Heigh ho, heigh ho

Holiday over, it’s time for work again, but walking into the office from the car park this morning, I thought how very lucky I am.  It was a fine morning, there was no-one else about and there were just so many interesting things to see.  Come with me and I’ll share them.

I can see where I’m heading and yet the pathway appears to be taking me in the wrong direction to begin with.

But my attention is grabbed by the wondrous visual texture in this watermeadow.  Lovely, fat bullrushes stand tall amongst creamy grasses which blow in the wind.  Further on there are some lighter green bushier plants which I can’t recognise at this distance, and there are the poker straight heads of the purple weed whose name I’ve forgotten too.

I’ve no idea what this lovely seedhead is – I thought at first it was a thistle, but no spikes to be found anywhere on it.

Who would imagine that all of this is in the heart of the city, just alongside a main thoroughfare and only five minutes walk from a honeypot for tourists?

First, I need to cross the river over this skinny bridge.  It has quite a hump in the middle and I would imagine it to be great fun to ride a bike over.

From the bridge, there are lovely views over those watermeadows.

Next, there’s the nasty road to cross in a place where it’s tricky to see both ways.  All wits are needed to listen for oncoming traffic and I need to be prepared to run over to the other side quickly.  Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to head a car coming over that bridge.  There in the background is the city jail.

Safely over the road, turning into the docks area, there’s a huge wicker planter outside the Arts and Crafts centre.  Hadn’t noticed that one before, but it’s looking glorious in what is a fairly dull corner.

My next bridge is more interesting!  These are the lock gates which connect the docks to the river.  I’ve never seen them in use and assume that nothing uses this entrance to the docks now.

I always enjoy a close look at this great old crane, part of the heritage collection which remains around the dock area.  There are bits and pieces all over the place and I smile when I think of the message which was delivered to a meeting I was attending one day:

“Someone has chained their bicycle to a museum exhibit”.

It’s not always easy to tell what is an exhibit and what is a piece of street furniture around here!

The sign on the crane is interesting because my meeting today is all about literacy and numeracy and I know that at least some of the discussion will be about metric measures.  I am glad I don’t have to learn how many pounds in a hundredweight, hundredweights in a ton and so on!

More bridges, this time inside one of the old warehouses.  These look pretty spectacular and it would be interesting to see inside.

Nearly there now and I see the swing bridge is up.  The docks are busy these days with narrow boats moored here and the pleasure boats which offer trips up and down the river and the canal.

One of these, the cream coloured steamer at the end of this arm of the network, leaves at two hourly intervals and when the office windows are open, the loudspeaker address system can be clearly heard with the same chunk of commentary each time it leaves.  This usually includes a warning of what will happen to unaccompanied children who are found to be running around and resulted in one colleague inviting alternative suggestions (keel haul?).

But here, on the fifth floor of the warehouse is where I am to spend my day.  After enjoying the fresh air and such an interesting walk through a greatly improved and regenerated industrial area, I’m as ready for work as ever. 

Whilst we were in New York, we walked a short part of the High Line again and marvelled at the great planting and stylish urban renewal.  So often, it takes a trip to a less familiar, faraway place to remind me that there are interesting and similarly exciting places on my doorstep.  It’s just that they are so familiar, I sometimes forget to look at them.

Nearly forgot

My sale-time bargain at John Fluevog.  Having been dragged here, kicking and screaming by Nadine (no, not really! Mary and I needed no persuasion whatsoever) we simply had to try a few pairs of shoes on, didn’t we?

I was lucky that these sweeties fitted perfectly.

But which colour to choose?  Those purple buttons are great, aren’t they?

I just had to buy both pairs ;-)

The soles are works of art in their own right.

Unpacking

It’s such a horrible job to unpack a suitcase following a road trip.  Fortunately there’s the added bonus of discovering a little treasure or two, acquired along the way.

The first little bundle of goodness was fairly near the top since I bought these dear little notebooks in Montreal, at L’Essence du Papier .  Perfect for my handbag notebook, I would have loved one in each colour.  As it is, I settled for four.  Each has a little removable frame on the cover and a moleskine-style pocket inside both back and front covers.

I also found a few KnockKnock goodies here and at Kate’s in New York.  The larger notebook will be perfect for my work meetings, allowing space for all kinds of doodling alongside the more serious stuff.  The post it notes will hopefully bring a smile from time to time.

Spending time with booky friends means that not only have the books which I left with been swapped and traded, but I’ve gathered some treasures along the way as well.  Jordi provided me with much reading material for the journey in the form of several Surface Design Journals which not only entertained me but have found a new home with Nadine.  She also added to my Keith Smith collection though, with the Text book which is a fascinating if slightly odd subject to appreciate.  Fortunately she knew it would be right up my street!

I found the Japanese book about creating travel journals in Kinokuniya in New York and couldn’t resist.  I did, however, resist this.  At more than $50 for a fairly small (but absolutely divine) paperback book it will have to stay on my wish list for a little longer!

