Saturday Photo: First Morning of the Year

 Cold morning of January 1 when the water was warmer than the air.  Happy New Year all, a little late.

Saturday Photo: Happy New Year

 

Saturday Photo: Stars...

Season's Greetings, and all that.

Here's a link to my Christmas blog, in which there is much about stars...including the sun.  https://soderstromyule.blogspot.com/
 

Saturday Photo: Ice Doesn't Reflect

 

Maybe you knew this, but I didn't.  Ice doesn't reflect  the same way that waer does. 

This morning at the Lachine Rapids, it was chilly and windy, but the terempuerature was above freezing. Nevertheless, there was a thin layer of ice on part of the pond, enough to support a few gulls, and to interfere with the reflections of the trees surrounding it.

 There is a message there, I'm sure, but it's been a busy couple of days and I can't entertain any weighty thoughts at all... It's like my brain as is frozen as that still portion of pond.  

Saturday Photo: Winter Wonderland

 Great snow for sledding this week.  A shame it is raining now, but for a while the kids (most of whose teachers are on strike) had a lot of opportunity for playing outside.

Saturday Photo: Winter Flowers

 One of the sadder things about winter here is the disappearance of flowers.  After the leaves have changed colour and fallen off the trees, the world is much drabber.  And if the snow has not fallen, there's not even the splendour of sunlight on a white landscape with a blue sky as a backdrop.

 

Except...except people fight back with flowers in windows.  These geraniums were peeking out from a window in le Vieux Québec the last time we were there.  A brave and cheering sight.

Saturday Photo: Good for 500 Years?

 Where Canada keeps its memories: Took a trip to Gatineau to lend a hand during the current teachers' strike, but I also visited the Preservation facility of the Library and Archives of Canada. Couldn't see inside, but very impressive outside. The aim is to shelter both hard copy and digital records and documents for 500 years. @dundurnpress

Saturday Photo: Visit to the Reserve

A little outing Friday to the Musée des Abénakis in Odanak on the St-François river. Very interesting, and afterwards lunch at Café Masko.

Saturday Photo: Early Snow...

 Snow this week, the second flurry of the year. My birthday is November 8, and last year was the first year since I arrived in Montreal decades ago that it hadn't snowed before then. This year, as if to make up for its tardy appearance in 2022, we had snow on the ground October 30 and again on Nov. 9. Gone now, but there are still leaves on the trees even though it's kind of cold.

Saturday Photo: Showing off at Concordia...

 
Great fun at the Read Quebec Book Fair.  Got to show off my books and talk to some interesting follks. The event was held both Friday and Saturday in the gorgeous atrium of the J.W. McConnell building at Concordia University

Saturday Photo: A Forests of Light

The way it was in the forest on the north side of Mount Royal this week.  The warm weather in September seems to have delayed the trees' gorgeous progression into autumn this year, but things are becoming lovely now.  I feel ambivalent about this, because the delay is due to climate change.  But I will take a few moments to enjoy the display now...
 

Saturday Photo: And a Cardinal in a Grape Vine

Well, you can't see it, but this week a female cardinal visited our grape vine several mornings to feast on the wild grapes growing there.

It was a bad year for pears in out little garden--only three after the squirrels got to them--but the grape vine, which is a volunteer one growing out of our compost heap, had lots of grapes.

They aren't very good to eat because they don't have much flesh, the seeds are big, and the taste is sour.  But obviously that hasn't stopped the cardinals from feasting.

That we have cardinals at all in the backyard is something new, and probably the result of climate change.  Twenty years ago they were a rare sight in the neighborhood but now are rather frequent visitors.   

I have, as you might imagine, mixed feelings about this.  Nice to see the birds, but not happy about what their presence indicates. 

Saturday Photo: More Than the Squirrels Can Eat

A shower of crabapples!  Went for a walk in Mount Royal Cemetery this morning to find that the squirrels and other critters have an abundance of goodies on the ground right now.  Looks like more than they can eat at the moment!
 

Saturday Photo: Thanksgiving Greetings from Montreal

 Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone. It's raining here--and much needed--but this is the way I like to think of fall. It's a good moment to stop and reflect on all one has...

Just in Case You Wondered What I've Been Reading...

I've been asked by a couple of websites that gives suggestions for reading to create a list or two.  

 

Here's the one  on BookList:

 

Saturday Photo: Asters to Finish up the Summer

 This has been an unusually fine year for certain flowers around here.  Early on there was clover everywhere, in every lawn, reminding everyone that plain grass is just that: pretty plain.  Now as the summer fades away with unusually warm temperatures, native asters have come into their glory.  I have encouraged them for years in my little centre city garden, but I'm glad to see that they've spread, and now dot many other gardens.  Took a drive out of the city today, and saw billows of them. 

Saturday Photo: More Housing...

 

And then there's this highrise model. 

Saturday Photo: More Permanent Housing

 This wasp nest suddenly appeared this week.  Wasn't there on Monday, I'm sure, but it was looming like a malevalent piñata on Thursday.  Wasps are really amazing in the way they can build a very sturdy shelter in no time at all.

But it's gone.  After a call to the borough, a crew came and took it down.  I didn't see that happen, but I admire the moxie that it must take to wrangle with wasps.

Of course, the beasties have a right to live among us, but just not close that our worlds collide.  Saw another nest this morning about a block away: wonder if they just moved house...

Saturday Photo: Temporary Housing?

You're right: it's bird's nest.  Almost walked past it last week on the trail at the Parc des Rapides de Lachine last Sunday, but at the last minute it caught my eye.  I've no explanation of how it got there.  Certainly the breeding season is over in these parts, and from the looks of it, many birds are already preparing for winter migration.

The nest would appear to be in good shape, so I hope that it was home to a successful family of birdlings this summer.  Would that it were so easy to house the many folks who these days are having a hard time finding a place to stay. (Almost said "keeping a roof over their heads," but looks like the only "roof" was Mom or Dad's body during the nesting time.)

Saturday Photos: Hotline, a Very Good Novel Now Available in Audio and Ebook Formats

 

Head's up: The Atwater Library and Computer Centre's book discussion group--led by yours truly-- will be talking about Dimitri Nasrallah's Hotline at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 13. The book in audio and ebook formats is available to library members from now until then. All you have to do is follow this link to borrow a copy:

https://libbyapp.com/library/atwaterlibrary

The book happens to be this year's Together We Read choice. Here's the link for more information: https://company.overdrive.com/.../hundreds-of-public.../

The meeting will be for our first in-person discussion in more than three years. You don't have to sign up, just show up.