Railway Journeys

I took this picture during our last holidays. It is one of the activities in 100 Things to do on a Journey, one of the most useful books you can have when you are travelling on long journey with a young child and you want to keep him entertained. It is kind of meta: you are in a train and you do activities about trains. Daddy loves this book just as much as Wolfie. it just struck me recently that we haven't been on a train journey, short or long, for months. And I wonder when the next one will be.

Un polar pour l'Avent

J'ai blogué il y a environ deux semaines d'un polar que j'ai découvert au hasard de mes recherches en ligne. Il a pour titre Avent Macabre et c'est un "polar de Noël". Je n'ai pas pu résister et je l'ai acheté. Je vais commencer la lecture demain, un chapitre par jour jusqu'à Noël, en espérant que ça soit bon. Mais dans tous les cas, j'adore le concept et j'essaierai d'en trouver des semblables l'année prochaine. Ca pourrait devenir une nouvelle tradition de lecture pour moi.

Will it snow?

It is getting colder and colder here, which makes me very happy. It feels like winter in everything but one point: there's been no snow so far. In other words, it does not look like winter, not like the winters I know anyway. My wife told me yesterday that it might actually snow by the end of the week. I don't know where she got that from. I double checked the weather forecasts for our area and, while the temperatures will drop slightly below zero, there is so far no risk of snow, not even a low one. I will not hold my breath, I won't even hope. But maybe, just maybe, these lower temperatures are a sign of things to come, maybe not this week, but next month.

Les réserves de clémentines

S'il y a une chose dont je suis friand ces temps-ci, ce sont les clémentines. De novembre à janvier, c'est ce que je mange comme fruit. J'ai transmis mon amour des clémentines à petit loup. ce qui veut dire qu'on vient à bout de nos réserves assez vite merci. Hier, j'ai vu que son école se stocke en clémentines. C'est une très bonne chose, mais je me demande alors pourquoi Wolfie insiste pour me voler la moitié de mes parts de clémentines quand la fantaisie me prend d'en manger. J'en prends toujours deux, pour la portion de fruits. Mais quand il est près de moi, il a la plupart des quartiers. Je vais peut-être manger ce qui nous reste lorsqu'il est à l'école. C'est pas comme s'il n'en avait pas.

The Ivy's Polar Bear

Not very long ago, we went for a quick trip to the town of Marlow. The weather was nice, and by this I meant suitably cold for this time of year, as if winter was finally here. The only thing missing was the snow. Of course, the whole town is already dressed to welcome Christmas. The Season is there for sure, and it does not even look tacky. I particularly love what The Ivy put near its entrance: this polar bear. Rather friendly looking in spite of his size. Anyway, I love how they didn't go halfway to do Winter Wonderland.

Calendrier de l'Avent et confitures

Mon père a reçu de son plus jeune beau-frère ce calendrier de l'Avent. Au lieu de chocolats, ce sont des pots de confiture de Bonne Maman. Mon père m'a envoyé une photo, avec cet article sur la diversification des calendriers. Je crois que j'en veux un original pour l'an prochain. Rien que pour varier un peu. Dans tous les cas, ce calendrier est superbe, une décoration de Noël en soi.

The Darkest Season (from #Noirvember to Christmascrime)

 It is still #Noirvember, but there is only one month left until Christmas, so I have decided to find a novel that bridges both events. I am going from Noirvember into Christmascrime, in a way. As I discovered last year R.J. Ellory and enjoyed him quite a lot, I thought I would carry on this year with another of his novels. So I went for The Darkest Season. When I saw that it was set in Québec, I knew I had to read it. So far it is a pleasant read, suitably Noir, but it is rigged with inaccuracies: the protagonist smoking in a bar (there has been a smoking ban years before the events of the novel), some geographical references that are meaningless for a Quebecker but sound very British, I could go on. It doesn't spoil the read, I just find it funny, as if Québec is this really exotic place the writer does not quite understand. But hey, I have seen worse and at least the novel is as Noir as they come.

Complainte Pour Sainte Catherine

Parce que c'est la Sainte-Catherine...

Mysterious torch/tuque

We saw this in our street, on the ground. It is a Light Hat Torch. The hat part, the English call it a beanie hat. In Québec, it is a tuque, which sounds way better and somehow fits better. I bought one to my wife a few years ago, as a Christmas present, but it is not this one: my wife's one is pink. This one seems warm enough, but my wife's tuque-torch (or torch-tuque) is a bit on the thin side. I quite like the charcoal grey colour of the lost tuque. It would look if it wasn't so dirty. The torch bit is really useful: it gives a lot of light and it is easy to operate. Moral of the story: this is a real loss for whoever lost it.

Le Salon du livre de Montréal

J'allais oublier: c'est le Salon du livre de Montréal jusqu'au 26 novembre. J'y suis allé une fois ou deux, j'ai bien aimé, mais ce n'est pas mon préféré. Et une observation comme ça: je dois dire que c'est vraiment un design pas vraiment beau. Trop pastel. Ils font pas de bons designs au Salon du livre de Montréal. Ou suis-je trop sévère?

