Just had an interesting conversation with a local muncipal politician (opposition party, natch) about the way the provincial government walked out of talks with student groups over the tuition hike…
The New York Times today has an innteresting story by Gail Collins about the multibillion dollar loss at JP Morgan: blame it on ticks. It seems that the person in…
More than 30 years ago when our kids were little, a couple of other mothers on the street passed a petition to get a speed bump or two in order…
Last weekend friends from San Francisco were in town and we spent hours walking around Montreal. It’s always a pleasure to have out of town guests because you do and…
Tuesday my uncle Jack’s life will be commemorated at a funeral service in Walla Walla, WA where he was born. He was 83 when he died last week, leaving three…
Evergreens are just that: trees which don’t lose their leaves in the fall, but keep them (or the needles which are a manifestation of leaves) all year round. This is…
So unless things change drastically I’m taking the day off.
Saturday May 19, there weren’t many poople out pounding on pots and pans in Montreal to protest emergency legislation limiting public demonstrations and many other things as the long student…
The New York Times lead editorial today is extremely pertinent as regional cyberspace swirls with analysis and pictures from yesterday’s huge (and probably illegal) demonstration in Montreal. “Full Disclosure for…
It’s raining but a big crowd is expected this afternoon for a demonstration to protest tuition fee hikes, and the provincial government’s draconian law on demonstrations, return to classes, and…
The Quebec flag is up in front of our place on this Journée des Patriotes. One of the little known things about the Rebellions of 1837-38 (the nearest thing Canada…
Actually I think the stone statute isn’t Japanese but is a kind of inukshuk, those Inuit signs of greeting. But the minalist balance of this spring garden is quite lovely,…
If it wasn’t enough that Europeans are registering their disatisfaction with the idea of cutting budgets as a way to economic recovery by voting out parties preach austerity, a headline…
Last night was the second concert of the Orchestre de la solidarité sociale, bringing together music students from nearly all of Montreal’s music faculties. Some of them have been on…
Several years ago I bought two kiwi plants, a male and a female. One grew, the other didn’t, but I didn’t know which one survived. So the following year I…
Most years there is an explosion of growth here the first week in May. Bleeding heart, which dies back to nothing at all in early September, grows so fast that…
This was book club week, and a strange thing happened. In all four groups, we had much less attendance than normal. The weather has been cold and damp, which might…
This morning after Montreal’s Metro was closed during rush hours because of smoke bombs planted in several stations, I spent far too much time looking for references to “agents provocateurs”…
