Aildoux's daily blog projecKt

20040101 Pogona vitticeps at the Miami Planetarium

2010-01-02T23:58:00.002-05:00

20040101. Six years ago. Pogona vitticeps.

20091231 New Year's Eve table

2010-01-01T13:49:00.002-05:00

20091231. New Year's Eve table set of some wine, some lime water, a candle and some bonbon patate at Roch's.

20091230 Umbrellas decor at the Place Alexis-Nihon

2009-12-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

20091230. Umbrellas display at the Place Alexis-Nihon.

20091229 Nine musical

2009-12-30T00:19:00.000-05:00

20091229. The musical Nine at the Cineplex Odeon at the Dix30 in Brossard. Some movies are best seen on the big screen in the movie theater rather than on the the TV screen at home.

20091228 Burden of Dreams: DVD of the Day

2009-12-29T10:57:00.000-05:00

20091228. DVD of the Day: the documentary Burden Of Dreams about the filming of the movie Fitzcarraldo that we finished viewing before this. What a madman this director Werner Herzog was, actually pulling a 320-ton boat over a mountain! Without special effects or tricks! Movies are just not made like that anymore today!

20091218 Painting at Simons in St-Bruno, QC

2009-12-28T10:51:00.000-05:00

20091228. Artwork in the Customer Service area of Simons in St-Bruno. Signed Y. Plante.

20091226 Ice Fishing in Brossard

2009-12-27T20:06:00.000-05:00

20091226. Ice fishing (in french Pêche Blanche or White Fishing) has begun in Québec such as here in the Parc Léon Gravel in Brossard on the St-Lawrence river. Ice is about 8 inches near the shore here.

20091225 Digital Camera Chritmas

2009-12-26T10:01:00.001-05:00

20091225. Seems that kids have cameras (digital, of course) more than ever today. 3 of these belonged to children and at the Christmas gifts unwrapping at Mérik's, they were used a lot! Before, during and after! I think the sentence most heard there was "Where's my camera!!!" The adult's cameras were used a lot also, including the one that took this picture plus a cell phone, plus at least two other cameras at Roch's in the evening, and on top of that a kind of Ipod was filming! LOTS of digital images to be archived!

20091214 Sauce Canneberges et Porto

2009-12-25T09:19:00.004-05:00

20091224. Gigi was making cranberry sauce with Porto. Yum! In french Cranberry is Canneberge, but in Quebec we say Ataca, sometimes spelled Atoca. A word from the indian meaning... Cranberry! Joyeux Noël everyone!

20091223 Peter Gabriel: Play The Videos (2004)

2009-12-24T09:13:00.001-05:00

20091223. DVD of the day: Play The Videos. Peter Gabriel's 2004 compilation of video clips. Entertaining stuff!

20071222 Ladder to Nowhere

2009-12-23T09:20:00.001-05:00

20071222. Flashback to two years ago in Saint-François-du-Lac. Our record breaking year of snowfall started early. I had to remove part of the snow on the cornice. At one point, the ladder was just standing by itself in the snow! A ladder to heaven, or nowhere!

20091221 Weather girl Anouk Meunier at the Dix-30

2009-12-22T11:48:00.004-05:00

20091221. Weather girl Anouk Meunier of the TVA morning show Salut Bonjour with Mr. & Mrs. Santa Clause at the Dix-30's skating rink. Saw she was there while I was at home and since it was on my way to the gym, I stopped by for a Starbucks coffee and to take a few shots. Her bit taken at 7h37 can be see HERE (link dead now).

20091220 Super 8 chez Costco

2009-12-21T13:59:00.000-05:00

20091220. Found a new stash of Super 8 home movies in the garage. Went to have them converted to DVD at Costco in Brossard. Price is not too bad.

20091219 Mirrors at Simons in St-Bruno

2009-12-20T11:02:00.000-05:00

20091219. Last minute Christmas shopping. At Simons in Saint-Bruno, it seems they went crazy for mirrors! Still, it has an artistic look to it.

20091218 Movie of the Day: Flirting (1991)

2009-12-19T15:41:00.001-05:00

20091218. Movie of the day: FLIRTING starring a 1991 Nicole Kidman. Part 2 of an Australian trilogy. Part 3 never was produced despite the success of part 2.
Nicole Kidman, born in 1967, she was about 24 when she played in this move. Still, here she looks much younger, a woman in her late teens. The magic of movie making!
DVD from the bnq. We liked this teenage angst movie. Serious themes evoked. A good one. Won lots of awards.

20071217 Doll & Marbles in SFdL

2009-12-18T12:29:00.000-05:00

20071217. Flashback to two years ago. In Saint-François-du-Lac on the day after a snowstorm I took a walk to the post office to get my mail. On my way back I took a few pics of the store front window of what is said to be a museum of antiquities. Closed for now for legal and financial reasons. This shot shows a doll with marbles. "Jeu de billes" means "marbles game". On the left is a "Pot de chamble" or "chamber pot" or "chamberpot", a pot to pee in during the night in the days when the only place to do that was outside in the "bécosse", a word that comes from the english "back house" or "backhouse", aka "out house" or "outhouse".

20091216 Reception area at Ernst & Young's Montreal offices

2009-12-17T08:50:00.001-05:00

20091216. Waiting room area at Ernst & Young's Montreal offices, 800 blv René-Lévesque, 19th floor. Love the citrus water!

20091215 Movie of the day: Marathon Man

2009-12-16T16:09:00.001-05:00

20091215. Movie of the day: Marathon Man starring a 1976 Dustin Hoffman. An unlikely story about a old Nazi looking for diamonds. I've seen better. Copy from the Brossard library.

20091214 Neil Young's Greendale

2009-12-15T11:34:00.001-05:00

20091214. Movie of the day: Neil Young's 2003-2004 musical Greendale. It has some good bits, such as the actors lipsinging to NY's music, but it's for fans only. Better get the CD sountrack. Got this copy from the BNQ.

