Batman Day

Any fans of Batman among you? I'm not really into superheroes, I have never been an avid reader of superhero comic books, whether they are DC or Marvel. That said, I really like Batman and, if I had to choose my favourite superhero, it would of course be him. I have a few Batman graphic novels, mostly somewhere on the bookshelves in my parents place. Batman is the only superhero comic I actually bought. I also borrowed a few titles from the local library. So anyway, I learned recently that it is Batman Day today. I don't have any Batman comics here, except Knightfall, a present from my wife. I might check it before bed. Otherwise, any Batman fans among you?

Attaque de requin au Rocher Percé

Grosse nouvelle sinistre et marine que je voulais commenter: un requin blanc a attaqué un plongeur à Percé. En Gaspésie. Jaws en Gaspésie. Au Québec. J'ai lu ça et j'ai comme eu le vertige, ou disons le mal de mer. J'ai blogué sur la présence de requins blancs dans le Saint-Laurent il y a un mois et demi, j'imagine qu'il fallait que je m'attende à la suite logique. Quand même, j'aimerais bien que les eaux du fleuve ne soient pas si chaudes maintenant.

Harvest Spirit (September Ale)

As you may know, I love the products of Rebellion Beer, the brewery from Marlow. I love most of their beers, but I particularly enjoy their monthly beers, especially of course during the autumn months. And I got lucky this September, as the monthly special all about my favourite season. It is aptly named Harvest Spirit. It is meant to celebrate the harvest and the season, with a corn doll on its label. It's just the perfect autumn beer.

Santon Chasseur

J'ai trouvé cette photo sur la page Facebook des Santons de Charlevoix. Elle date de... mai 2019. Je ne sais donc pas si ce santon est toujours en vente. Mais enfin bref, je bloguais il y a environ un mois que certains santons feraient de bonnes décorations pour l'automne. Comme l'automne est aussi la saison de la chasse, comme j'ai toujours associé la chasse à l'automne, ben ce santon ferait bien l'affaire. Je le verrais sur un rayon de bibliothèque, même si je doute que ma femme, qui est végétarienne, apprécierait.

Waterstones Membership

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a nearby (or nearby-ish) city and there we visited for the first time in months a Waterstones. I behaved and barely bought anything, in fact I bought nothing for myself. But as we had some time at the till, I checked if my old Waterstones membership card was still valid. It wasn't and hadn't been for at least a decade. So I had one made on the spot. I activated it a few days later. I don't go to Waterstones very often, there are none very close and our little town has a local bookshop, which became my favourite place for books hoarding. That said, I'm glad I now have a valid Waterstones card. It makes me feel connected to the reading world, if that makes sense. Getting this new card was long overdue.

"Pain saveur d'automne" (Première moisson)

Photo prise sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Je la partage rien que pour dire que leur pain saveurs d'automne est de retour. Il y a des saisons comme ça où je voudrais vraiment être à Montréal.

I'm a Cryptkeeper

I wonder if you have noticed, but I have a new badge on the sidebar. As we are getting closer to Halloween, I have registered again to the Countdown to Halloween as a Cryptkeeper. So I got the new Cryptkeeper badge. I love the new badges, this one is my favourite. So come October, you will have me blogging almost exclusively about my favourite holiday. In all its aspects, but I will especially focus on scary stories. So watch this space, things are going to get spooky.

Le Programme du Salon du livre

Petite nouvelle apprise via la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. Le programme de l'édition 2026 est maintenant disponible en ligne. Et c'est dans moins d'un mois, alors ça approche à grands pas. Je sais que j'ai quelques lecteurs de la région, ils ont des enfants en plus, je les encourage à y aller. L'endroit et le temps de l'année parfaits pour donner le goût de la lecture. Et l'ambiance est parfaite.

Spices Chai at Coffee #1

Sometimes, we visit the town of  Wallingford. This is what we did last weekend. It has a lot of lovely places to stop by, but my wife and I have a special spot for Coffee #1. Like other cafés, they have their seasonal menu available, so of course we stopped there to order something. Pushed by my wife and even though I don't like milk in tea, I decided to try their Spiced Chai. I suspect it was because she wanted a sip or two. Even though my wife is not a tea drinker, she loves a chai latte, especially if it's spiced. It was too sweet and it had too much milk for my taste, but I did enjoy it, if only because it tasted autumnal. I guess I can take it off my bucket list.

Les moules et les frites

Bon ben, mon père a encore cuisiné des moules et des frites. Il m'a donc envoyé une photo, que je partage, parce que je partage pas mal de photo quand l'envie m'en prend, ou pour faire la promotion de mets que j'aime, comme c'est le cas. Ou sim-lement parce que food p*rn. Sinon, je n'ai pas grand-chose de plus à dire que ce que je disais des moules et des frites le 28 août cette année: C'est bon en tab. Je vais peut-être en cuisiner un jour, si je peux convaincre petit loup d'essayer.

The Big One-O

As you know if you read yesterday's post, it was our son's birthday recently. I wanted to get back to it, as Wolfie has reached the age of ten this year, which is, well, a new decade. It means we have been parents for ten years, of course, it also means our son is growing way too fast for my taste. A decade is always an important benchmark, at any age, but for a child, ten years old is maybe the stepping stone, the one that officially makes you a big kid instead of a little one. That's what I got from Wolfie anyway. For a parent, it might be an even bigger step, because it makes you realise that your child will not be a child forever and that he will eventually become an adult. It made me miss for a moment the first few months of being a parent, when everything was so hard, yet so simple. It also makes me feel melancholic. In any case, Wolfie is now ten years old.