Finally, the Personal Best book was a gift from a dear LA friend who has family connections with the author.  I shall enjoy reading that one, especially in the light of my coaching training!

The Kool-aid supplies are replenished and I’m looking forward to a flavor-filled, fun-packed session with friends soon.

Nadine brought treasure to share, including what looks like a great way to add a little maple goodness to our morning bowl of cereal.  She also brought maple syrup sweeties but you didn’t really expect those to last long enough for a photo, did you?

Mary, our travelling companion, gave me a great Couture Planet bag to put all my goodies in, sourced from our friend Elizabeth in LA (you might remember this)  Needless to say, my thoughtful honorary sister chose it especially because of the world traveller design which someone around here hasn’t examined closely yet.

Yes, that’s an imaginary world train map to work out.

I’ve already confessed to a few goodies in Purl (where I was rather restrained, I think) and magnetic bag clasps and things in M&J trimmings.

Finally, it would appear that we are amongst the last people to learn about cooking a chicken on a beer can.  Jordi, Mary and Nadine could all recommend this method and we came across a variety of gizmos to assist the process.  But this beauty was found in the smartest of kitchen shops and we succumbed.

We’ll give it a try tonight and report back soon.

Update on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 7:12PM by Gill Thomas

Moist, tasty and full of flavour, our chicken turned out beautifully and I can recommend this method of cooking.  The added (and surprising) bonus was the cup of jus which replaced the beer I'd poured into the lower part of the stand before cooking.  I used the basic rub recipe from the book I linked to above - click on "See inside" for a great deal of information and recipes...so much that I doubt if we need to buy the book itself.

Except Mark just found Root Beer Game Hens in the table of contents.  Had I not tried and loved Nigella's ham in Coca Cola I'd have written that one off immediately, but now, I'm not so sure.

Bon appetit!

Copy cat

Following the trend set by a few friends and having several hours to spend at JFK this afternoon, I too have had a go at this

The result?

I write like Cory Doctorow.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I used my last blog post as the sample?  Or perhaps I’ve absorbed more Canadian linguistic features than I realised?  If I’d read any of his work, I might be able to offer a more educated comment.

Anyway, our flight is delayed and we are ready for home, but we mustn’t grumble ;-)

Pop!

Our last day here in Montreal was quite a surreal experience. 

It started in our ordinary, quiet sort of way.  We met Nadine and decided we’d spend Saturday morning on Rue Laurier, pottering about this little neighbourhood like ordinary Montrealers, stopping for coffee when we felt like it.  Though it’s fun to see the “sights” in a city, sometimes (and especially after two weeks of doing such things) it’s good to assume some kind of normality; to share a bit of ordinary routine in a place.

We were especially taken with the outside staircases which are so very characteristic of the city.  Here, there are four front doors, each to a different apartment in the same building.  I always think that having one’s own front door is important: Montreal was built for people like me!

After a little mooch along this smart street, filled with lovely independent shops selling beautiful kitchenware, shoes and things for the home, it was surely coffeetime?

We perched, the four of us in a line along the window of the patisserie and watched the world go by.

We chatted about how the view opposite didn’t really feel North American at all and wouldn’t have been out of place in a French town.

(As we were thinking that, a chap left the patisserie with a baguette under his arm, as if to confirm that very thought)

Yes, of course we passed comment on the dress standards of those who passed by, not to mention the ability  (or lack thereof) to park a car efficiently.

We can only hope that our comments couldn’t be heard through the glass!

Before we left, we needed some group photos, so we persuaded Mark to step outside with our cameras and we posed for some silly shots, entertaining the passers by as we did.

No, this isn’t a member of our family, but Victor, the mascot of the comedy festival which reaches its conclusion tonight.  He was walking in front of the first slightly surreal event of the day.

This was the Twins Parade, when 500 pairs of (mostly) identical twins walked through the city centre, on their way to the Annual Twins Ball.

Twins of all ages carried their portraits in what Mark declared, a slightly creepy experience.

 

It was a challenge to take photographs since three of Montreal’s most statuesque women were working as stewards and standing right in front of us.

But occasionally, those in the parade were happy to pose, especially the young women, who seemed to be enjoying the occasion most of all.

In the evening, Nadine had booked a table at The F Bar, a portuguese brasserie adjacent to the main Comedy Festival venue.  We enjoyed delicious food with the added bonus of the festival sideshow.

Sensing a buildup to some kind of finale outside, our waitress explained that a Human Cannonball act was going to take place shortly.  Dessert was ordered as we stepped outside to observe this spectacle!  Sure enough, the chap climbed inside the cannon, the crowd counted down “quatre, trois, deux, un…” and pouf, he was propelled high into the air to land safely in the net high above the crowd.

He took his bow and spectacle over, we returned to the dessert business and savoured our crispy-crunchy choco-coffee gelato, our natas with sorbet and rice pudding with anis-pear sorbet and red fruits.

The crowd walked home and we followed on a little later, bidding Nadine a fond farewell and promising to get together again soon.

A bientot, Montreal!!