Saturday Photo: Golden Rod, One Thing That Shines in These Dark Times

The golden rod has been blooming around here for several weeks.  In fact, in some places it's actually well past its prime, and is looking a little faded.  But this morning I found this bunch just as the sun began to shine on it.  Somewhere there are a few bees buzzing around, although I couldn't get close enough to catch them in action.

 We are heading in the wrong direction when it comes to Covid-19, and the political situation in the US is pretty grim.  I keep looking for hopeful signs, and while these plants have absolutely not impact on the state of the world, they made me smile this morning, which is not a bad thing. 

Thin Air Festival Featuring Concrete, Believe It or Not

 It may sound like an oxymoron, but concrete in North America frequently contains up to 6 per cent

air.  Why, is something I talk about in Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future,  which will be officially published Oct. 10.  But before then there's a chance to learn more about it and my thoughts on the material that built the world as we know it.

Winnipeg's Thin Air Festival is now on, and is featuring two videos I've made about concrete as well as an interview with festival staffer Teresa Horosko.  Then on Sunday October 11 I'll be leading a 90 minute interactive workshop on writing non-fiction, called Thanks for the Memory: Writing Non-Fiction in a Time of False News.  Check it out at: https://thinairfestival.ca/user/136/

Saturday Photo: Cosmos, the Flower That Keeps on Giving...

 

If you wait long enough, that is.  Cosmos are wonderful flowers that reseed themselves and change sunny places to corners of cosmic delight.

I've never had much luck with them because our neighboring trees cast too much shade.  But I love these flowers that burst into bloom at the end of summer, and dellight the eye when the senses begin to think that summer is over.

Would that the Cosmos were as well regulated...

Saturday Photo: Good Crop of Umbrellas This Summer

 Well, it rained a lot here in August, so obviously these folks were on the case.  The umbrella stayed there for a couple of weeks, during the worst of the downpours.  This morning it had disappeared.  Can't decide if that was because the forecast is for sun, or because someone came along and "harvested" it.

Saturday Photo: Reclaiming the City...

One of the up-sides of this Plague Year is the way people and cities are rethinking public spaces.  Around here a number of neighborhoods have widened sidewalks by allowing terraces in street parking place or even shutting down whole blocks of commercial streets so cafés can expand seating a kids can play in the liberated space.

And then there are the folks who have been at it for a long time like sculptor Glenn Demesurier whose sculptures made from found bits and pieces of old machinery are sometimes whimsical and frequently lovely.

These are three of his now gracing the corner of Bernard and Waverly in Montreal's Mile End district.  They make me smile every time I walk past. 

Saturday Photo: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

The work is far from done, alas!

Fifty-seven years ago I was there, having hitched a ride with a friend with parishioners from a church in Indianapolis.  We had been attending the National Students' Association annual convention at Indiana University, he as a member of the UC Berkeley student council and I as the incoming editor of the student newspaper, the Daily Californian.

It was a wonderful experience, and it looked like society in the United States might actually come to grips with its racist past.  And there were some improvements, I must admit.

But the fact that the country is currently shaken by justifiable protests about police brutality and more divided than ever shows that progress can be illusory.

So there were peaceful demonstrations yesterday in Washington.  Wish I could have been there, but I'm hunkered down in Canada, having left the US 52 years ago next week.  Things are better here, but there's still a lot to fight for. 

Saturday Photo: Goldenrod and Badminton, the Resilience of the Former, the Lure of the Latter

Here you have the remains of a badminton court on which a generation or two of nuns played on summer afternoons.  Part of the convent's grounds was sold to a developer a couple of years ago and condos have gone up on its slope. I'm not sure if the badminton court was included in the deal--one of the buildings appears to be still used by the order--but certainly it has been abandoned.  From which comes the lesson for this week. 

Which is that everyone needs a little fun, even women who have dedicated their lives to their deity, and nature is strong.  Goldenrod is everywhere this summer, its beautiful plumes shining in the afternoon light.  Glad to see that it is taken over this place where afternoons were once used for recreation of another sort.

