Mary Soderstrom
We Have Seen the Future and It Is Beautiful (and Brazil Was There First)…
Missed this because our National Geographic subscription has been transferred to the grandkids, which is probably quite fitting: given the rate of racial and ethnic intermarriage in the US, by…
Not Pleased about the Liberals, But Glad the PQ Got What It Deserves
Let me say right off, that 18 months ago I was ready to give the Parti Québécois some slack as it won minority government status in a provincial election. Bringing…
Saturday Photo: Coming in the Not Too Distant Future–Snow Drops!
The snow is retreating in front, and a sprinkle of little leaves are pushing up from the dirt. Spring is late this year, but very soon I expect the new…
Sitting Out an Election: What’s Happening to Volunteers?
This is the first provincial or federal election in years that I haven’t worked hard for some leftish candidate. Usually I do a lot of telephoning, or some door to…
The View from the Other Side
Not much action lately because of various things, like cataract surgery on Monday. But now I’m delighted to report that I’m seeing better than I ever have. Anyone who’s been…
End of Winter Blahs….
A combination of sick grandkids who share their microbes with their grandparents and my own interesting health sitautioin (cataract surgery on Monday) means that there haven’t been much in the…
Simply Because Thomas Loves This…
One of the joys of children is how they introduce you to new things. On this day when a winter hurricane is pounding Eastern Canada, they’re digging out after a…
The First Birds of Spring, and Moas
Most years the first red-winged blackbirds show up by the end of March around here. Usually there is open water at the edge of swamps, ponds, streams. Many times we’ve…
Saturday Photo: Enough Already!
More snow yesterday, and everyone is getting tired of it! Today the temps are very cold too–minus 15 C when we got up, and now about minus 10. At least…
The Debt That Writers and Readers Owe to Heather Robertson
Very soon the Electronic Rights Defence Committee may finally distribute the settlement it received from Postmedia: I spent part of the weekend writing resolutions that will be needed to set…
Everyobdy’s Nightmare: The Disappearance of Malaysia Airines Flight 370
I keep thinking of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds as the days pass since the Malaysia Airlines plane went missing. Things like this don’t happen, planes don’t just disappear.…
Saturday Photo: Paris As It Should Be
Whenever we’ve been in Paris, we’ve had mostly lovely weather with clear blue skies. This photo was taken on our last trip in May 2007 at the Jardins de Tuillieries…
PKP’s House Bis
My friend Zvi Leve, who daughter was a friend of one of PKP’s kids when they were day care age, points out that PKP’s house actually does have a Street…
You Won’t Find Péladeau’s House on Google’s Street View and Other Thoughts on the PQ’s Star Candidate
I’d like to think that the Parti Québécois’ “coup” in getting Pierre-Karl Péladeau to run in the upcoming provincial election will backfire because people will be just too put off…
Saturday Photo: Still Snow
Yes, the snow is still on the ground, even though the days are getting much longer. More snow is forecast for this week, and the temperature is still well below…
Immortality: Photos, Vivan Meir and Art
Seems to me I’ve heard about this in passing before, but today I received a link to a story about Vivan Meir, a New Yorkk nanny who took hundreds of…
Edith Laperle: Wouldn’t It Be Great If the Third Time Was the Charm!
Well, the Quebec general election is definitely going to be held April 7, 2014. Given the Parti Québécois’s attempts to appeal to the most enthocentric part of the electorate, hopes…
Saturday Photo: Thinking about Travels
Many years, the sap has already started to run in the maple trees by now. Not the case this year, but people around us are getting itchy feet, thinking about…
Rain in California, Cold in Montreal
My West Coast friends are posting happy news about much-needed rain. Good on them, since the drought there is bad for all concerned. As for me, I’m steeling to go…