Glebe Report

When Simon Anisman was a baby, his mom took him to her store, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s, and put him in a basket under the counter while she sold toys. Forty-three years later, Anisman is now behind the counter in that same location selling cannabis.

A Glebe resident recently wrote to local councillor Shawn Menard to ask about possible alternatives to the closure of the Mutchmor rink this year. The resident has shared the following response from Menard:

Let me explain a little more about Buy Nothing for those who are unaware of it. It is a community group with about 450 members in the Glebe that facilitates free exchanges of items. What’s with the pot and the banana in the accompanying photo?

For many of us, that means renting DVDs from a local small business, Glebe Video International. Film lovers in Ottawa know that Glebe Video is an irreplaceable gem, a place where one can find thousands of films from around the world and through the decades, films that no streaming service offers.

Mindfulness is much talked about during the pandemic, but it has these been around for thousands of years. Mindfulness can be a formal or informal practice that is woven into our day.

Nearly a century ago, a prominent Ottawa architect – John Albert Ewart (1872-1964) – designed Glebe Collegiate. The very same year, 1922, he stepped forward to design a clubhouse for the Ottawa Tennis Club, which had only recently moved from the Glebe into Ottawa South.

The Glebe now has its very own gateway sign – a colourful, vibrant and welcoming way to mark the entrance to our charming community. Those coming from downtown will certainly know the exact moment they hit the Glebe. And it provides a great new backdrop for selfies!

When Emilio Escobedo came to Canada four years ago, he couldn’t find authentic Mexican food. Now he can, at the two restaurants he owns and runs on Bank Street in the Glebe. Mona’s Taqueria, his new restaurant, opened its doors at 873 Bank on September 1. That same day, his other restaurant, Margarita, moved from that location to 895 Bank (previously Bowmans).

While largely out of the public eye, planning for the new Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital is well underway. This September, planning for the new facility entered stage two of the Ministry of Health’s Capital Planning Process.

A Community Pop-up Art Gallery has opened at Lansdowne, featuring works by local artists! With so many venues closed because of COVID-19, this is an exciting venture of the Glebe Art in Our Gardens and Studio Tour, which could not take place last summer.

What’s the rush? On December 9, city council was asked to approve new terms for its partnership with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) that runs Lansdowne. The pandemic is short-term but OSEG is asking for long-term changes, a 10-year extension of an already favourable deal until 2054.

Like all restaurants, Erling’s Variety has ridden a rollercoaster during the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusting to new rules and struggling to stay in business. Now it’s living up to its name by adding a “variety store” to try to attract more customers.

Something about the window of ALL ECO always piqued my interest, even before I first set foot in the store. Maybe it was the natural plants suspended from macramé planters, lending it a homey feel.

Get the latest on skating in the Glebe, from the ongoing saga of the Mutchmor rink to options for skating on Glendale Avenue.

Winter is coming whether you like it or not. For many folks, this winter will be the rst time they’ve considered exer- cising outdoors…gyms, yoga and spin classes closed or restricted, pools with COVID restrictions and everyone with apprehension about exercising indoors close to others. With that in mind, I have some tips for winter exercising!

Glebe Collegiate Institute has started its second quadmester in this new system created to manage COVID-19. And planning has resumed for celebrating the 100th anniversary of Glebe Collegiate in 2022-23. Mark your calendars for May 13-15, 2022!

It’s not that difficult to put a little green in the holiday season. For more than 20 years now, our close family of three sisters, partners and kids has held a name-picking session in late October, at first for the grown-ups only and then for every- one as the kids became adults, to decide who gives a present to whom. We found that this greatly reduces stress and increases joy.

Larissa Deacon proudly uses superlatives when she describes Buy Nothing The Glebe and what it is doing. “Our group is particularly incredible,” says Deacon, one of the group’s volunteer administrators, “as we have quite a few garbage heroines and heroes as we call them.”

A couple of weeks ago when my husband and I were out for a walk, I took a few books home from one of the Little Free Libraries, but I had no books to leave in return.

In November, one of the Glebe Report and OSCAR’s newspaper boxes at Lansdowne was damaged beyond repair in an unfortunate collision. It was one of four designed and painted by Claire and Mairi Brascoupé.

After the virtual exhibit that replaced this year’s Art in Our Gardens and Studio Tour, nine artists came to “live” in the pop-up art gallery at the former Structube. Because of COVID-19, the November 20 opening unfolded quietly, with no food or drink. But here is what you would have found on the food table had there been a grand opening. Some of the artists share their favourite amuses-bouches, and Devon Bowers-Krishnan, the award-winning sommelier of Atelier restaurant, suggests the perfect wine pairing.

Read the Glebe Community Association’s latest on the Bank Street Height and Character Study, affordable housing, the Great Glebe Garage Sale (virtual edition), Lansdowne and the community pop-up art gallery.

After 36 years of greeting the public with her warm and friendly smile, Jane Wilson has decided to hand in her keys to the Glebe Community Centre and retire.

It is budget season at City Hall, and the events of 2020 have posed unique challenges and opportunities. COVID-19 has impacted the city’s financial health. Revenues have declined, but the needs of residents haven’t. We should be debating how to cut from wasteful projects to fund ways to build a better city. Here are 10 suggestions.

Once again, Premier Ford has shown Ontarians that his friends and political allies get to live a different reality than the rest of us. He has introduced legislation before the house that would grant his friend Charles McVety’s Canada Christian College the right to award university degrees.

This month, Paul Green reviews the historical French film De Gaulle, set in France in the spring of 1940, and Lois Siegel writes about A Trip to Greece, the latest “fun-filled romp” from the U.K. featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon eating their way through Greece.

The holiday season is just around the corner and now is the perfect time to cozy up with your young readers to enjoy some new seasonal reads available from your local library. Susan Townley at the Sunnyside library gives her reading recommendations.

Rosemary MacKinnon has made a new friend during the pandemic and spends hours each month chatting with her on the phone. Decades separate the ages of these new pals and they’ve never met face to face, but they have no problem finding things to talk about. This fall, some Carleton University sports teams matched up with isolated seniors like MacKinnon and socialize with them by phone.

Who doesn’t love to laugh? All over the world, people crack jokes, tell funny stories and share moments of laughter, both in person and virtually. Almost everyone has experience LOL- ing or hahaha-ing their way through
a text conversation. But while the sound of laughing might be universal, the way of writing it varies consider- ably in every language.

OP ED Back in 2019, when travel was not rife with the risk of contracting a highly and deadly infectious virus, I enjoyed a wonderful three days touring Venice. I used the vaporettos – boat buses running up and down Venice’s stunning network of canals. I’ve wondered ever since why Ottawa has never thought to create its own Grand Canal vaporetto.