Saturday Photo: Or What Happens When the Internet Lets You Down

No picture this weekend, to show my profound disappointment that we didn't have internet for 24 hours this weekend.  Amazed at how much we have come to fit regular views of news sites, Facebook and e-mail into the fabric of our lives.

Things are back to normal, which means I can waste more time than I should following links to interesting sites....

Saturday Photo: Bees....

My overgrown, mostly-indigenous garden of perennials has been hosting a bumper crop of bees this summer.  Glad to see that, given the current worry about the fate of bees in the wild.

But last night a few wasps decided to check out the sausages I was barbecueing.  Not so welcome visitors, but I guess all part of the web of life, or some such.

Saturday Photo: Pear Harvest

It's been a wet, rather cool summer but the two pear trees in our backyard have loved it.  There are more pears than the squirrels can eat, and I harvested those I could reach this week.  Not that they're terribly tasty, but getting fruit like this in the middle of the city is pretty cool.

My neighbor Nicola, with whom we share our harvest particularly since they get a lot of down fruit on their side of the fence, said she makes a purée of the pears, freezes small portion,  and then uses them to make pear mousse.  Sounds like a winning idea.  As soon as the pears are ripe enough (and you have to pick them before they're ripe) I'll do just that.

Saturday Photo: The Grand Antonio, and Electricity

One of the grandkids favourite stories is that of The Great Antonio, a Montreal strong man, by Elise Gravel.  He pulled buses with his teeth and other feats of strength.  Gravel's illustrations are delightful, and obviously made a big impact on not-quite-five Thomas.

When we were doing a little morning walk-about near Grand Coulee dam on our recent trip, he got very excited, pointing toward the hilltops and talking about the Grand Antonio.  The adults couldn't figure out what he meant, but then it dawned on us: the high tension pilons carrying electricity from the dam.  They look a little like someone flexing his muscles, I agree.

You could probably do a nice turn on that: how electricity makes the world run, and how it magnifies the strength of all of us.  But I think I'll just be delighted at a little boy's imagination. 

Saturday Photo: Dry Falls and the Forces of the Earth

On our trip West in July, one of the most interesting places we stopped was at the Dry Falls State Park where the ancestral Columbia once ran.

Or maybe it wasn't the Columbia, exactly.  What is certain now is that  an enormous amount of water  surged over this precipice as the Ice Age ended and an ice dam burst, letting free the impounded waters of a massive meltwater lake.  The result was a catastrophic flood (or floods) and this dry, empty landscape which followed.  The dark rocks, by the way, were laid down in another geologic event that staggers the imagination: the great volcanic episode which saw lava spread over hundreds of thousands of acres for perhaps a million years.

All this puts our particular problems in  perspective.  We are screwing things up royally, but our presence on this planet is likely to be only fleeting.  The rocks remain.

This Just In: Full Page, Back Cover Ad for Road through Tiime in the NYReview of Books!

It was a quiet evening yesterday until my husband shouted from upstairs that I had to take a look at the new New York Review of Books.  So I scurried up to find a full page, back page ad for Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move!

Wow!  I had thought maybe there'd be a little publicity some place, but I certainly didn't expect this! Do hope that it introduces the book to a much wider audience.

Saturday Photo: Fiat Lux at Grand Coulee Dam

Back from nearly two weeks in British Columbia and Washington State with kids and grandkids.  Many excellent adventures, you can be sure...

This photo was taken just as the sun was rising on Wednesday downstream from the dam itself.  I like the combination of the sun and the power lines: truly fiat lux. both solar and electric.

The Columbia River and it dams are under threat from interests that want to privatize them.  Terrible idea!  Here's the link to a good story from The New York Times about the situation.

Saturday Photo: The Western Edge of the Continent

Summer is vacation time, and I'm thinking of the trip we took to the West Coast a few years ago.  This is photo taken on Vancouver Island, showing the abundance of the sea.

We're headed out that way soon, and I can hardly wait!

Saturday Photo: Fruit!

We're not quite there yet (the photo was taken a couple of years ago) but it looks like we'll have a bumper year for raspberries and pears--if the squirrels aren't too hungry.

The problem with urban gardening isn't that it's in a city. No, it's the high density of critters who like the garbage that's left out, but really prefer to eat what you try to grow.

Some years ago I gave up on tomatoes, and now only have flowering annuals, and the fruiting plants that I put in before the decision.  But this looks like a year when perhaps there will be even more than the beasts can eat, perhaps because of the rainy spring.  The cherry tree across the lane is loaded with fruit, while in our yard I've rarely seen such promise.

Now if it would only be sunny for a while to let everything ripen...

Saturday Photo: Bonne fête nationale, Happy St Jean Baptiste Day

So, I'm actually posting on Friday, not Saturday.  That's because it seems like the weekend already.  Jeanne's school was finished yesterday, so she and Elin spent the night, after a picnic with Louis and company.  It wsa Louis's first birthday, and Thomas's soccer team, the Barracudas, also had a game.  A very pleasant evening!