Mycologie (mot du jour)

 C'est pas parce que ma cousine Amy m'a envoyé des photos de champignons que je cherche un prétexte pour bloguer sur le sujet (et partager ses photos), même si c'est un peu le cas. Enfin bref, la mycologie est l'étude des champignons et notre mot du jour. C'est un terme que je connais depuis le primaire. À l'école, on nous donnait des cours à n'en plus finir sur les champignons et il y avait une randonnée par année, durant les mois d'automne, où l'on allait les cueillir. J'adorais. J'ai toujours été fasciné par les champignons, lisez ce billet de 2010 pour les détails. Les sorties en automne me faisaient toujours plaisir, en plus de stimuler mon imagination.

Three Layers Birthday Cake

So it was Wolfie's birthday recently and he had a very special request for me: a three layers cake. But that wa snot all: he asked for blueberry flavoured icing between layers and a chocolate ganache on top, covered with Smarties and Maltesers (milk and white chocolate). As I never back from a cake baking challenge and I never refuse my son's birthday cake requests, well, I did it. Thankfully, it wasn't too wobbly. Very rich, gigantic, indulgent, but presentable and it stood up. All the same, my wife was somewhat horrified. "A heart attack on a plate," she said about it. Which deserves to be a great unknown line. I shall blog more about my son's birthday soon, but I thought I would show you his birthday cake.

Salon du livre (passeport et dernière chance)

Photo prise sur la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. Vous l'avez vue pas mal souvent sur le blogue ces temps-ci, je sais. Tout ça pour vous dire qu'aujourd'hui est la dernière journée de la prévente pour vous acheter un passeport pour le Salon.

Autumnal Chronicle

I thought it was time for a new autumnal post, this time a generic post about how autumn is so far. Because yes, it is autumn, because yes, the season starts with September. So here are my observations about autumn here:

• So far, it's not ideal, as it is a tad too warm. Yet, after the ridiculous and never ending heatwaves of summertime, it's still enjoyable. (More on this below.)
• Morning and evenings tend to be cool, so I can wear a light jacket or coat. It's lovely.
• While it's not cold enough yet to wear thick jumpers, at least I have been able to wear long sleeve shirts for the first time in months.
•  Trees have started showing some colours. Not much, but still.
•  There is often a nice, cool breeze that makes even warmer days tolerable.
•  For some mysterious reason, we can often smell bonfire when we step outside.
• The sun goes down earlier. Yeah, I know, it's supposed to, but it's more noticeable and every time the dimming light is just lovely.

So that's my pre-equinox autumn so far, how is yours? I will write more in the upcoming days.

Truites sur barbecue

 Mes parents ont fait des truites il y a peu de temps, que mon père a fait cuire sur barbecue. Comme quoi on ne fait pas que des burgers et des hot dogs sur barbecue. Je suis très friand de truites, c'est l'un de mes poissons préférés. J'en ai déjà cuisiné moi même, de différentes façons, mais jamais sur barbecue. J'en mange encore parfois, quand je vais au restaurant, mais je n'en fais plus. Si seulement j'avais de quoi faire un barbecue...

Halloween and a September Memory

I found this meme online, at the beginning of the month. I wanted to share it today before it gets too deep in the month. My wife would agree that this is very me. It also reminded me of an anecdote from my childhood. My brother PJ's birthday is in October. Because of this, we prepared his birthday during the month of September. When we went to the shop to buy decorations and accessories for his birthday party, we often took the opportunity to check and buy Halloween decorations too, as they had starting getting on sales. One Saturday after lunch, around mid-September, before going to the shops, my brothers and I first stopped to talk to my best friend, who lived on the same street as me. I was all enthusiastic about the afternoon's plans, so I told him we were going to go Halloween shopping. My friend looked at me disdainfully and said: "It's way too early for Halloween!" His father had the same disdainful reaction, using the exact same words. I changed the topic, but the conversation felt awkward and my friend remained cold and aloof, borderline rude at times. After a few minutes, we excused ourselves and went shopping. Years later, we ended up growing apart. It's nothing dramatic, it happens to a lot of childhood friends, they rarely all survive teenage and adulthood. But I always suspected that it had started that day. My friend had no interest whatsoever towards my favourite holiday. Fair enough, but he didn't have to be so dismissive about it.

Tarte aux pommes (parce que septembre)

Mon frère PJ a cuisiné une tarte aux pommes il y a peu de temps, "parce que septembre" (je le cite). Je partage la photo ici. La pomme, c'est le fruit de l'automne, c'est le temps des récoltes de pommes, donc c'est le temps de la tarte aux pommes. Je vais faire un aveu: je n'ai jamais été fan. Pour PJ, c'est je crois sa tarte préférée. Moi pas. Oh, je peux en manger! Mais ce n'est pas mon premier choix de dessert. Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi. Cela dit, j'essaie autant comme autant d'apprécier la tarte aux pommes un peu plus.

25 Years of 9/11

In case you haven't noticed, today is the anniversary of 9/11.We tend to forget, what with what is happening in the US or because of the US at the moment, but there you are. Once upon a time, Islamofascism was the greatest threat Western civilisation seemed to have. Nowadays it is still a major threat, mind you, but Christian fundamentalism proved to be at least as dangerous. But I digress. For my memories and thoughts (rambling?) on the subject, read this post from 2008 and that post from 2009. This post from 2024 isn't too bad either. So yes, I commemorate it every year on Vraie Fiction.

Un champignon

Autre photo de champignon prise par ma cousine Amy l'artiste-photographe. Si ça ne vous met pas dans une ambiance automnale, je ne sais pas ce qui le fera. L'automne, c'est beau partout.