To celebrate our wedding anniversary, I am puting this song from singer Stephen Sanchez. Of course, it wasn't sung on our wedding day, Sanchez was at the time about Wolfie's age, but both my wife and I love it, and it is fairly rare that we both love the same song (not sure if Wolfie likes it though). In any case, the song reminds me of us, so it is a fitting one.
Saturday 31 August 2024
Until I Found You
Les escaliers de Montréal
Friday 30 August 2024
Cool breeze in August
Canot d'écorce
Thursday 29 August 2024
A freebie from St-Viateur
bought my usual two dozen bagels, plus some other stuff, then asked the guy there if they had any t-shirts for kids, to give Wolfie. They had one in stocks, but it was a tad small, so he gave it to me as a freebie. I thanked him profusely. It turned out it was too short for Wolfie, but it fitted his little cousin, so we gave it to him. All the same, I love receiving things for free, especially from my favourite place in Montreal.
Attention: Plantes Carnivores
Wednesday 28 August 2024
A Proper Thunderstorm
Well, I had been hoping for one, for months, but it did show up. Then last night, around ten o'clock, unpexpectedly, it started storming. I had not experienced one like this in ages. We have had a short outburst of thunder on Sunday, but it had been short lived. I mean last night was a proper thunderstorm: lots of lightnings and thunder, rain falling heavily, the lot. I remained there, in the dark, listening to it with delight. Just when summer is finishing, after a few days of hot temperatures, far too humid and sticky for my taste, it stormed. I don't want to sound like everything is better in Montreal, but yes, my city delivers, even weather wise. Thunderstorms are among the very few things I sitll love about summertime. I'm glad I experienced one this year.
Petit Crémeux
Tuesday 27 August 2024
Caiman
Les champignons bleus
Monday 26 August 2024
New (Expected) Sign of Halloween
Boîte à livres
Sunday 25 August 2024
About Sticks
I posted last week about sticks, or about Wolfie's interest in sticks picked up in public parks, an interest he shares with his little cousin. Well, in their last walk in the park yesterday, Wolfie collected half a dozen sticks or thereabouts, which he generously shared with his cousin. The adults were not too keen on it and a bit baffled by their fascination with pieces of wood. My brother Andrew asked this rethorical question: "Why do we bother buying them fancy toys, getting them streaming services, when all they need to be happy is sticks they find in public parks?" That is a great question and a great unknown line. Be that as it may, of all the things they have done together, picking up sticks seems to be the most entertaining one.
Chocolat chaud maison
Saturday 24 August 2024
Autumn-Summer tango
I was blogging last Wednesday about autumn that seemed to be already showing up in Montreal these days. Well, it now has been much warmer, at least during daytime, and temperatures will rise in the next few days. I guess it could not last. Still, we're in Montreal, and hot temperatures are far more bearable here. And at least we have aircon when it gets too hot. And the leaves have already started changing colours, so autumn is still on its way. But it feels like it is dancing tango with summertime. In people's psyche too, but that will be for another post.
Un TGV Québec-Toronto
Je voulais souligner une nouvelle importance pour les tenants du transport collectif et les amateurs de trains: une majorité énorme de 92% de répondants à un sondage veut un TGB Québec-Toronto. Je dis énorme, mais c'est plus qu'un consensus, c'est une quasi-unanimité. Presque soviétique. Et c'est une bonne chose. Il faudrait vraiment que ça se fasse un jour, si vous voulez mon avis, et plus tôt que tard.
Moose Antlers
Castor
Friday 23 August 2024
Albion
Un jardin sur l'Avenue Mont-Royal
Thursday 22 August 2024
New Signs of Halloween at Dollarama
Fromage Boivin
Wednesday 21 August 2024
Autumn's Dress Rehearsal
Before I came back to Montreal for the holidays, I had been told that it was going to be scorching hot. I was kind of dreading this part of our stay. Well, it has not been the case. On the contrary, yesterday morning, I checked the temperature: 17 degrees, windy, rainy. Like a typical early autumn day. As a child, I would have felt really devastated, like the season to come taking time over the holidays to remind us that they would reach an end. Not anymore. I see the leaves changing colours already, I feel the cool air and I feel energised. Like autumn is having a dress rehearsal and I can enjoy it a little bit before the time comes. And in Montreal too, which I consider still to this day my city, even though I left it years ago.
Les ratons du Mont-Royal
Tuesday 20 August 2024
Cosmic Horror Day
La Papagena du Saguenay
Petit moment de fierté régionale pour l'amateur d'opéra et pour le Mozartien que je suis: la soprano Élisabeth Boudreault, originaire de Saint-Ambroise, a fait un album avec Warner Classics. Et la compagnie a partagé un extrait sur YouTube. C'est tout un accomplissement. Et une petite fille du Saguenay, j'en suis fier.
