Friday 30 September 2022
Autumnal Happiness
Les tambours du marathon
Thursday 29 September 2022
London in Autumn
Le Salon du Livre 2022 est ouvert
Wednesday 28 September 2022
The goose and the pumpkin
This could be the title of a great story, but it will merely be for now the title of a blog post. And a picture. So my father is getting ready for Halloween early and really caught up with me in his preparaions: he bought his pumpkin for the night. And he sent me this picture, right next to the wooden Canadian goose he has in the living room. I thought it looked gorgeous and so perfectly autumnal, I decided to share it here. I could not wait until October.
La Grande Bière à la Citrouille
J'ai déjà blogué plus tôt ce mois-ci sur la bière à la citrouille de McAuslan. Au Québec, c'est ma bière de l'automne (sans oublier de l'Halloween), même si elle est loin d'être la meilleure bière. C'est simplement que je ne peux pas, en mon âme et conscience, ne pas boire de bière à la citrouille en automne au Québec.Je n'en bois pas beaucoup, mais j'en prends une bouteille de temps à autre, par exemple à l'apéritif. Et puis j'aime le nom qu'on lui a donnéL La Grande Bière à la Citrouille.
Tuesday 27 September 2022
My old Kanuk coat
Les chouclaques spatiales
Monday 26 September 2022
Pumpkin Patch
Le Marathon de Montréal
Sunday 25 September 2022
Henley Literary Festival
Souvenirs d'un journal dominical
Saturday 24 September 2022
New sign of Halloween
Le gâteau arc-en-ciel
Friday 23 September 2022
St Pancras' Tree
L'araignée est de retour
Thursday 22 September 2022
Late Equinox
Today should be the day of the autumn equinox, but this year, as it happens sometimes, it will arrive a day late, on the 23rd of September. I don't really care: for me, autumn starts with September, not with the equinox. Read what they say about it on Wikipedia and I'm not the only one thinking like this. So we are 22 days into autumn, I don't care what astronomers say. Sorry if this post sounds like rambling, but it irritates me so much when people thinks September is still summertime. So yeah, it's been over for some time, autumn is here, the temperature is dropping, the leaves too and well, you just need to accept it now. But I know I am preaching among converts here. My regular readership is made of autumn lovers. All the same, I had to get it off my chest.
Un 22 septembre...
Une tradition sur ce blogue, chaque 22 septembre. Voici donc Le vingt-deux septembre de Georges Brassens. L'équinoxe est pour demain, mais c'est tout comme.
Wednesday 21 September 2022
The best carrot cake?
Le programme du Salon du Livre
Nouveau rappel pour ceux qui peuvent, donc les Bleuets qui lisent ce blogue: le Salon du livre du Saguenay Lac-St-Jean commence le 29 septembre. On a publié le programme complet. Du temps que j'y allais, je ne planifiais jamais vraiment ma visite: je m'y rendais quand je pouvais et je visitais leskiosques au petit bonheur la chance. J'ai en fait acheté assez peu de livres au Salon du Livre. Assez pour me rappeler de ceux que j'ai (ou que l'on a) achetés, voir ce billet. Ce que j'aimais, que j'ai toujours aimé, c'est l'atmosphère, c'est l'ambiance de kermesse littéraire qu'il y avait.
Tuesday 20 September 2022
Idyllic Autumnal Picture
Tarte aux pommes
Monday 19 September 2022
Spiced Pumpkin Pie Tea
Salon du Livre (rappel)
Sunday 18 September 2022
South African Chardonnay
Une longue fin de semaine impromptue
Parce que la reine est morte et que demain est son jour de funérailles, ce sera jour de deuil national. Ce qui veut dire un jour férié impromptu. Je ne m'en plaindrai pas: j'ai toujours pensé: 1)que l'on avait besoin de plus de jours de vacances dans une année et 2)qu'une journée de vacances en automne serait une bonne chose. Ce qui veut dire que ça nous fera un beau dimanche. Je crois que l'on devrair avoir une journée de congé en septembre à chaque année. Mais bon, c'est sans doute juste moi qui aime les mois d'automne et qui aimerait avoir plus de temps libre durant ma saison préférée.
Saturday 17 September 2022
Postponed Carnival
Today, we were supposed to go to the local Carnival. I always loved that carnival, mainly because it is set in the biggest park in town during the second half of September and often feels very autumnal. It's like a carnival welcoming the equinox, in a way. I blogged about it before. But due to the death of Queen Elizabeth and subsequent national grief, it has been postponed. At first, I was gutted, as I feared the carnival would be cancelled. But they decided to postpone it until... the 1st of October. Which is deeper into autumn. Hopefully it will be chilly. So anyway yes, the carnival has been postpone, but I think we will just appreciate it more when it happens.
