"Welcome Autumn"

 Today is the equinox, which means, well, that we are officially in autumn, by any standards and measurement, and that nobody, and I mean nobody, can claim otherwise. For me, of course, it doesn't start on the 22nd of September, but the first, as it should anywhere. Be that as it may, summer is gone, dusted, buried until next year. And to celebrate, I am sharing a photo of a decoration my wife bought me last year. With a pumpkin on it to remind us of harvests and of Halloween which is getting closer.

Le 22 septembre, c'est aujourd'hui

Bon, plus personne ne pourra dire que nous ne sommes pas en automne: nous sommes le jour de l'équinoxe. Comme c'est la tradition, je partage Le vingt-deux septembre de Georges Brassens. Petit air automnal bien mélancolique qui devrait vous mettre dans l'ambiance.

 

The Dracula Game (a memory)

 Long time readers may remember that I blog from time to time about the Dracula Game. This was a make belief game my brothers and I played with some friends back in 1989, freely inspired by J.H. Brennan's gamebook Dracula's Castle, before I read the original novel. We only truly played it once, but it was one of the most exciting games we ever played, one that got us in an early Halloween mood, and I remember it fondly to this day. I am mentioning it again because after doing a bit of research I can say with a fairly strong amount of certainty that today is the anniversary of the day we played. It might sound silly to keep track of time like this, for one afternoon in our childhood, but that fateful day was important: my brothers and I made a new friend (read the original post for more details) and it was my first proper introduction to classic horror and to my favourite horror story.

Des nouvelles de McAuslan

Vous savez comme j'aime les bières de McAuslan. Et je me désolais il y a quelques jours de l'absence de leur bière à la citrouille sur leurs publications sur les réseaux sociaux. Comme si elle n'existait plus. Cette photo, par exemple, date de... 2023. Alors je me demandais si l'une de mes bières d'automne et d'Halloween (quand je suis au Québec) avait été abandonnée. J'ai donc contacté la Brasserie pour en avoir le coeur net. On respire: elle sera bientôt de retour. Bon, je sais que je ne pourrai pas en profiter cette année, mais c'est quand même rassurant.

Codename: Cool Man

 Yesterday, coming back from school, Wolfie was holding a little piece of paper with a look that I could qualify as both conspiratory and proud. I wondered at first if it was a sweet message from one of the girls who has a crush on him (I suspect a few have a crush on him), but to my wife's relief, it was not the case. It was one of his male friends from school who had written down the codename he had chosen for Wolfie for one of their spy games they take very seriously. Because yes, make belief games, when you are a young boy like Wolfie, are very serious business. I know, I was the same at his age. His codename is Cool Man. Well, of course it is. Because my son is very cool. Is it silly to be proud of him?

Mafalda et le printemps en Argentine

Comme pour l'an dernier, la page Facebook officielle de Mafalda me rappelle que c'est le printemps en Argentine. Je trouve toujours ça surréaliste, étant habitué aux saisons de l'hémisphère nord, mais enfin bref, je partage un gag de Mafalda aujourd'hui.

The smell of bonfire

 We were going to pick up our son yesterday. It was a tad cool and the colours had started showing in the trees on our way. It was feeling very autumnal, then it went up a notch: we could smell bonfire in the air. We did not see where it came from, we could not see any smoke, but the smell was very distinctive. I love it. Today was way too warm, but it should go down dramatically this weekend. So I am in a happy, borderline blissful, autumnal mood.

Déjà l'Halloween à Chicoutimi

Mon père m'a envoyé es photos de sa dernière promenade à Chicoutimi. Il semblerait que pour des citoyens de ma ville d'origine, l'Halloween est déjà arrivé. Je suis d'accord et très heureux.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie

As for every autumn (because yes, it is already autumn now, even though it is way too warm at the moment), I stocked myself in the Spiced Pumpkin Pie Tea from Bird & Blend. Some people drink Pumpkin Spice Latte, I don't drink coffee, so I pumpkin flavoured tea is my autumn and Halloween tea. So, I bought a big pack of loose leaf tea. I received it and a few freebies, including this tea bag of the same brew. If you feel like making it yourself, you now have the whole list of ingredients.

L'escargot de Prévert?

 Nous allions chercher notre fils à l'école il y a quelques jours. Comme d'habitude, nous faisons attention de ne pas piler sur les escargots sur le sol. J'ai donc dû en déplacer un hors de la chaussée, je l'ai mis sur une feuille morte et je l'ai pris en photo. Ce qui m'a fait penser au fammeux poème de Jacques Prévert, Chanson des escargots qui vont à l'enterrement, que vous pouvez lire ici. Je suis plus familier avec ses dérivés et ses mentions dans d'autres oeuvres. Cela dit, grâce à Prévert, j'associe les escargots à l'automne... et à Prévert.

KitKat Ghost Toast

A few days ago, I found in the local sweet shop a new sign of Halloween and I did not want to wait until october to show it. So yeah, what did I see? a KitKat Ghost Toast. It was kind of expensive for its size and I am not always into variants of a winning formula, but all the same, I bought it for my wife. I regret nothing. Because I love Halloween that much and yes, it is already time to get yourself into a spooky mood. And sweets and desserts are an integral part of the spooky holiday.

