First sign of the coming autumn

We were walking home from town earlier on this afternoon and I saw this on a tree. I cannot identify the tree, you tell me if you know, but it had three leaves that had indubitably changed colours, and not in a small way. It cannot be the drought, as we had our fair share of rain these last few weeks. The weather, apart from a few hot days, has been warm or cool overall. So I think these red leaves are the first sign of the autumn to come. Not so long to wait now.

Fleurs en feuilles

J'ai pensé partager ici ce soir une photo prise par mon père il y a quelques années de cela déjà lors de sa visite aux Mosaïcultures, parce que ça fait longtemps que je ne l'avais pas fait. La moins impressionnante du lot, peut-être. Quand même mieux qu'une cannette. Non, plus sérieusement, on parle souvent de plantes en fleurs, mais jamais de fleurs en feuilles, ce qui rend celles-ci au moins singulières.

Cherryade

I blogged last week (heck, last month now) about a soft drink of A.G. Barr I bought in Londis. Well, since then I tried a new one: their Cherryade. Which is, you guessed it, cherry flavoured. Like the (in)famous Cherry Coke, which I always found vile. That said, when I was a child, I did drink plenty of soft drinks with fruit flavours, mainly strawberry and orange, and I quite enjoyed them, so out of pure nostalgia I decided to try this one too. And it was... Nice in a disgusting, too sweet way. But I did enjoy it. One thing I noticed about these soft drinks, is that they taste exactly like you'd expect just looking at the can.

Le vendredi

Je ne suis pas le seul travailleur à aimer le vendredi, mais je me réjouis seulement arrivé chez moi. Avant ça, je crains toujours qu'une tuile va me tomber sur la tête à l'ouvrage. C'est un peu parce que je n'aime pas beaucoup mon milieu de travail (cela dit en toute confidence). C'est aussi que d'expérience, les mauvaises expériences professionnelles arrivent surtout le vendredi, dans tous les emplois que j'ai eus. Le vendredi, je commence à l'aimer à 5:30, je l'aime encore plus une fois la porte de la maison ouverte.

August and me

Today is the first of August. A month I used to dislike as a child, like I disliked Sundays: because it was an ominous time. August was the last month of summertime and of holidays. Now, I still feel a similar melancholy, but I don't dislike the month as I used to. It took me a while and a few years as an adult to discover some fondness for it. Now my holidays are not necessarily in August (although I often end up with a holiday break in that month) and as I don't really like summer. This year, I find the month rather promising. And you, how do you feel about August?

Se laisser tenter par le Salon du Livre

Petite nouvelle de ma région: le Salon du livre du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean a révélé ses dates et sorti son affiche promotionnelle, notamment sur sa page Facebook. Je dois dire que j'aime vraiment beaucoup le design cette année: le serpent, la pomme, l'idée de la tentation de la lecture. C'est vraiment inspiré. Et puis les dessins ne sont pas grossiers comme dans certaines années précédentes. Je me laiserais bien tenter d'y aller, surtout que je pourrais utiliser mon laisser-passer à vie catégorie cégep (que j'ai retrouvé, si, si!), mais malheureusement, je vis un peu loin pour ça.

How much caffeine in tea?

Say what you will about David's Tea, I know not all their teas are good, I know they have been struggling financiall, but they do have their use. I found this picture and guide on their on their Facebook page. Now I can have a pretty good idea on how much caffeine content there is in what sort of tea. They also have an article on the subject on their website. Of course, it is calculated their brews, but one can easily extrapolate on their model. This will prove very useful when I want to know what I should drink as tea at what time of the day. It is also good to expand on my (rather poor) tea culture.

Pizza sur le grill

Mon père a fait des pizzas cette semaine, sur le "big green egg". Je n'ai jamais vu de pizza faite sur le grill, mais ça a l'air réussi. Et ça me rend envieux, rien que de penser aux pizzas que l'on mange ici, toutes surgelées ou achetées dans els commerces. Ça fait un bout de temps qu'on n'en a pas faite une à partir de rien.

As July is ending...

As July is ending, I can't help but feel relieved. I generally dread the month, then hate it. This year, I feel like we were spared and if you follow this blog you understand why. So July is ending today. I barely noticed it was there to begin with, because this July was very unusual. Mainly because it was a summer month that was not summery: a bit on the cool side, except for last week's heatwave. I cannot complain, as I do not like July in general, especially when it is hot and when it is typically summery. Most of the time, I find the month too long. Now it feels like it flew by. It was actually once of the best month of July I have had in recent years, because it did not feel like July. So that was my month of July. How was yours?

Les livres de P'tit Loup

Bon ben c'est pas pour dire, mais j'ai deux petites choses à partager ici qui vont faire l'objet d'un billet unique: 1)je commence déjà à préparer la fête de Wolfie, car l'air de rien elle approche et 2)je crois que j'ai fini par l'intéresser à P'tit Loup, enfin aux livres le mettant en vedette. Mais il a peu de livres de P'tit Loup, seulement deux jusqu'ici. Alors je vais lui en acheter plus en cadeaux pour sa fête. Ou, comme on dit en France, pour son anniversaire. Si vous avez des suggestions, veuillez les écrire dans les commentaires.

Aphrodite, Artemis or a nymph?

