Lost Ottawa began as an experimental FaceBook community in February of 2013 where McGee posted archival photos and postcards and inviting the community to share their memories and comments. When Lost Ottawa was published in 2017, the community had reached approximately 42,000 members, had posted more than 8,000 pictures, and people had left more than 90,000 comments. An amazing tribute to what people value about past times — the buildings and events that evoke emotions in us — even for those of us who only recognize the new and think, ‘Wow, that’s what it was like back then’.
The first post, February 10th, 2013, showed the Chateau Laurier, the Post Office, part of Union Station, and what was then called Connaught Plaza pre-War Memorial, so circa.1930, 35. The post got 42 likes, 2 shares, and 12 comments. Quite a contrast to the way the plaza looks today.
circa 1935
The final post included in this book is of the inside of the Bayshore Shopping Centre when it still had fountains and statues (in the 80s) and received 2,002 likes, 645 shares, 248 comments, and 131,019 reached.
In between, there was the restaurants, street cars, famous signs, old mills, old ads, lost businesses, technological innovations and the rocket from the Museum of Science and Technology. It’s a walk down memory lane, a trip into the past, a sad comment on progress, and a veritable wealth of trivia. The conversations are interesting to read — lots of memories shared and comparisons made.
This is a delightful read, a book you can pick up anywhere and start reading or flip through until you find a picture that jogs a memory for you, take to the cottage, take to the beach, leave it on your coffee table or in the john. Visit the site or pick up the book. Available at Chapters. * * * * 1/2
First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted by 
The high chandeliers in the Great Hall of Lincoln’s Inn were ablaze with candles, for it was late afternoon when the play began. Most members of Lincoln’s Inn were present the barristers in their robes and their wives in their best costumes. After an hour standing watching, my back was starting to ache, and I envied the few elderly and infirm members who had brought stools.
I’m hosting this Tuesdays’ Tantalizing Teasers which is easy to participate in. It may not appear every week but when it does, it will always be on Tuesday. To participate, show the title, author, and cover, and choose a random (or not) quote to share with other readers (two or three sentences), and leave a comment with the link to your own tantalizing teaser for the day. Here’s my quote from the above book:
Today’s Mystery Monday offering is by Ruth Ware, 
A harrowing escape, an exciting land chase through the countryside around Bergen, identity substitution, and reports of Blacklock’s death with a resulting number of discussion groups online about what might really have happened to her and who might be responsible all converge to make an extremely convincing and compelling thriller you won’t want to miss. * * * * *
The last two weeks have been simultaneously busy and relaxing. My house sale closed, I celebrated Canada Day, I planned a vacation in Spain for August, I was ill, and I drank lots of liquids
The son of the proprietor of Singer’s Dry Goods, Joseph, sets his cap for the 22-year-old Louisa, unaware that she has sworn to make her own way in the world and never marry. The rest of the family (except for the father who is absent in the war) is pretty similar to the March family of 
This is the first novel by Kelly O’Connor McNees and she appears to have done a great deal of research through Louisa May Alcott’s journals and letters. I suppose it is inevitable that the story should sound like 
The first person I met in England was a hallucination. I brought her with me, onboard the serene ocean liner that had carried my numb, grief-haunted self from New York to Southampton.
