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!
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?
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!
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!
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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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 !
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. 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.
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, 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. 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. 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. 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.
A Glimpse into a Small World
-
As is usual these days, the year has rushed by too fast. This autumn I have
been busy learning some new skills and researching in preparation for a
couple ...