Spaghetti tunisien... avec saucisses
Friday 16 September 2022
Running to school
This week, while we were getting Wolfie to school, we chatted with one of his best friends' father at the gate, while watching our kids walking in. First the two boys were walking, but as soon as they passed the teachers doing surveillance, Wolfie's friend started running to his class. The father said: "My son has been told off for running to school, so now walks, unless he thinks he can get away with it." We said it might make some kind of sense for security reasons to forbid pupils from running to their class, although truly they can't expect young children full of energy not to run when they feel like it, and they should be happy to see a pupil eager to get in class. He laughed and said: "Yes, God forbid some kid enthusiastically runs to school!" I thought it was very funyn and deserves to be a new great unknown line. For the record, I never ran to school, unless I was late. How about you?
La St-Ambroise à la citrouille
Sign of Halloween at the sweet shop
Le pactole de cadeaux
Photo prise lors de la fête de notre petit loup. Je voulais y revenir encore une fois, rien que parce que je voulais la partager. Il a eu beaucoup, beaucoup de cadeaux. Pas tous les nôtres: le gros sac vient de ses grand-parents maternels et il y en a quelques uns de nos amis. Mais quand même, nous n'y sommes pas allés de main morte. La plupart étaient des jouets, mais pas seulement. Chaque année, je me dis qu'on exagère, chaque année, c'est la même chose.
Thursday 15 September 2022
The Corps! Air Command
Les annonces de McAuslan
Wednesday 14 September 2022
Say it with a dragon
It was recently the birthday of Wolfie. He turned six. Time goestoo fast. My parents could not be here this year, so they sent him money, to be spent on something useful, and a card. This card. They bought it months ago, because when they saw it they knew it was going to be the birthday card for Wolfie. Their grandson insisted on unwrapping it in the morning, as he knew it was going to be a special one. He loved the dragon. I must say, I loved it too and it just made sense that our son had a friendly dragon on a birthday card. A cheeky one too, or at least he looks cheeky.
Martre (des pins)
Tuesday 13 September 2022
Monster Plants (Monstrum)
Monstrum has just released a video on Monster plants. As always, fascinating. Malevolent plants are a common trope of both horror and science-fiction. So you might to check this video if you are looking for inspiration for some Halloween reads, or simply scifi stories with a more sinister element. In any case, it is a very thorough history of the birth and evolution of a modern myth. That said, I am a bit sad they did not mention The Pavillion by E. Nesbit, my favourite horror story featuring a monster plant.
Automne au Québec: la bonne et la mauvaise nouvelle
J'ai lu en diagonale cet article dans la grosse Presse. Apparemment, l'automne devrait être doux, avec des températures plusélevées que la normale. C'est hélas devenu la norme, justement, avec le réchauffement climatique. C'est donc la mauvaise nouvelle: un automne trop chaud. C'est un peu le cas ici en ce moment, mais les températures devraient finir par baisser dans les prochains jours. Je regarde les prévisions avec anxiété. La bonne nouvelle, c'est que les couleurs seront magnifiques. C'est au moins ça de gagné.
Royal Python
Trottoir aux cerises
Monday 12 September 2022
Orchard Thieves
Demillionnaire
Un certain débat de chiffres au Québec sur qui est un ultra-riche (je n'en dirai pas plus) m'a inspiré ce calembour atroce: "Quand tu as un demi million de dollars, tu es un demillionnaire." Je sais, je sais, c'est vraiment atrocieux. Ne m'en voulez pas.
Sunday 11 September 2022
9/11
I almost forgot that today is the 21th anniversary of 9/11. I will be brief this year, or at least I hope to be. Read this post from 2008 and this one from 2009. They are from a long time ago, when I was much younger, nevertheless I am still very proud of them and I consider them my best posts. Youcan also read my posts from 2011, 2012 and 2013. As for my current state of mind, you can read my post from 2021. Sometimes I wished we still lived in the nineties.
Thé noir dilué
Saturday 10 September 2022
Guerilla Wargames
Georges Brassens - Le temps passé
Je sais que j'ai partagé ici du Georges Brassens le 7, je sais que j'ai déjà partagé Le temps passé en 2010, mais qu'importe. Mon frère PJ l'a mis sur Facebook il y a peu de temps et c'est de circonstances.
