Saturday Photo: Beauty, Fading But Beautiful
Looking for photos to illustrate a presentation I’m giving about concrete, I came across this one I took in Lisbon several years ago. The stucco on these buildings with the…
Mary Soderstrom
Saturday Photo: Concrete…
The material that can last for thousands of years, frequently is falling down these days. This is the Turcot Interchange in Montreal that is being destroyed for all kinds of…
Saturday Photo: Big Machines at World of Concrete
Spent a very interesting few days in Las Vegas learning about concrete and construction at the World of Concrete trade show. Several thousand attendees and 1500 exhibitors, plus folks like…
Saturday Photo: The Lantern Waste?
One of the delights of having children is revisiting books you’ve read as a child, or reading books that have been written since then. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.…
Saturday Photo: Picnic Anyone?
The winter grinds on. We were spared the Snow Bomb, but the temperatures have plunged again, and what snow fell in the last couple of days was whipped around yesterday.…
Saturday Photo: Waiting for 2018, But Not for Barbecue Season
The year isn’t over but some people can’t wait until the weather is better. At the moment it’s minus 24 C (about minus 13 F) and has been like that…
Saturday Photo: Merry Christmas and All That
I’ve posted this photo before I think, but it seems particularly appropriate as the year turns on its solstice hinge. Supposedly there will be a few more seconds of daylight…
Saturday Photo: Christmas Cactus as the Holidays Approach
I have two Christmas cactuses that have bloomed for at least 15 years, sometimes twice a winter in fact. But I’ve never had such an abundance of blooms as this…
Saturday Photo: Sil, a Tradition
Must confess that the photo dates from a few years ago, but in the refrigerator right now are 24 salt herring, waiting for me to get my act together and…
Saturday Photo: Sunrise, November 30, 2017
Well, actually the sun had been up officially for a good half an hour, but when I was out Thursday morning, it was just peeking around Mount Royal. The leaves…
Saturday Photo: Start of Construction
The photo was taken about a year ago when construction began in earnest for the new Université de Montréal satellite campus. What I wanted to show was the concrete delivery…
Saturday Photo: November Skies, Meteors and Visual Pollution
There’s been some talk about the possibility of a good meteor show from the Leonids tonight: here’s the link to The New York Times story about meteors showers in general,…
Saturday Photo: Concrete, the Material That Builds Our World
This week I’m really got rolling on the newest project, a new book to be called Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World As We Know It. Making plans…
Saturday Photo: Full Moon, Clear Skies
The forecast is for rain but the full moon is hanging around just now. Nice to see….
Saturday Photo: Pumpkins…and Pumpkin Pi
Just returned from scouting pumpkins. Thomas and Louis (5 and 17 months) are coming over today and we’re going to make a pumpkin, or maybe two. We currently have two…
Saturday Photo: Hibiscus in October II, Inside
The plants were brought in, there was a little frost Tuesday morning, but the temperatures shot up considerably at the end of the week. Because of this–or despite it, take…
Saturday Photo: Hibiscus in October
For years I’ve had two hibiscus bushes that have bloomed perhaps a half dozen times when the conditions were just right. I put them outside in the summer, but even…
Coming Soon to the Atwater Library: Road through Time
Hope to see you at 12:30 p.m. Thursday October 12 at the Atwater Library when I’ll be talking about Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move (University…
Saturday Photo: Happy Thanksgiving…
A little fall in the air, finally, with some leaves turning colour! Nice… This weekend in Canadian Thanksgiving, a feast I like a lot. The idea of giving thanks to…
Saturday Photo: Stars on Earth–Asters
Before the rain we had on Thursday, our little front yard was filled with bouquets of native asters. The flowers are a lovely shade of mauve, and bloom at the…