In the past week, the temperatures started dropping from full-bore Summer swelter, cooling a degree here or there, until suddenly it seems to have become Autumn. The nights are cold, and the mornings are crisp.… [Read More]
Author: Sylvain Descartes
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Views of Late Summer
It’s been beastly hot and humid (like everywhere else, it seems), but we have been spared the worst of the wildfire smoke thus far this year.
During much of July, I had some back problems preventing me from going places or carrying camera gear around, but things seem to be improving.… [Read More]
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Service
Here’s a riddle: Why is Saskatoon like service?
Answer: they’re both names for native trees that produce edible berries.
Amelanchier canadensis has a lot of names: serviceberry, shad-blow serviceberry, bilberry, juneberry, sugarplum, or currant-tree.… [Read More]
I wrote about nostalgia for May. But today, on a rainy Sunday, I’ll show some of the sights from the botanical garden in June.
We’ll start by the cafe, where new hanging baskets are fiery bright.… [Read More]
We’ve been here just over a month. Can I possibly be getting nostalgic already?
Well, May 10th was a lovely spring day; the sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the trees were green.… [Read More]
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The Ascent of Mt. Spruce
Last weekend, we went for a jaunt to l’Estrie, the Eastern Townships of Quebec. This region stretches from the St. Lawrence lowlands down to the Vermont border, and includes some of the northernmost extents of the Appalachian uplands before they swerve off to Newfoundland.… [Read More]
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Crabapple Week
The flowering time for plants can be very short, which, of course, is not unique to here. Some species flower for longer than others. Chrysanthemum and thistle flowers can last for weeks or months.… [Read More]
I remember reading a translation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and being surprised at how many paragraphs Hugo dedicated to critiquing the architecture of Paris. He was very concerned with good buildings and bad, and the attention paid by the builders.… [Read More]
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Row-zoo?
Remember “Yanny or Laurel?” I experience a similar thing here on the metro.
On the Orange Line, there’s one station that gets announced and the way I hear it is very misleading:
To my ear, that sounds like “prochaine station row-zoo.”… [Read More]
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The New Neighborhood
On the first of May, some people go a-Maying, some celebrate Beltane, some celebrate the Labor movement, and some riot outside of multinational corporate offices. Manon and I have our own ritual where we arrive in a new neighborhood for the Summer.… [Read More]