A Novel to Read This Long Weekend as the Last Roses of Summer Bloom
The flowers of fall are much on my mind. Yesterday I went around taking pictures in gardens, including several of the last roses of summer which I will post soon.…
Mary Soderstrom
New Bridge across the St. Lawrence Must Have Public Transit As Well as Tolls
Federal, provincial and municipal authorities announced yesterday that one of the most heavily used links between the island of Montreal and the rest of the world, the Champlain Bridge, will…
Le Devoir on How to Fill That Growing Hole in the Ozone Layer
This morning Le Devoir's cartoonist took a swing aat both Stephen Harper's disdain for the facts pointing to the effects of human activity on the atmosphere and his passion for…
Red Hair: A Drug on the Market or Sign of Fertility?
Vivaldi was a red head, so were Napoleon , Galileo, Eric the Red and Thomas Jefferson. A rather distinguished group, don't you think? But apparently, the sperm from red heads…
Question about the Tone of Future Novels: Will the Current Mess Have and Effect on What People Will Write 40 Years from Now
Interesting conversation between Colm Toibín and Jeffrey Eugenides in The New York Times yesterday. Both of them have new books out, hence the public chit chat about writing. But perhaps…
Saturday Photo: Sid Ingerman Wins Gold for Canada!
I've mentioned before our good friend Sid Ingerman who was part of the Canadian team in the recent Triathlon competition in Beijing.Sid, who will turn 83 Nov. 8, placed first…
One Way to Sell Newspapers: Long Island Papers Find the Key But Aren’t Sure What It Is
This is one for those who are studying how to keep print journalism alive: all the copies of two Long Island weeklies were bought up last week by mysterious figures…
Down with the Monarchy: Stephen Harper Wants Britannia to Reign over Us
It seems that my next Canadian passport will have a crown on it, and if I tell someone they can't put up the Maple Leaf flag I could soon be…
Too Many People, Not Enough Chairs: A Great Concert as the Day Closed Yesterday
Elin and her friend Madeleine Owen had the bittersweet experience of having to turn people away from the concert they gave Tuesday afternoon at the Jardin botanique. On the program…
Cook a Pot of Curry Day: Sounds Delicious
I woke up this morning to talk of a curry war in Singapore. As I lay in bed listening to a contributor from there on Radio-Can, I remembered the absolutely…
Tous les matins du monde on Tuesday Afternoon: Elin and Madeleine Owen in Concert
Elin and her friend Madeleine Owen (theorbo and baroque guitar will be giving a most interesting concert Tuesday, September 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Maison d'arbre of Montreal's Jardin…
Saturday Photo: Outremont in Flowers
A good part of the neighborhood I live in was laid out at the turn of the 20th century as a "garden suburb." While most of it is on a…
Cesaria Evora Retires
The Cap Verdean singer Cesaria Evorá has announced she is retiring at age 70. What a debt we owe to her!
What Would Jesus Do?
...hold up this placard, I believe.
Needed: Real Car Free Days, Not Just Public Relation Events
Today is Car Free Day in Montreal, an annual event when the center of the city is "shut down" to vehicular traffic from about 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It…
Catcning up on Business, So No Post Today
There are times when you've got to catch up on business (and pleasure.) So today is devorted to banking, lunch with my friend Lorraine and getting a haircut from Wayne…
Some Dinosaur Feathers Had Pigments: An Adaptive Advantage…. or the Danger Theory of Evolution
Great story in The New York Times today about dinosaur feathers preserved in amber that show traces of pigment. Eleven 70-million-year-old specimens examined by scientists at the University of Alberta…
More of Jeanne’s Favourite Videos
"The Cat Came Back" was a favourite around here with the kids were young, particularly in the Fred Penner version. But this one takes the cake--or the bowl of cat…
$800 Million in Budget Cuts: Bleeding Doesn’t Make Anything or Anyone Healthier
If you want to try to lose an unpopular announcement, you make it at the end of the week. That's what the Quebec government did last Friday when $800 million…