Mary Soderstrom
Saying Good Bye: Jack’s Last Letter and a Link toward a Page of Condolence
Here are a couple of links that may be useful to people saddened by the loss of Jack Layton. The official condolence page in English Et en français And here's…
Our Jack of Hearts Is Gone…
The country and the world will have tougher going now that Jack Layton has left us.
Saturday Photo: Flowers, Native and Otherwise
This is the season for Brown-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia or whatever you want to call this fantastic golden flower. They are native North American perennials and given some sunshine will bloom…
The Basement Is Clean! Or How to Have 35 Years of Construction Scraps Recycled.
Of course, one of the things about moving back into a "restored" house is the sharp contrast what was left over makes with the clean walls etc. Lee now has…
For the Record: The Gazette Says Now to Making the Armed Forces "Royal"
The Montreal English language daily The Gazette fell all over itself welcoming William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge a few weeks ago, so you might think it…
Thursday in the Park with Jeanne and More Than Thirty Years of Subsidized Day Care in Quebec
Today Jeanne is spending the day with us, the first time she's passed a whole day away from her parents some place not her own home. It's momentous in a…
Further to Warren Buffet: The Gini Coefficient, a Measure of Income Inequality
When talking about taxing the rich and the effects of inequality, it's useful to look at a country's Gini coefficient. That is a measure of household income inequality where 0…
Royal Canadian Air Farce, Or Harper Really Doesn’t have the Interests of the Country at Heart
A Nanos poll reported in The Globe and Mail says that Stephen Harper's decision to add the designation "Royal" to the names of Canada's Air Force and Navy would boost…
Life Goes on Department: The Ducks Did It Again This Summer
As I said earlier, I've been catching up on my usual walks now that we're back in the house. Last year I was delighted to find that ducks had raised…
Why Warren Biuffet’s Advice Is Good for the Rich Too.
On Sunday friend and neighbor Adrienne Jones handed on this link to a Salon.com article on why it is in the interest of the rich to be taxed more. Basically,…
Observation for Today, a Day of Finishing up Odds and Ends
Despite 35 years of metric in Canada, construction is all in the old inches and feet mode, while temperature, speed and some kind of food are metric. What accounts for…
Saturday PHoto: The Beauties of Mount Royal and the Cemetery
The gates to Mount Royal cemetery don't look like this now. About a year and a half ago fissures were found in the mortar holding the big stone blocks--put in…
Music and Images: Where the River of Music Can Take You
Back to working on the next novel, called River Music. One of the main characters is a Canadian woman pianist who becomes celebrated, in part because her version of Debussy"s…
Some Sounds Only Emerge from Cooperation: Montreal’s Musical Swings, a Lesson for Us All?
These musical swings (each one produced a particular tone) were around for a short period this spring, and I had hoped to try them out, but each time I passed…
As We Adjust to Our New/Old House: A Story about a Hobbit’s New/Old House
As I ran around trying to found what I've put away while admiring the nice things about our reconstructed house, I came across a story in today's New York Times…
Putting out the Fires in Britain–and Elsewhere–Is Not Going to End Trouble: What Happens When the Social Contract Fails
The pictures of burning buildings in Britain are extremely disturbing, not least because we know first hand how much damage a fire can do. But the question arises: why? It…
Stephen Harper’s in Brazil: Dilma Smacks down Standard and Poor
Stephen Harper was in Brazil yesterday, and met with dthat country's former guerilla president Dilma Rousseff. He listened, apparently, while she told reporters about how solide Brazil's economy was and…
The Importance of "Legacy" Media in Telling It How It Is: The Case of The New York Times
" On of the pleasures of being back in an almost-settled house is that we have more time to intersting things. Friends called yesterday to ask if we'd like to…