20091213 Goodfellas: Movie of the Day

2009-12-14T20:49:00.003-05:00

20091213. Movie of the day: Martin Scorsese's 1990 motion picture Goodfellas, starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Without this movie, the series The Sopranos would not have been. Got our copy, a double-sided DVD in a snapcase, from the Brossard library. All Scorsese pictures are a must.

20091212 Marbles as Artwork by Francis Coupal

2009-12-13T13:38:00.002-05:00

20091212. Marbles by Francis Coupal at Montreal's yearly pre-christmas event, the Salon des Métiers D'art, an arts and crafts fair.
http://www.metiers-d-art.qc.ca/smaq/
http://franciscoupal.wordpress.com/

20091211 Spanish Kosher Wine for Hanukkah

2009-12-12T11:01:00.001-05:00

20091211. After sundown, it was Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday that takes place at about winter solstice. After supper, we chose this wine from Spain we had as our Wine Du Jour for our evening wine. By sheer coincidence, it was a kosher wine, blessed by the Rabbinate of Israel itself! I say coincidence, because I dint even know it was Hanukkah!
The label says
"Terroso Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Kasher pour la Pâque et toute l'année. Kasher sous la supervision du rabbinat principal d'Israel."
Translation:
"Terroso Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Kosher for Easter and all year round. Kosher under the supervision of the principal Rabbinate of Israel."
The wine was good, but it did have a lot of sediment in the bottom.
I learned it was Hanukkah only during our evening movie. And by another coincidence, that movie was Downfall, a German production about the last days of Adolf Hitler in his bunker in Berlin.

20091210 Pavillion Judith-Jasmin, UQAM

2009-12-11T10:11:00.001-05:00

20091210. The UQAM's Judith-Jasmin pavillion. More with a Photosynth I created and that can be seen HERE.

20091209 Bicycle Helmet Cams

2009-12-10T09:59:00.004-05:00

While the first major snow storm of the winter raged outside, I've been getting into a new research thread since I saw Sports Experts's latest flyer. It showed a bike helmet cam, the Gopro Helmet HD. But I had some qualms with it: No screen to see the images; the camera is not affixed to the helmet with the regular screw all cameras usually have; and I already have a camera, so why buy another one? So this is a bit of what I came up with: Cheapest solution I saw are do-it-yourself projects. One can be seen at http://www.sailingtexas.com/Movies/052506AustinVeloway/052506AustinVeloway.html. Just a plywood base affixed to the helmet. I wrote to the man and this was his prompt reply:

The bolt that holds a camera to a tripod is a standard American thread size. I just got one that size at my hardware store and mounted it in my bicycle helmet, then screwed the camera on it. Seems too simple, but it works.
A panasonic DMC LZ2 is what I used, they'll take movies. Now I have a DMC LZ7, a later model, and it works fine too.

Two other DIY projects I found are linked from http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/features/diy-bike-projects-anyone-can-do/. The first, at http://www.camerahacker.com/build/Bicycle_Camera_Mount.php, uses parts from a handlebar headlight. So it's not really a helmet cam setup. Not interested much since I already have such a thing (The Clampette). The other DIY project is at http://photojojo.com/content/diy/attach-a-camera-to-your-bike/. It's also for the handlebars, so I'll pass.

The cheapest setup I could find was something called The Happy Helmet Bike Camera Mount. The picture I posted above, from their website (Photojojo), is that contraption. For only $20US (plus almost half as much to ship to Canada!), I could get this versatile setup with straps that you can affix almost any camera to. So no need to buy a new camera. Best option for a first step.

Other options are more expensive, going into the hundreds of dollars because you have to buy a new camera that goes with the setup.
The most simple ones are one of the various GoPro models, such as the one I saw on the latest Sports Expets flyer. But the cameras themselves are kinda cheapo for my standards. What I imagined is a simple lens wired up to a camera body devoid of a lens. http://pointofviewcameras.com/ has the best selection of models of this type of camera I could find on the web, but there are others to shop about on the web for. Google it! They are also called bullet cams, lipstick cams, etc.... The lens can be affixed to practically any surfaces and is lightweight enough to be affixed to a bike helmet. But you'll have to dish out hundreds of dollars for these specialized gadgets. I guess one could spend about $1000, easy, on this! The only problem I have is that the body of the camera looks only like a simple metal box with a screen. It does not look like it's easy affixable to the bike handlebars like I'd like it to be, for easy control of the shutter and various buttons. A swivel screen model would be nice too but I don't see any. I guess with such specialized gadgets, you've got to customize yourself to some extent whatever you buy.

20091208 Black & Blue Screen of Death

2009-12-09T18:50:00.003-05:00

Had to bring my desktop to a computer shop for a checkup. I've been getting the silent BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH. Not the Blue SOD. The Black SOD. Seems like a hardware problem.....or it could be related to the Trojan Horse problem I had lately........or to a driver problem..........who knows............Overheating? I did blow an aircan to clean the dust in my computer tower. It was VERY dusty! Still, the BkSOD cam back, along with a Blue SOD to boot! Running on my laptop for now. You know, maybe Google has something in their upcoming O/S, called Chrome. They say you'll have nothing but operating files on your computer. All other files, Word, Jpg, Mp3, etc, will be on-line. I've already begun working like this with some Word files I've hosted on Facebook. Could be the way of the future.

20091207 Pâté d'écureuil maison

2009-12-08T10:03:00.002-05:00

20091207. We've got way too many squirrels in Brossard. Some are outright FAT! Here's a solution: From a 1979 wild meats recipe book called 200 Recettes de Gibier et de Poisson (200 fish and game meats recipes), here's one called Pâté d'écureuil maison (Home-made squirrel paté)! It was even created by a big hotel chef of Toronto! For many more squirrel recipes, all in English these ones, go to http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

20091206 Casio Privia PX-730 BK

2009-12-07T13:12:00.001-05:00

20091206. To get in a festive holiday mood, we got for we got an electric piano at Costco! It's a Casio Privia PX-730 BK. The sound is pretty good! My tender half played piano decades ago, so she'll be a bit rusty when she'll start playing again. But I love to hear the sound of someone practicing! A good demonstration is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwJJm7X7-7U

20051205 Five seconds of Christmas light at F8

2009-12-06T09:29:00.000-05:00

20091205. Fun with a camera and indoor Christmas lights in Brossard! 5 seconds at F8, resized by Facebook.

20091204 Longueuil to Montreal on my bike

2009-12-05T22:19:00.001-05:00

On the Pont Jacques-Cartier bridge. Part 1 of 2 is embedded above. Part 2 is HERE.

