Knobkerrie (Signature Weapon)

 This post is one of my new Signature Weapons series, where I reflect (or ramble) about specific weapons and their potential use as signature weapons for characters, heroes or villains, in genre stories, especially crime fiction. So yes, I blogged before about the knobkerrie, this South African walking stick that can easily be used (and often is) as a blunt weapon. It has the advantage of being kind of inconspicuous, since it can easily be concealed in plain sight as, well, a walking stick. You know my love for South Africa and South African crime fiction. I am surprised that I have never yet seen a knobkerrie in any of the works of fiction from there I saw, at least not as a weapon. I think it would be a great signature weapon. It's already been used by the hero of this horror gamebook series, but it's a fairly obscure series, and a very old one. I think it's time the knobkerrie makes a comeback for a proper modern crime thriller.

McAuslan fait du whisky

 Ma mère m'a envoyé cet article de la grosse Presse. Une nouvelle dont j'avais fait l'annonce en 2021: la Brasserie McAuslan fait maintenant son whisky. Faudra que je l'essaie lors de mon retour au Québec. Je vais faire quand même une confession ici: lors de mon dernier séjour au pays natal, j'avais trouvé que leurs bières étaient rendues difficiles à trouver et sommes toutes décevantes. J'avais d'ailleurs blogué sur le sujet. Alors j'espère que leur aventure de distilleurs sera heureuse et que l'ensemble de leurs produits retrouveront leur lustre d'antan. Dans tous les cas, bien sûr que je vais goûter à leur whisky et deux fois plutôt qu'une.

George and the Dragon

Happy Saint George's Day everyone! Saint George is of course patron saint of England, even though he was not English and never set foot here. He is also and especially famous for slaying a dragon, which makes it all the more interesting for those, like me, who love old legends and monsters. Anyway, him being patron saint of England means that a lot of pubs here are named George and Dragon. It gave them a nice name, if nothing else. I took this picture in one, the George and Dragon in Marlow. I could make it a yearly tradition: put a picture of a pub called George and Dragon every 23rd of April. Preferably a different pub every time. This is a nice image, the dragon looks bat-like and demomic, interestingly enough.

Le gâteau de mes 49 ans

J'ai pensé partager de mon gâteau de fête d'il y a deux jours. Je l'ai cuisiné. Faire des gâteaux est une entreprise hasardeuse pour moi: j'en ai raté plus souvent qu'à mon tour. Même celui-ci est abîmé à sa base et il penche d'un côté, comme la Tour de Pise. Mais vous ne le croiriez pas à le voir, j'ai caché avec le glaçage. Bon, petit loup l'a décoré, c'est lui qui a mis les Smarties dessus. Le glaçage est à l'érable, parce que j'ai eu l'idée de ramener de l'essence d'érable de mon dernier séjour au Québec. Je trouve que ça lui donne une touche toute québécoise. Dans tous les cas, je suis assez content du résultat. 

Pickled Eggs

We went to a pub last weekend, for a celebration on my wife's side of the family. Two in one, actually: her cousin's birthday and her cousin's wedding. Reception was held in a country pub. I was happily surprised to see that they had pickled eggs, something I hadn't seen in decades. I used to enjoy them a lot as a kid, they made for an easy lunch. Eaten as a snack with a beer on the side, they're even better. Last time I had some was about fifteen years ago, in a local pub that has since changed ownership and completely revamped itself into something more modern. You can guess that the pickled eggs went the way of the dodo eggs there. So long story short, I was so glad to find a pub that still serves them. Of course I had to do the full experience, so I ordered one with a beer. My wife was grossed out. But it really tasted delicious, just like I remembered. And you, ever tried pickled eggs? What do you think of them? Tell me in the comments.

Les alpacas

 Nous sommes allés à une réunion familiale du côté de ma femme (bien entendu), une de ses cousines fêtait son anniversaire ainsi que son mariage. La réception était dans un pub au milieu de nulle part, mais plein de charme, avec pas loin un léevage d'alpacas (ou alpagas, mais je n'utilise jamais le terme "alpaga"). C'est la première chose que Wolfie a voulu voir, les alpacas, dès notre arrivée. Ils n'étaient pas trop timides, ils doivent recevoir pas mal de visiteurs, j'ai donc pu prendre quelques photos.

