Saturday Photo: The Cover...

Not much to write this week, because I'm busy checking the edits on my new book.  Here's the cover (or its latest iteration.)

More later....

Saturday Photo: Craftsbury Common and Frenemies

Jessamyn West, the Vermont librarian, took this lovely photo of Craftsbury Common, in mid-state Vermont.  I love it for its peaceful beauty and the way it captures a vision of story-book New England.  Of course, the story is far more complicated than the photo suggests, as I consider in Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States which the University of Regina Press will publish in October.  Vermont and New Hampshire are two of the pairs of places that have much in common but which are in many ways very different, and Ms. West has kindly allowed us to use the photo in the book. 

Part of the reason for posting this photo today is because we're entering the count-down to publication: I'm supposed to get the copy edit this week, and hope to turn it around within a couple of days.  It will be interesting to see how people react to it.  Initial comment is quite positive, but then after 15 books (this is my 16th) I know that friends are unlikely to tell you anything negative unless you ask, and usually I don't ask...

Saturday Photo: March Sunbath....

The sun is rising earlier, setting later, and passing higher in the sky.  All that points to the end of winter, although the temperatures here remain now higher than a frosty -12 C. 

Next week most schools in Quebec will be closed for March Break, and I imagine there will be a lot of kids playing outside until they drop, literally, to spend a few moments looking up a the blue, blue sky.  Not the sunbath you might have in July, but pleasant nonetheless.

Saturday Photo: Ruts, rats!

This is what our lane looked like this morning.  After several snowfalls and freeze and thaw cycles, it had been reduced to two tracks of ruts about four inches thick.

The arrondissement has said it will keep up snow removal in this lane which serves 300 families in a four block stretch.  Not only do many of them (including us) get oil deliveries off it, access to our parking is supposed to be by it.

Last Sunday night it took us a half hour to get into our garage which is about where you see the power lines crossing.  Later in the week a couple of neighbors got caught up on the ruts, trying to get out this way.

Bah humbug!  There is no reason for this kind of snow build up: we've never had it before, the equipment is supposed to be on standby, the plan is push aside the snow and then remove much of it.  But it sure hasn't worked this winter.  Now I understand why people go South!

Saturday Photo: Elections, Snow and Julia Sánchez

Snow days this week, ice day today (after a period of rain yesterday) but every day is campaign day this week and next. 

Here is Julia Sánchez, the NPD  candidate in the Outremont by election, with the snowperson constructed on Wednesday by her friends and campaign workers.  I was by to telephone that afternoon, and was delighted to see how many people were working there on an day where much of the city closed down (about 36 cm in this neighborhood, or 9 inches, which fell within 12 hours.)  Good responses to my calls, too--people were home because so many of them had booked off because of transportation problems.

We usually get about 40 cm (10 inches) of snow in February, but it all fell in a very short time.  It was just another example of the extreme weather--another is the cycle of enormous temperature shifts from day to day--that we've had this year.  Probably due to climate change, which is one of Julia's big concerns.  She would/will make a great MP, and my task this afternoon is to go campaign a bit more for her.

Saturday Photo: Natural Valentine

A couple of years ago I found these lovely leaves cascading down the side of a garage.  Nice to see that Nature loves a Valentine too.

So please tell those  around you whom you love that you love them today, as well as on Thursday!

Saturday Photo: Tommy Douglas in 1944

This photo was taken three years before Saskatchewan began its provincial hospitalization plan that started Canada on its road toward universal, single-payer health insurance.  Tommy Douglas-- son of a foundry worker,  Premier of Saskatchewan,  leader of the New Democratic Party, Father of Medicare, and Keifer Sutherland's grandfather--was the man behind the program.  He's on my mind very much today for two reasons.  

The first is that I sent off a final version of my book Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States to the University of Regina Press yesterday. It's about places that are alike yet different, and one of the ten pairs I consider are Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The second is that this afternoon I'm going to start telephoning for Julia Sánchez, the NDP candidate in the Outremont by-election set for February 25.  She's a fine, intelligent woman who would be a great MP: would that the NDP have a full slate of candidates like her, come October and the general election.