20091203 Pezizoïd lichen in Varennes

2009-12-04T09:29:00.003-05:00

20091204. Pezizoid lichen on Populus deltoides bark in the Parc de la Commune park in Varennes along the St-Lawrence river.

20091202 Ice Crystals in Brossard

2009-12-03T16:50:00.001-05:00

20091202. Ice crystals on the edge of a Populus deltoides leaf in the Parc Béliveau park in Brossard.

20091201 Wine bottle label printed only in blue

2009-12-02T09:10:00.001-05:00

20091201. A wine bottle label printed only in blue ink. Kind of unusual, I think. From Portugal. Liked it ok.

20091130 A Whitening of the Laurentians

2009-12-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

20091130. A whitening of the Laurentians. Loftboutiques has changed it's name to Hôtel St-Sauveur.

20091129 Mont-Saint-Sauveur's half ski slope

2009-11-30T16:41:00.003-05:00

20091129. Mont-Saint-Sauveur has created a half ski slope with artificial snow. Beside this snow on the mowed hay I walked up to where the ski lift takes them. This is the POV from where they start to go down. The long white poles are part of the snow making machines. I checked and was told that those over 55 get an over $200 rebate on a season pass here. No wonder. Most skier are younger than that. I'm afraid downhill skiing would be just too hard on my knees!

20091128 Rivière Du Nord in Piedmont, Laurentides

2009-11-29T09:10:00.001-05:00

20091128. The Rivière Du Nord in Piedmont, Laurentides, QC.

20091127 H1N1 Vaccination done at last!

2009-11-28T10:49:00.002-05:00

20091127. We finally did our civic duty and went and got the H1N1 flue shot. The vaccine has a white milky look to it. I didn't feel a thing!

20091126 Micheline Bertrand's Art Exhibit

2009-11-27T17:28:00.000-05:00

20091126. Art exhibit of Micheline Bertrand at the Centre Multifonctionnel in Boucherville. http://www.michelinebertrand.com/

20091125 Squash For Squash Soup

2009-11-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

20091125. Squash I picked. Cut up for squash soup.

20091124 Two bikes at the BNQ library

2009-11-25T09:20:00.000-05:00

20091124. Two bikes at the BNQ library. I parked mine, the black one, when I arrived. When I left, this one was parked there also. A lady's bike. A bicycle love affair?

20091122 John Mayall in Montreal vid

2009-11-24T17:03:00.003-05:00

This is part 2 of 6. See the other parts HERE.

20091122 John Mayall in Montreal

2009-11-23T15:25:00.002-05:00

See my Facebook photo album of the show HERE.

20091121 Santa at Place Portobello in Brossard

2009-11-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

20091121. Santa Clause in Brossard at Place Portobello. Just a couple of hours before I took this pic there were lots of children in line to see him!

20031121 Io Moth in Florida

2009-11-22T08:42:00.000-05:00

20031121. Six years ago. This is the caterpillar of Io Moth (Automeris io) eating a palm leaf in Florida. Beware: Do not touch this one with your bear hands! The pins on it's back sting worst than nettle!

20091120 Willow leaves on pavement in Brossard

2009-11-21T16:58:00.001-05:00

20091120. Willow leaves on pavement in Brossard.

20091119 Montreal from JC bridge & SH island

2009-11-20T10:32:00.001-05:00

20091119. Montréal as seen from the Jacques-Cartier bridge on Sainte-Hélène island.

20091118 Christmas at the Dix-30

2009-11-19T09:51:00.001-05:00

20091118. Christmas decorations are up at Brossard's Dix-30 shopping complex. This is as seen from the Gold's Gym Prestige there. My lady is already enrolled at that gym. I enrolled too today, but with an opting out clause because I plan to go there only for the winter months. Tried a Spinning class today for the first time ever. It's pretty intense, but I liked it!

20091117 Sun Through Stained-glass Window

2009-11-18T08:45:00.001-05:00

20091117. Stained-glass window chez Ginette. This time of year the angle of the sun is just right!

20091116 Île à Hylas & Île à Light in SFdL

2009-11-17T09:21:00.000-05:00

20091116. Two island in the Rivière Saint-François river in Saint-François-du-Lac: Île à Hylas in the foreground & Île à Light. Snow can come anytime now. Nature is ready. Humans too, like it or not!

20091115 Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Puzzle

2009-11-16T09:05:00.001-05:00

20091115. We finally finished The Beatles' Sgt Pepper 1000 pieces puzzle tonight! Took not too long a time to do, bits at a time. Less than two weeks. A fun one this one. Not your classic puzzle nature scene. Next up: an Anthology montage 12" X 36" 1000 pieces puzzle.

20091112 Montreal: Downchild Blues Band & Guests

2009-11-15T14:15:00.002-05:00

The band is composed of: Donnie Mr. Downchild Walsh guitar, Chuck Jackson lead vocals, Michael Fonfara (of Rhinoceros fame) on keyboards, Pat Carey tenor sax, Peter Jeffrey(?) trumpet, Mike Fitzpatrick drums, Gary Kendall bass.
From their website: "Its time for Canada to celebrate it's own legends of Blues! And when one thinks of blues music in Canada, the first name that springs to mind is DOWNCHILD. Its been 40 years since Donnie Mr. Downchild Walsh and his late brother Hock, formed the renowned group that would be the inspiration for the world famous Blues Brothers. DOWNCHILD plans to celebrate this anniversary in style, with some very special friends - including blues brother and movie icon DAN AYKROYD. Opening on the tour is COLIN LINDEN who will be performing both solo and then with the band. JAMES COTTON, WAYNE JACKSON OF THE MEMPHIS HORNS as well as JONAS, BOB WALSH and NANETTE WORKMAN will make guest appearances along the way."

