Categories
Experiences Only in Montréal Places

It’s Rainbows All the Way Down

I love the color in this town.
Categories
Experiences Musings and Observations Places

A Visit to the Neurophilosophy Department

or, letting post-docs pick your brain

It’s not easy to engage in a foreign city when you don’t speak the language and you’re avoiding deadly viruses and you work remotely from home.… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences History, Culture, and Politics

The Big Bang

The L’International des Feux Loto-Québec started last night–an international fireworks competition that shoots off every Saturday night for the next several weeks. We can see some of the fireworks from our balcony, but to experience the whole show including the ground effects and synchronized soundtrack, you have to buy tickets for the fairground seating.… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences History, Culture, and Politics Places

Putting the F in F1

This weekend marks the return of the Montréal Grand Prix, which takes place on Isle Notre-Dame in the St. Lawrence River (about a mile away from us, as the crow flies).… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences Musings and Observations

Prison of Smoke

Those of you who know me well know that I’m a lifelong allergy sufferer.

I’m not talking about your seasonal hayfever or getting sneezy around cats. I’ve been gifted—whether through nature or nurture is unclear—with full-on potentially fatal reactions to food additives, OTC pain relievers, particulates, and more.… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences

Ugh

So, despite all of our caution and rigorous masking in public, we got temporarily floored by some nasty bug. Fever, headache, GI stuff … the lot (sorry if that’s TMI). Repeated COVID tests came up negative, so who knows?… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences Places

Street Takeover in MTL

pink and purple pedestrian street terrasse being built outside a resto terrasse with flowers terrasse with flower boxes built in large planters sponsored by City to add color planters and signs

In Montréal, summer means celebrating the sunshine dans les rues and dans les bars (which, for the first time since the pandemic started, are allowed to be open until 3 am again).… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences Musings and Observations

Cells Receipt

I brought an old disused cell phone up here from L.A. because I found out that to get a Canadian credit card and build Canadian credit, you have to show a utility bill with your Canadian residence address as well as your ID.… [Read More]

Categories
Experiences

I Got 99 Problems But A Bixi Ain’t One

Until COVID hit, one of my chief joys in the summer was riding my flowered “bridal bike” to the beach. The ocean was beautiful, the air was (mostly) sweet, and the crowds endlessly interesting. Unlike other forms of exercise, I found cycling fun, something I could indulge in for hours and still want more.
Categories
Experiences

Haute Tension

The last week before our departure was hell, and TBH I wasn’t handling it calmly.