As for Tommy Douglas, he's one of my heroes.  I heard him speak once, on  a cold and rainy November night in 1982. It was at the end of a conference on the future of Canada's Medicare program, at a time when the program was still relatively young but was under attack, as it frequently has been.

 The speakers who went before Douglas had given their view of how Medicare--one of the defining attributes of Canada, many think--had developed.  A trade union official spoke about establishing one of the first comprehensive health clinics in North America, an actuary and former Quebec politician told how a universal, public hospital and medical care insurance scheme was more efficient and equitable, and a physician explained why doctors in one province went on strike to block its introduction, but ultimately came around to agreeing it was a pretty good idea.  The speeches were informative, sometimes even interesting.

Then Douglas, still going strong at 78, stepped up to the podium to "bat cleanup," as one of the  conference organizers put it.  His speech wasn't new to anyone who'd been following his career.  Mostly it was about how the universal health care system was threatened by extra-billing  and extra charges that were being levied even though it was set up  to provide free health care "for every man, woman and child in the country."  He spoke with his right hand raised in the air, his voice strong and commanding, trained as it was to be heard in large crowds in days before  public address systems when he was a Baptist preacher.  His presence was as big as his voice, despite the fact that he'd always been a little guy, never much heavier than the 135 pounds he weighed when he won a Light Heavyweight boxing title at 18.
 
 "We can’t stand still," he said.  "We can either go back or we can go forward. The choice we make today will decide the future of Medicare in Canada."  He paused, and then rose up on the tips of his toes to quote not Scripture but the English poet William Blake.  His voice intensified, full of conviction, of strength, of hope:
 
"We shall not cease from mental strife, Nor shall our swords rest in our hands, Till we have built Jerusalem, In this green and pleasant land."
 
The crowd took to its feet with cheers, whistles and applause. If he'd told us to march out into the darkness and bring some light to the world, we would have done it.

Many years have passed, but I'm still with Tommy.  Now to go out into the cold and work for Julia...


 
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Saturday Photo: The Dude Who Divided the World..

The painting is of Pope Alexander VI (born Rodrigo de Borja, into the infamous/famous Borgia family) adoring the Christ Child, while Mary looks on.  Pietro Facettio was the artist, who reportedly made the mother of Christ look like one of Alexander's mistresses...

Quite a dude, that guy.   But setting aside his questionable morals, he is notable for dividing the world between Spain and Portugal at the beginning of the age of European exploration.  He's the reason why Brazil speaks Portuguese and the rest of Latin America speaks Spanish: the territory east of his line went to Portugal and the rest to Spain.

That's only part of the story, of course, but I'm giving it attention today because maybe, finally, after a half dozen attempts, we've come up with a title of my next book which, among other things, deals with the great linguistic divide.  We're calling it Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States.   Stay tuned for more info...

Saturday Photo: The Difference between Weather and Climate...

At the moment it's minus 23 Celsius, and it's supposed to start snowing soon.  Big winter storm coming, danger of frost bite according to Environment Canada.

Typical January weather in Montreal, actually: the photo was taken of the frozen-over window in the front bedroom a couple of years ago, and we always get a few days like this.

But that's just the weather.  It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the climate, let along climate change.  Climate is the general pattern of weather of a long period of time in a particular place.  The short term ups and downs of weather are reflected in climate, but very cold weather and a snow storm are just part of the climate as it has existed for a long time in this place. 

To have winter weather in January doesn't meant that climate isn't changing. What is more important is the pattern that shows up in average temperatures and the first dates of freezing and warm weather.  It would appear that we're headed for shorter winters, but it's not like that today...

Saturday Photo: Chartres and Other Beautiful Things

Every time we've gone to France Lee has taken the RER from Paris to Chartres, a pleasant 45 minute train trip to the little city on the bluff where one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals sits.

He is enraptured by the place, and the building, and the wonderful human effort that went into constructing it.  At the moment, he's preparing to do a little building himself in hopes that he can pay homage to it.  His plan is to build a bench/table which will echo the soaring lines of the Gothic arches.  On either side he'll carve a bas-relief inspired by the sculptures over the doors on the south and west side.

