Vivaldi was a red head, so were Napoleon , Galileo, Eric the Red and Thomas Jefferson. A rather distinguished group, don’t you think? But apparently, the sperm from red heads is not moving at an international sperm bank, and they have announced they’…
Continue readingAuthor: Mary Soderstrom
Recreating Eden: Question about the Tone of Future Novels: Will the Current Mess Have and Effect on What People Will Write 40 Years from Now
Interesting conversation between Colm Toibín and Jeffrey Eugenides in The New York Times yesterday. Both of them have new books out, hence the public chit chat about writing. But perhaps the most striking thing about their thoughts is the way they en…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Sid Ingerman Wins Gold for Canada!
I’ve mentioned before our good friend Sid Ingerman who was part of the Canadian team in the recent Triathlon competition in Beijing.Sid, who will turn 83 Nov. 8, placed first in his age group for the triathlon sprint (a half triathlon), being one of 13…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: One Way to Sell Newspapers: Long Island Papers Find the Key But Aren’t Sure What It Is
This is one for those who are studying how to keep print journalism alive: all the copies of two Long Island weeklies were bought up last week by mysterious figures for reasons that aren’t clear. According to The New York Times, The Suffolk Times and …
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Down with the Monarchy: Stephen Harper Wants Britannia to Reign over Us
It seems that my next Canadian passport will have a crown on it, and if I tell someone they can’t put up the Maple Leaf flag I could soon be liable to two years in prison.These are all things that the Conservative government is backing as the new se…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Too Many People, Not Enough Chairs: A Great Concert as the Day Closed Yesterday
Elin and her friend Madeleine Owen had the bittersweet experience of having to turn people away from the concert they gave Tuesday afternoon at the Jardin botanique. On the program were pieces by Marin Marais, Monsieur de St-Coulombe and other compose…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Cook a Pot of Curry Day: Sounds Delicious
I woke up this morning to talk of a curry war in Singapore. As I lay in bed listening to a contributor from there on Radio-Can, I remembered the absolutely excellent food I’ve eaten in the island nation when I’ve visited. Without a doubt, I’ve never …
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Tous les matins du monde on Tuesday Afternoon: Elin and Madeleine Owen in Concert
Elin and her friend Madeleine Owen (theorbo and baroque guitar will be giving a most interesting concert Tuesday, September 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Maison d’arbre of Montreal’s Jardin botanique as part of the Orgues et couleurs festival. The music they…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Outremont in Flowers
A good part of the neighborhood I live in was laid out at the turn of the 20th century as a “garden suburb.” While most of it is on a grid, street trees and front gardens were present from the beginning.Formerly a separate city, Outremont has been p…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Cesaria Evora Retires
The Cap Verdean singer Cesaria Evorá has announced she is retiring at age 70. What a debt we owe to her!
Continue readingRecreating Eden: What Would Jesus Do?
…hold up this placard, I believe.
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Needed: Real Car Free Days, Not Just Public Relation Events
Today is Car Free Day in Montreal, an annual event when the center of the city is “shut down” to vehicular traffic from about 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It was begun a few years agao as gimmick to bring attention to the need to cut down on car traffic in the…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Catcning up on Business, So No Post Today
There are times when you’ve got to catch up on business (and pleasure.) So today is devorted to banking, lunch with my friend Lorraine and getting a haircut from Wayne at Furisme. When all that is done maybe I’ll even get some work done!
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Some Dinosaur Feathers Had Pigments: An Adaptive Advantage…. or the Danger Theory of Evolution
Great story in The New York Times today about dinosaur feathers preserved in amber that show traces of pigment. Eleven 70-million-year-old specimens examined by scientists at the University of Alberta suggst that the feathered animals had an array of …
Continue readingRecreating Eden: More of Jeanne’s Favourite Videos
“The Cat Came Back” was a favourite around here with the kids were young, particularly in the Fred Penner version. But this one takes the cake–or the bowl of cat kibble. Jeanne loves it.
Continue readingRecreating Eden: $800 Million in Budget Cuts: Bleeding Doesn’t Make Anything or Anyone Healthier
If you want to try to lose an unpopular announcement, you make it at the end of the week. That’s what the Quebec government did last Friday when $800 million in additional budget cuts were ordered by Michelle Courchesne, president of the provincial Tr…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Trout Fishing in Canada
Well, no, there’s readily apparent that links this happy dog with fishing, but therein lies a tale (or tail, if you like.) We got Trout Fishing in Canada shortly after we read Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America and were preparing to spend ou…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Coming up on Monday: Reading: Un Acte d’Amour…
Just a reminder than on Monday I’ll be talking about Neil Bissoondath’s The Unyielding Clamour of the Night at Reading: Un Acte d’amour (or Lire : An Act of Love, depending on your linguistic preferences. ) François Barcelo will be presenting Tarm…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Wedding Dresses as an Anti-Poverty Aid: Nicolas Kristof Tells How
One of the things that came back from storage/cleaning after the fire was my wedding dress. Much to small now, of course, and neither my daughter nor daughter-in-law have any use for it now. So the question I’ve been mulling: what to do with it?This …
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