Saturday Photo: Black Lives Matter in Outremont

The part of Montreal where we live was designed more than 100 years ago as a garden suburb, sort of.  Today it is home to a mixed population that includes some folks who are pretty well off. 

Nevertheless, we came across this window sign this week on one of the tonier residences.  Nice to see!

Saturday Photo: Closest I Get to Religion...

Had an interesting conversation this week with one of my Hassidic neighbours about life, death, and Covid 19.  She lost a brother, 62, to the disease early on in the epidemic, and since then she and her family have been very careful.

Once again I extended my condolences and our conversation drifted toward doing good, etc.  At the end I quoted my paternal grandfather who used to say "the Lord helps those who help themselves."

She nodded, and then asked me if we go to church.  She knows we don't I'm pretty sure but I had to say that, no, we didn't but that I think it's important to know what religion is and what religions teach.  Told her the story about how our son was the last person baptized at a nearby church before it was deconsecrated: he was 11 and the church was 90 something.

Then later on  I came upon this graffiti.  It's about as close I get to any kind of religious thought.  Don't know if I completely agree, even then.  Worth thinking about on this fine summer morning, though.

Saturday Photo: Wake-up Call?

In this difficult time I've been on the look out for things that make one smile. That's whey I was delighted when a friend brought over sunflowers last weekend: everytime I saw them I found myself cheering up. 

Also I've been taking photos of bits of whimsy, and came across this one just across from Parc Molson in Montreal's Petite Patrie district.  The mattress may have been put out to be taken away by the garbage men, but someone had a better idea....

Maybe it's time for all of us to Wake up, to the bad things that we might be able to fix, and to the good things we should appreciate.

End of positive message for today....

Satruday Photo: Not a Trojan Horse, but More Whimsy

Because we all need a little whimsy these days, here's what I found in an alley not far from me. 

Couldn't do much carpentry on this saw horse, but kudos to whomever put it together.  Creativity can blossom when times are tough...

Saturday Photo: Concrete, Not the Rock of Ages...Nor Is the US

The photo was taken last summer in front of a house that was being renovated.  Probably built in the early 1900s, it obviously had a lot of details that were high-end at the time.  This bench--from the backyard, the front garden?--hasn't passed the test of time, however.

I'm posting it today because yesterday I got the publicity package for my next book, Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future.  The task for the weekend will be to look it over to see what the publicists are proposing.

But there's another reason: the terrible suspicion that things we formerly though solid as a rock--like democracy in the US--are rapidly being eroded.  The Covid-19 case numbers just keep spiraling upward, and 45 seems hell-bent to use any means possible to use it as a way to get re-elected.  Just as troubling is the use of Federal forces to "bring order" to Portland OR.  According to the New York Times:

"The arrival of a more aggressive federal presence came after President Trump, who at one point called on states to “dominate” protesters, directed federal agencies to increase their presence to protect federal properties, including statues and monuments that have at times been the target of protesters. Mr. Trump said last week that he had sent personnel to Portland because “the locals couldn’t handle it.”

What's going to happen when he loses the November election?

Saturday Photo: Whimsy and Covid 19

Everybody was getting a little squirrely this spring, as we tried to out dance Covid 19 by staying at home.  It helped some that March, April and the first of May were cold and pretty wet here.  But then finer weather arrived.

Kids were still at home, supposedly learning remotely, but the outdoors beckoned.  Playgrounds were still closed, and it took a bit of imagination to find things to do. 

Some children on my granddaughter's street took things into their own hands, and built a little scene that they could control.  Love this bit of whimsy in a world that isn't whimsical at all.

The construction/installation is now obscured by grasses and perennials, but it's a good memory from a season where there weren't many.

Saturday Photo: The Up-side of Drought...

It must be the sun, and maybe the cool, wet spring, but even though it rained very little in May and June the roses here have been spectacular.  The ones in our yard have done better than most years, although not enough to rate a blog-post photo...

