The Dracula Game Anniversary

Today is a special day for the nostalgic man that I am: some thirty odd years ago, around this time, my brothers, my friends and I invented and played what I call to this day the Dracula Game. I sometimes blog about it. Long story short, on the last day of a teachers strike, while we were bored stiff, we met an acquaintance, friend of a friend, and we decided to spend time with him and fight boredom together. We discovered that, like us, he enjoyed make belief games. So we drew inspiration from J.H. Brennan's gamebook Dracula's Castle, which our new friend had, and we created a make belief game where we were vampire hunters trying to vanquish Count Dracula. We explored his castle and the surroundings, fighting various monsters among his minions, vampires of course, but also zombies, wolves, demons, ghouls, what have you. I was thinking about it recently and thinking about why I was so fond of it and remember it fondly to this day. First, because Halloween was already on my mind when we played it, so I was in a spooky mood. Also, this improvised make-belief game triggered our interest to many things: role-playing games and classical horror especially. I hadn't even read the original novel, but getting my hands on it became my new literary obsession. Finally, we made a new friend that day, a true kindred spirit, one that would remain friend with us for years and years. So we owed the Dracula Game quite a lot.

CF-18

Ma cousine Amy l'artiste-photographe a pris des photos d'un CF-18 volant dans le coin de Bagotville. Quand je prends en photo des avions en vol, ce qui m'arrive parfois, je le fais de peine et de misère. J'imagine que c'est un peu pourquoi je ne suis pas artiste-photographe. Quand même, c'est impressionnant.

"Paranormal Oxford"

So during our last visit to Oxford, I stumbled on this book, Paranormal Oxford. Now I don't know how good or terrible it is, but I just thought, what the heck, Halloween is coming, I need more spooky reads (okay, I don't need per se, but I do want more), so I better read this. It's not horror stories, nevertheless I find these kind of paranormal "documentary" books a great source of inspiration for horror stories, or simply to get you in a Halloween mood. So I bought it, to start this year or the next.

Mystérieux plat à Val-Jalbert

Mes parents sont allés l'an dernier au au village fantôme (je sais qu'on dit village historique, mais pour moi c'est un village fantôme, bon) de Val-Jalbert,où ils ont mangé au Restaurant du moulin. Si vous jetez un coup d'oeil sur le site, vous découvrirez qu'on ne lui donne pas son nom. Je n'y ai trouvé le menu nulle part non plus. Alors donc, il y a cette entrée, du moins je crois que c'est une entrée, je vois que c'est quelque chose de frit, mais je ne sais pas c'est quoi. Si quelqu'un le sait, qu'il m'éclaire dans les commentaires.

An Ox in Oxford

We went to Oxford a few weeks ago, just a quick visit for a day. I like Oxford, but I seldom go there, even though it's not very far from where we live. I first visited it briefly back in the 80s, then when I was a uni student here I visited it a few times, but I mostly spent time on its university campus. We could definitely visit more often. So anyway, during our last visit I noticed this statue, The Ox, by Olivia Musgrave. An ox in Oxford. Or the Ox of Oxford? Be that as it may, it fits the city.

Le jeu des écureuils

 Il y a maintenant plusieurs semaines, nous avons visité une amie de ma femme et sa famille. Une grosse famille de quatre enfants. Petit loup a joué avec une de ses filles à ce jeu-là. Il faut que les écureuils rentrent leurs provisions dans les trous, selon ce que j'ai compris. Et je ne sais pas, mais j'associe les écureuils à l'automne, surtout lorsqu'ils vont faire des provisions pour l'hiver. C'est donc un jeu automnal, le genre que j'aurais aimé avoir quand j'étais jeune. Et ça s'appelle Squirrels Go Nuts! (Oui, avec le point d'exclamation, pour faire plus dramatique). Comme petit loup a beaucoup aimé, je compte le lui acheter un jour.

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.