I took this picture in Derbyshire, at Chatsworth House. It is one of the many sculptures they had there of Greek or Roman influences. They had lots of mythological figures, which I can generally identify easily, as I am a Greek mythology buff. This one is a bit challenging. She could be Aphrodite, as she is often depicted nude. Or she could also be Artemis, as she is being spied by Actaeon. But they already had an Artemis. I am wondering if she could merely be a nymph of some sort. They tend to be depicted at their bath or as they are drying up. What do you think?

Si juillet avait 30 jours...

Moment ennuyeux pour un collègue hier à l'ouvrage: il croyait qu'aujourd'hui c'était le dernier jour de juillet. Je ne sais pas s'il avait oublié que juillet avait 31 jours, ou s'il croyait que l'on était un jour d'avance, toujours est-il qu'il s'est rendu compte que le jour de paie viendrait un jour plus tard. Je n'aime pas beaucoup juillet en général, pas depuis que je ne travaille plus dans le monde de l'éducation et que je n'étudie plus moi même. Alors j'aurais aimé qu'il ait eu raison.

The calm after the sun

Last week has been scorching hot, we had the dreaded heatwave. But it had cooled down by Friday and the last few days have been far more bearable. With any luck, this is the last blast of heat we will have until next summer. I am not saying that summer is gone, of course not, but touch wood, it will be bearable for the next few weeks. One can hope. In any case, we survived the tropical temperatures of last week.

Compter les lundis

Comme bien du monde, je n'aime pas le lundi, sauf quand je suis en vacances. Peu importe le temps de l'année et peu importe le temps qu'il fait. Cela dit, à l'approche des vacances, j'ai décidé de prendre mon mal en patience: j'ai été relativement occupé au travail, alors je n'ai pas trop eu l'occasion de m'ennuyer. Et si je m'ennuie, je sais que je serai en vacances dans quelques semaines, donc pas si longtemps. Alors je compte les lundis.

Working on crime fic

Yesterday, I went to the crime fiction workshop again. Unlike the one I had three months or so ago, this one went really well. I showed them the second part of a draft novella I had already finished. It had all the ingredients of the synopsis of novel I wanted to write: set in Montreal, local organized crime, local colour, private eyes, etc. But obviously, as I already worked extensively on it (instead of a few lines written on a table corner), it is far better constructed. So I received a lot of good advises, but also a few praises: my characters are well rounded and the dialogues are sharp. Better still, the woman who criticized me for writing a chauvinistic dinosaur as a main character said that she found him well rounded, however masculine and macho he may be. Even better: another woman even noticed a certain sexual tension between two characters, something that is meant to show up later in the story (albeit not in the way that she'd expected), but that I had not forecast at all when I was writing that scene. So I must have done something right. I will work on polishing the novella for the next workshop, where I intend to show them two different scenes of 1,000 words each, at the same time working on the novel, which right now is being written at a snail's pace.

Boire bio

J'ai pris cette photo au restaurant végétarien The Willow à Totnes dans le Devon. On a assez aimé pour y retourner deux fois. Comme de raison, ils offraient des bières biologiques. Je me rappelle que celle-ci était fort correcte, pour une blonde. Je vais essayer de la retrouver ici, même si on est loin du Devon. Pour la petite histoire, je bois assez peu bio.

"Men, Women and Sexual Politics"

This title is not about a philosophical essay, but about Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. I stumbled on YouTube on the overture of last year's production of the opera by the Metropolitan Opera and I really loved it. It is a clever way to get the spectator involved in the story from the overture onwards. More importantly, it sums up perfectly what the opera is all about. Men, women, lust, chocolate (no kidding), poison, lies, etc. And, explaining its essence in one single brilliant line: "A sophisticated analysis of men, women and sexual politics in two acts." This is Cosi fan tutte in a nutshell. Like one of my friends said on Facebook when I shared it: "I wanted to keep watching." Now to try to find the whole thing.

Le cousin, le neveu

Aujourd'hui, nous sommes allés voir la famille de ma femme: mes beaux-parents, ma belle-soeur, son partenaire ainsi que... le fils qu'ils ont eu récemment. Donc, le nouveau (et jusqu'ici le seul) cousin de petit loup. Il a déjà une cousine, mais elle est dans la vingtaine. C'était drôle de voir le petit bout d'homme. Ça m'a rappelé qu'il y a trois ans, on attendait notre petit bout d'homme à nous. Enfin, tout ça pour dire que la famille s'élargit d'un nouveau membre et que c'était plaisant de faire sa connaissance aujourd'hui, même s'il a surtout dormi.

Books and Introverts

I wanted to share another meme about books, just for fun. Even though I shared one recently. So here is another one which I can related to very strongly. I am myself a shameless introvert, in fact I am borderline antisocial. Like a lot. And while I can have a big mouth, I am socially inept, so I often don't like to talk. So this is very me. I love reading for a number of reasons, one of them is that it allows you to just avoid socializing.

Les bleuets sont mûrs...

A la Sainte-Anne les bleuets sont mûrs. C'est le raisin de chez-nous, fils du feu; du sol humble et pierreux c'est l'offrande; c'est le miel des crans sauvages, le frère des éricales dans le royaume infini des sphaignes et des tourbières.

Cette année encore, je cite Menaud maître-draveur, de Félix-Antoine Savard. Parce que le fruit sauvage de ma région est maintenant mûr pour être récolté et qu'il est bon de le souligner.