Saturday Photo: Lesson from Spiders
Don’t know much about spiders but I think this time of year they are very busy, spinning webs, capturing prey, and setting up a cozy home for the next generation.…
Mary Soderstrom
Saturday Photo: Good Summer for Bees
The weather is a little wet and cool right now, but one of the advantages of our hot and dry summer is the abundance of flowers and of bees who…
Saturday Photo: The Connecticut River and Boundaries, Walrus Talk
The photo is of the Connecticut River which separate New Hampshire and Vermont. It’s just one example of how boundaries–arbitrary and otherwise–divide and influence people. In this case, the state…
Saturday Photo: More Pears Than the Squirrels Can Eat…
Well, actually I must admit that the photo was taken a few years ago, but the truth is that this year we have another bumper crop of pears. Over the…
Saturday Photo: Roman Walls at Conímbriga, Roman Concrete Lasts
This week I sent of the revisions to my next book: Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World as We Know It. The University of Regina Press will bring…
Saturday Photo: Pictures from the Summer of Dust
This is the Summer of Dust on our street. The work began in early June and probably won’t be finished before early September. Many things are being done: replacing lead…
Saturday Photo: Day Lilies….
The strong colours of summer are upon us. This day lily has just finished blooming, and now the golden rod is high, with native asters about to bloom. A nice…
Saturday Photo: The Road to Nieuport after the Field at North Hatley
Last week I posted a photo on my Facebook Page that I’d taken of a field at Glen Villa Gardens in North Hatley, QC. Lovely peaceful scene, I thought. The…
Saturday Photo: How Concrete Built the World as We Know It
The photo was taken two years ago when we were travelling in Washington state. That’s the Columbia river near Chief Joseph dam and the green stretches are irrigated fields and…
Saturday Photo: Glen Villa Garden: Wonderful Place
Well, sorry, folks you’ll have to wait until next year. You missed Open Garden Day at Glen Villa, a 750 acre estate near North Hatley in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Patterson…
Saturday Photo: Time to Plunge Back into Concrete
Once upon a time, I had planned to have a book on concrete appear in 2019. But things got away from me–the zeitgeist, my editor said–and so the book for…
Saturday Photo: It’s Too Hot to Stay Inside..
Summer has arrived, and it is sticky hot in Montreal. The canicule, as they say around here, is late, and so far much less intense than what has gripped much…
Saturday Photo: An Octopus’s Garden in the Shade
Or rather in the sun. And maybe it’s a pentopus… This is the temporary water arrangement in front of our house. Five houses are hooked up to the hose which…
Saturday Photo: Fountains, Green and Summer
First full day of summer dawned sunny and not too warm. A welcome change from the cool, wet spring we’ve had. Walking home from a raucous borough council meeting (about…
Saturday Photo: Reading Books on a Rainy Day
There’s more rain forecast for today, so I think I’ll spend part of it reading. This is the time of year when I set up reading lists for the book…
Saturday Photo: Hidden Corners in the City
We had friends from San Francisco in town last week, and spent some great times talking and walking and talking and drinking wine. One of our walks took us to…
Saturday Photo: Are Electric Cars the Future?
These sleek beauties are fueling up through the electric cords running to their house. Supposedly a nearly completely electric fleet of automobiles is what we want, at least where elecricity…
Saturday Photo: Fuchsia for the Inside…
Not much of a post today because I’ve been moving things outside and doing other stuff like washing windows and curtains. But this fuchsia I bought for the living room…
Saturday Photo: The Flowers That Don’t Bloom in May, Trala!
Work on replacing lead water pipes leading into our 116 year old house continues. Ten days ago the city replaced the ones on its side of the property line because…
Saturday Photo: The Flowers that Come in May…
This long, wet season is finally improving, and I saw this glorious display this morning. The garden centres are full of plants, and the elementary school our kids went to…