Pavillon du 9e art

J'apprends via la page Facebook des Bouquinistes, d'où j'ai pris cette image, qu'ils tiendront un pavillon sur la bédé lors du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. Si seulement j'y étais.

Windy and Autumnal September Day

 It is getting a bit warmer and it should get borderline Indian summery soon (albeit we did not really have a frosty day), however, I cannot complain too much, as we have been blessed so far with a very autumnal September. It has been suitably cool and we even had two days ago a very windy day, enough so there was a yellow warning of winds. Nothing to worry about, it was just really nice and it allowed me to wear for the very first time a thick jumper, because temperatures had gone down with the wind. We had a perfectly autumnal September day and I was in seasonal heaven.

Le Parc Chopin modernisé

J'ai déjà blogué sur ce parc de Chicoutimi, celui qui était le plus proche de chez nous. Un parc presqu'entièrement condamné, devenu un trottoir entre deux quartiers. Bien, il semblerait qu'il soit redevenu un parc,mais en plus modeste et en plus sobre. Mon père m'a envoyé des photos. Un peu triste que ce ne soit pas conçu pour des enfants, mais bon, c'est mieux que rien. Et autre détail: je me suis rappelé que son nom officiel est (était?) le Parc Chopin. On l'appelait le Parc de la Clé de Sol, parce qu'il y avait une emblème avec une clé de sol à son entrée.

Cat’s Eye

Well, I didn't expect that. Have you ever heard of the manga series Cat's Eye? It's a caper series about a trio of sisters who are also cat burglars, one of them in love with a young police officer who is bound to catch their cat burglars alter ego. I never read it, but when I was a kid I did watch its anime adaptation. Growing up on Japanese anime, I was bound to come up with it, but I enjoyed it far less than other animes. In fact, I borderline hate watched it at times: too over the top, even for an anime, with a bumbling cop heroic antagonist who was seriously stupid, burglars who did not wear gloves... Well, I wasn't a fan. A few years later, I rewatched a few episodes on YouTube, and frankly it didn't change my mind. Of all the Japanese cartoons we young Quebeckers had, Cat's Eye was one of the silliest. So why am I blogging about it tonight? Because it got adapted again. You can see the trailer below. I might give this one a chance, if only because it's a new adaptation and I (re)discovered recently with Wolfie that I enjoy Japanese cartoons. Worst case scenario, this Cat's Eye will be as bad as the 80s one. Anyway, did any of you ever watched the old anime or read the manga? Tell me in the comments.

Question existentielle (399)

 Une question existentielle inédite jusqu'ici, enfin je crois:

-Qu'aimez-vous faire en septembre? 

J'aime faire bien des choses en septembre, mais je suis curieux de lire vos réponses.

Pot Roast

 My dad sent me this picture of a family classic this time of year: the pot roast. I remember having one every year, either in August or in September, but truly this is a proper September meal. I consider it an autumnal meal in any case, because you eat the products of early harvest; parsnip, carrots, cabbages (surprisingly tasty with plain white vinegar), sweet corn (a staple for autumn if there is one) and some meat to give it a bit of proteins and taste. There's more, but as long as you have your root vegs, your cabbage, sweet corn and a bit of meat, you are set, you have a pot roast.

Le programme du Salon du Livre

Je suis en retard sur la nouvelle, mais je tenais à donner l'information ici: j'ai appris via la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean que leur programme est maintenant disponible. Je n'y suis jamais vraiment allé au programme, en fait j'y allais quand je pouvais, la plupart du temps le samedi en famille, ou lors d'une sortie scolaire. Mais bon, toujours utile d'avoir la programmation.

"Bokke"

 A few days ago, my wife and I were on our way to pick up Wolfie from school when I saw a man walking on the other side of the street. He was wearing a green hoodie with the words Bokk printed on it. So I recognised right away the nickname of the Springboks. I was happy that I picked it up. I know nothing about rugby, far too little for my taste in fact, but at least I know about the Springboks. It's sort of my team, even though I don't follow rugby: my father-in-law is South African and he is of course a massive Springboks supporter. So is his son. Therefore out of family solidarity, I support the South African team. To my wife's dismay, as she is English and, well, she supports the English team. So anyway, I did not shout "Go Bokke!" to him. Maybe I should have had.

Le Viennois de Chicoutimi

 Question pour mes lecteurs qui vivent à Chicoutimi ou au Saguenay: quelqu'un a déjà visité la pâtisserie Le Viennois? So oui, c'est comment? Ils ont aussi une page Facebook, qui semble alimentée (ha, ha, ha!) de façon très sporadique. Enfin bref, depuis que ma femme a vu qu'il y avait une pâtisserie de ce nom à Chicoutimi, elle se demande comment ça se fait qu'on n'y a jamais mis les pieds. Et ça m'a frappé: moi non plus, je ne pense pas y être jamais allé. Je me rappelle de la défunte pâtisserie Allard, qui était dans le même coin, sinon la même bâtisse. Mais après, je n'ai jamais vu de quoi avait l'air son successeur. Parce que je n'étais plus dans la région sauf durant les vacances, sans doute un peu, mais aussi parce que j'étais encore en deuil de la pâtisserie Allard. Il faudra d'ailleurs que je blogue sur le sujet un jour. Mais sinon, si vous savez quoi que ce soit sur le Viennois, dites-le moi.