Part 1 of 4. Includes the Colin Linden opening act and Dan Aykroyd's introduction to the Downchild Blues Band and the beginning of their set at Montreal's Metropolis venue.

Part 2 of 4. Includes more of their set at Montreal's Metropolis venue, with guests Bob Walsh, Jonas, and James Cotton.

Part 3 of 4. Includes more of their set at Montreal's Metropolis venue, with guests James Cotton, Colin Linden, Nanette Workman & Dan Aykroyd.

Part 4 of 4. Includes the conclusion of their set at Montreal's Metropolis venue, with guests as quoted below.

I also took some pictures, such as this one:

My Facebook picture album is HERE.

20091113 Jacques-Cartier bridge's anti-suicide fence

2009-11-14T10:48:00.003-05:00

20091113. Jacques-Cartier bridge's anti-suicide fence. Was built a few years ago when they did a refab of the sidewalk. I love the sleek linear look to it.

20091112 The Montreal Metropolis Venue

2009-11-13T10:47:00.003-05:00

20091112. The Montreal Metropolis venue. We went to see there The Downchild Blues Band! They played with many special guests this time for their 40th anniversary tour.
From their website: "It’s time for Canada to celebrate it's own legends of Blues! And when one thinks of blues music in Canada, the first name that springs to mind is DOWNCHILD. It’s been 40 years since Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh and his late brother Hock, formed the renowned group that would be the inspiration for the world famous Blues Brothers. DOWNCHILD plans to celebrate this anniversary in style, with some very special friends - including blues brother and movie icon DAN AYKROYD. Opening on the tour is COLIN LINDEN who will be performing both solo and then with the band. JAMES COTTON, WAYNE JACKSON OF THE MEMPHIS HORNS as well as JONAS, BOB WALSH and NANETTE WORKMAN will make guest appearances along the way."
I'll be posting videos on Youtube and creating a photo album on Facebook later. No time for that today.

20091111 Expo 67's USA Pavilion

2009-11-12T12:00:00.003-05:00

20091111. The St-Lawrence river between Notre-Dame island on the left and Ste-Hélène island on the right, as seen from the Jacques-Cartier bridge. Featuring the sphere of Expo 67's USA pavilion, the world's biggest buckyball !

20091109 Snow Geese, Overhead Shot

2009-11-11T08:33:00.002-05:00

20091109 Snow Geese, riviere Richelieu, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Overhead shot, cropped.

20091109 Snow Geese, riviere Richelieu, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

2009-11-10T08:33:00.001-05:00

During a 100km bike ride to Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu on this quite balmy fall day, I saw some Canada Geese on the Richelieu river at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. That's not unusual, but what is unusual is seeing Snow Geese here, and in quite good numbers, a few thousands at least. there were some here and more upriver nearer to the town. They gave me a good show of going up a bit, some overhead to rest in fields for the night, some only upriver a bit. Music: Philip Glass from 1000 Airplanes On The Roof.

20091108 The Odd Couple....

2009-11-09T09:05:00.001-05:00

20091108. The odd couple. In the Parc Des Vélos in Brossard, the best place to get a very good view of the Champlain bridge over the St-Lawrence river seaway, these two, a Canada Goose and a Snow Goose, are living together agreeably here. Both having lost their respective flocks, they pick the grass and take handouts as best they can. The Canada goose looks like a young one. The Snow goose could be the same one I saw there last August 27th. Not much afraid of people, they do walk away if you approach closer than a couple of meters, and fly away on the water if you're too much of a pest to their liking.

20091107 Winter car port ready!

2009-11-08T08:58:00.001-05:00

20091107. We finished putting up the winter car port. Thanks Jacques!

20091106 Tillandsia cyanea, $7.99 at Ikea

2009-11-07T17:03:00.001-05:00

20091106. Tillandsia cyanea, $7.99 at Ikea in Boucherville. Didn't get one but we did get 3 libraries in the slightly damaged stuff area.

20091105 Cat in the back yard in Brossard

2009-11-06T09:15:00.001-05:00

20091105. Cat in the back yard in Brossard.

20091104 Dog and Cat in Pierreville

2009-11-05T09:09:00.001-05:00

20091104. ...like a dog and a cat at each other...
Today was a winterizing day again. Had the tires changed on my car, along with a lube job and the anti-rust treatment. All done in Pierreville at Les Entreprises Normand Verville, a specialist shop in vehicle electric systems who does some other odd stuff too. The shop is located next to his home. He has two nice dogs, a black one and this beige one. This one went along with be for a walk in the woods behind the shop. A very nice dog but later on it was at this cat's nerves. The cat could defend itself quite honorably! The shop owner lent me a courtesy car so I could go back home while he was working. At home in SFdL, I put up the isolating plastics in the second floor windows.

20091103 Beatles stuff at D-Tox

2009-11-03T23:22:00.002-05:00

20091103 Beatles stuff at D-Tox, a young men and women's clothing store. Some is exclusive and interesting. They have a version of Monopoly with street names and places taken from Liverpool and London, England. A Trivial Pursuit with all Beatles questions. Some puzzles, etc. I took a Sgt Pepper's puzzle. This is in the Brossard store in the Mail Champlain mall.

20091102 Artwork on the highway sound barrier in Brossard

2009-11-03T08:23:00.002-05:00

20091102. Artwork on the highway sound barrier in Brossard. Along the eastern side of highway 10 and Bergerac St. Shot taken while on a 51km bike ride on the first day of my doing all the streets of Brossard on bicycle. Done all the streets between Milan, Grande-Allée, Highway 10 and Chevrier.