Monday 19 August 2024
Authentic Traditional Bagel
Gourganes
Sunday 18 August 2024
Of sticks and fountains
Today, my son spent a lot of time with his little cousins from my father's side. This was a lovely time, but I want to blog about one particular moment which suprised me. It happened in the park: we were there and my son found a stick, which prompted his cousin to pick up a stick for himself. As we walked, we stopped at a fountain and they spent ages just dipping their stick into water, making them float and so on. I was really amazed: at home,Wolfie gets bored every time I make him stop playing on his kindle or force him to stop watching cartoons. Or tidy his bedroom. And there he was, spending ages with a stick and some water, not wanting to go back home. My wife observed: "It's quite zen, in a way". I think it deserves to be a great unknown line, if only because it's true. And I guess that's what made him enjoy this activity.
La St-Ambroise...
Saturday 17 August 2024
The Owlman
For the people following me for a while, you may know that among all my interests, I have some fascination for cryptids, although very skeptical about the existence of any of them. I don't think any exist, in fact, but love the (ancient or modern) folklore associated to it. I also think they make for great source of inspiration for horror stories. Some time ago, I found out about the Owlman, who was spotted in the seventies in a church of the village of Mawnan, in Cornwall. I know the legent of the Owlman has already been adapted into one horror movie, and the cryptid made his way into other stories, but I think there is more to tell about him. It's just something ghostly and eerie about owls in general, so a mansize, hominid version of the bird is just... Well, really creepy. Especially if he dwells in a village church. I hope he becomes better known and a new character for Halloween. When I go to Cornwall, I hope to visit Mawnan.
Demain matin Montréal m'attends
Je mets ça ici parce que, ben...
Friday 16 August 2024
Time to harvest apples?
L'étiquette de la St-Ambroise
Thursday 15 August 2024
The Horn of Plenty in Tavistock
I was googling on cornucopia recently, when I stumbled upon the website of a luxury hotel in Tavistock, Devon, called... The Horn of Plenty. I got curious about it, because I think it's a nice and original name for a hotel. And because Devon is a lovely place which I hope to see more of one day. And well, I was in awe by the idyllic look of The Horn of Plenty. It is a bit above my price range, at least for a long stay, but I would love to visit the hotel one day, maybe even have lunch there, or only a drink. Or just walk around the venue. Ten years ago, my wife and I took our holidays in Devon. But we saw only a small portion of it, as it is a large county with a lot to offer. So maybe next year, we could visit it again, but in a different part of it, and with Wolfie this time. Anyway, be that as it may, I love these kinds of fancy hotels with a bit of age, I think it gives them a charm the most modern ones never have. Maybe I will visit The Horn of Plenty one day, who knows.
Tarte aux bleuets (authentique)
Wednesday 14 August 2024
The 87th Precinct and Me
Yesterday, I was flicking through a novel from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series when two things struck me. The first one is anecdotal, even trivial, the second one a little bit more important. First, is that at least two very minor, cameo characters in the series share the same name with people I know (or, in one case, I know of) in real life. Second, I haven't read a McBain novel since the end of 2021. That is way too long, especially since I haven't read the whole series. Now, until November, I am strictly reading reading spooky stories (more on that in another post), that said, I will need to correct this. I intend to make a 87th Precinct reading marathon one day, trying to read the ones I haven't read yet, in order. That's going to be fun. Once I am done, I will read more, in original English. Oh, and I am still thinking of turning it into a family tradition, but this may take some time.
Coquille St-Jacques (encore)
Tuesday 13 August 2024
Halloween Passenger Car
Plantes grimpantes
Monday 12 August 2024
Pumpkin Chai
Le 12 août...
Sunday 11 August 2024
Swordstick
Today, I want to blog about (drumroll)... swordsticks. Why? Just because. I have always been quite fascinated by the swordstick, or cane-sword, as I knew it. It's a weapon that has elegance, stealth and, well, it's deadly in the wrong (or the right?) hands. It belongs to the stories of old, though: old adventure stories, or early crime fiction, maybe even spy fiction. Maybe because, from what I understand, it is pretty much illegal everwhere. And nobody uses canes anyway, except the elderly. When was the last time you saw someone wielding a swordstick in a movie or a TV show? If it was the case, it must have been a period piece. Or maybe a certain dystopian sci-fi film (which happens to be my favourite movie). Although in that particular one, the swordstick was more a knifestick. It was still cool though, as well as fitting the general retro-futuristic aesthetic of the film. The swordstick is generally used by a villain, but I could definitely see a darker (but elegant and gentlemanly) hero or an antihero wielding it in times of need. What do you think? In any case, swordstick is the word of the day.
Les bleuets
Saturday 10 August 2024
Dungeons & Dragons, Father & Son
"Je reviens à Montréal..."
Je reblogue Montréal d'Ariane Moffatt. Ce n'est pas pour tout de suite, mais c'est pour bientôt.
Friday 9 August 2024
I Want Chaos
I recently read this Express article (itself not recent) about Netflix shows and it mentions extensively (well, extensively for its brievety) the Israeli series Fauda. Which has been so far my favourite TV series available on Netflix. They were planning a season five, apparently, but it has not materialised yet. I guess due to, well, what's been happening in Israel at the moment, which incidentally saw some of the cast of the series taking arms to protect their country, any future season will have to wait. But I'm impatient. Fauda was, is, the best show on Netflix, it had suspense, drama, character, atmosphere and, to top it up, Krav Maga (yes, I could recognise it). So I really want to know what happened to these characters I grew fond of.
