Just in Case You’re Feeling Down: A Chorus of 1000 Sings Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
A friend sent me this link, and I’m charmed by the idea of so many people on one side of the word singing a work written by someone from a…
Mary Soderstrom
Don’t Confuse Me with the Facts Dept.: Conservatives Cut Stats Can More than Elsewhere
Okay, the Harperites are going to close prisons because their crime-fighting measures (which are just taking effect) have made the country safer, or so they say. Nowhere do they mention…
A Couple of Hundred Thousand Out in Montreal on a Miserable Day: the Quebec Spring?
Having spent more time than I care to say marching in demonstrations that most frequently brought together only small groups, I’ve been very impressed by the crowds that have been…
Saturday Photo: Sun on Monet’s Pond
Several times over the last decade we’ve been in the middle of preparing to go to France for a while. I’d love to be doing that right now, but there…
Road Diets? Cutting Down on Traffic Speed by Reducing Lane Width
Parking on our street is a topic of hot discussion at the moment. I won’t go into the details–too boring for those of you who don’t live here–but suffice to…
15,000 Temperature Records Broken in March 2012, Yet Some Folks Deny Climate Warming Still
Yes, it was a hot month. I don’t remember ever wearing sandals in Montreal in March, but I did. And despite the fact that temperatures dropped after the incredible week…
Cultivate Your Garden: Inspiration from the Office de la Consultation Publique de Montréal
Consultation is extremely important in planning our future: witness the way that the Harperites have just undermined environmental reviews by changing the rules. But one thing I didn’t expect to…
Coming up: Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival
Joyce Carol Oates is the grand winnter of this year’s Blue Met prize for a lifetime of literary creation. The Blue Met festival is gearing up at the moment, with…
Quebec’s Daycare Policies Pay Their Way through Increased Tax Revenue
This is a story that I haven’t seen in the English-language press: researchers at the University of Sherbrooke report that for every $100 Quebec has invested in inexpensive childcare, it…
Saturday Photo: Paris, in Honour of Robert Doisneau
Google informs us today that it’s the 100th anniversary of photographer Robert Doisneau. His emblematic photos of France, particularly of Paris, have been favourites of mine. Not that I’d ever…
Solitude: Something for Prosperity?
This was book group week, and an engagaing tale by Quebec writer Denis Thériault was the subject in the original French (Kirkland library) and in English translation (Atwater Library. Le…
Greening of the Season, Greening of the Landscape: the Importance of Trees
We’re almost to the point when the trees will leaf out, two weeks or more ahead of usual. The importance of trees has been unlined this week in two stories…
Titanic Versus Lusitania?
What a waste of time, all this stuff about the 10th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Is it because it seems so gratuitous? Three years later another big…
Mulcair Positive Ad Campaign
Countering the bad news: Introducing Tom Mulcair in English and in French
Cooking Breakfast and Other Meals for the Ones You Love: Reflections on Craig Claiborne
Frank Bruni has an intersting appreciation of Craig Claiborne, his legacy and his life today. Claiborne was one of the big three inmid-20h century American cooking, the others being James…
Saturday Photo: The Results of the Natural Easter Egg Challenge
Mrs. Ikvilds’ eggs are the best. I couldn’t believe how lovely the mottled red colour was. She says she sometimes puts celery leaves on hers, so the dye doesn’t enter…
Making Easter Eggs Today with Natural Dyes
One of the pleasant memories of my childhood is dying Easter eggs. When the kids were small, we did it too, frequently with friends who’d share an Easter dinner with…
April Used to Be the Smelliest Month in Montreal…
Sometimes things improve, believe it or not. One of them is the way that people here, at least, pick up their dog poo now. It used to be that when…
Hot off the Presses: Bulletin of NPD Outremont
As some of you may know, I’ve been involved in the New Democratic Party for years. The Outremont riding association has been around for almost as long, but until the…