👟A field trip for JB

JB went into the city to have lunch with his friend. He took his trusty little camera. He's getting pretty good using it.

I start with his funny story. He went to the sports store in Carlingwood Mall looking for running shoes. Now, you have to know that mostly this store sells shoes, although it is a sports store.

Two clerks were chatting. He was the only customer. They had a whole wall of running shoes. JB was looking at a high top shoe. Perhaps it might give him some support. They don't carry his size in our small town.

One young guy comes over to him, asking if he needs help.
     "Yes, do these come in extra wide?" Young clerk looked puzzled.
     "What size do you need?"
     "I'm wearing a size 9, but 4E."
     "Is that a European size? Can you tell me what that is in American sizing. The bigger the shoe the wider it is."
     "No, I need extra wide. I need 9EEEE."

JB gave up. Someone hasn't had product knowledge (PK) seminars. Both JB and I while of average stature, we both have wide feet. How could this kid not know what wide sizes are? I guess it is like the time we were hunting for a special phone for my dad, we wanted the one capable of producing a decibels. The clerk didn't know what a 'decibel' was.

Back to his trip, and Carlingwood Mall. They are tearing down the parking garage.  This is in the rear of the closed Sears store, the parking garage. It's the end of an era. We used to go there all the time as a family. Sears employees are fighting for their pensions, as Sears has closed stores in Canada.



This Sears store has fond memories for both of us. Taking our respective family members, we spent a fair amount of time and money here. Having lost their anchor store, Sears, it's changed the mall.


JB and Bob had lunch at the Golden Palace, again. Bob doesn't have a car, so they meet where he can get a bus. They've been friends a long time, having been roommates after university, in Ottawa.


Their server remembered them, and mentioned that they'd sat in the same spot last time. The food was better! A good time had by all.

Whirlwind tour of Ottawa

We were supposed to have lunch with JB's aunt Monday, but she's having some issues. We thought we'd do some errands in the city (Ottawa), anyway, before the freezing rain began and rush home. The green is rain, the blue, snow.

The snow was being blown by the wind as we made it into Bells Corners.

Hubby had a couple of things to pick up at Carlingwood Mall. It's a formerly Sears-anchored mall. Sears is done in Canada. The blurry photo is pathetic. Rather fitting. The parking lot is bereft. I feel so badly for those whose pensions have gone, while they paid upper management millions in bonuses for staying on to shut down the company.

Coincidentally, the mother of an FB photographer buddy parked behind us in the parking lot. She lives in Merrickville. She posted that on FB and I had a good laugh. We have never met and might not recognize one another!

That said, there are still a number of stores in the mall. I found myself a new suitcase. Hubs says they match my red boots, which aren't waterproof BTW.


We dropped off a gift to my daughter, as well as the loan of my soprano recorder. I love music. I haven't a photo of me playing my little recorder, but I have a photo of the autoharp. I played and sang in church many times, both in choirs and solos. I joined the church choir with my parents when I was 13.

Josee is taking recorder lessons and will borrow my recorder. I've had it for close to 20 years, I think. It's a one-piece, a good style for newbies. In music camp, one summer,  I met some interesting players. I've often toyed with getting an alto or deeper recorder. I just need some motivation.

It was a lovely drive, considering the storm that was on its way.


We stopped to buy some mealworms for tree frog. He's still in the plant. He sang when I played the piano a few weeks ago. He sang randomly, when we were watching evening TV. The cats were amused.

I'm so sad. Big Al's closed in Kanata. In August! I didn't know. Its other Ottawa store is about 100 km away, in Orleans! This other one was on our way into Ottawa.

We spoke to a young man who worked in the Pet Store nearby. He said that Al's had management issues, yet many people still come into this store asking about things. He sold us some spray for the easy chairs. You can see how well it worked the first day. Yay, Annabelle.

Other purchases, a green tablecloth, new kitchen knives, and drink mugs.

We had lunch in Perth, on the way home. The snow had started and things were deteriorating.

Dead stop on the 417 right at island park west bound #otttraffic pic.twitter.com/1eIdpItsmq

— Janet Rochon (@janetsplanet16) January 22, 2018

@MIHomeYGK @OttTraffic @cbcallinaday Perth Road, north of #ygk - freezing rain for an hour. Accumulating like crazy. Doing about 60km/hr. Super sketchy. #ontstorm pic.twitter.com/wsc1u1g7qM

— Jana J (@StellarJana) January 22, 2018

Josee took piano lessons, and can read music. They are learning this at school.
Izzy is still taking ukulele lessons. Mommy sent me a photo.

