Muddy boots

 Every week, Wolfie has forest school. On this occasion, he must wear warm clothes, water-proof trousers and boots. Which he does. So every week, he comes back with muddy boots. And I mean very muddy boots. The same thing happened last weekend, when we went for a walk in the nearby boots. We all walked back with muddy boots, but Wolfie's looked like they had been taken through a swamp. So recently my life has been about getting rid of the mud under his boots. Moral of the story: that's part of a dad's life.

"Guilliame"

Nous avons reçu une invitation à un mariage aujourd'hui. Une amie de ma femme se marie dans quelques mois. Je crois que la dernière invitation reçue pour un mariage date d'une dizaine d'années, sinon plus. Sur l'invitation, ils ont épellé mon nom "Guilliame". Nous allons sans doute l'accepter quand même, je sais que ce n'est pas méchant, mais je trouve que c'est quand même un peu nono.

January staycation

I have forgotten to mention it, but the last three working days of January, including of course today, I have been on holiday. I had to take leave before the end of the month, so I quickly booked them. Which means that I have been on holiday quite a lot in January, as I also took the first week off. Since Wolfie is at school, we haven't done anything special, but that is all right, I think January is not for exhausting activities anyway, if one can avoid it. I had done the same thing in 2022 and had enjoyed it a lot. So yes, in sum, I am starting to think that January is a fine month for taking short holidays, as long as they are staycations.

Le cégep de Chicoutimi en hiver

J'ai trouvé cettephoto sur la page Facebook du Cégep de Chicoutimi. C'est l'entrée de l'ancien séminaire, aujourd'hui "Centre socio-culturel" (à moins que le nom ait changé depuis, sait-on jamais). Le Cégep est laid d'à peu près partout, sauf là. C'était bien entendu ma section préférée quand j'y allais. En hiver comme vous le voyez sur cette photo, ça a encore plus de cachet.

Dunk Low: Montreal Bagel

Great news I learned from the Facebook page of St-Viateur Bagel: Nike has designed a new shoe wearing the colours and look of a Montreal bagel. Ihad not Not sure why or how they came up with this idea, but it's a great one all the same. I haven't wore Nike since my teenage, but I think it's time I wear them again. Because these are proper sneakers (or trainers as we call them here) for people of taste.

Perdrix sur la neige

Photo prise sur le lot de mes oncles, et en couleur par-dessus le marché, d'une des caméras de surveillance. Des perdrix sur la neige. Je la partage rien que parce que.

Of the usefulness of torches

You may remember that back in 2021, I received a torch as a birthday present. It is actually something I had asked for a number of reasons. I really loved the torch my wife bought me, it turned out to be one of the coolest and most useful presents I had in recent years. But near the end of 2022, for some mysterious reason, the torch completely fell apart: the button could not be pressed and it stopped working. Maybe because I had used it so much. It turned out that I had become dependent on my torch: I used it in the to take the bins out when it got late, I kept it on me when I had to walk at night, or even in the house to find something in a dark cupboard. It is crazy how useful a torch is, once you get used to it. So I asked for another torch as a Christmas present. My wife bought me two. The same model as the one before. I hope they lasts longer.

Le bois, les bûches

 Nous avons fait une petite promenade dans le bois en famille aujourd'hui. Un bois près de chez nous, qui commence à se gentrifier: on y coupe du bois et ça fait une belle photo, en tout cas une photo intéressante. Que j'ai voulu partager dès notre retour.

"Air Patrol"

 You know Wolfie loves everything related to transport and all sorts of vehicles, fast or slow, whether they are used to travel on land, water and air. And thus, he also loves helicopters, which are featured in many of his make-belief games. Of course, he has a few toy helicopters. We even bought him a shirt in Next that has an army helicopter on it. He loves it. I don't know how genuine the information on the shirt is, I don't know enough about the military, but it looks pretty cool. In any case, it's a new source of inspiration for him every time he plays.

Un gorille

Photo prise dans l'Isle of Wight, à Robin Hill pour être exact. Robin Hill est un parc pour enfants que petit loup a beaucoup aimé. On y trouvait notamment de faux et de vrais animaux, dont des faux gorilles qui avaient l'air très vrais. Celui-ci en tout cas nous a beaucoup impressionnés. Par une journée chaude (beaucoup trop chaude) d'été, nous avions l'impression d'être quelque part en Afrique. S'il avait bougé, je n'aurais pas été étonné.

Chocolate cake and ganache

Sometimes I get myself into things.  I had promised Wolfie that I would bake a cake at the beginning of January and I had not done it yet. Last week, he reminded me of my promise. So I baked one and of course, he had his say regarding the kind of cake he wanted. I had preferred a plain Victoria sponge cake, but he wanted a chocolate cake. And, as my wife doesn't like the icing I usually make, I made a ganache for the very first time instead. It turned out all right, to my surprise, if a tad bitter. It probably needed more work on presentation, but I have made worse ones and we all enjoyed it. In any case, I find it far more satisfying to make my own desserts for the whole family than buying one.

Le quêteux (santon)

 Je partage encore une fois une photo prise sur une page Facebook sur les Santons de Charlevoix. Je commence à me faire un catalogue virtuel avant un jour, peut-être, me faire une vraie collection. La figure du quêteux dans le folklore québécois est ambigüe, à la fois mystérieuse et inquiétante. Le quêteux dans les contes québécois aide les protagonistes, mais c'est souvent parce qu'il est un peu sorcier, en tout cas il est familier avec le monde surnaturel. Sinon, c'est son apparence même qui fait peur. Cela dit, j'en veux un dans ma future collection, justement parce que le quêteux est inquiétant.