So far what he's discovered is that this kind of carving has a steep learning curve, and he's been consulting all the sources available in book and on-line to come up with good images to use as guides.

One of the books which we found in the local library is Chartres: la grâce d'une cathédrale.  It's a gorgeous book that I knew would make a great Christmas present, so I found it on Abebooks at a book store in France, and ordered it Dec. 2.  Supposedly it would arrive before Christmas, but it didn't  and by the beginning of this week, I began to think that something had gone wrong.  I shot off emails to the store and to Abebooks, but nothing happened.  Then, just when I had really begun to fume and to wonder if I should try to cancel the order, the book arrived yesterday.  Carefully wrapped, it was in perfect condition and is a great pleasure to read.  The only problem is that it weighs about 3.5 kilos so it's not the kind of book to read in bed!

The photo, by the way, isn't from the book but is one I took on our last visit in 2014.  Too long ago: we should go back!

Saturday Photo: Fort George, Madras, and Back to Work

The holiday is almost over: for more than a  week I've ended each day thinking it was Sunday, but it hasn't been, of course. 

Not I haven't been able to get some work done now and then.  I've got to do more revisions for the latest version of my book about places that are alike, but different.  The current title is Fine Lines: The Love/Hate Relationship between Neighbo(u)ring States.   I'm not completely happy with it, but it's the best that we've come up with so far since the editor nixed my first one.  Unidentical Twins: Why Places That Should Be Alike Aren't Alike would be classified in the Parenting section of bookstores, he argued.  Maybe he's right, we'll have to see how the new title flies.

So I'm checking references, dates and website references, with a Jan. 31, 2019 deadline looming.  I'm about half way through now, having just finished the chapter about the South Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.  Hence the image, which is what the British outpost on the east coast looked like in 1858.  The bustling city of Chennai which now surrounds it  looks quite a bit different....

Saturday Photo: The Hinge of the Year Has Turned...

Sunrise over Parc Outremont.  Not today, because I haven't been out yet, but I'm sure it would have looked a lot like this because there is no snow around here. 

No, it's all rain, weird weather with leaves still on the grass after a fall which was colder than usual.  At least there was a dusting of snow on the ground over Christmas to be pretty.

But the days actually are getting longer, with sunrise coming perceptively earlier.  According to the data I found, the day is not that much longer than it was at the solstice, The sun is setting later though, because of a curious astronomical quirk, the earliest sunset actually occurs on December 10. The reason has something to do with a discrepancy between the way we measure time and the actual relation of the sun and the earth.  Too complicated to figure out this morning: I'll just be glad that on this gray day, the sun will be out a little later this afternoon. 

So I'll try to get going: after all the feasting over the last week, it's time to get back to work on finishing up the revisions to my next book, which is now called Fine Lines: The Love/Hate Relationship between Neighbo(u)ring States.

Saturday Photo: Sil, Lutfisk and Holiday Good Wishes in Troubled Times

First of all, here's the link to our holiday season blog, which has become something of a tradition.  Read it and know we're all hoping for the best as we all, collectively, lurch forward into a new year.

As for the photo, I'm sure I've used it before, but it seems appropriate this gray morning when the countdown to Christmas is intensifying. 

The sil is made and so are the cookies.  Thomas is coming over to paint a school bus he and Lee made out of wood over the last few weeks for Louis.  The others will be in and out over the next few days, which will be an island of happy excitement in a world where the sun seems to be obscured far too often. 

Saturday Photo: Waiting...

Is it going to snow?  Or will the snow all melt? There are many more important questions out there, but these two are high on my mind right now, as they seem to be on the minds of these creatures.

Saturday Photo: Hanging in There...Oak Leaves and Snow

Today's lesson is about persistence. 

It has always been my long suite.  The fact that my family is very long-lived helps because I've been pretty sure since I became aware of such things that, all things being equal and wars not too close to home, I'll live long enough to see projects to completion.  A big, early splash is always nice, but what gets you to your goals is dogged, continued effort.  Not necessarily constant, gut-wrenching struggle, but the knack of coming back again and again to pick away at challenges.