Still in my forties (for now...)

 Happy birthday to, well, me. I am 49 today. I am not getting any younger, but I am okay. Like I said to my wife last week, at least I'm still in my forties, for now at least. But yes, it goes way too fast. And at least I know my son and my wife have prepared something special for me. They always have something exciting prepared for me, a few really cool presents, something to make me forget that I am only one year away from being fifty and that times flies really quickly. It gets faster as you get older. Thankfully, I'm a father. It also makes it more bearable, because in the end, every celebration we do in this family revolves pretty much around Wolfie.

Marquise, si mon visage, etc, etc.

Bon ben, c'est ma fête aujourd'hui, j'ai 49 ans (aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!). Tradition sur le blogue, je partage les Stances à Marquise, version chantée par Georges Brassens. Mes traits un peu vieux se font de plus en plus nombreux et de plus en plus tout court. "Un peu" commence à être franchement un euphémisme. Dans trois ans, j'aurai le même âge que Pierre Corneille quand il a écrit le poème. Il me reste encore du temps, mais il file.

Spies at Wimpy

As you may know, I am currently reading William Boyd's Gabriel's Moon. It's a spy thriller set in the sixties. And there is a little detail that may seem trivial, but that I find quite interesting: Gabriel Dax, the main character of the novel, has a girlfriend who works at... Wimpy. I know Wimpy. I have been to Wimpy repeatedly. I love Wimpy, maybe my favourite gentrified fast food chain. And I find it interesting that in a genre that is still associated heavily with glamour and exotism, there is in this spy novel a protagonist who also has a burger restaurants chain as part of his reality. And a girlfriend who smells of smells of burgers and chips when she gets home. It makes the whole world of Gabriel's Moon more relatable. Moral of the story: Next time I go to Wimpy, I will take a good look at the staff and the customers. You never know...

Question existentielle (404)

Une question existentielle qui me taraude depuis le changement d'heure. Pour moi, la réponse est simple, mais je me demande ce qu'en pense mon lectorat:

-Préférez-vous les aurores ou les crépuscules? 

 Et ne me répondez pas le midi...

"Into The Wild" Mug

 I blogged last Monday about the closure of our local Mountain Warehouse. Which is making me very sad. I buy lots of things there, even though I am not one for outdoor activities. But they have some many nice and/or useful things. Such as their enamel mugs. I buy them for Wolfie and for me, my wife isn't quite so fond of them. Not for hot drinks, because then the metal catches the heat and you end up burning your fingers. No, I only use them for cold drinks. The good thing about them is that they don't break easily. And they often have cool images on them. This is so far my favourite. I find it ironic, as like I said I don't go into the wild all that much. Barely at all, in fact. I don't go deep in the forest or on camping, where I guess this mug would be really useful. All the same, you look at this image and it's as if you're there.

Les Libraires (avril-mai)

Petite nouvelle pour les amateurs de lecture: j'ai appris sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes que l'édition avril-mai du magazine Les libraires est maintenant disponible. Avec une jolie couverture. C'est gratuit, allez en chercher un. Quand je m'arrête dans une librairie, je prends tout ce que je peux de gratos: marque-pages, pamphlets et, ben, ça.

Rooibos (Four O'Clock)

 During my last time in Québec, I discovered the tea brand Four O'Clock. I guess they picked up the name to sound more British. Fun fact: I seldom drink tea around four o'clock. I don't think many people here make it a regular thing either, not like the ritual you see in movies. But I digress. I always like to try new teas. Although, to be honest (and precise), I did not drink any of their tea brews per se. Instead I bought a box of their rooibos. I love rooibos, because you can actually drink it in the afternoon, say four o'clock, and you don't have trouble to sleep later. And it taste almost like black tea.  Oh, and it is South African and my wife's father is South African, so yeah, what's not to love.

Feuille de chêne

J'ai pris cette photo il y a quelques semaines. Une feuille de chêne, comme il y en a tant d'autres sur le sol, quoique moins souvent ces temps-ci qu'en automne. Mais ce qui m'a frappé quand je l'ai prise, ce qui a fait que j'ai voulu la partager sur le blogue, c'est justement que c'est un arbre que l'on voit très souvent ici, alors on ne le remarque pas. Mais ces feuilles, je ne les voyais pas tomber quand j'étais plus jeune, dans la région du monde où j'ai grandi. En tout cas je ne les ai jamais remarqués.