Le 60e Salon du Livre
Medieval Blunt Weapons
Mafalda sur Netflix
Thursday 8 August 2024
Bastet Plushy
Le 12 août (rappel)
Playing against Cthulhu
Les pierres précieuses de DAC
J'ai blogué mardi dernier au sujet de le Distribution aux Consommateurs. Que je trouvais assez étrange enfant, étant un magasin qui semblait sans inventaire. Mais j'aimais leurs catalogues, même s'il n'était pas aussi bien que celui de Sears (ou de La Baie?). Ce que j'aimais dans celui de DAC, c'était la page avec les peirres précieuses. Mon souvenir est vague, mais je crois qu'il y avait des émeraudes et des diamants. Je ne sais pas trop si on pouvait acheter les pierres seules ou si c'était pour des bijoux. Mais je me rappelle des pierres. Ou alors elles étaient des ornements pour des bagues. Nous oublions un peu ça aujourd'hui, quand on peut chercher et de l'information du bout des doigts avec l'internet, mais les catalogues des grands magasins nous faisaient parfois découvrir certaines choses. Les pierres précieuses de DAC, je les trouvais exotiques.
Wednesday 7 August 2024
Autumn is on its way
I know it will get warmer, even hotter by the end of this week, but I don't care right now: I can feel autumn coming. There are the telltale signs: temperatures have dropped ever so slightly, there has been a bit of rain and you can feel it in the wind. You can smell it too, the slight damp coolness that smells so much like early autumn. You can feel it even more in the evening, and yes, night is falling earlier and when evening falls it even looks a but like the dim autumnal dusks. It is not merely wishful thinking: the season is less than a month away, so I feel deliciously melancholic in anticipated happiness. Because yes, melancholy brings its own kind of happiness.
Chocolat au lait aux bleuets (prise 2)
Tuesday 6 August 2024
"Entertaining Cheese"
Sometimes you find really stupid yet hilarious memes on the internet. This is one of them. So yeah, I had to share it.
Distribution aux Consommateurs
Monday 5 August 2024
"Back to School" (in August?)
The holidays are in full swim now, it's only early August, yet I started getting advertisement for it. I receive promo emails, I see messages online and on the high street: it's "Back to School". I hated it as a child. It used to spoil the last week of the holidays. That's why for years, I associated the month of August with blues. Now that I am a grownup, it hasn't changed: it's like I'm receiving a shot of uber potent melancholy in the veins every time I read that dreaded message. I can smell it, even: it smells of paper, pencils and cardboard. You know the smell. Read the title of this post, I dare you, and tell me in the comments if you can smell it, see it, feel it. I feel sorry for Wolfie: I want him to enjoy his time off, not worry about the coming school year. That's a parent's job.
La tonte du gazon
Mon jardin était devenu une jungle, en tout cas une terre sauvage, alors hier je l'ai coupé. C'est une activité que je fais très irrégulièrement. Assez rare pour que je puisse bloguer sur le sujet. Mon excuse pour tondre le gazon chaque semaine des quatre jeudis: c'est bon pour l'environnement de laisser les fleurs pousser. C'est donc ma manière à moi d'être écologique, ce n'est donc pas de la paresse. Je ne végétais pas, donc, je permettait à la nature de reprendre ses droits dans mon arrière-cour. Cela dit, je ne pouvais pas laisser les choses telles qu'elles étaient, ça avait vraiment l'air embarrassant. Alors donc et enfin bref, j'ai passé la tondeuse. Et j'espère ne pas avoir à le refaire d'ici à septembre, voire octobre.
Sunday 4 August 2024
Camping Socks
Chocolats aux bleuets au lait
Saturday 3 August 2024
Baroque Chick (and Baroque Chic)
I blogged about it before, 11 years ago in fact: there is rock in baroque. I was thinking about it when I listed to soprano Jeanine de Bique singing L'alma mia fra le tempeste, from Handel's Agrippina. Never seen the opera, but fell in love with this aria right away. It's barock all right. And if there is rock in baroque, it means there's rock chicks and baroque chicks as well. Jeanine de Bique is the latter. In an elegant emerald dress, which makes her performance baroque chic. Did I tell you she was one of my favourite sopranos?
Les Bouquinistes et le 12 août
Friday 2 August 2024
Death on the Istanbul Express
Question existentielle (390)
Une question existentielle un brin cruelle:
-Quoi faire à Gatineau?
Mon frère PJ y a déjà vécu, sa réponse promet d'être intéressante.
Thursday 1 August 2024
An autumn sickle...
And as the daylight's fading
When Lammas has come in
And gleamers go to work among the stubble
There comes an autumn sickle
To cut the summer's throat
Before the season knows it is in trouble
Martin Newell, Black Shuck
We are Lammas Day, the first day of August. To commemorate, I am renewing a tradition on this blog, abandoned after 2017: I am quoting Newell's epic (and spooky) poem. As a reminder that some harvests have already started, that autumn is coming and that, yes, Halloween is coming too. Time to read scary stories and get into a chilling mood.