What can you do to support the International Year of Biodiversity? Positive decisions by individuals can have considerable impact on diversity, such as creating a naturalized garden instead of maintaining a lawn. Everyone who stops spraying and starts to garden with wildlife in mind are contributing another link in urban wildlife corridors. Wildlife corridors are a concept usually associated with attempts to interconnect large, disparate forest regions. However, corridors are relevant on a much smaller scale, too. During this talk, Jeff Skevington, Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, will explore several aspects of naturalized gardens, providing a case study of moving from a “monoculture of grass” to a diverse urban landscape. He will highlight some ideal plants to grow, and introduce us to some of the magnificent mini-beasts that occur in such naturalized settings. Time: 7:00 p.m. Fee: $5. Registration is recommended. Call 613-566-4791. Location: 240 McLeod Street (corner of Metcalfe St), Ottawa.
DIY
Photo courtesy of blurasis on Flickr
Written by Dan Arnott.
Most of us, whatever our relationship with music, have at some point in our lives heard a song and been struck by the genius of such lyrics as:
love is like a flame that burns you when it’s hot
or
pressed in love’s hot, fevered iron like a striped pair of pants.
That is to say, we thought we could write a better one.
What keeps us from doing so? There’s no shortage of things to write about (despite my examples, the topics of love and high temperatures have not yet been exhausted) but it can be difficult to narrow our focus down from this big, inspiring world to a couple of topics. Ottawa songwriting collective Writer’s Bloc wants to help.
Although the Olympics may have saturated our appetite for all things “great” and “Canadian”, the Great Canadian Song-Along is still definitely worth checking out for aspiring songwriters. The premise is dead simple:
1. Writer’s Bloc picks four topics in advance.
2. Local songwriters write a song about one or more of these topics.
3. The songwriters show up to the Elmdale House Tavern on Wednesday April 7 and Thursday April 8 to perform their songs from 7pm onwards for their fellow writers and the general public.
It’s a warm and inclusive celebration of the songwriting craft and the wide variety of interesting and crazy characters that practice it. Writer’s Bloc is partnering with the Spirit of Rasputin’s folk music organization to present this event.
Glebe Clothing Swap
Date: Friday, March 12, 2010
Time: 11:30 AM
Location: Glebe Drama Room
Stop spending your hard-earned money! Start taking advantage of others’ fashion sense! Come to the clothing swap on March 12 in Glebe’s drama room!
Do you have clothing that has lost its appeal long ago? Do you have clothing that you would never DARE wear in public? Do you have clothing that you bought on impulse and would never DARE be caught wearing again? well first, blame the media for making you feel insecure, and THEN bring it to the clothing swap so you can choose a complete new wardrobe!
For every piece of clothing brought you will receive a ticket allowing you to take home ANY available garment. Bring your clothing to the ticket wicket between march 8 and 11th during lunch.
Also, there will be an entrance fee of $4, as proceeds will go towards this years fashion show!
Help put an end to the unnecessary, wasteful, disgraceful addiction to shopping!
All clothing left behind will be donated to a local woman’s shelter.
Sunday, March 7 @ 2:00: The Dusty Owl “Open Hoot” returns
In the six years we’ve been housed at Swizzles, the open mike has been one of our favorite aspects of the Dusty Owl. Always entertaining, often surprising, our open mike has seen everything from song to storytelling, from poetry to drumming, from interpretive dance (yes, interpretive dance) to improv comedy.
So we’re kicking off our anniversary month with another classic Open Hoot. Bring your songs, your stories, your poems, your rants and raves. Bring your instruments and your voices. Our shiny antique mike and friendly, welcoming stage are waiting for you. And so is our Object of Desire - the strangest on-the-spot poetry competition in the city!
We’re at the corner of Queen and Kent, down the stairs beside the Thai restaurant! See you there!
Date: Sunday, March 28, 2010
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Routhier Community Centre
Street: 172 Guiges ave.
City/Town: Ottawa, ON
Over 30 vendors offering paintings, crafts, clothing, accessories, jewellery, beauty products, and yummy treats!! $2 entrance fee for a chance to win door prizes from all vendors. Tickets will be drawn every hour!!
Come and shop to your hearts’ content!