Sherlock Holmes in London

Today, I am blogging again about this edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first edition I read of the novel and the very first Sherlock Holmes novel I read. As it was aimed at younger readers, it was accompanied by many pictures, really nice ones. We sometimes forget that a substantial amount of time of the plot is spent in London, where Holmes and Watson first see the villain of the story, although only from afar. The antagonist is also disguised under a heavy fake beard, so his identity remains a mystery at this point. It makes for a suspenseful chase in the city, which concludes with the Holmes being bested (by his own admission) by his unknown adversary. This image renders very well the tension and gives to the scene and the setting a neat aura of menace.

"Le pouvoir des mots" (Salon du livre)

Il y a quelques mois, sur la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean, j'apprenais l'existence d'un concours pour jeunes auteurs. J'aurais dû le découvrir plus tôt: les inscriptions se terminaient le 20 janvier 2026. Pas pour y participer, mais pour en faire la publicité. J'ai moi-même participé et gagné un concours de jeunes auteurs organisé par le Salon du livre. Inflation oblige, je n'avais pas gagné 25 000$ de livres, mais une somme beaucoup plus modeste. Quand même, j'avais pu garnir ma bibliothèque. C'est ce à quoi j'ai pensé en voyant cette image.

Yawara (Signature Weapon)

This post is part of my Signature Weapons series, which I only officially started this year. Although there were a few older posts that could be considered officiously part of the series, such as this one. Anyway, so I am reading at a slow pace Fight Write, by Carla Hoch, to help me depict fights and violence in my own crime fiction writing. And the book made me discover one exotic weapon from Japan, called the yawara, or yawara stick. It looks like nothing, it is as it says a short stick, a blunt instrument that is barely bigger than the palm of your hand. Yet apparently it can be quite effective and is even used by Japanese police forces. I checked a few videos on YouTube and I must say I am a bit skeptical. Sometimes people praise a thing only because it is exotic and think the world of a weapon simply because it's use by martial artists in the Far East. But since Japanese police officers use it, it must have some utility. In any case, it's a simple device and from what I understand fairly easy to make weapon, so I might add it to some of my character's arsenal. Heroes or villains? I'm not sure yet. So yawara is the word of the day, as well as today's signature weapon. If you have used one, or seen one (if you visited Japan, for instance), please let me know in the comments.

Rosettes au chocolat des Pères trappistes

 Une fête débarrasse le plancher assez vite, une fois terminée: si nous avons encore des chocolats de Pâques à terminer, les épiceries et les commerces ne vendent même plus les stocks de chocolat pascal à rabais. Et selon ce que je vois sur la page Facebook des Pères trappistes, ils ont changé d'état d'esprit aussi, se concentrant sur la vente de rosettes: aux atocas, aux bleuets, au chocolat noir, au chocolat blanc, etc. Des rosettes au chocolat pour les temps morts avant la saison des bleuets. On est quand même gâtés au Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, côté sucreries.

Time to grow a pumpkin patch?

 I found this meme a few days ago in one of the Halloween pages I follow. Now is the time to grow pumpkins, apparently. I am not so sure I should: last time I did was catastrophic, the slugs ate them all, no matter what I tried to keep them away. It broke my heart, it really did, and crushed my hopes of becoming a half-decent gardener. That said, I love this meme because it reminds me I am not so far away from spooky season. I just need to be patient.

Mafalda s'en vient

 Grâce notamment à la la page Facebook officielle de Mafalda, je peux suivre au moins un peu l'arrivée (encore lointaine) de la série télévisée sur Netflix. Bon, c'est encore très fragmentaire, mais nous avons quand même eu droit à un trailer, qui est vraiment plus un teaser, parce que c'est vraiment très court. Je n'ai pu trouver de sous-titres nulle part, ni en français ni en anglais, mais j'ai trouvé quelque part sur YouTube un doublage (grâce à l'intelligence artificielle?) en anglais. Dans tous les cas, je vous partage ce nouveau teaser, en espérant qu'il y en aura d'autres.