Saturday, August 06, 2011

Beads, Parasols and Obama cookies

Thursday afternoon found AC and me in downtown Ottawa to meet a blogging friend for lunch. What fun!

We met Lorna a couple of years ago through her blog, and have since become good friends. When Lorna heard that AC had given me a set of beginner beading tools for my birthday she offered to take me on a tour of the Byward Market and show me her favorite stores for beading supplies. I soon took her up on her offer, and we made a lunch date to visit and do just that.

It was a hot sunny day, so Lorna came prepared to walk the sunny streets with her whimsical parasol, and I thought it looked fabulous. How neat to take the shade along with us wherever we went. After lunch we set out to do some power shopping at her favorite bead store. Oh my, what a selection, and most of the beads were on sale!!!
Glitter, glitter, sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!
AC wandered around taking pictures while Lorna and I got up close and personal with all the beads.
It was very hard to make a decision, but finally we each bought a couple of strands of beautiful beads, and shared them so we each had a nice selection to take home.

After our sparkle shopping at the bead store, we stopped for coffee, sauntered in and out of more of Lorna's favorite stores in an area of the Market we hadn't explored before, then headed back to our cars. Our last stop before we parted ways was at the little shop where Lorna had purchased her pretty parasol. I just had to get my own so I could continue to walk in comfort on this very hot day. What a bargain at only $8.98! Not only did it keep me cool for the rest of the afternoon, it will shower me with memories of the visit each time I open it in the future.
After Lorna made tracks for her car, AC and I wondered what to do with the rest of the day. We didn't want to head home in rush-hour traffic, so we stopped at a little cafe for a cold drink while we pondered what we would do next. When we walked in we saw huge pictures of President Obama on the walls, informing us that he had stopped at this cafe during his trip to Canada, and he bought a few of the Canada cookies. Well, we just had to buy one too.
You will notice that there are two cookies on the plate. The cookie on the right is the Obama cookie, and the cookie on the left is the one made to commemorate William and Kate's visit to Canada. Both were delicious I must say.

The sun came out while we sat at the outdoor cafe, so my handy dandy parasol came in very handy there...
...and also on our walk through the park leading back to our car parked at the National Gallery.
If you look closely you can see the glass domed roof of the Gallery through the trees.

What a fun day. Thanks Lorna!

2 comments:

Lorna said...

that was such a fun day! I am really glad that the visit ended before you found the cookies though. Thanks for coming into town and for slogging around my favourite places.

Cuppa said...

Lorna - glad you had fun too. I am already looking forward to another visit to that bead store. I'll have to start saving my pennies now.