30 Years After Anthony Burgess

I had to commemorate it: today is the anniversary of the death of Anthony Burgess. The author of A Clockwork Orange , which made me discover him. I posted in 2017 about how I learned of his passing. It was the same kind of experience people have when they learned of the death of JFK. You might also want to read this post from 2008. Anyway, 30 years after his death, he is still my favourite author.

Le dressage du chat

 Un ami a partagé sur Facebook ce meme, que j'ai trouvé très drôle. J'ai donc tenu à le partager ici.

November in one painting

I found this picture on the Facebook page of the British Museum. I loved it and I am sharing it here because, well, because it is a beautiful painting for one, and because it is very fitting. It is called November evening in a Welsh wood, from artist James Thomas Watts. I have never been in a Welsh wood, at least not that I can remember and I have never been to Wales in November, however this is very much how I see the month: cold, bare, a tad eerie and deliciously autumnal, with a dash of winter peeking.

Les brouillards de novembre

La semaine dernière, nous avons eu droit à un retour du brouillard au matin. Bon, c'était peut-être une brûme, une belle brûme même (trouvez l'allusion littéraire et télévisuelle québécoise ici), mais pour être honnête je ne fais pas vraiment la différence. J'aurais aimé pouvoir l'apprécier pleinement, mais je n'ai pu que prendre cette photo un instant, avant de retourner au bureau (qui heureusement est chez moi). Sinon, j'adore le brouillard et pour une raison quelconque je l'associe surtout au mois de novembre, ou j'associe le mois de novembre au brouillard plus qu'un autre mois. C'est souvent ces mois-ci qu'il se manifeste.

James Bond for #Noirvember?

You know my love for James Bond, both the films and the novels. You may also know that On Her Majesty's Secret Service  ismy favourite James Bond novel. It is one of my favourite Christmas reads, but it struck me that it could also be used for #Noirvember. Because it is one of Ian Fleming's most tragic novels, but also because only a portion (albeit a large one) is set during Christmastime. This quote form the novel suits perfectly the month: there is beauty, but we know evil lurks.

Ciné-cadeau 2023: beaucoup de neuf?

Comme je le disais il y a quelques jours, la cuvée de Ciné-Cadeau 2023 a été révélée récemment. Dites-moi ce que vous en pensez. Je ferai une constatation: je trouve qu'à part quelques classiques incontournables, c'est beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup de neuf. Un peu trop à mon goût. Bon, je me plains de la même chose à chaque année, mais je m'ennuie des oeuvres plus anciennes et des oeuvres plus obscures. Et vous?

Odin, In Memoriam

My long time readers remember Odin the one-eyed black cat who we used to have. He was the best, sweetest cat we ever met. He died ten years ago today. You cna read his eulogy here. We miss him to this day. I had to commemorate his tragic passing.

Une étoile filante (RIP Karl Tremblay)

Je saisque je suis en retard sur les nouvelles, mais celle-ci est une nouvelle triste et je ne savais pas trop comment la commenter, sinon en musique. Voici donc une des chansons du répertoire des Cowboys Fringants, chantée avec l'OSM. Je crois que c'est de circonstances. Les Cowboys ont chanté le Québec comme peu de groupes. Ils sont les descendants directs de Beau Dommage et des Colocs. Je ne sais pas s'ils vont survivre à la mort de Karl Tremblay, mais l'étoile des Cowboys, comme celle de leur chanteur, brillera toujours pour le Québec et les Québécois.

The "Secret Battle" Game

You may remember before that Wolfie has invented a sort of War Game, which is more a kind of crime/spy thriller. It is very elaborate, you can find the details here. We use many props, I mean toys, mostly but not exclusively toy guns I bought for him at the local toy shop. Like this dangerously genuine looking M4. We did not play much in October, I guess he was like me in a spooky mood, but it is as if he channeled #Noirvember too. That and G.I. Joe, which he discovered recently. Anyway, we played for a good portion of this afternoon, as my wife was away helping her friend preparing her wedding. The game has evolved a bit since. Our nemesis is still King Cobra, who is now a lot like Cobra Commander in mannerism, but we don't play Max and Joe anymore, we are Wolfie(!) and Levi. And the name is no longer "War" but "Secret Battle" for some reason, although there isn't anything really secret about two guys fighting a terrorist organisation with heavy artillery. It is great fun and it sure makes a November afternoon go fast. It reminds me of similar game we used to play, my brother and I, round the same time of year. But I'm sure you could have guessed it already.

Les clémentines en novembre

 J'ai acheté ces clémentines la semaine dernière. C'est assez tardif: d'habitude j'en achète dès le premier novembre, à tout le moins dès la première fin de semaine de novembre. Pour une raison quelconque, on dirait que cette année les agrumes disponibles ne comprenaient pas les clémentines. Je n'en ai trouvé que samedi dernier. L'ennui, c'est que je n'aime pas vraiment les mandarines, les satsumas et le reste. Les oranges oui, mais je préfère et de loin les clémentines. En novembre, elles me donnent de la vitamine C et j'aime leur parfum. Qui plus est, elles donnent de la couleur à un mois gris. Un mois que j'aime quand même, mais je le préfère quand il a plus de clémentines, pas moins. Enfin bref, ce n'est pas vraiment novembre sans clémentines.