Much to-do this morning about two decorated pianos installed on Montreal corners for the month of September to provide a place for impromptu music. Great idea, even if not totally…
The racoons ranging in our backyards seem to have disappeared–or maybe they just figured out how to get out of trash cans and so don’t make so much noise. Whatever,…
For the last several summers we’ve watched with pleasure as ducks raise ducklings in at least one of our neighborhood parks. This photo was taken two years ago when it…
There’s been a lot about urban agriculture in the press around here lately. Hard to tell just how much impact the movement to grow your own food in the city…
Lukas’s birthday was Wednesday, Jeanne’s will be Sunday, so we’re having the gang (11 of them, counting Jeanne) over for barbecued leg of lamb and other good things this evening.…
Montrealers have been beating up the city for the last little while: crumbling infrastructure, too much road repairs/reconstruction, doubtful influences in contract awards etc. So it is refeshing to come…
The Electronic Rights Defence Committee is beginning discussions about how to distribute the money and stock it received on behalf of freelancers who wrote for The Gazette of Montreal from…
It used to be said that the first casualty of war was the truth. Now, unfortunately, truth seems to be completely forgotten in any sort of skirmish. The latest example…
Had a lovely picnic yesterday on the Iles de Boucherville with the extended Soderstrom and Lizée families: 10 adults and four kids with one on the way. Nice to get…
One of my favourite novels by a Canadian writer is Neil Bissonndath’s The Unyielding Clamour of the Night, an imagined story of terrorism and dedication in a country not unlike…
These days I’m toggling back and forth between working on the short story collection Desire Lines and the first stages of a new non-fiction book called Road through Time. The…
Let’s hear it for the Centre du rasoir and Sunbeam/Osterizer. In these days of instant obsalesence how heartening it is to be able to replace a part for an appliance…
Even Google got in the act this morning with a cartoon of our Julia, cooking away. It would be Julia Child’s 100 birthday today, and the cooking and eating world…
One of the greatest songs of the 20th century turns 50 right about now. Given that Rio will host the 2014 World Cup of Soccer and the 2016 Olympics, it’s…
“Wanted Dead or Alive: Used Books” was the headline in The New York Times story about a huge auction of some 300,000 books. Larry McMurtry, the best selling novelist of…
In the picture in the New York Times today, the couple are taking a turn around the ballroom as their wedding. They look a little worn, but obviously happy. Good…
Congratulations to Juan of San Diego, Sarah of Colorado Springs CO and Vicki of El Dorado, KS who were picked by Goodreads from the 558 entries to receive copies of…
After weeks of hot, clear weather, we’ve had a few days of rain. This weekend, in fact, is the first this summer to be wet. Heaven knows we need it!…
Great story today in Le Devoir about voting intention surveys by internet. I’ve spent more time than I would like to admit calling voters during elections, and I know that…
One of my prouder moments came during my trip to Africa in 2001 when I was out walking on morning in the West Usambara mountains. I’d left the lodge where…