Mozart and his birthday

Today is a seminal date for music and music lovers. Because it is of course the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Incidentally my favourite composer. I celebrate listening to his music, I mean more than usual, particularly his operas, because it is how I truly discovered Mozart and this is how his music found a way to my heart. I also read books about him, fiction or biographies, or simply essays. On the reading this list, starting today is Mozart and his Operas by David Cairns, a present from my wife. But there are others I will reread. I might do like last year and spend a lot of time on social media today, exchanging reading suggestions about Amadeus. I would not end my post on Mozart without one aria to share. This year, it is from Cosi fan tutte,sung by Elsa Dreisig. I hope you enjoy.

Edmonton en un calembour

J'ai écrit récemment un billet sur Calgary qui a fait réagir mes lecteurs... d'Edmonton. Alors j'ai comme eu une inspiration pour un calembour vraiment atroce, que je ne peux pas m'empêcher de commettre ici: "Edmonton est monotone." Okay, bon, c'est une allitération, mais ça fait dur. Non, non, ne partez pas, lecteurs d'Edmonton! Je ne suis jamais allé dans votre ville, je suis certain qu'elle est très bien, ceci n'est qu'un calembour atroce. C'est une tradition sur ce blogue de partager les calembours absolument épouvantables. Et lui bien il est atroce comme albatros.

The Victorian House in Liverpool

For a while now, Wolfie has been obsessing about mansions. Don't ask me why, I'm have no idea how he came up with this sudden interest. But now he loves the word mansion, the concept of a big fancy house, what have you. So now he often plays "mansion", he build mansion with Lego blocks (my idea) and he draw mansions with daddy. I will tell you more about the mansion games and activities in other posts. He also wants to live in one eventually. It's a way for him to go up the property ladder I guess, so he's been saving money in his piggy bank so we can eventually have enough to move house and live in a mansion. 

    And well, it came to my mind that the Victorian house where I was living back in my year in Liverpool could qualify as a mansion. It was a big fancy house and had a rather imposing back garden. I rented a room there for a year and it did feel very posh, even though I was just renting and the house needed serious work on, which the landlady never bothered to do. Anyway, I wanted to show Wolfie the place where I lived, so I did a thorough Google search and found it on Airbnb. It changed ownership and whoever bought it renovated it and it looks absolutely glorious now. Everything is new, but it does not look too modern, if that makes sense. I have no idea how Airbnb works and I think the price must be prohibitive, but I would love to show it to Wolfie one day and maybe make him live the experience of living in a "mansion", even if it was for a short period of time. Even if he found the place not mansion-like enough for his expectations, it is still a big posh Victorian house.

RIP Boucherie Davis

 Triste nouvelle apprise récemment: la Boucherie Davis à Arvida ferme définitivement, après 80 ans de commerce. C'est triste, mais je sais de ma famille la boucherie avait perdu un peu de son lustre durant les dernières années. Elle avait changé de propriétaires et la qualité en avait souffert. Depuis des décennies, ma famille a acheté sa dinde de Noël chez Davis, sauf l'an dernier. Le Noël d'avant, la farce avait été dégueulasse, alors mes parents ont changé et ont fait la farce eux-mêmes. Quand même, le Carré Davis n'aura plus la même allure sans sa boucherie.

Shark Plane

 There was a special fayre in the park a few months ago. At the time, I did not have much time to blog about it and what I saw there, because it was early October and Halloween was on its way. But anyway, like in many fayres in this country (and others), there were a few vintage vehicles on display. Among them, this plane, with a painted shark's head at its nose. Wolfie and I were fascinated by it. Vehicles often fascinate Wolfie, vehicles associated with a predatory animal (or indeed any animal) fascinate me, so this one caught our attention. I don't knowthe story of this plane, but I think it needs one.

Brouillard

 Au Québec ces temps-ci, il y a de la neige. Mais ici, parfois, surtout durant les mois de novembre à mars, il y a du brouillard. J'ai pris cette photo dimanche dernier et la photo ne rend pas vraiment justice à l'atmosphère. On dirait plus une brume, mais c'était vraiment un bon brouillard. Quelques minutes avant, c'était plus épais. J'ai pris ma photo un peu trop tard. Il s'est dissipé en après-midi. Je ne me lasse pas du brouillard, tant que je n'ai pas à voyager, alors je prends des photos quand je peux et je les partage sur ce blogue.

Viking Bookmark

No, no, I do not have a bookmark from the Viking Age. Actually, I don't think Vikings had bookmarks back in the days. I bought this bookmark at the JORVIK Viking Centre in York. Not the most educational place, to be honest, as the term Viking does not describe a people or an ehtnic group, but a trade, that said it was entertaining all the same. When I visit a place, whether it is a museum or a historical building or a landmark open for tourists, I often buy a bookmark as a souvenir, if there are any available in the gift shop. Some people collect spoons, others collect stamps, I collect bookmarks. So I bought this one, which I found uber cool, nice and sober as well as elegant. I use it when I read any book on Norse mythology. Thus it is already worn out. At the moment I am reading this one, so of course the JORVIK bookmark, or Viking Bookmark as I call it, is the one I use.

22 pâtés à la viande

 Mon frère PJ a cuisiné 22 pâtés à la viande récemment. C'est tout. Je m'ennuie des pâtés à la viande. Surtout des journées froides comme il y en a ces temps-ci.