Saturday Photo: Bicycles and Winter…
It snowed on Tuesday, and is shirt-sleeve weather today. Good day to go for a bike ride–or if you’re like me, a walk. Bixi, Montreal’s bike share service, goes for…
Mary Soderstrom
Saturday Photo: A Little Change-up, a Change in the Kitchen and Bathroom Chez Nous
After a couple of years of chat, and 11 months of planning etc. our renovations are complete. New floors, countertops, more cabinets and paint in the kitchen. New walk in…
Saturday Photo: Trees in the Golden Forest…
No message today because I’m calling for the election. But if you have a chance to get out, do. The light and the trees are wonderful. October’s bright blue weather,…
Saturday Photo: Grape Leaves, Or the Fruit of Sunlight
There isn’t a whole lot of sunlight in our backyard because the maple tree two doors to the south shades everything most of the day. But that hasn’t stopped a…
Saturday Photo: Never Hurts to Stop and Take Stock, Or Happy Thanksgiving
I’m far from being a religious person, but I think it’s important to occasionally stop and consider what we have in this life. That’s particularly true in this Plague Year,…
Saturday Photo: The Book Launch Will Be BYOB, Unfortunately
Usually when I have a new book come out we have a little launch party at an independent book store. Last year just about now we were preparing for one…
Saturday Photo: Golden Rod, One Thing That Shines in These Dark Times
The golden rod has been blooming around here for several weeks. In fact, in some places it’s actually well past its prime, and is looking a little faded. But this…
Thin Air Festival Featuring Concrete, Believe It or Not
It may sound like an oxymoron, but concrete in North America frequently contains up to 6 per cent air. Why, is something I talk about in Concrete: From Ancient Origins…
Saturday Photo: Cosmos, the Flower That Keeps on Giving…
If you wait long enough, that is. Cosmos are wonderful flowers that reseed themselves and change sunny places to corners of cosmic delight. I’ve never had much luck with them…
Saturday Photo: Good Crop of Umbrellas This Summer
Well, it rained a lot here in August, so obviously these folks were on the case. The umbrella stayed there for a couple of weeks, during the worst of the…
Saturday Photo: Reclaiming the City…
One of the up-sides of this Plague Year is the way people and cities are rethinking public spaces. Around here a number of neighborhoods have widened sidewalks by allowing terraces…
Saturday Photo: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The work is far from done, alas! Fifty-seven years ago I was there, having hitched a ride with a friend with parishioners from a church in Indianapolis. We had been…
Saturday Photo: Goldenrod and Badminton, the Resilience of the Former, the Lure of the Latter
Here you have the remains of a badminton court on which a generation or two of nuns played on summer afternoons. Part of the convent’s grounds was sold to a…
Saturday Photo: Black Lives Matter in Outremont
The part of Montreal where we live was designed more than 100 years ago as a garden suburb, sort of. Today it is home to a mixed population that includes…
Saturday Photo: Closest I Get to Religion…
Had an interesting conversation this week with one of my Hassidic neighbours about life, death, and Covid 19. She lost a brother, 62, to the disease early on in the…
Saturday Photo: Wake-up Call?
In this difficult time I’ve been on the look out for things that make one smile. That’s whey I was delighted when a friend brought over sunflowers last weekend: everytime…
Satruday Photo: Not a Trojan Horse, but More Whimsy
Because we all need a little whimsy these days, here’s what I found in an alley not far from me. Couldn’t do much carpentry on this saw horse, but kudos…
Saturday Photo: Concrete, Not the Rock of Ages…Nor Is the US
The photo was taken last summer in front of a house that was being renovated. Probably built in the early 1900s, it obviously had a lot of details that were…
Saturday Photo: Whimsy and Covid 19
Everybody was getting a little squirrely this spring, as we tried to out dance Covid 19 by staying at home. It helped some that March, April and the first of…
Saturday Photo: The Up-side of Drought…
It must be the sun, and maybe the cool, wet spring, but even though it rained very little in May and June the roses here have been spectacular. The ones…