008 when it drew 100 visitors. This year, by Sunday, 1,500 people had come to play games.

My entire family would have loved to have spent any number of hours there accessing the 600 board game library. For an entrance fee of $40, one had access to the collection for the weekend. 

The newspaper says that the game selection included board games way beyond the typical games you find at the department store, card games of the collectible sort, war-type games and giant games of chess, Jenga, etc.

Of course, my family owns a library of board games but they still eye with interest the new, used and vintage, hard-to-find board games that come into my house for my eBay store.  If you are a board gamer, you know that there is nothing like a new to you board game!

Settlers of Catan, anyone?

Brenda

Quick Links:

Read more about Jenga.
Check out the JENGA games on eBay.