These which I found on a neighbouring street however, are not at all the exception.  An abundance of blossoms that have lasted at least a week despite some pretty hot days and a semi-drought.  Does the heart good in this time when we can use ever bit of encouragement we can get.

Saturday Photo: Fleur de lys or Iris...

We are half way through the week of  summer's first holidays around here. Quebec's Fête nationale was last Wednesday and next Wednesday will be Canada Day.  Such a strange time!  No big celebrations, just small gatherings and some lovely flowers in bloom.

The fleur de lys, the iris, is Quebec's flower, and, conveniently it blooms right now.  The ones in my front yard aren't nearly as nice, but these in a neighbor's are lovely.

Enjoy what good times you might have....

Saturday Photo: Water Games and Rainbows...

The kids around here early in this crazy pandemic time began making rainbows to put in windows with the legend Ça va bien aller" which means It's going to be all right.  Quite a nice sentiment, and one which I suspect encouraged a lot of young ones who may have been frightened by their parents' anxiety if nothing else.

Well, it hasn't been all right for a lot of people, but things are looking up.  The parks are open and with them the splash pads/jeux d'eau that lots of kids love.  The other morning when it already was stifling I came upon a young family playing in the water even though it was before 9 a.m.  Lots of fun, but also the sun hit the spray of water at just the right angle to make this lovely rainbow.  Enough to make you smile, if not enough to convince you that everything will be all right.

Saturday Photo: April in Paris, June in Montreal...

The song says that the chestnuts bloom in April in Paris, and usually they bloom in Montreal in May.  But this eyar, when the temperature has gone up and down, up and down, they're blooming in June.

Another example of weather craziness.  Doesn't so far make a difference, but theses days one never knows what is going to happen...

Always thought it was crazy the way some people try to predict the future.  Aside from nothing being certain but death and taxes, it's all a crapshoot.

The flowers are pretty though.

Saturday Photo: Just What the Doctor Ordered...

I think I've used this photo before, but it deserves another look.  Dandelions are supposed to be weeds, and I must admit that I try to keep them out of my little backyard plot of grass.  But they are a sign that somebody isn't trying to mess with nature by using pesticides and testimony to the resilience of green things.

Dandelions are invasive and were introduced into North America a long time ago, possibly for their medicinal properties and possibly, says one source, because they reminded Europeans of their homelands.  The greens can be eaten--I cooked up the ones I pulled up last week with some butter and garlic after washing them several times and steaming for five minutes.  They were pretty good, but then what isn't with butter and garlic?

But what really is lovely is the display they give in the grass for the short period before they turn into fluff balls of seeds. Just what the doctor ordered to lift the spirits, and to underscore how what we do to nature can have such unexpected results.

Saturday Photo: The Flowers of the Week...and Thoughts on the Circle of Time

Hot weather arrived with a vengeance this week, and the tulips faded rapidly.  But on the other hand some of the other late spring flowers burst into loveliness.

Among them is Bridal Veil  spirea.  Doesn't last long here, but for a week or so it is spectacular.  That's honey suckle on the right side of my neighbour's steps, which is also a lovely plant right now.

This fleeting progression of flowering plants is one of the joys of this climate.  When things bloom, they really bloom, as if throwing their whole being into a display on which their lives depended.  Of course, that's in effect what is happening, as the seeds from the flowers are what would spread the plants in the wild, at least in theory.

In this year of catastrophe, the rhythms of flowering plants is are solace.  Yes, our lives have been turned upside down, but things continue.  Not necessarily unfolding as they should, and definitely not for the best in this "best of all possible worlds," but continuing...

And that is the lesson for today. 

Saturday Photo: The Fountain across the Street...

Early in the morning when I go out I hear two things: the wind in the leaves, and water burbling in our neighbor's fountain across the street.

The leaves on the  have been out only a few days, so the lowly rustle of the wind running through them is still a novelty.  But the fountain is there all year around, even though from October to April it just sits there, looking nice and resting.

We had a warm day yesterday, when the sound of the running water was particularly pleasant.  So nice of neighbors to introduce such loveliness into this sometimes-dismal world.