Spring Thaw Vendors:
Alice Hinther
Allen’s Creative Crafts
Andrea Sutton
Annette Bellamy
Art by Lois
Baggosh
Beaded Elegance
BeadWorks
Bite
Bloom
Blue Robin Studios
Canteen Art Shop & Gallery
Crafting with Company
Erika’s Essentials
Fingerprint Felts
Food Matters
Harvest Honey
Heather Massie
Hermitage Bags
Joan Alexander
Kathrin von Dehn
Kieran Galbraith
Kristina B
Liebchen Designs
Mains de Mariposa
Maria Lezon
Mariam Qureshi
Meeka’s Creations
Scattered Minds
Shutterflies
Spins and Needles
Sugarbum designs
The Candy Shoppe
The Drama Queen
Three Cheers Cupcakes
Winged Beast Outfitters
I would also like to give a BIG thank you to Michael Kanstrup and Allegra Printing for sponsoring the cost of the printing for the advertising materials and CKCU 93.1fm for running a radio ad for us. We couldn’t have done this without you!
On March 28th at Live Lounge, there will be a Hip Hop and Break Dance showcase and competition to raise funds for Children’s Wish Foundation.
Culture Shock and other local dance crews from Carleton, Ottawa U and Algonquin will be performing. The Doors will be opening at 9:00pm and tickets can be bought at the door for $10 with all of the proceeds will be given towards The Children’s Wish Foundation charity to help children living with a life threatening illness.
There will be many prizes given away throughout the night, as well as programming to involve all participants. Check out their Facebook page here.
Photo courtesy of aftab. on Flickr.
Do you have a .ca website? Would you like your site to get more exposure? If so, get excited because the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has a great contest for you. CIRA is inviting all .CA website holders to make a short video explaining why their website is the best, awesomest, most useful thing on the web. The grand prize winner will receive a MacBook Pro and be featured in a future .CA marketing campaign.
A few rules: Video testimonials must be no longer than three minutes. Entrants are asked to upload their videos to YouTube through the online contest entry form, available at http://www.showusyour.ca.
As well as the grand prize, the first runner-up will receive a 64GB iPod touch, and the second runner-up will receive a Flip UltraHD camcorder.
Canadians will have until March 15, 2010 to submit their video. A panel will then shortlist the videos and all Canadians will then be invited to vote for their favourite. As an added bonus, everyone who votes will be entered into a draw to win a Flip UltraHD camcorder.
Creative peeps in Ottawa (and I know there are tons of you), this is the time to showcase your website!
Come to Umi (610 Somerset W.) on March 6th, from noon to 5pm for some early Spring cleaning! Trade in your once-loved clothes for some new treasures! Boots, scarves, hats, coats, sweaters, slippers - all items welcomed!
You may recall our previous clothing swap in October - a HUGE success! The folks there also managed to put together 14 bags of surplus clothing, as well as a substantial $ donation, for the Well/La Source. Let’s try to make this event even better - a TRUE community clothing swap!
P.S. - Don’t forget about Saturday night’s Retro Dance party… if you have any funky clothes, don’t hesitate to bring them in. There will be a big fat PRIZE for the best costume!
Photo courtesy gadl on Flickr.
It all starts sometime - whether you’re the one who popped the question, eagerly accepted or ended up in the supporting cast line up - and once they start, weddings just don’t seem to stop.
And when planning this big day, the “making it ours” aspect inevitably arises, whether the spouses-to-be order in their favourite flowers or get matching rings. But those aren’t the only ways to make that special day unique, as evidenced by the move towards DIY weddings. To help you out in this endeavour, some Ottawa crafters have decided to host Wed By Hand this Saturday - a craft and supply sale specifically for those in the midst of wedding planning.
As Ottawa’s first indie wedding show, this “crafting meets all things wedding” event will have many unique wares and ideas. From jewelry to cakes, photography to dresses, vendors will also be on hand to give advice and help you make your event as “you” as possible. Who doesn’t want to escape the cookie-cutter bridesmaid dresses that inevitably get relegated to the back of one’s closet?
The best part: it’s only $3 to get in, and all proceeds will go to benefit Team Diabetes Canada. This show is also being paired with Bridal Bargains, which can help you plan the big day on a tight budget. It all takes place this Saturday, Feb 27, from 10am to 3pm at the Courtyard Marriott (350 Dalhousie in the Market).
This year, Winterlude was gone faster then a snow bank in Vancouver (oh snap!). While we generally don’t cover the well-known festival (which hardly needs plugging from lowly bloggerati such as ourselves) we were happy to showcase Spins and Needles terrific public art project. The Urban Cozy Project gave a little homey charm to suckuary February, showing off the City’s lesser-known zany side. Ottawa photographer and occasional Apt613 contributor Sarah Mercer got out to Confederation park a couple of days ago to snap these mementos of Winterlude 2010.
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