20091101 Saint-François-du-Lac municipal elections

2009-11-02T16:59:00.002-05:00

20091101. Municipal elections in Saint-François-du-Lac, as everywhere in Quebec today. In the voting booth, this is how it looked. My voting poll was #5. So I expected to get at most to vote for the mayor and for who represents my district (#5), just like it happened to Ginette in Brossard earlier in the day. But when it was my turn to vote, they handed me a pile of voting slips. I unrolled them all in the booth and understood that I had to vote for a representative in each and every district, along with the mayor! That's why it took so long for people to vote and that the line was not advancing very fast!
Now, if you look very carefully, there was 3 candidates for mayor. The incumbent on the left, and two ex-SFdL mayors. The funny thing is that, on the mayor voting slip there are 3 choices, but on the representatives' slips there are only 2. That's because the candidates Yvan L'Heureux has the same representatives as Jaques Gill! Only #5 & #6 are missing from his list. (In an ad from the local hebdo L'Annonceur of 20091021, Jacques Gill proposes both Nathalie Desmarais and Julie Bouchard for #6!) Why bother to split the vote if you want the same people with you? Don't these representatives have a say in who they back as mayor? I guess that's how loose and blurry things get in small towns.... I think Nathalie Demarais (district #6), who owns a beauty salon and who's roosters, hens and rabbits sometimes visit my back yard, will have some explaining for me!
Who won? Info below.
http://www.lecourriersud.com/article-i396270-Les-resultats-du-vote.html
Saint-François-du-Lac
Maire: Georgette Critchley (62,6% des votes)
Conseiller 1: Jean-Louis Lambert (74% des votes)
Conseiller 2: Jean Duhaime (60,3% des votes)
Conseiller 3: Yves Plante (59,8% des votes)
Conseiller 4: Daniel Labbé (70,5% des votes)
Conseiller 5: Réjean Gamelin (75,1% des votes)
Conseiller 6: Julie Bouchard (67,7% des votes)

20091031 Jean Letarte - Le Grand Reposoir (2005)

2009-11-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

20091031. A painting in the hall of the Centre Multifonctionnel in Boucherville. It is called Le Grand Reposoir (the great resting place) by Jean Letarte (2005). There were many more paintings there. I chose to post this one because it looked a bit Halloweenish.

20091030 Winter car port structure

2009-10-31T10:33:00.002-04:00

20091030. Time put up the car's winter sheltering port with a little help from a friend. First, the skeleton. Next week the canvas.

20091029 Red Fox on Notre-Dame island, Montreal

2009-10-30T09:17:00.002-04:00

20091029. Saw a red fox again on Notre-Dame island. It was roaming here and there along the bike path and over the canal's bridges near to the old Expo 67 Jamaica pavillion, close to the Quebec and France pavillions (those are today the Montreal Casino). Totally unafraid of people. Looking for handouts, it actually approached me and a couple there taking a walk. The man threw it some cookies that the fox ate like a dog would. So it was relatively easy to take some good shots of it. This is the best one, zoomed in at max zoom, slightly cropped and resized by Facebook. If I had something to attract it, I would have done even better. There are plenty of pics of foxes with a nature background out there on the web already. By better, I imagine a pic with background showing context, such as the bike path, my bicycle, or something of what's left of Expo 67.

20091028 Cross at La Commune in Baie-du-Febvre.

2009-10-29T09:48:00.001-04:00

20091028. A simple cross in a field at La Commune in the town of Baie-du-Febvre.

20051028 Trashed Kodak carousels

2009-10-28T10:07:00.002-04:00

20051028. Flashback to four years ago. Kodak slide caroulels in the recycle bin in Longueuil. Sign of the digital times. Things change.

