Dow's Lake is running low

Today I went out for a walk in the neighborhood and decided to walk around Dow's Lake. Surprisingly, the lake kind of felt empty. In the Spring time, the NCC/City drains the canal, try to lower the water, and this affects the water at Dow's Lake. We would think that with the Spring thaw, that the water levels would be up, however in this case the water is quite low. Dow's Lake is not a normal lake as it is a man made lake. Once upon a time it used to be a swamp, and now it's a pleasure space that is used at different times of year, skating in the winter, paddle boat in the summer, has tulips on one side during the tulip festival, etc. As you can see from my photo, the water is quite low...

Not your typical road sign..

I had noticed this sign a few weeks ago, and thought to myself, geeze this isn't a typical road sign. I don't remember seeing that sign earlier in the year, and then it struck me, it's probably only there when people go skating on Dow's Lake and the canal, and the image represents skating, even though the skates are quite long, almost like short cross country skis or something else. On another note, I'm not sure what the sign is doing next to the road as there is no skating right next to the road. A bit puzzling, but then again, quite unique:

Ottawa's large igloo's...

Another bitter cold day in Ottawa! Today's temperature was -29C (-20F) plus windchill which resulted in a VERY COLD -34C (-29F)! I wasn't sure what photo to take, then I passed by the big huts where skaters can put on their skates and go skating on the canal, or Dow's Lake. I didn't drive by earlier, but I imagine that there weren't that many skaters that braved the cold today. However, the large bubbles aren't like true igloos, as they are not very warm. Igloos surprisingly hold in a lot of heat as snow is a really good insulator. These are just made with some sort of tarp material and un-insulated. They are still nice as they provide a little bit of a wind break, and a place to sit down when putting on your skates. I haven't gone skating on the canal yet, but as soon as it's not -29C and the temperature becomes a bit more bearable, I imagine I'll go out for a nice little skate on the canal.