First off, as promised at the end of my last blog post, I will share with you the surprise progress that was made at 212 last weekend: On top of finishing the first floor layout for the kitchen and foyer, Kyle and his dad also put down all new plywood upstairs! So exciting! Now, to this week's post... In honour of the queen that our house style was named after (not to mention the fact that this holiday is all thanks to her), this blog post is going to be about Queen Victoria. Weirdly enough, this is a holiday that is celebrated in Canada, but not England. Queen Victoria took reign when she was only eighteen and not only inherited a country, but the British colonies, which include British North America. Victoria Day became an official holiday after Queen V's death in the early 1900s, and has always involved fireworks, picnics, and copious amounts of drinking. While we are now fairly separate from England, that we still celebrate this woman's birthday is a testament to her impact historically on our country and culture, and our desire to preserve old traditions. Personally, I am grateful for the extra day of weekend :). Here are some interesting facts about Queen V: 1) Despite her young age when first taking the throne, Victoria was pretty smart and encouraged Canada to become more independent of America in terms of trade. She is one politician that we can thank for keeping us a separate country from the States. 2) Queen Victoria was an advocate for children and was responsible for many child labour laws. 3) Victoria was also a feminist of her time; she was the breadwinner of her household, she ran a country, and defied traditional marriage etiquette by proposing to her husband. 4) While visiting Canada, Queen Victoria decided that Ottawa would be the capital city of Canada. At the time, the city was nothing special, but she saw its potential in its trade via waterways. Our house goal for the long weekend?! Get enough accomplished with this extra day so that we can take next weekend off and go camping. Fingers crossed!
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About MeKyle and I just became new homeowners. The house we purchased is not what one would classify as "move in ready"; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Built at the turn of the 20th century, our Victorian style house is both beautiful and terrifying in its ancient status and will be a project in renovation. This is a documentation of our triumphs and lessons learned, as we deconstruct and reconstruct this house. The end result? A space that we can proudly say we created. Archives
December 2016
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