These oak leaves which I saw this week in Parc Outremont seem a kind of symbol--or maybe even a sign  In past years there must have been similar leaves clinging to branches well into the cold weather, but I don't remember noticing them.  Perhaps I'm just ripe for a reminder of the value of hanging in there.  Still have many projects to work on, and, I hope, enough time to accomplish them, or at least hand them off to people who will carry them foward.

Saturday Photo: Finally a Jade Plant Flower!!!

For several years I've been trying to get my large and beautiful jade plant (kindly given me by Bettina Bergo when she went on sabbatical) to bloom.  My mother, who was no gardener, frequently had them in flower when I was growing up in San Diego, and if she could, I figured I could too.

But it has turned out to be far harder than I thought.  For one thing, our house and yard are shaded by big maples during high summer.  For another, I didn't know what the cues were that the plant needed to bud.

Last fall and winter I did some research, including contacting nurseries in California, to see how it was done.  Cool temperatures, it seemed.  Lots of sun, others said.

So this summer I put the plant on the front balcony which is about the sunniest place we have.  The plant seemed to do well, but there was no sign of budding well into early fall.  Then we had our first freezing temperatures in mid-October, and I covered the plant with a sheet during the night before finally bringing it in. 

Lo and behold, within a couple of days, buds began to form at three nodes.  Since then I've been watching carefully as the plant as the buds slowly grew.  Last week they burst open into tiny flowerlets, that have no smell, aren't very showy, but nonetheless seem to be to be an accomplishment!

What would seem to have worked, then, is the combination of a sunny summer, followed by exposure to cold as the days grew shorter after the solstice.  So pleased!

The other photo is what the plant looked like last February.  It's grow some since...

Saturday Photo: Getting from There to Here and Vice Versa

Snow on the ground, for the moment at least. Snow clearance hasn't been terrific perhaps because the powers that be know rain is forecast for this weekend.

But between now and then people have to get places, and when there is no path plowed people will make their own.  Urbanists call them desire lines in other contexts.  I call them a metaphor for life.

Saturday Photo: Winter Is Here, Said Hamilton Duck

This what the windows looked like early this week, and this morning Lee had to move about 10 cm of very heavy wet snow.  It's warmer, but there is no doubt that winter has arrived well before its calendar date.

Reminds me of a book the kids liked when they were little.  Called Hamilton Duck, it featured a big white duck who found his pond ice covered one morning.  "Duck, who was wise, said 'Winter is here.'"  And it certainly is.

Saturday Photo: One Hundred Years Later....

The end of the War to End All Wars will be remembered tomorrow, Nov. 11, 2018.  One hundred years later we seem not to have learned much.

The photo is of the cenotaph in Outremont. It commemorates both World Wars.  Too, too sad that carnage goes on...

Saturday Photo: Rain and the Return to Standard Time

Been raining here for several days.  I suppose I should be pleased because that means plants will be starting the winter well-hydrated, which can be a problem after a dry summer like the one we had.

But Lee has been grumbling that he's already tired of winter.  Certainly having the sun rise so late makes it very difficult to get going in the morning.

But all that will change tomorrow, and also the sun is supposed to come out. 

Yay!  Got to keep one's spirits up in the face of what might happen on Nov. 6...

Saturday Photo: Fall Bikes and Fighting the Good Political Fight

This is the time of year that the leaves fall--yesterday it was a veritable blizzard of yellow leaves on our street--but also time when bikes begin to look a little sad since so many will end up in the basement/garage/back balcony soon. 

However, it frequently is the time for politics, and this year I seem to be up to my neck in campaigns.  First came the provincial election where I worked some (not as much as I should have probably) for the excellent Quebec Solidaire candidate Eve Torres, who came a quite respectable second in a riding that was gift to the Liberal Party. 

Now there is a bye-election in prospect in Outremont to fill the seat vacated when Thomas Mulcair resigned at the end of the summer. Last Sunday I did some calling for the NDP candidate Julia Sanchez, another fine woman entering politics for the first time.