20091021 Three stenciled squirrels along the Chambly channel.

2009-10-27T09:01:00.001-04:00

20091021. Three stenciled squirrels on a pillar of the rt 112 over the Chambly channel.

20091025 Crepidium mieczyslawii as Crepdidium miczyslawi

2009-10-26T14:20:00.009-04:00

20091025. Went to an orchid show called the Ochidfête. It's organised by the Eastern Canada Orchid Society, a south shore of Montreal based group. They only have about 100 members and that shows by the size of the ...exhibit, contained in only 2 small rooms. A much smaller exhibit than the yearly orchid show I saw at the De Maisonneuve college last spring, the Montreal Orchidexpo.
Here's a sample of what I saw. It was on the table of the exhibitor called J & L Orchids. We've all seen the flamboyant orchids of wedding bouquets, but what I'm looking out for are the tiny ones. This one caught my attention. It looked like something related to Liparis. It's called here Crepdidium miczyslawi. But I wonder about that. Nether the genus name nor the specie name show up on Google. I get zero hits. Nada. None at all... Nothing... and that usually means that the the genus and/or specie names are spelled wrong. Usually Google suggests spelling corrections but in this case nothing. So it must be spelled terribly wrong! Well, not that wrong after all. I've checked in my favorite reference book on genus names, the Dalla Torr & Harms, and I found a similar name, the Crepidium, placed under Microstylis, a genus related to Liparis just as I thought. Looking up images of Crepidium on Google brings up pics of a plant very similar to the one here. So that must be it! Now, the specie name got me zero hits on Google, but they did suggest me an alternate spelling, but one that was useless to me. So looking up on IPNI, I found a similar name: Crepidium mieczyslawii. So that's it also! Two for two! This specie name gets me only five hits on Google! No wonder I had trouble finding it's proper name! Funny thing about Google: it does not show the IPNI page about this plant, not even in Google Scholar.
See the rest of the pics of the Orchidfête that I kept HERE and HERE.
Exhibitors and species shown are: Paphanatics Unlimited|||||| Cloud Orchids||| Aerangis rhodostica v. luteo-alba|||||| Habenaria myriotricha||||||||| Exotic Orchids Plus||| Oncidium ornithorynchum 'Orchidexpert X Donald'|||||| Schoenorchis fragrans||| Le Paradis des Orchidées||||||||| Phalaenopsis chingrey's goldstaff 'Orchis'||| Phalaenopsis Sogo Manager X Taisuco glory||||||||| Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy'||| Tropical Gardens Orchids||| Phalaenopsis tetraspis||| Asconopsis Jai Ho's Orange||| Neofinetia falcata 'Kinloukaku'||| Neofinetia falcata 'Seiryujishi'||| Neofinetia falcata 'Isetyabo'||| Tolumnia Spicy Pink||| Doritis pulcherrima 'Bedford Blue Ribbon'||||||||| Panarica prismatocarpa|||||| Les Orchidées MFC||| DiCiommo Orchids||| Encyclia cochleata||| Oncidium Jiuhbao Gold 'Taiwan'||||||||| Ecuagenera||| An-Li & Roger Sheng||| Orchid Inn||| Paphiopedilum hybride primaire Juxius|||||||||||| Paphiopedilum hybride primaire Johanna Burkhardt||| ||||||||| Ottawa Orchid Society||| Hamilton Greenhouse||| Green Poppies||| Les Orchidophiles de Québec||| Jardin Botanique de Montréal||| Dendrochilum filiforme|||||||||||| Trichoceros antennifer|||||| Ceratostylis retisquama|||||| Catasetum incurvum|||Mormodes rolfeanum||| |||||||||||| X Cycnodes Wine Delight 'J.E.M.' |||||||||||||||||| Bulbophyllum gracillimum|||||| Laelia splendida|||||||||||||||||| x Ascocenda Suksamran Sunlight 'Orange Crush'|||||| Lycaste cruenta|||||| Encyclia diota ssp. atrorubens||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Eastern Canada Orchid Society||| Radio Shack Optimus screen protector||||||||| Restrepia cuprea||| Ascocenda Suks anran 'Sunlight'|||||| Bedford Orchids||| Robert Flynn Designer||| J & L Orchids||| Angraecum didieri||| Masdevallia andreettana||| Pleurothallis mystax||||||||| Masdevallia exquisita||| Crepidium mieczyslawi as Crepdidium miczyslawi|||||||||||| Isochilus major 'Fox Den'|||||| Dracuvallia Blue Boy 'Cow Hollow'|||||| Fleurifik||| Plant Exotica|||||| Catasetum fimbriatum 'Golden Horizon'||||||||| ||| Catasetum socco||| Cycnoches barthiorum 'Jumbo Orchid'|||||| Brassocattleya Chief Pink 'Diana'|||||| Grammatocymbidium Lovely Melody|||||||||||| Anne Herbatuk Ikenobo||| Marsh Hollow Orchids||| Habenaria rhodochila|||||| Stelis eublepharis 'Conni's Star'|||||| Scaphosepalum gibberosum 'Marsh Hollow'||||||||||||||||||||| Dendrobium cuthbertsonii||| Wilsonara Firecracker 'Redstar'||||||||| Paphinia herrarae 'Marsh Hollow'|||||||||||||||||| Les Orchidophiles de Montréal||||||||| Stenoglottis fimbriata 'Drayton'||||||||| Dendrobium Pompadour|||||| Colmanara Wildcat||| Calanthe Grouville|||||| Aerangis hyaloïdes||||||||| Paphiopedilum Toni Semple|||||||||||| Dendrobium rigidum||||||||| Dendrobium cobbianum|||||| Dendrobium magnum||||||||| Dendrobium tenuibulbon||||||||| Dendrobium cootesii||||||||||||||| Bulbophyllum purpureorachis||||||||||||||||||||| Peristeria pendula|||||| Robiquetia merillii||| Orchids in Our Tropics||| Dendrobium lawesii||||||||| Stelis argentata|||||| Darwinia Charm 'Blue Star'|||||| Southern Ontario Orchid Society||||||||||||||| Laeliocattleya C.G. Roebling 'Royal Purple'|||||| Lepanthes telipogoniflora|||||||||||||||||| Platystele umbellata||||||||||||||| Lockhartia oerstedii||||||||| Adaglossum Summit 'Frenchtown'

20071024 Mailbox/bicycle in Nicolet

2009-10-25T08:04:00.000-04:00

20071024. Two years ago today. Here's an original concept: a mailbox on a bicycle. After the mailman passes, use it to carry stuff! Pic taken in Nicolet along the Rang Saint-Alexis.

20091023 Sun, clouds, airplane and wires over Notre-Dame island

2009-10-24T11:05:00.000-04:00

20091023. Sun, clouds, airplane and wires over Notre-Dame island.

20091022 First snowfall in Brossard

2009-10-23T19:53:00.000-04:00

20091022. First snowfall in Brossard.

20091021 Montérégiade II fermée 1001 au 0531

2009-10-23T19:50:00.002-04:00

20091021. Along a 100km bike ride to Mont-Saint-Grégoire, I saw this bike path sign that says "FERMÉE DU 1er OCT. AU 31 MAI", i.e. "closed from October 1st to May 31st", on the segment from Richelieu to Mt-St-Grégoire. That is totally ridiculous. We can cycle well into late October and even right into early December in some good years in fall and from March in spring without getting your tires in the snow. That early in spring there would still be snow along the bike path, but not on the road pavement, but there still is some meltwater there. I did once cycle during a warm spell on a February day about 10-15 years ago in St-Placide, but that's unusual.

20091020 Monument about the 12 November 1955, Nicolet

2009-10-21T09:02:00.002-04:00

20091020. Monument about the big landslide that happened in Nicolet 12 November 1955 that killed 3 persons.

The plaque below says:
ICI
LE 12 NOVEMBRE 1955
UN ÉBOULIS
FIT TROIS VICTIMES
ET DÉTRUISIT
L'ÉVÊCHÉ, L'ACADÉMIE
ET
QUATRE RÉSIDENCES

SOCIÉTÉ ST-JEAN-BTE.
DE NICOLET.

Translation (none of the automatic translators are accurate):
Here November 12th 1955, a landslide took three lives and destroyed the Bishopric, the Academy and four residences.
St-Jean-Baptiste Society of Nicolet.

