Don’t Miss the Lady in Black: The Burka Avenger!
Are you reading for a flying, pen-throwing, book pounding female defender of education in Pakistan? It seems the world must be because a new series to be broadcast in Pakistan…
Mary Soderstrom
Feeling Insignificant Department: Saturn’s Moons and the Earth
The little arrow is pointing to the Earth in this photograph taken from the space probe Cassini from Saturn’s neighborhood. Makes our problems seem pretty inconsequential, in the (very) big…
Open Borders: The View from the US When French Canadians Flooded South
Former US Foreign Service Officer Steven Kelly has an interesting comment on the results of open borders in The New York Times today. He notes that thousands and thousands of…
Further to the Local Food Movement
The New York Times has a nice story about sustainability at McGill and elsewhere.
More on Gardening in the City, This Time Commercially
Le Devoir this weekend had several stories about the movement toward urban gardening. Chief among them was one about Lufa Farms, which has built a commercial rooftop greenhouse. This is…
Detroit Is a Victimi of Sprawl Too: Krugman
The recent brouhaha about Detroit’s financial problems and its filing for bankruptcy protection have sparked many comments. Paul Krugman in The New York Times, as usual, has some trnechant things…
Saturday Photo: Gardening Where You Might Not Expect It
I’ve been delighted to follow the increasing number of people who seem to be finding corners of the city to garden in. These two photos were taken in les Champs…
Street Food: What’s the Big Deal?
Montreal has its first street food trucks this summer at various sites around the city There’s been a lot of comment, most of it favourable, about the 27 trucks that…
Brilliant Idea: Car Shares
The sun was shining the other morning on the little troop of four Communauto cars parked not far from our house. Our car is approaching 12 years and even with…
Lest We Forget Department: Today’s the Anniversary of the First A-Bom Test
It wasn’t that long ago, the Cold War is over, but, boy, have things not changed all that much. J. Robert Oppenheimer reflects on the whole project. “Now I have…
Tools in Understanding the Past: Another Instance of mtDNA Analysis and Dogs
As I’ve said, I’m working on a new non-fiction book, and the research is taking me in all directions. It’ll be called Road through Time. A lot of the book…
What to Do When You’re Tired of Cleaning House…
Watch videos of tiny houses? This one’s quite delightful.
Saruday Photo: The Bees Are Back!
For the last several years there has been a beehive in the wild space belonging to the city of Montreal that has come to be known as Les Champs des…
The Queen: Why It Took Us So Long to Become Canadian..
Because you have to swear allegiance to the Queen in order to become Canadian, we dragged our feet for 17 years. In the end we decided that it was okay…
Gorgeous Day, Just LIke Our Ancient Ancestors Found It
The weather today is just about perfect here: high 26 C with low humidity and a little breeze. Makes you want to just enjoy things. As it happens, I’ve been…
At the End of the Rainbow, a Movement to Divest?
Lovely picture on the front page of Le Devoir today: a little girl walking along the railway track in Lac Mégantic with a rainbow in the background. The symbolism is…
CARPING Department: When Is It Not Rude or Harassment?
Something happened this morning that I’m feeling a little ambivalent about. Went for my usual walk, wearing running shoes, old Bermudas, yesterday’s dirty tee shirts, and the baseball cap from…
Two More Books on Kindle, for Those of You Interested
This just in: two more of my books are now available on Kindle. This time they are Green City: People, Nature and Urban Places and The Walkable City: From Haussmann’s…
When a Drink on a Terrace-Bar Leads to Tragedy: Lac Mégantic
It’s been a long time since I’ve been down to Lac Mégantic. What I remember is a nice little towan that seemed to have survived the great changes that have…
What’s in a Name Department: The Canadian Association of Retired Persons
Now I know why I find myself getting so critical about somethings–like the state of the world. The acronym for a senior citizens’ watch dog group in Canada is CARP…