Tomorrow is Quebec's Fête nationale, formerly known as St-Jean Baptiste Day.  When I finish posting this, I'm going to put up our Quebec flag, which, of course, featured the fleur de lys, the blue iris.  I do this not because I'm a Quebec nationalist, but because this is where we have chosen to live, and I want to signal that we (and other immigrants) should be included in all fête nationale celebrations.

Saturday Photo: Another Invasive, and One Not So

The perfume of Russian olives fills the air these mornings.  A bit like the scent of orange blossoms, it lingers all day.  I love the trees hardiness, as well as the smell.

But not everybody does.  Russian olives were introduced as wind break plantings early in the 20th century, and found conditions right to spread widely.  British Columbia is only one jurisdiction that considers it an invasive nuisance.  But around here, it's reached the limit of its natural comfort zone, and so grows in a well-behaved manner.

The Japanese maple, which is also beautiful right now, is much harder to grow.  I've tried, and in the end decided that I'd thrown away the $75 or so I spent on the small tree, because it simply did not appear when the snow melted the next winter.

But this gardener on The Plateau has succeeded in putting the two trees together wonderfully.

Saturday Photo: The Beauty of Invasive

Maybe 20 years ago I bought a couple of columbine plants at a time when I wanted to switch to annuals in our small garden.  They have thrived, and are now in bloom  in front and in back of our house...and also in several other yards along our street.

I've done a little selective transplanting, but never onto to neighbor's property, so it would appear that at the force that through the green fuse drives the flower (to quote Dylan Thomas) has spread these lovely, complicated flowers.

Does this make them "invasive?"  Perhaps.  If so, what a lovely kind of invasive plant.

Saturday Photo: Making up for Lost Time with Two Photos from the Gaspé

Just spent a great week on the Gaspé peninsula with Lee.  It was part work, but mostly play and we had a wonderful time.  The weather was cool and windy, but sunny--apparently a rarety this spring. 

So here are two photos from the trip.  One is of L'anse au griffon, and the other of the weirdly amazing concrete figures that Marcel Gagnon has created, coming out of the St. Lawrence at Ste-Flavie.

Saturday Photo: Forget-me-nots in the Grass

I don't believe in lawns, so the little one we have in our small backyard is strewn with many plants other than grass.  Among them is mitosis or forget-me-nots which are in bloom extravagantly right now.

Never forget how lovely they are...

Saturday Photo: Green Rain after the Real Rain

The photo actually was taken a few years ago, but it looks like this outside today.  The maple trees are dropping their little flowers (drupes, I think, is the proper name) and lawns, sidewalks and gardens are covered with this lovely yellow-green rain.

No hard real rain is in the forecast which is good news for those struggling with high water from the last weeks of heavy precipitation.  Of course, things would not be nearly as bad, if people hadn't built on flood plains and wet lands.  As my mother used to say, just because you build a house on a swamp, it doesn't cease to be a swamp.

This house is on high ground, and it was built in a time when folks knew that low land could spell trouble...

Goodreads Giveaway Winners Announced!

The Goodreads Giveaway  for Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move ended on the weekend.  Here are the winners: Kal Adler, Steven Telly and Muayad Aldarweesh.  They should be getting their copies soon.

And for those of you who didn't win, but who would like to read the book anyway, it should be in any good independent bookshop and here are links to on-line places: McNally Robinson, Chapters-Indigo,  Amazon.ca , and Amazon.com,

Saturday Photo: Getting There....

This is the week the trees leaf out, and in spite of the rain they seem to be on schedule this year.

Lovely to see the green...

Saturday Photo: Shameless Self-Promotion Department

This is what the book looked like at the launch a week ago.  Since then I've talked about writing it at the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival and am now getting ready to go to Librairie Clio for Authors for Indies day.

Quite a week!

And for those who'd like to read the book, here's the link to the Goodreads Giveaway.  Only a little more than a week to enter to get a free copy!

Saturday Photo: Standing Room Only at the Launch Party for Road through Time

And a good time was had by all!  Librairie Drawn and Quarterly was packed Thursday night when we celebrated the launch of my latest book, Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move.  



It was such a pleasure to see old friends and new friends, including people I hadn't met before, in fact.  The flowers were from Ted Phillips, a true gentleman, and the photos were done by minha amiga brasileira Alice Mascerhenas.

Official Launch Tonight!

Just a reminder to my friends who haven't already heard: we're having the launch party for Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move tonight from 7-9 p.m. at Librairie Drawn and Quarterly, 211 Bernard West, in the Mile End district of Montreal.  Come and help us celebrate.

And this just in, a great review in Library Journal that ends: s:  "VERDICT This accessible work about an integral aspect of human life is a must-read for all interested in society, past and present."