Recreating Eden 2012-01-04 11:42:00
“Suburban” in North America conjures up visions of single family houses on streets lined with grass, good schools, a good life away from the struggles of the city. But that…
Mary Soderstrom
Sunny and Cold Day: Time to Think of Adventures in the Mountains
Many, many years ago Lee and I spent a lot of time hiking in the Sierra Nevada of California. Ever since then there is a particular kind of cold, blue…
Taxes Quebeckers Pay Go up, Taxes Companies Pay Go Down
Canada now has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world: 15 per cent as of midnight on Sunday. But are businesses going to use that tax windfall…
Saturday Photo: Happy New Year on the Last Day of a Difficult Year
The year that will end at midnight tonight held some excellent things, but as I noted in our holiday blog, in some cases the only appropriate reaction was “be careful…
Lights Going off in US Cities in Order to Save Money
In this season of long nights and festivals of lights, The New York Times has a story about some municipalities which are turning off streetlights (and in some cases pulling…
Finally Cold–Ice Ferns on the Window This Morning
It finally turned cold last night, adn this morning the windows were covered with frost, even though they are double glazed. Or rather, they are double glazed since Monday. The…
King Stephen: Britain Has a Constitutional Monarchy Where the Queen Only Advises, But Canada Has a King Who Makes the Rules
Manon Corneiller in today’s Le Devoir has a scathing evaluation of the Stephen Harper and his majority government, with a sidelong attack on our parliamentary system. In the US, she…
More Christmas Presents and Words of Wisdom for Writers: Geraldine Brooks Edits The Best American Short Stories 2011
One of the gifts I look most forward to each year is the new number of The Best American Short Stories. This year the journalist-turned-fiction writer Geraldine Brooks is the…
Boxing Day Special: Listening to Nils Brown with My New Headphones.
The following Youtube clip can give you only a taste of the delightful CD the Lizieux elves gave me for Christmas: Nils Brown singing Belle Canzoni d’Italia through the headphones…
Saturday Photo: At Last a Little Snow
We had a few centimeters of snow yesterday afternoon and last night, so there’s a semblance of a white Christmas here. The picture was taken from the back porch as…
The Attack on the Health System Begins: The Federal Health Minister Says, Do What You Want.
It’s well known that if you want something to pass unnoticed you announce it on a Friday afternoon, and if you really want it to disappear, you do it the…
Veiled Threats to Women: It’s Not Covering Your Head That’s Important, It’s What’s Inside
What do Nancy Reagan, the Virgin Mary, and the girl in the blue bra have in common? All of them have covered their heads out of respect for custom and/or…
Christmas Countdown Continues: Got to Get on the Road Today
One of the best things about living where we do is that it’s very easy to get around by foot or public transporation. And since I’ve got a million things…
The Days Grow Short and We Lose Some Giants
Strange how three small countries have lost important figures in their recent history these last few days. The world may be a better place without Kim Jong-Il, although the jury’s…
Saturday Photo: Apples and er, Clementines, Say the Bells of Saint Clemens
This time of year it is the fruit that matured during the long days of summer that bring the sun into our lives. Here are clementines and Cortland apples (the…
Countdown to Christmas…Herring and Trees
An expedition of sorts this morning: Elin and Jeanne accompanied us to the Jean Talon market to buy a Christmas treet and to a fish store to get salt herring…
What Happens When The Right Unites: The Cons Get Away with Murder
This morning La Presse has this excellent drawing by Chapleau, with an even more telling caption: “C-10, Kyoto, Long Gun Registry, I do what I want because I’m MAJORITY” A…
Book Discussion Week: A Classic of African Independence at the Atwater Library
This is book discussion week: tonight Chinua Achebe’s This Fall Apart is on the agenda at the Atwater Library. Here’s a scene from a television series made in Nigeria to…
Harper Government Pulls out of Kyoto: Time to Get Serious about Who Should be the Leader of the Opposition
This morning there is only one question for anyone in the NDP: Who will be the best leader to unite the left and leftish, not just in the party but…