This morning, Mel and I tried our hand at pickleball. Though we had had a pickleball kit of two paddles and three perforated plastic balls for a few months, we had not yet tried them. After walking to a City of Ottawa tennis court and finding it locked (it appears to be undergoing a transformation to a combined tennis and pickleball court), we retraced our steps to Katimavik Elementary School. There, we set up our game on an outdoor basketball court, using the lines on the ground to approximate a net and boundaries.

It was a lot of fun and a more strenuous workout than our weekly table tennis match. Some describe pickleball as being similar to tennis and badminton. It also reminded me of lob ball. As I got used to the paddle and the motion of the perforated ball, I instinctively started lobbying the ball high into the air. This gave Mel time to move to where the ball would land on her side of the court. I also found that the lobbed ball bounced higher off the court than a ball hit at a low, sharp angle. The more we played, the longer our rallies became.

Halfway through our game, one of our favourite dogs in the community happened by. Bear is a gorgeous Lab-Bernese mix, who always seems so happy to see us, much like her owner, Mia. Bear is the kind of dog who can turn a blah day into a great day. We always feel better after seeing Bear and Mia.

We returned to our basketball-cum-pickleball court, having gotten our second wind. Though we were tired when we concluded our game, we were immensely content with our first attempt at the sport. It felt like a collaborative game, rather than a competitive one, with the aim being to have the longest back-and-forth possible.

After lunch, Mel, Chris and I walked to Walter Baker Park. On our way, several planes flew overhead. My favourite were the Snowbirds.

Walter Baker Park is a superb venue for Kanata's Canada Day celebrations—with play structures and a splash pad, surrounded by lots of green space, trees to picnic under, and room to set up bouncy castles. We enjoyed being among the well-dispersed crowd.

Mel and I stopped to chat with Stacy from the West Ottawa Soccer Club. We mentioned to her that we had tried pickleball for the first time. She then told us that she would like to start a soccer league where participants would walk, instead of run (think race walking). The idea would be to make the game accessible for people who may have issues with their joints, much like pickleball has made a new exercise possible for older adults. I thought it was a brilliant idea. She added that her colleague wants to create a U2 league, for kids under 2 years old. I suggested that they could create a combined league for young kids and older adults, like the long-term care facility in the UK that contains a nursery. As per an article in The Guardian (Young, old and marvellous: how a care home built a nursery – and everyone thrived), "At Belong Chester, the older residents and young children have the chance to spend each day together, and it’s led to big improvements in all their lives." I even came up with a name for the combined soccer league: U2 and You Too.

On our way home from Walter Baker Park, Mel and I stopped at Chocolats Favoris (Chris had returned home on his own earlier in the afternoon). We shared a delicious raspberry sorbet; it was incredibly creamy despite containing no dairy, and it struck a perfect balance between sweet and tart. Enjoying a cool, sweet treat on a shaded patio on a warm day seems like a perfect way to spend Canada Day.

A simple supper of homemade minestrone soup and soft rolls capped off our day.

Happy Canada Day.