Saturday Photo: Dahlias
I used to think that the best flowers were those of early spring. Perhaps that’s because spring is when I’m really thinking gardens. But late summer and fall also have…
Mary Soderstrom
Plutocrats Feeling Persecuted: What’s Next?
Paul Krugman in The New York Times writes about the Titans of Finance comparing uproar about their huge bonuses to lynching or Nazis invading Poland: “Sometimes the wealthy talk as…
Hijab Power: The Muslim Fashionista Who’s Gone Viral
Just spent an hour watching videos made by this irreverant young Muslim woman who specializes in make-up and popular culture. Here she is with her husband answering questions about their…
Bixi: Shouldn’t Be for Profit, Should Be a Public Service
Montreal’s famous bike rental system is undergoing a liquidity crisis, it seems. The program is wildly popular here, and has had success in New York and London, but the financial…
Saturday Photo: Street Flowers
We had cold weather and warm weather this week, followed by rainy weather right now. Many of the summer flowers are looking a little bedraggled, but the cosmos continue to…
Too Much Money Department: House in Westmount and Desmarais Marriage
Life is not easy for some people–just take a look at the unemployment rate and the growing disperity between the rich and poor–but others are doing just fine, thank you…
Cooking Today, Wine Tasting Tonight
My cousin Mary Lynn Thompson and her husband Mark took us wine tasting in the Walla Walla are when we were there last month. It was a great experience. From…
Snot Suckers, Antibiotics, and Healthy Kids
By the time my kids were the age my grandkids are now they’d taken many courses of antibiotics. Both of them had ear infections at an early age, and Lukas…
Fallout from War: Connecting Former US Soldiers with Their Offspring in Vietnam
One of the books I’ve re-read recently is Ru by Kim Thuy, a Vietnam-Québécoise, who tells in a most poetic way a story of “boat people” who ended up here.…
Saturday Photo: Desire Lines’ Cover
Today’s photo isn’t. Instead its the cover of my new collection of short stories that will come out in November, Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography. WhenOberon Press sent…
Family Photos: The Wonders of the Internet
This summer one of my cousins and I sat down for the first time in years and talked family. She’s started doing geneology and told me she’d come up with…
Demonstration on Saturday against the Proposed Quebec Charte des valeurs québécoises
Here’a the link to info about the demonstration. As one of the people say they’re going, one woman asks if she should wear a hijab, a kippa, or go as…
The Hidjab Files: Banned Sign Is Also High Fashion
The current Quebec government just released its plan for a “Charter of Quebc Values.” Chief among them is the “neutrality” of the state when it comes to religion. Sounds pretty…
Saturday Photo: Harvest Time
The Jean Talon Market was full of tomatoes and people this afternoon. As the harvest comes in, the outdoor market attracts hundreds who buying cases of tomatoes for making sauce,…
Minimum Wage,Fast Food and Finding Something Good to Eat
The New York Times reports this morning on the growing protest among workers at fast food outlets (restaurants is hardly the proper description, I think) for a minimum wage of…
Honest Mayor Says Cities Need Municipal Political Parties with Idea and Principles
Given the orgy of revelation about political contributions and corruptions in the construction industry around here and in Quebec cities, it probably should not be surprising that political parties have…
School’s Started…
This is the kind of thing you’ll be seeing around you this week as kids go back to school–this one is near where our kids did elementary school. But what…
Recovering Today: Happy Labour Day
We had a triple threat birthday party last night for Lukas, Jeanne and Thomas. Most pleasant and the two cousins (three and one) played together for the first time. Now…
Saturday Photo: Street Furniture on a Late Summer Morning
The Montreal borough of the Plateau-Mile End has been rather agressive in trying to make its streets pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Among the initiatives has been the addition of rather…