Time Magazine is bemoaning the demise of the bagel this week, as one of New York’s big bagel bakeries, H&H, goes out of business.The story by Joshua Ozersky begins: “There are few foods that are truly unique to New York, and the bagel is one of th…
Continue readingAuthor: Mary Soderstrom
Recreating Eden: Strawberry Time: Maybe Lee Will Get His Fill, as We Eat Locally
The Jean Talon Market is full of strawberries right now–and I even saw some in a supermarket. The strawberry season is not long here: about a month, except for a couple of varieties that bear all summer. The weather has been mostly cool, so I don’t t…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Health Care Is A Provincial Responsibility Dept: Quebec Drags Its Feet in Going After Medicare Extrabilling, Compared to Ontario
This morning Le Devoir reports that Ontario is going after illegal extra billing for medically necessary services. Last week the McGinty Liberal governments, in pre-electoral mode, announced inquiries into the practice for colonoscopies and cataract t…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: The Up Side of Traffic Snarls: Getting People out of Their Cars
I know, I know, school’s out, so there is less traffic on the roads, but the rather speedy amelioration in Montreal’s center city traffic snarls these last two weeks is remarkable. There are many, many construction road repair projects under way, fest…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Painting Removal and Other Difficult Tasks
Scratching the last bits of paint from the staircase this morning. It is a project begun when we bought the house decades ago, but which stopped about 10 years later. That is the paint has been removed except for those tiny bits that have been left i…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Rooky MPs Take the Floor: Great Experience in Canada Post Filibuster
There has been a flurry of Facebook posts from the young NDP MPs about the epic struggle being waged in the House of Commons to try to amend the back to work legislation Stephen Harper has proposed to end the Canada Post lock out. Seems that everyone …
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: More Walls Signs, the Good and the Uglly
Walking down lanes and alleys gives you a different perspective on a place, and I’ve come across some fascinating contrasts on the Plateau. Among them are the carefully painted works of arts which grace some walls and garages. So are the boring and d…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Québec’s Fête nationale: No Chasse Galérie This Time, Just Stephen Harper Being Mean
Practically everything is closed in Quebec today, except pharmacies and a few corner stores. St. Jean Baptiste Day, the Fête nationale, is one of the two or three holidays when this province shuts down. There will be parades, open air shows (despit…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Barbara Kingsolver’s La Lacuna and the Story that Follows
The last book discussed at the Atwater book club was Barbara Kingsolver’s fascinating La Lacuna. It has haunted my days ever since, so I was delighted to find a New York Times video this week of an interview with a descendant of one of the characters….
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Bixi Troubles Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Make it Pedal Backwards
Montreal’s popular bicycle rental program, the Bixi, has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. A few weeks ago, the city of Montreal was asked to guarantee $108 million in loans in order to allow the semi-public Bixi agency to expand int…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Summer Solstice on the Plateau
Six months ago, I never thought we’d still be on the Plateau, but now we’re at that other solstice and I see a different world than what greeted us when we alighted here after the fire. Here’s the view from the terrace, which shows just how green this…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: They Gave Jack a Huge Vote of Conference: Wish I’d Been There
The NDP convention in Vancouver over the weekend has been making headlines. Seems there’s was some controversy over whether to talk about a “socialist” or a “social democrat” party, as well as a possible fusion with the Liberals. The first question h…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: A City is a Palimpsest
Once upon a time, the Plateau district of Montreal was on the edge of town, in the country in fact. The house on the left bears witness to that nearly-countrified past. It is now in the heart of the action, but still boasts the graceful galleries tha…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: More on Tatoos from a Tatooed Lady, Five Years After
And as I was walking around yesterday, looking at the artfully tatooed arms and shoulders on the young folks here, I remembered that I have two tatoos. They’re the marks made to guide the radiation therapy I had nearly five years ago after suspect ti…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: More Signs of the Times: Tatoos
No pictures so far–it’s a bit embarassing to stop people to ask–but I’m struck this year by how many young people now have tatoos. Not just roses or “I love” someone tatoos, but multicolour tendrils, flowers, birds, and mandalas that cover shoulders…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Time to Make Reading Lists for New Year!
This is the week when I do book discussions, and I’ve been working on reading lists for the season that will begin in September. Here’s a preview:2011SeptemberSecret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya GowdaA runaway best seller about adoption, ethnicity and fa…
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Going Green in Order to Grow Greenery: The Sweet Potato Experiment
Many, many years ago, my first house plants were sweet potatoes and avocado vines. They were cheap, and satisfied my hunger for greenery. Guess that wouldn’t work today!
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Signs of the Times on the Plateau
The Plateau district of Montreal was until about 30 years ago a working class neighborhood, full of small houses, neighborhood commerce and light industry. It was scheduled for urban renewal in the 1970s, but was saved, partly by government inertia an…
Continue reading