Delightful town of Smiths Falls has had its ups and downs

Smiths Falls has sure had its ups and downs. It used to be a great transportation route, with the Rideau Canal linking Ottawa to Brockville, Kingston and Toronto in days of old when boats were the way to travel. Even tourism is down on the Rideau Canal. People tend to be in too much of a hurry to speed their way to their vacations, rather than boating lazily along the still waters. Small towns on the canal have lost business, canal hours were reduced with cutbacks.

Smiths Falls was a thriving, busy place in its early years (1800s). It was a Rideau Canal town, upon which people depended to get goods to market. It's much more of a commuter town these days, with much unemployment, and ODSP housing.
There aren't the tourist shops that towns like Perth and Almonte have, with intriguing Mom & Pop businesses, antique stores, cafés and the like. They do have several museums.

Smiths Falls Train Museum

Smiths Falls lost 1700 jobs in a short period of time, in the 2008 recession. It's shameful, really. Yet they hosted 640 victims of an August, 2011 forest fire, including 200 children at short notice in the old Rideau Regional, now the Gallipeau Centre. They've done a ton of fundraising ($200,000) for the young hockey player, Neil Doef (17), disabled in a tournament in Winnipeg.

Small towns across this continent are facing the same issues: outsourcing and cheap labour elsewhere and overseas. The worst, of course, are the tech support people who barely speak English! Big box stores, like Cheap-Mart, insisted on supplier producing cheaper goods, for cheap prices. We now have access to shoddy goods that fail and must be replaced. It irks me. With big stores failing in Canada, I hope we will go back to the family businesses.

Smiths Falls café now closed

Eaton, (1869 - 1999); Simpsons, (1872 - Sears 1958, merged with HBC 1973-92); Kmart, (1962 - 1998); Woolco, (1962 - 1982); Towers, (1960 - 1990); Zellers, (1931 - 2011); Target, 2015; Future Shop. We shop local as much as we can. With the big box stores closing, the anchors stores in these unsightly malls, we'll see what happens.

Paying poor people in foreign countries slave wages seems wrong to me. Sure, I can buy an $8.00 t-shirt, but it won't last, and it's just wrong. Hiring foreign workers, and paying them less than individual province's minimum wages, is wrong. Minimum wage in Ontario goes up to $11.25 in the fall. I think this is a good move. Nestlé, a Swiss firm, pays its board of directors members an obscene salary in the millions of dollars. I'm sure the other big stores do the same.

What else has shut down operations in Smiths Falls?

Tweed produce

Hershey - 2008  It was terrific when Tweed opened up in the old Hershey plant. They'd been looking for a new business there for years. 

Stanley Mechanics  –closed in Smiths Falls in 2009.

Opened in 1951, 2000 residents
Originally called Ontario Hospital School, Smiths Falls
In 1967, it was renamed Rideau Regional Hospital School.
In 1974, the name changed to the Rideau Regional Centre.

Rideau Regional Centre (Opened 1951 –closed March, 2009)

Rideau Regional has been transformed into the Gallipeau Centre.

The old Rideau Regional was in the news with horrible stories of abuse. Its facilities have a pool, full industrial kitchen, a gym, and they are planning on opening Two Rivers Food Hub there, however, local farmers are not confident with its business plan. Local farmers are unable to provide locovore food to big grocers who demand high volume.

Smiths Falls sees off its fire evacuees

Aug 2, 2011 - The former Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls will once again be empty on ... Ottawa hosts hundreds evacuated from fire zone ...

AGI Shorewood Packaging Smith Falls closes | Unifor National

Nov 27, 2014 - The last workers at a Smiths Falls packaging plant leave the facility today, after the company lost it major customer Unilever in 2013. (77 employees)

Staples opened in 2014 in Smiths Falls, closed March 22nd.

The Zellers store facility, bought by Target, with the store renovated. Target closes today, losing 100 jobs. The new pharmacy in Target similarly closed, staffed by a beloved pharmacist, who was killed in a car incident March 2nd.

Smiths Falls pharmacist Paul Marques identified as casualty in Monday’s fatal accident

Marques had been working as a pharmacist since 1976, and moved to the Smiths Falls area in 1983. He worked for many years at Zellers at the County Fair Mall before joining Murad in the opening of the Target pharmacy. Smiths Falls’ Remedy’sRX opened its doors on Feb. 25, only days before Marques’ fatal accident.