20091019 Conférence Vélo Qubéc: Jean-François Bédard: Cuba

2009-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

20091018 Gilbert Boyer 1991- La Montagne Des Jours, Mont-Royal

2009-10-19T15:19:00.003-04:00

To make a special happening today, we did this circuit of the five mable carved plates scattered around the Mont-Royal mountain park in Montreal. The artwork, called La Montagne Des Jours (the mountain of days), was done in 1991.
The texts on each discs are:

at l'Abri:
G. BOYER 1991
APPUYÉES À UN ARBRE
leaning against a tree
DES TACHES DE LUMIÈRE
stains of light
LE VENT DANS LES FEUILLES
the wind in the leaves
OUI MOI AUSSI ÇA FAIT LONGTEMPS QUE JE NE SUIS PAS RETOURNÉ... BIENTÔT... TU AURAIS DÛ M'AMENER ICI AVANT
yes me too it's bee a long time since i came back... soon... you should have brought me here sooner
DES FOIS JE FERME LES YEUX, J'IMAGINE QUE JE SUIS LÀ-BAS. TU SOURIS. TU SAIS ÇA ME MANQUE BEAUCOUP.
sometimes i close my eyes, i imagine i'm over there. you smile. you know it misses me a lot
TU VA M'ÉCRIRE SOUVENT? À TOUS LES JOURS!
you'll write me often? every day!

at Le sommet:
G. BOYER 1991
VOLER AU-DESSUS DE LA MONTAGNE JUSQU'À S'ENDORMIR LOIN LOIN LOIN
flying above the mountain till i sleep far far far
C'EST BEAU NON? QUAND JE VEUX LIRE LES DERNIÈRES PAGES D'UN BON LIVRE JE M'INSTALLE ICI
it's beautiful no? when i want to read the last pages of a good book i do it here
DE TEMPS EN TEMPS, JE LÈVE LES YEUX. IL Y A LE PAYSAGE COMME ÇA. JE FAIS DURER LE PLAISIR
from time to time, i raise my eyes. there are landscapes like that. i make the pleasure last.
ÉCOUTE... FAUDRAIT Y ALLER. C'EST À LA VEILLE DE TOMBER
listen... we've got to go. it's going to rain soon
ON VA PASSER PAR LE CHEMIN DE LA DAME. JE VAIS TE MONTRER QUELQUE CHOSE
we're going to pass by the lady's road. i'll show you something
TONNERRE
thunder

at L'escalier sous l'observatoire:
G. BOYER 1991
UNE PLUIE FINE
a fine misty rain
LE ROCHER
the rock
TOUTE LA VIE
all the life
ODEURS
odors
AH! UNE PERCÉE DE SOLEIL. JE TE L'AVAIS DIT. NON? ON FAIT LE GRAND TOUR
ah! the sun breaks through the clouds. i told you. no? we do the big tour
MOI, J'AIME TOUJOURS ÇA VENIR SUR LA MONTAGNE. ÇA ME FAIT DU BIEN
me, i always like to come to the mountain. does me some good
PAS LOIN D'ICI. CHARLES ET MOI. ON S'ÉTAIT CHICANÉ
not far from here. charles and me. we had a row
JE NE ME RAPPELLE MÊME PLUS POURQUOI
i don't remember even why

at La côte placide:
G. BOYER 1991
TU ES AU COURANT DE CES HISTOIRES QU'IL RACONTE TOUT LE TEMPS À TOUT LE MONDE, ET BIEN... AVANT PROMET DE NE RIEN DIRE À PERSONNE. C'EST UN SECRET.
you know the stories they tell all the time to everyone, well... first promise me to tell no one. it's a secret
DIMANCHE LUNDI MARDI MERCREDI JEUDI VENDREDI SAMEDI
sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday
ÇA VA, ON A AU MOINS UN QUART D'HEURE AVANT QU'IL ARRIVE. IL VA NOUS REJOINDRE AU VIEUX PEUPLIER
it's ok, we've got at least 15 minutes before they arrive. he'll meet us at the old poplar
DEUX TROIS ÉTOILES UNE BOULE DE BRUME AUTOUR DE LA LUNE
two three stars, a ball of fog around the moon

at Le lac aux Castors:
G. BOYER 1991
VEUX-TU ALLER TE BALANCER? LE PREMIER ARRIVÉ
do you want to go on the swing? the first there
MOI JE PEUX MONTER PLUS HAUT QUE LE CIEL
me, i want to climb higher than the sky
UN PETIT GARÇON A RETROUVÉ SA MAMAN, ELLE A UN CHANDAIL BLANC
a little boy found his mother, she's got a white sweater
HÉ! T'AS UNE COCCINELLE SUR L'ÉPAULE
hey! you've got a ladybug on your sholder
NON, ENLÈVE LA PAS, ÇA PORTE CHANCE
no, don't remove it, it brings good luck
DES POISSONS ROUGES! IL Y EN A PLEIN!
red fishes! there are lots!
MAIS , L'HIVER OÙ ILS VONT?
but in the winter, where do they go?
AEIOUY
aeiouy

See my Facebook picture album of all five discs of this circuit HERE.

20091917 Aconitum napellus in Brossard

2009-10-18T08:02:00.000-04:00

20091917. Aconitum napellus on Brebeuf street in Brossard. I liked the simple disposition with the cedar post fence

20091016 Sugar maple in Montreal

2009-10-17T08:09:00.001-04:00

20091016. Sugar maple in fall foliage color. Deep red with some orange in it. Actually, I used the "Foliage" setting on my camera to saturate the colors and so give it an even deeper red coloring. Makes for a more striking picture. Pic taken on Notre-Dame island.

Google Street Views @ Googleplex, Mountain View, CA

2009-10-16T09:01:00.002-04:00

An interesting series of images from Google Street Views is the once-around-the-block of Google's complex of buildings in Mountain View, California. Seems all the employees were asked to go out and be as crazy as nerds can be! Check out also the satellite image of the roof of the buildings. They are all covered in solar panels! See it HERE.

20091014: First Frost in Brossard

2009-10-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

20091014: First Frost in Brossard. Actually, last Saturday the 10th at about 11 PM, we saw a bit of frost in Vaudreuil-Dorion on the car, but the temp warmed up during the night, so that doesn't count as much.

Google Street Views, 74 Côte De la Montagne, Québec, QC

2009-10-14T09:11:00.001-04:00

A group of people, mostly children, actually waving at the Google Street Views Cameras! Picture taken at 74 Côte De la Montagne in Québec City. This is also a good example of the blurring of the faces. We can see that on this image and on the adjacent ones that not all the faces are blurred. I have no qualms with that. I'm sure that some people, myself included, would love to see their face on a GSV picture!
See it HERE.