And today and tomorrow, I'm going to be calling into three Congressional districts which Lee and spotted last summer, thanks to SwingLeft, a movement to take back the US House of Representatives and whose motto is "Don't Despair.  Mobilize."  They looked winnable, so we checked to make sure that we could give money as non-resident Americans (yeah, this  kind of thing is mainly why I keep my dual citizenship), and coughed up some cash.  Now it's time to put my mouth where my money is, to turn the adage on its head.  Got a headphone-mike thing for my computer so I can use the campaigns' phone bansk, and when it's 1 p.m. here and 10 a.m. on the Pacific Coast where the three campaigns are, I'll spend some time on the phone.

Konrad Yakabuski in the Globe and Mail this morning is pretty downbeat on what will happen Nov. 6, even if the Dems take back the House.  The headline is "Democrats no match for 'nationalist' Trump." But you've got to try anyway, it seems to me. 

BTW, my daughter and her partner don't quit bike riding in the winter.  I think they're more than a little nuts, but she's just bought some new winter biking duds so she can ride in style and comfort in winter weather.  Given the traffic conditions around here I can understand the appeal: what takes a half hour on a bike would take an hour on the bus.  But fixing that is another story. 

Saturday Photo: Burning Bush, or Antidote to a Burning World?

Our neighbors' burning bush trees are in full colour this week.  They are modest looking bushes for most of the year, but they turn a glorious red, come fall.

There have been moments these past few weeks when it has seemed to me that the world is on the brink of bursting into flames.  Not the nuclear war that haunted my dreams 40 or 50 years ago, but one where climate change, cupidity and stupidity seem to have brought out the worst in most leaders and many ordinary folk.

There is a connection between this lovely plant and the difficult state of the world: vegetation.  Plant, plant, plant: that would seem to be an answer to many problems from desertification to sweltering cities to rising CO2 levels.  Not the complete answer, to be sure, but a partial one.  And in this imperfect world, that's something.

Of course, it appears there's a caveat to be noted where burning bush trees are concerned.  In milder climates that ours, they can can become invasive, and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire they're actually banned.  Probably the lesson here is: we have to think about what we're doing and where we're going, even when we're pointed in the right direction.

Saturday Photo: Fall and Cataract Surgery

Fall is always a beautiful season here, with so many deciduous trees turning colour.  I'd always known that, but four years ago I learned just how gorgeous the trees are.  Until then, even with glasses, what I saw was basically a swirl of colour,  not individual leaves.  But, after much hesitation that ended when my optometrist asked if I was "still driving," I went in for a cataract examination.

As it turning out, my corrected vision wasn't that bad because of the way the cataracts were placed, but I was amazed at how much better I saw after the surgery.  Each and every leaf!  Landscapes as detailed as those painted by Canoletto! A very dirty kitchen floor!

Okay, I admit I wasn't too pleased at the last, and had to work several days to get the kitchen up to the standard I thought--pre-surgery--I was keeping.  Spots on linoleum, fingermarks and scratches in paint are much more evident to me now.  

But it's definitely worth that to be able to see the pointillist landscapes I see now, particularly as every leaf stands out.  Wonderful--Canaletto and Klimt and Seurat naturally!

Saturday Photo: Thanksgiving....

This is a photo I've used before, but I really like it since it shows the beautiful hesitation that Nature goes through here before closing down for the winter.

It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and tomorrow we'll have about 30 adults and 10 children (give or take a few) for a community supper.  We provide turkeys, mashed potatoes and a few other basic things, and everyone else is invited to bring something they'd like to share with friends and family. 

This year the youngest will be a bit older than 2 years, and the oldest are going to turn 90 this fall and winter.  Not all are related to us, the majority belong to the extended family of friends that we've developed over the years here.  We expect to have a good time, and eat and drink very well!

I am far from being a person of faith--any faith, particularly in these dark days when some folks to who claim to be religious are doing such terrible things--but I think it is a good thing to stop at least once a year and realize how much we have.  Not to give thanks, exactly, but to realize that those of us who are so lucky have a duty to be generous, and to try to make the world a better place for everyone.

Hope your weekend is wonderful.  Now, I've got to start cooking....

Saturday Photo: Harvest of Good Things

Chilis and garlic: great combination, não é?  This week I spent an hour at the Marché Jean Talon, buying wonderful, harvest-fresh things.  Basil, garlic, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, little pumpkins, and much more...

