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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Just an addenda to the previous post about Handel’s Messiah: Listening to the great performance on Sunday and to the way the continuo led the way, I was stuck by…
An absolutely terrific afternoon yesterday when we heard Handel’s Messiah presented by the Violons du Roy. I have never heard a better performance, with particularly marvelous singing by tenor James…
Brilliant sunshine today, and a little snow. It’s not enough for a white Christmas, but maybe it’s a good sign.
Don’t forget:Three panelists of note will participate in a forum on the future of our health care system, organized by the Outremont NDP Riding Association. Mathieu Vick, parliamentary assistant to…
I really thought this was a send-up when I first saw it: Fox News folks complaining that The Muppets are brainwashing children with an anti-corporate, anti-capitalist message. But it appears…
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives haven’t given much shrift to the international conference on climate change in Durban, South Africa. Nice to see that this negative presence has been matched by demonstrations…
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is in the news this morning because of the report it has just published Divided We Stand: Wby Inequality Keeps Rising. The report’s…