20091012 Larix laricina in SFdL

2009-10-13T09:38:00.000-04:00

20091012. Larix laricina planted in my back yard in Saint-François-du-Lac. Turns a brght yellow in fall.

20091011 Coprinus comatus à SFdL

2009-10-12T18:57:00.000-04:00

20091011. Coprinus comatus in Saint-François-du-Lac. A very good edible mushroom commonly seen in lawns in fall.

20091010 Google Street Views, Canada

2009-10-11T09:24:00.000-04:00

20091010. Google Street Views in at last on-line in Canada! Yay!!! I just LOVE this app. Not all the streets in Canada are visible just yet, far from it, but you can see most of Montreal and it's suburbs, same for Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. Some of Quebec City is visible also. This image is in Old Montreal right beside City Hall.

20091009 Guy Laliberté in Space

2009-10-10T02:51:00.002-04:00

20091009. The Cirque Du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté is in space! He's Canada's first private citizen to go in there. He payed $35 million of his own money for that one week trip. I say go for it if you can! Tonight he put on a unique TV show from space to promote his One Drop foundation.
The show, called Poetic Social Mission, featured the likes of Peter Gabriel, U2, Al Gore, David Suzuki, Shakira, Gilberto Gil, Bindi Irwin, Salma Hayek, Lila Downs, Jean Lemire, Matthew McConaughey, Joss Stone, etc, and I'm dropping only some of the people I know here! A poem by Yann Martel was read by some of the people cited here, some others performed songs. The show was broadcast from around the world. We loved it!

20091008 Feuillage d'automne et roc

2009-10-09T07:05:00.001-04:00

20091008. Fall foliage is at their best now in the Laurentians. This is along the Petit Train du Nord bike path, between Saint-Adèle and Val-Morin. Pic taken while on a 46km bike ride between Piedmont and Val-David.

20091007 Piedmont mushroom semi-circle

2009-10-08T06:50:00.001-04:00

. Mushroom semi-circle as seen overhead two floors up zoomed in. Growing in the lawn at Loftboutique phase 3 in Piedmont.

20091006 Laccaria laccata à Labelle

2009-10-07T04:37:00.002-04:00

20091006. Laccaria laccata along the Petit Train du Nord bike path in the Laurentians in Labelle. Edible. We picked some.

20091005 Bolets à Morin-Heights

2009-10-06T01:38:00.000-04:00

20091005. Bolets à Morin-Heights.

20091004 Geastrum saccatum à Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts

2009-10-05T06:20:00.003-04:00

20091004 in front of 38 Av Filion in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts. Under spruce on a lawn. I believe this is the first time I see such a mushroom. Called Earthstars (Étoiles de terre), they are simply puffballs wrapped in a casing that opens up along slits. This action raises the mushroom off the ground making it easy to get accidentally pushed around by animals, rain or wind to aid in spore dispersal.

20091003 Fall foliage in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts

2009-10-04T10:23:00.001-04:00

20091003. Fall foliage in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts.

20091002 Rose des Vents du Parc de La Cité-du-Hâvre

2009-10-03T04:11:00.002-04:00

20091002. Le pont Jacques-Cartier vue du Parc de La Cité-du-Havre.

20091001 Withering Phalaenopsis

2009-10-02T11:41:00.003-04:00

20091001. Last February 9th, I got an orchid plant at Costo, a Phalaenopsis (See it then at http://aildoux2009.blogspot.com/2009/02/20090209-phalaenopsis.html). This week, after an amazing 8 months in bloom, it's final flowers started at last to wither! I got my money's worth, and it will bloom again and again in the years to come if it goes like another Phalaenopsis I had years ago. Nice!

20090922 Broken DVD

2009-10-01T11:46:00.002-04:00

20090922. This is what happens to a DVD if you break it between the fingers of one hand. Luck I didn't scrape myself.

20090914 Crème de Tomates Jaunes

2009-09-30T11:39:00.002-04:00

Du Châtelaine de Septembre 2004, j'ai essayé une recette fait avec des tomates jaunes. Nous avions une abondance de tomates jaunes, alors il fallait faire quelque chose avec. Le résultat était vraiment très bon!

20090923 Collection de Mortier & Pilon

2009-09-29T12:06:00.002-04:00

Last year, I went to a pharmacy nearby. It was Halloween and they were all costumed up. This year, I went back to that pharmacy. I had noticed that the pharmacist had a mortar & pestle collection on display. Today, I saw that it was displayed even nearer to the people so I took the liberty to take a pic of every single one of them. One other not shown here can be see following the Halloween pics.

20090927 Courges Sauvages à Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville

2009-09-28T13:48:00.003-04:00

Depuis deux ans, je fais une récolte de courges sauvages à Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville. Probablement que ce sont des plantules qui ont germés de déchets de courges. Ils pousses rampant sur le sol et grimpant sur les plants de blé d'inde! Vraiment surprenant et très beau en même temps. L'année passée, j'en avais récolté pas mal plus que cette année. Probablement que ce sont de déchets de l'automne 2007 qui ont revenus abondamment l'année passée, peut abondamment cette année, et possiblement pas du tout l'année prochaine. Voyez mes photos de cette année et de l'année passé sur Facebook ICI.

20090926 Défi Vélomag Shawinigan

2009-09-28T13:39:00.002-04:00

Le 107km du Défi Vélomag Shawinigan dans le Parc National de La Mauricie, vue de ma caméra fixé sur la Clampette fixé sur mon guidon de vélo. Je suis arrivé presque dernier! Photos Facebook ICI.

20090925 Parc Étienne-Bellemare, Saint-Jean-des-Piles

2009-09-28T13:26:00.002-04:00

Le Parc Étienne-Bellemare à Saint-Jean-des-Piles dans la Mauricie est intéressant pour ses multiples sculptures et pour la très belle vue qu'elle a sur la rivière Saint-Maurice est sur le village de Grandes-Piles l'autre coté de la rivière. Voyez mon album photo Facebook ICI.