Devil's Peak, the TV Series
Now you know that I am a big fan of South African crime writer Deon Meyer and the characters and universe he created. I learned a few days that a TV adaptation of his novel Devil's Peak had started filming. Cool! It is the novel where reformed alcoholic detective Benny Griessel truly developed. It's not the first of his novels that has been adapted. I have watched a few adaptations and want to watch them all. I just need to find where and when it will be released here in the UK, if it gets released here. In the meantime, I am up to date with his novels, but if you haven't read Meyer's novels, I suggest you start. Like right now.
Des araignées encore
Friday 9 September 2022
The Early Cryptkeeper
Mûres et crème
Thursday 8 September 2022
The Queen Is Dead...
My wife told me a few mintues ago, as I was typing another post, that Queen Elizabeth the Second is dead. At her age, it is not exactly shocking, but it is nevertheless a big event here. As an expat (and a republican at that) living in the UK, I feel like I'm in the eye of the storm. I am not a monarchist, as you know, I cannot say I am very sad, especially since she died like not many people do: in comfort, receiving the best medical care, after living a priviledged life in luxury. Nevertheless, she was loved and many will be upset about it. For me, it just shows me that however well born you are, you cannot escape your own mortality.
Rappel: le Salon du Livre du Saguenay
The books in the coffee shop
Un ours noir
Wednesday 7 September 2022
Drink beer, visit Milan
Des araignées partout
Historical Autumn Traditions
This post is for all autumn lovers among you. I know there are many. Anyway, I found this article from English heritage, titled Historical Autumn Traditions. There is a lot you probably know already, it talks of Halloween of course, but you might learn a thing or two nevertheless. I love English Heritage, I always learn something with them, or they make me remember something I had forgotten about history or folklore. As I am typing this, I have just flickered through the article, but I will read it more thoroughly as soon as possible. I intend to integrate old traditions to our family life here. I try to automnise my life and, when autumn is finally here (and it is here now, no matter what people say about it), I automnise it more.
Le boulevard du temps qui passe
Je mentionnais récemment sur mon mur Facebook la rentrée scolaire de petit loup, me lamentant que le temps passe trop vite. Mon frère PJ a envoyé cette chanson de Georges Brassens en guise de commentaire. Je l'avais déjà entendue, mais c'est la première fois que j'y prends vraiment conscience. Dans le cocktail de nostalgie et mélancolie, c'est peut-être parfait.
Tuesday 6 September 2022
Being the good Samaritan
Last Sunday, as I was walking on my way downtown to run some errands, passing by the local clinic, I was asked by an old lady if I had a pen on me. She was walking with her dog and had a few envelopes in her hands that she needed to post through the mailbox of a drugstore. She had forgotten to write a few things on the envelope. Thankfully, I had a pen in the breastside pocket of my coat, even better it was not out of ink, so I lend it to her for a moment. I held the dog's leash, who was curious and friendly towards me while she wrote her stuff. She profusely thanked me. So that was my good deed of the day and I played the role of the good Samaritan. Moral of the story: always keep a pen on you.
Vache à lait
Monday 5 September 2022
Labouring Day
Today is Labor Day on the other side of the Atlantic, but here our bank holiday was the last Monday of August. Our next holidays will be at Christmas. So yeah, today we had a normal working day. You could say that instead of Labor Day, we had a labouring day. I do miss a good September holiday and I must confess, I am still not used to not having Labor Day. But hey, at least it's September.
Rosa, rosa, rosam, etc.
Bon ben mon fils a eu son premier jour d'école de première année et moi j'ai survécu. Je trouve que le temps passe (trop) vite. Alors donc, je partage encore une fois cette année Rosa de Jacques Brel, rien que parce que ça parle un peu beaucoup de ça, de l'école, de temps qui passe trop vite et de l'enfance.
Coffee #1 is in Wallingford
Retour à la petite école
Non, non, je ne retourne pas à l'école. Mais petit loup oui, il entre en première année pas plus tard que ce matin. Et oui, c'est la rentrée aujourd'hui. Et je ne suis pas prêt, bien entendu, je trouve que le temps passe trop vite. Afin de souligner la nouvelle année qui commence, cette photo des jeux sur mon école primaire, "la petite école" comme une de mes grand-tantes l'appelait. Je me rappelle avoir moins aimé ma première année, alors je regarde cette photo avec un mélange de nostalgie pour moi et d'anxiété pour mon fils. Un brin d'anxiété, pas trop.