News stories tagged with "manotick"

(02/02/11) Although it's just 90 miles from Florida, Cuba maintains closer diplomatic relations with Canada than the United States. Today, about half of Cuba's tourists are sun-starved Canadians.

Tomorrow, a group of Ontario musicians heads to the Caribbean. Members of the Manotick Brass Ensemble, in partnership with a local Cuban church, will visit Cuba for a series of free concerts. The Canadians are also donating musical instruments to a group of students in Cuba.

Lucy Martin spoke with one of the group's founders about the trip. Kazimier Samujlo says Cubans don't need any help when it comes to making music. But, he says, between the U.S. trade embargo and Cuba's own economic woes, it's tough to find decent band instruments. more

(01/06/11) Thanks to a New Years Eve thaw, Ottawa's famed Rideau Canal Skateway is not quite open yet.

Officials won't kick off the 41st season of the world's largest outdoor rink until they measure nearly a foot of good quality ice. That's what it takes to safely support the hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors who flock to enjoy miles of winter fun.

Ottawa correspondent Lucy Martin wanted to get ready ahead of the rush. She dropped by a small riverside store that does it all: gas for cars and boats, video rentals, and waterfront restaurant...and skate sharpening.

Dan and Sonja Dunbar own Kelly's Landing, just south of Manotick. On a flurry-filled afternoon, Danny Dunbar set his snow shovel aside to move indoors, behind the grinder for today's Heard Up North.

(04/30/10) Staff and volunteers launch another milling season at historic Watson's Mill in Manotick Ontario tomorrow. The mill first opened for business 150 years ago. Grand opening guests include the Brockville Infantry Company, the Manotick Brass and the Hot Spud Jazz Band. The four-man band keeps busy with appearances at various charitable events. Lucy Martin got the chance to chat with Hot Spud members between tunes at the mill's opening last year. Here they are, with a sample of their Dixieland fare.

(01/27/09) Clothing has always been a product of time and place. Thanks to various sources, experts know a lot about who wore what, and when. Information that comes in handy these days for plays, museums and re-enactment projects. The village of Manotick, Ontario marks its 150th anniversary this year. Events planned for the coming year will sometimes feature volunteers in period costumes. To help participants look the part, Edwina Sutherland, of Edwina Richards Studio, is presenting a lecture tomorrow on fashions of the mid-to-late 1800s, followed by a workshop on period dressing on February 7. She spoke with Ottawa correspondent Lucy Martin about clothing in centuries past, and the craft of sewing and replicating what people wore.

(06/05/08) The eat local movement can get hung up between the farmer's field and the cook's kitchen--some foods just need "processing." Watson's Mill in Manotick, Ontario is still making flour the old way--wheat from a local farmer, grindstones powered by water. Sounds simple, and it is, until the stones actually get dull. Our Ottawa correspondent, Lucy Martin, shadowed a local man who learned to use hand tools to "dress," or re-groove, massive millstones. Bill Schaubs has worked on high-tech systems for military and space applications. But the volunteer miller says old-fashioned skills are still a useful part of the bigger picture.

(05/20/08) Last weekend was Victoria Day, a holiday across Canada. Like Memorial Day weekend in the US, it kicks off the summer state of mind, as flowering trees festoon the breeze with pink and white petals and growing things compete to create the most vivid shade of green. Ottawa correspondent Lucy Martin was on side roads, snapping photos of Watson's Mill in Manotick, Ontario on a bright Saturday morning, when her eye was caught by a shiny green tractor neatly parked in a short residential driveway. Homeowner Jim Bauer happened to be nearby. It was one of those out-of-the-blue conversations as Bauer shared the work of a lifetime.

(01/15/08) For centuries, nations sent ships in search of the elusive Northwest Passage, a short-cut to Asia through the ice-laden seas above Canada. Perhaps the most famous attempt was led by Sir John Franklin, an experienced explorer left who England on his third Arctic expedition in 1845. With a crew of 129 volunteers, he set out in two specially-outfitted ships, with enough provisions to last for at least three years. They never returned. Over time, tantalizing clues emerged: a brief message, left in a stone tower, stating Franklin died in 1847. Oral accounts from natives who encountered sick and dying foreigners. The possibility of cannibalism, which shocked Victorian sensibilities. A modern exhumation of three frozen graves suggesting bodies and minds had been affected by lead poisoning from improperly tinned food. The hunt for evidence and answers continues to this day.

Retired geophysicist and Arctic researcher Dr. George Hobson has spent decades studying the Franklin Expedition. These days, he's a popular speaker on tourist expeditions to Beechy Island and other points of Arctic interest. Hobson will give a lecture Wednesday night in Manotick, Ontario. Ottawa correspondent Lucy Martin chatted with him among a local library's collection of books about Franklin and his fate.

(12/03/07) This time of year craft fairs seem to be everywhere--as sellers court buyers searching for decorations and gifts. It's a seasonal business with no guarantee of profits, as Lucy Martin learned, speaking with an artist braving the cold Saturday, at Watson's Mill, in Manotick, Ontario.

(11/24/06) It's Black Friday - retailers hope it brings an overheated buying frenzy and ushers in a profitable holiday buying season. But does holiday spirit follow? An Ottawa-area minister has been thinking about our culture's relationship to things and happiness. Lucy Martin spoke with the Reverend Shawn Ketcheson in Manotick last December.

(09/21/06) Bird fanciers gathered in Manotick, Ontario for a Fall bird sale recently. Lucy Martin stopped by. She spoke with Barbara Schaffer of North Gower, young Marissa of Amherst Island, near Kingston, and an anonymous observer with a cautionary tale about the reponsibilities of pet ownership.