#nepean

BREAKING:

Anthony Marsh will win the seat of Nepean in the 2026 by-election, the ABC projects.

Carleton's incumbent MP, Pierre Poilievre is marketing himself as the jobs candidate, "paychecks not debt!" right?

Well, I looked at more than just a few of his votes in Parliament (more than can fit here). And I'd have to disagree with that.

Pierre Poilievre consistently votes in Parliament against the interests of working Canadians, and even small businesses and in favour of mega corporations and ultra wealthy.

We moved house in June 2020. Actually we moved house on our wedding anniversary, in the middle of Covid, from a house with zero AC to a house with broken AC.  Between the AC condition, and us being unwilling to use a moving company to move less than 2km away, it was a brutal move.

Ottawa is a weird place to live. Today it is -9 and the snow is here. In June when we moved it was well over 30.

That said, I love Ottawa, and I really love our forever home! We also had our Permanent Residence granted this year, and when I wake up I am so thrilled that we live where we live.

Our home is old. It was built in 1896, and was one of the original farmhouses in the area. There’s a bunch of historical information available about it, and, despite looking like we are in the middle of the countryside, we are just minutes from Merivale Road - home to my favourite thrift stores and where I’ve wanted to be since we moved here in 2016.

Even though we are so close to a bustling shopping area, we still see a lot of local wildlife!

The garden is something I hadn’t realised I missed, until we got here, and realised we could do stuff to it and in it!

Now I have a herb garden, a greenhouse, and a couple of vegetable patches. I never have been keen on the ornamental garden, but I am figuring out how to integrate my love of a practical garden with a pretty one too. In the next year or so, I’m hoping to add a couple of apple trees and pear trees.

The greenhouse and garden will be something of a challenge. I’ve had gardens in the UK and in Ireland, but Ottawa is something else! Remember I mentioned the swings in temperature above? The greenhouse is completely covered in snow currently, and my neighbours all have little plant tents and covers for their outdoor plants. Um, I didn’t even think of that! I’m doing a lot of reading up on what to plant, when to plant, and what will grow happily in the particular soil we have. Lots and lots of reading.

The inside the house though is what made us leap at the chance to own this! Rooms. With doors. No open concept here! I have a total dislike of open concept, where I get to smell the dinner I cooked in the kitchen, when I’m sat on the sofa, blogging. The kitchen has doors, which we can close, and the fish can smell to its heart’s content!

There are some downsides. There is a lot of work to be done. That is also an upside for me, because I do enjoy making things ‘just so’.

We added the blackboard in the first week of moving in. Even though we are a ‘connected’ family, a blackboard is always a great help to communicate, and is never ‘on charge’ or ‘DND’