City Hall

I should explain that the photos used in this post were taken a few weeks ago, before winter weather disappeared (or what passed for winter weather in Southern Ontario this year, which was rather wimpy for Canadian standards) and was replaced with seriously mild weather. While it is overcast and chilly today, it’s not cold enough to do this:

I’m skating on the outdoor rink outside Mississauga city hall (which features satellite radio playing 80’s music over the P.A. system):

The rink is a fountain during the rest of the year and until a few years ago was significantly smaller. However, a few years ago city council recognized that the area outside of city hall was kind of a dead-zone and rebuilt it to be more use to the community. The result is Celebration Square:

It is significantly more user friendly. It has a big permanent stage, instead of the small one that was periodically erected for events. The road between the square and city hall has been closed, which means you don’t have to worry about getting run over by traffic when going from one side to the other. Which could be a problem if you’re busy looking at the unusual style of city hall, or Mississauga Civic Centre to use its formal name (which I wasn’t aware of until I started doing research for this blog post):

It was opened in 1987 and is, according to Wikipedia, is a fine example of post-modern architecture in Canada. But what exactly is it supposed to look like, you might ask?

It’s based on a barn. Yep. Not making this up.

The area that is now known as the city of Mississauga was once a number of small farming villages. Until about ten or fifteen years ago, it was not uncommon to see the odd farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Now it’s all been replaces with development, which is why Mississauga is often cited when talking out urban sprawl in Canada (usually as an example of what not to do, since it's mainly low density single dwelling homes). What exactly the city is going to do now that it’s out of farmland to develop is anyone’s guess, but I have a feeling that it will define the city in the post-Hazel McCallion era (our mayor since 1978 who has said she will retire once this term is up). But I’m getting way off-course. Mississauga’s city hall is designed to look like a barn. Now you know.

Kentucky Fried... Hospital?

It’s about time I upheld my promise of continuing the blog.

The idea for this post came about because of the family drama that has been keeping me ‘occupied’ since I came back. Both my Grandparents in Mississauga have been in and out of hospital recently, four hospital stays between them so far, so I’ve been to Trillium Mississauga a number of times the past two months. The building is a built as series of large square-ish wings have been added on through the decades, which you can see for yourself:

There are two entrances on the face of the building that faces the main road. One is for the emergency department and the other is this:

Did you catch the name? Look a bit closer:

Colonel Sanders? As in Kentucky Fried Chicken’s man in the white suit? Yep. After selling off his stake in the KFC franchises in the States, Sanders moved to Mississauga in the mid 1960’s to keep an eye on his Canadian franchises. He liked it enough that he continued to live here for part of the year until his death in 1980 (although he actually died in Louisville and is buried in Kentucky).

Sanders used his wealth to start up charitable organizations, which made a substantial donation that allowed the hospital to build the Family Care Centre. It opened in the fall of 2000 to look after the healthcare needs of children, teenagers, and expectant parents. 

So, the sales of generally unhealthy fried food to the masses helped build part of a hospital. I can't really decide if that's ironic or really socially responsible. Perhaps a bit of both.

One Final Thought....

I have one final photo to share with you. I'm not sure why I find this so amusing... well, that's not true. I'm easily entertained by shiny things and I know a lot of my friends are too. In Halifax Stanfield Airport, there is a giant shiny lobster statue:

Now you know. Because someone might ask?

Car Trip in NS!

So I left Halifax a month ago but events in my life have kept me rather occupied (more on that later) so I’m only getting the last of my Maritime photos posted now. I’ll be brief, since it was a month ago.

My last Saturday in Nova Scotia was spent on an adventure with my buddy Barry. We had a vague plan but one very simple mission: drive out of Halifax and go look at some touristy stuff. We both found this enjoyable for different reasons: I got to go see some old, famous places and he got to see what those places looked like when they’re not swarmed with tourists. And there is definitely a  good reason why busloads of tourists don’t flock to Peggy’s Cove in late January/ early February:

It is very, very windy there and, when combined with winter weather, makes you very cold. However, as you can see from the photos it is very beautiful there.

But I can’t overemphasis how incredibly windy it was. It’s the kind of wind that tries to knock you over every 30 seconds. I was very happy that I had reconsidered my outfit and was wearing pants instead of a skirt.

While I didn’t get a shot of the famous lighthouse itself (because that would involve standing out in the open with nothing to hold onto and I didn’t want to faceplant on the rocks) I did get this lovely snap of the warning on the side of the lighthouse, which politely explains to you that if you are dumb enough to stand out at the edge of the sea in high winds there is a good chance you will end up in the water:

There were a lot of those warnings, for very good reason once I saw the surf:

We then got back in the car and drove to Lunenburg. Most of the stores and restaurants are closed in the winter, so for the most part we walked around town and looked at buildings. Given that the entire town is a national historic site, there was plenty to look at:

I can't decide if it's the style of the buildings themselves or the beautiful paint work that appeals to me so much:

We also encountered this pet store on one of the main streets:

So if you ever find yourself in need of elephant feed in Nova Scotia, you know where to go.