Once upon a time I froze and canned.  Last year I made green tomato relish in quantity--more, in fact, than we could eat.  So this year my purchases are aimed in just enough to keep us happy over the next little bit, without any waste.

That means for tonight pesto and pasta: the basil is beautiful!

Saturday Photo: Canal in Kochi....

I have no idea if this canal still exists in Fort Kochi, Kerala State, on India's southwest coast, but I hope it does despite the recent catastrophic monsoon that flooded the area this summer.  But I like the photo because it combines two of the projects I've been working on.

The first is my book about the wonders, menace and history of concrete, Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World As We Know It.  The second is Frenemies:Why Some Places That Should Be Alike Aren't Alike.  Kerala  and Tamil Nadu, the state immediately to the east, are two of the pairs I consider in that book. 

Until last week, the plan was to publish the concrete book in 2019, and the one about unidentical twins some time later.  But the world is moving fast, and now it looks like Frenemies will be out sometime next year.

So at the moment  I'm pedaling fast to make the necessary changes, since the manuscript actually was finished about a year ago.  The memories of my time in Kerala are just that, mental souvenirs of a very interesting trip....

And now to get back to work.

Saturday Photo: The Bees Are At It, Thankfully

 One of the advantages of the kind of Darwinian gardening I do is that bees like it.  No pesticides or chemical fertilizer, just a lot of compost, some composted manure and a little bone meal.  The result is interesting--I'll share a photo next week--but the really important things is that bees love it.

All summer long they've been floating around.  Some of them must belong to hives like the one pictured here which sits in the Champs des possibles, vacant land along the railroad track through Montreal which has become a nature park.  There's only hive a couple of blocks away on the second story balcony of a classy house facing Parc Outremont.  Perhaps there are ones closer too that are hidden from casual view. 

Whatever, I'm glad to help out the busy pollenizers by providing environmental flowers....

Saturday Photo: Tomato Time...

This is the best time of year for  lovers of real, ripe tomatoes.  What you get the rest of the year just does't cut it!

Saturday Photo: Rideau Chapel and 40 Voice Motet

Highlight of a trip to Ottawa: a visit to the National Gallery of Canada to see the exhibit of Impressionist painters there until Sept. 9.  Nice, but what really was great was an installation in the Rideau Chapel  of a 40 Voice Motet by Joyce Cardiff based on music by Thomas Tallis.  Really amazing!  Go see/ hear it!

Saturday Photo: Electric Cars, Only as Clean as Their Source of Energy

The folks a couple of blocks away have not one, but two electric cars.  Each cost a pretty penny, I'm sure.  But so did their house, which they've spent a lot of money on refurbishing.

I must say that I'm of two minds about giving subsidies to those who can afford these cars.  At the moment in Quebec you can get  a rebate of up to $8000 on the purchase of a new one, and $600 toward installing a recharging station at your home.  In Ontario, the new PC government is doing away with that province's subsidies which were considerably higher than Quebec's. 

Unless the electricity to charge these vehicles comes from a "green" renewable source, like solar, wind or hydroelectric, there is very little environmental good coming from them since emissions from traditional generating plants are extremely CO2 intense.  Furthermore, just adding more cars to the roads will not solve the other problems of our urban centers.  Better, probably, to put money into public transportation, including inter-city buses and trains. 

Saturday Photo: Irrigation, or Another of the Things that Concrete Has Wrought

This was taken last summer near Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River.  It shows dramatically the effect of irrigation on the dry lands of the region. 

Concrete made this possible.  It has also contributed mightily to the problems of climate change that we are seeing this summer. 

I've been thinking a lot about this as I reflect on what concrete has wrought for my book Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World As We Know It. Lots of good things...but also some very questionable ones.  More about that later.

Saturday Photo: La bicyclette rose...Enduring Whimsy

It had been a while since I walked down Lajoie (great name) during summer, but I did this week.  What a delight to see that the folks who own the Pink Bicycle have put it out again, and decorated it with nifty plants.

Above is what it looked like on Wednesday, while below you'll find what it looked like in 2007 and 2011.  So nice to see that people continue the lovely, whimsical tradition.

