It's a Small World After All

For the past week or so, I have been ruminating. Looking around, thinking about this and that, bits, bites, books and birds.

Wondering what's new, and what's hot. Newsworthy, or not.

And with the exception of a few small things, I find that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Friends and family and just plain folk -we all continue to struggle with:

LOVE

How to find it, court it and keep it.

HEALTH

How to be stronger, faster, thinner, smarter, harder, softer, better.

HAPPINESS

How to nurture, share, savour and care.

Besides love, health, and happiness -what else is it that the human spirit searches for? The degree to which we are successful in our quest can move mountains, molehills and armies of men.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

This is the lesson I have learned in the past year or several.

And it's not that it's good or bad. It just is.

 While visiting Montreal over Christmas, I came across this amazing scene in the windows of a little Italian restaurant in NDG. Like all things small and intricately wrought, it drew me in..and I spent a lot of time just looking at this amazing vignette. Wondering how it got started. Who started it? Who keeps it up? Who creates it? Who protects it? Is it a village effort? Who's hands have made the tiny tools? Who's mind has decided what's needed next?

Who sets it up? Who takes it down?

And within it all, there are a hundred stories being told.

Each one set up to let you linger, to question, and to enjoy.

Which I did. And which you can too.

Happy New Year. May your life be as full as this one!

Cityscapes.

I’ve lived in the country for most of my life. This includes two or three stints in an urban landscape during high school and university years, and for a while after that. But for the most part, I’ve lived in the country, where the air is clean, the sky is blue, I see wildlife on an almost daily basis, and I can’t always get what I want at the grocery store. Consumer leakage occurs for a few other
items too, but that’s a different blogpost.

Yup! I’m a country mouse, and I LOVE going to the big city. By big, I mean Ottawa, Toronto, or Montreal (the three that are closest to me). Last weekend, it was Montreal to help my

daughter while she had some medical issues attended to.

She lives in a great apartment, in NDG - a downtown neighbourhood, short for Notre Dame de Grace. Her apartment is very funky - and in this case, the word is apt. It’s over 100 years old, right on Sherbrooke Street, has high ceilings, plaster walls, not enough electrical outlets,
and a wonderful view from the little two person balcony.

(Ed. note.  There is no elevator and she’s on the top floor of this thighrise with its built in stairmaster!)

These paintings – by my talented daughter – are her interpretation of her urban landscape:

When I’m in Montreal, I love going to the Atwater Market. This market is a well established, renowned regional destination, and for good reason! The food is always artfully displayed, reasonably priced, bountiful, and delicious. It is an exceptional example of the merchandising premise “first you feast with your eyes”.

The Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal is likely one of the oldest hospitals in Canada, and it’s in a constant state of renovation. While we spent a few hours there, I was able to step back into the 1880’s, and pretty much every other decade spanning the last 150 years!

Now back home, I am no longer vertically challenged by stairs,

and“highrise” has a totally different meaning here…

The Farmers' Market

Atwater Market in Montreal

is one of the best farmers' markets I've ever been to.
It has many specialty purveyors of fine cheeses, meats, vegetables, incredible artisan breads,fruit, fish, flowers, and pretty much anything
you can think of that comes from the farm, field, or forest.
To visit is to feast with the eyes, and to wander slowly past the colourful displays...
a little taste here, a sip there, and before you know it, an hour has gone by.
The shopping basket is bursting, and you feel connected to the fabulous food you're about to enjoy..local flavour meant to savour.
The birds like it too.

La Belle Montreal...

My holiday continues, and now 1800 km north of Cape Hatteras, I have landed at Chez Soeur on the plateau in Montreal. The fact that someone turned the autumn switch on overnight does nothing to dispel the joie de vivre that is found on every street and around every corner! I love this city, and if I had to live in a city, this would be the one.









On the plateau, near Parc Lafontaine, homes fit snuggly together, the brick facades barely hinting at the style within that spills out on to the street, and into the shops.






Everytime I visit this city I discover another project to think about making -in this case, the simplicity of wood "biscuits" to act as a frame for a row of willow twigs, that bid visitors welcome.













Montrealer's don't care if it rains, snows, sleets or hails...sunflowers will prevail, and you will smile.















And if you are smiling, then surely, you will also need to eat...food begins with colour as we first eat with our eyes.









Then the other senses kick in, and the single carton of eggs I needed becomes four bags full of goodies and goodness. This is at the corner "marche"...half a block from my sister's place...maybe a 1000 sq. ft. brimming with local foods to savour and tasty merchandising brilliance. No Safeway, Loblaws, Food Basics here - thank God! And the fresh croissants every morning make life worthwhile.