Saturday Photo: Little Suns....

Yellow flowers are about my favourites I think, and Rudbeckia are my favourites among them. This is when they start blooming in earnest, the sign that summer is at its apex...

Saturday Photo: Chicory on a Hot Summer Morning

The rain has finally begun to fall again a little, but for about three weeks we had very little, and only the hardiest of flowers were blooming in the fields.

Chicory is one of them.  The field is the disused brownfield in the Mile End district of Montreal called Le champ des possibles. It's been a protected urban wilderness for five years, and now it is full of wild flowers and bird song.

Nice to walk in on a hot morning.  Great initiative in the middle of a city.

Saturday Photo: Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World As We Know It

 This week I hope to finish up my new book, Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World as We Know.  Well, maybe not finish, but at least have a decent manuscript to send to the folks at the University of Regina Press.  In the meantime, here's an example of what working with concrete on a small scale looks like.

Saturday Photo: Moshe Safdie's 80th Birthday

Here's the building that started the remarkable career of Moshe Safdie: Habitat 67.  Apparently he turns 80 this weekend, while Habitat turned 50 last year.  How time flies when you're having fun!

Saturday Photo: Breakfast on the Grass, or Why It's Good to Talk about Heat-Related Deaths

It's been hot around here and  until the heat wave broke yesterday the parks were full of people early in the morning taking a break(fast) away from their hot digs.

We've had emails from friends who've seen the stories of heat related deaths in Montreal and want to know how we're faring.  The answer is:  fine actually. 

But has been bothering me is the way that practically none of the reporting mentioned the fact that health authorities in other jurisdictions like Ontario don't report heat-related  dates immediately.  Presumably that will come, but only a couple of months later, in the fall, after the heat crisis is past.

The approach in Quebec has been different since 2010.  Heath-related deaths must be reported, so that public health measures can be taken right now.  There's no way of knowing at this point if the door to door visits by firemen, the bottles of water distributed, and the publicity of what to do during a heat wave have averted deaths.    Presumably that will come later when the numbers are crunched and we see what kind of "excess deaths" occurred.

The interesting thing will be to see how the figures here compare with those in Toronto, say, or Ottawa where there weren't  heat awareness campaigns. My guess is that the rate will be as high or higher, even though according to the Globe and Mail today "only 53 per cent of households in Quebec have air conditioning, compared with 83 per cent in Ontario and 57 per cent nationwide, according to 2015 figures from Statistics Canada.

Saturday Photo: Morning Contemplation

Hot weather.  Time to get out in the morning and then cool it inside...

We were in the parks at 8:30 a.m. Often go walking at that hour, but the boys spent the night with us, and they were ready for action early on.  Spent some nice time in the various parks.  Nice to have them so close (and "them" means both parks and grandsons.)

Now the old folks are resting, since the kids have gone home. ...

Saturday Photo: The Ducklings Are Back..

The ponds in our neighborhood parks are home some years to duck families.  This is the first time I've seen one in this particular park which is one of the most used.  Visited daily by masses of kids, exercisers and loafers, you wouldn't think it would offer much shelter.

But obviously it does, because the eight little guys I counted (couldn't get them all in the photo at one time) are too small to have flown here.  The nest must be in nearby bushes, and remained undiscovered long enough for the eggs to hatch.

Nice to see them.  A delight to know that there's still some nature in the city.

Saturday Photo: More Concrete....This Time in Peru

Moving toward the home stretch for my book Rock of Ages: How Concrete Built the World As We Know It. The University of Regina Press wants a draft by the middle of July, so it can be published sometime in 2019.

So I'm hard at work.  Among the things I'm doing is looking at the photos I've taken in my various travels to see what role concrete has played in the places I've visited.  The photo is of a building under construction in the little town in the Amazon basin where my bus stopped on the trip I took across the Andes from Cusco, Peru to Rio Branco, Brazil.  (For more about that, see Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move.)  Definitely artisanal, DIY work, but it's also testimony to the ubiquity and usefulness of concrete.

Saturday Photo: Cars...

Woke up about 2 a.m. to the sound of cars racing.  This is Grand Prix weekend and the town is full of wannabes who are driving muscle cars too fast.  I suspect they were racing down Park Avenue which at the hour is usually deserted. 

It was a moment when you listen, almost hopefully, for a crash.

Cars are useful.  But like fire, they need to be controlled.  I'm a born-again pedestrian and I definitely could do without so much vehicular traffic on our streets.

But last year, this lovingly decorated oldie caught my eye.  Don't know if you could race it.  Probably not, thank goodness.  Somebody, however, thought a lot of it. 

The exception that proves the rule that cars are a pox on civilization?

Saturday Photo: Reading Lists....

Well,  it really isn't a photo, but a painting  done by the Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy in the 1890s.  Called "Paris Interior" in some places, it captures an era, as well as the calm delight of reading. Even the child on the floor seems to have escaped the heavy (if rather lovely) atmosphere of the salon.

Which brings me to reading lists.  I animate (the French word for moderate which I like a lot better) five book discussion groups in Montreal libraries, and this is the time to come up with reading lists for the season beginning in the fall.  Below you'll find what the groups will be reading, with the books in no particularly order. Note that these are not the only good books out there, but four of the five groups provide copies for the members, which means that only books for which there are 10-15 copies in local libraries make the cut.


A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Bone and Bread  by Saleema Nawaz

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Lost in September by Kathleen Winter

Swing Time by Zadie Smith

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall

The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble

The Human Stain by Philip Roth

Indian Horse by Richard Wagemese

Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende

The Widow by Fiona Barton

The Door by Magda Szabo

419 by Will Ferguson

Larose by Louise Erdrich

The story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Exposure  by Helen Dunmore

Indian Horse by Richard Wagemese

The Women by T.C. Boyle

The Free World by  David Bezmozgis

The Road Past Altamount by Gabrielle Roy

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

 Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Sélections en français

Nana de Émile Zola
Petit pays de Gaël Faye.
Le Mystère Henri Pick de David Foenkinos
La servante écarlate de Margaret Atwood
Le plongeur de Stéphane Larue
Un pedigree de Patrick Modiano
Un long retour de Louise Penny
L'heure mauve de Michèle Ouimet
Les sirènes de Bagdad de Yasmina Khadra

Saturday Photo: Not Just Maples and Oaks and etc.

Everything starts growing this time of year.  Here is a photo of the brilliant new growth on a deciduous tree.  Don't know the name--I'm not good with those of plants--but I'm struck by the power of renewal in plants.

Reminds me of the title and first line of Dylan Thomas's poem The Force That through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower. The rest is rather like those brilliant still-lives of fruit and flowers that always show some decay to remind us of our mortality. 

Better on a spring day to think of the force, not the end of the force.

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman’s lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather’s wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover’s tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

Saturday Photo: Bumper Crop of Violets, the Other Side of Invasive

I love invasive plants.  Or Darwinian gardening, if you prefer. In my book, an attractive plant that has expansive tendencies is wonderful, because it will push out less attractive plants that aren't so aggressive.

That's why I planted violets in the front garden a few years ago.  Now they have taken over a fair amount of it and the neighbor's little yard.  Transplanted to the back yard, they now are making a wonderful show.  Of course, the little treelets are some competition, and I spent part of yesterday afternoon taking many out.  But still, what a delight to see so many lovely little flowers growing expansively on their own.

Saturday Photo: To Ope' Their Trunks the Trees Are Never Seen...

...How Then Do They Put on Their Robes of Green? "

Good question!  I always think of that song we sang  in my Southern California childhood this time of year in Montreal.  Back then there wasn't much seasonal difference in foliage and I remember puzzling about the words.  Here, though, the difference is nothing but miraculous.

The photo on the left was taken April 29 a few years ago, and the one on the right, three days later.  The great spurt of growth usually comes in the first week in May, when the bare branches a transformed into clouds of yellow green, and then into leafy shade.  The change has come a little later this year--leaflets just coming on now because of a week of very cool temperatures--but it is none the less something wonderful.

The last line of the song is: "They Leave Them Out!"  Another puzzle, until you realize that it's a pun.  Too sophisticated for kids, maybe.  Or maybe not...