But this one went the extra mile, and attached a bucket for maple sap to it.  Kudos.
​Between La Gauchetière and Viger, near the Palais des congrès

​Walked along Côte-Sainte-Catherine from about Stirling to Laurier this morning and was able to add a few stellar examples of topknots to my collection.
 

​On Côte-Sainte-Catherine I was walking along the bikepath and it was very busy. It was about 9:30, and I learned from the electronic counter along the way, that 363 cyclists had already passed that morning, bringing the total up to 581,289 for the year. That’s one busy bikepath.

​Then, at the corner of Laurier I spotted this. Now, I’ve passed lots of micro-brasseries in my travels, but never a cyclo-brasserie. This was a first for me.

​Was walking west today along Sherbrooke Street from McGill College to Mount Pleasant and came across these three varied readers cast in bronze. The guy reading the newspaper with a briefcase is a Westmount landmark. When I was talking on the phone to the receptionist at the doctors office where I had an upcoming appointment and asked where exactly 4141 Sherbrooke Street West was, I thought she’d give me a cross street, but instead she said, “it’s the building with the guy reading the newspaper out front.” I knew exactly what building she meant.

​A belated posting -I love this window display on Laurier E. with fancy Easter eggs. My favourite is the one with the zipper, although the eggstream is pretty good too.

​I’m a sucker for old-timey signs. So here is another example, this one from the Miss Villeray Lounge. The place even comes with its own version of the Ten Commandments regarding client behaviour posted on the outside.

​Then there’s Mamie, on Beaubien. Don’t ask me to explain the upside-down-ness of the sign. Maybe they paid the installer in free drinks.

Painted trunk opposite the Beaubien metro. 

Which snack would you prefer?
​Was walking in Verdun the other day and these signs caught my eye outside a dépanneur.

​It’s time for a roundup of my favourite eye-candy from my walks of 2023. It was rough to choose, all my children are special, but these rank as my top two – the giant manipulating hand on top of the Théâtre de Marionnettes, and the laid-back dude reading a book next to Librairie Résonance. Both are on Beaubien, so that tells you something.

A strong runner up in the competition is the beautiful tuk-tuk on Jarry. Maybe I should have nudged it up to the top.

I was walking down Wiseman this morning, and was eyeballing the newish addition built onto the north side of Ecole Barclay. I though it looked kind of ho-hum, that the architects might have been snoozing on the job, but then I looked up.

​Lately I’ve gotten cranky about my new map. I really don’t like it very well. My previous one, which I marked up au fur et à mesure over five years, was a honey, everything on it just the right size. Crystal clear.
 
But this new one- aargh- the streets on it are too tiny. Or maybe my eyes are too old. Whichever-- I made a return visit to Aux Quatre Points Cardinaux on Ontario, wonderful source of all things map and globe, to see if I could find a new map that has the streets blown up a bit. The store had lots of possibilities and I couldn’t make up my mind, so I ended up buying three and brought them home with me and will have to see which one suits me.
 
​The racks at the store were chock full of maps from all over the world. I guess I’m not the only Luddite around who prefers a good paper map.

​I’ve been lazy lately in posting  photos of my walks. Nothing special in my travels has piqued my fancy. That is until yesterday when I was inspired to get back on the horse by my walk on Beaubien. I honestly don’t know why Wellington in Verdun was voted the coolest street in the world by Time Out magazine when Beaubien clearly has it beat IMHO.
 
As evidence I offer you the rooftop hand manipulating the strings on top of the Théatre de marionnettes. Who knew we even had a marionnette theatre? Anyway, it reminds me of a giant rooftop hand I saw in Old Montreal once. Maybe rootop hands are becoming a thing and I’ve uncovered a trend.

I guess whoever decides these things doesn’t group street names by profession after all.

Still, a nice addition, along St. Grégoire. 

And while we're on the subject of park decor, here's a topiary submission, this time from Westmount Park. Granted, his coat's a little mangy, but I dig the glasses.

I haven’t been able to rev myself up to walk for the last little while, it’s been so hot and muggy. But yesterday, with things cooler, I got back in the saddle and decided to explore around Ontario street east, and what did I happen upon there but the newly renovated and restored Bibliothèque Maisonneuve. Whoa, it’s hard to believe I’ll ever come across, in all my walking of the city, a building as spectacular as this! The mix of old and new, the views, the rooftop garden—it absolutely deserves a visit if you’re in the vicinity. Or make a special trip. You won’t be disappointed. Too bad the library I used to work in didn’t look like this. I never would have called in sick.

And just across the street, heading east, a nifty mosaic of La Bolduc.

And a bit further east on Ontario, no politically correct ramp to get up the steps for parents burdened with strollers, but instead, as a sop, their own private doorbell.

​ 
OK. I said I was finished. And I was. I did cover every single street on my map. But I got bored once my project wound up, so I bought myself a new map. One that covers WAY more territory than my old one.
 
For those of you who live in Montreal, you’ll understand when I say this map extends way up into the wilds of Laval and down into the South Shore, areas which, to a cloistered NDG person like myself, seem like the ends of the earth. I figure this expanded project should last me till I die, so I’m good for a while yet. My tombstone will say “she walked.” Or the equivalent in Hebrew.
 
I was walking along Jarry Blvd. the other day, and passed the gorgeous tuk-tuk pictured above. Will definitely try out the restaurant next time I’m in the hood.

​On avenue Van Horne, I came across an overgrown field near the corner of St. Urbain, that’s filled with funky metal sculptures. There’s no sign that I could find to say who created them. A mystery. But worth a stop.

​And in my never ending search for topknots, this residential example on Van Horne.

So I’m finished! Yes, completely. And it only took me since May, 2016. I have now walked the full length of every single street on my map. The last street I covered, you ask? That Oscar goes to the tiny stretch of rue Franchère below Mont-Royal that dead-ends into Parc Baldwin.
 
No offence meant to the residents of that block, but its total blahness is only slightly counteracted by the astronaut mural on the east side. Otherwise, as streets go, and trust me I’ve seen my fair share, it ain’t much.
 
I’ve taken my usual anniversary picture of my map-the last. It’s a good thing as the map is starting to come apart at the seams and won’t stand for much more folding and unfolding.

On St. André, a couple of showier specimens. 

And this gravity defying version.

​I dreaded this walk along a street I anticipated as being completely ghost-townish. My bad for prejudging it and leaving it undeservedly until almost the end of my project. The street dead-ends into Costco, so, as you can imagine, a steady stream of cars passed me, even if I didn’t see a single pedestrian, rare in my outings. It was just me and all the factories, many of them shuttered. But like many of my industrial walks, it had its own charms. I passed under the mega silos of the Red Roses flour mill. Just think how many cakes you could make with the contents of just one of those silos. I’d be fixed for life. At the beginning of the pandemic, to keep me baking, I sprang for a 20 kilo sack of flour and thought it was humungous, but it was nothing compared to these babies.

​Stumbled across a great new art installation on boulevard Robert-Bourassa just above Wellington. I just thought it was playful, with no deeper meaning, a way to cheer up a blah chunk of roadway. But one of my more thoughtful Facebook friends suggested that it looked like the signatories to the Great Peace of Montreal. Turns out he’s right. I did a bit of digging and found out that the figures in the installation are meant to reproduce the pictograms of the First Nations that signed the treaty of 1701. I always love a walk that teaches me something. The second photo (from the Canadian Encyclopedia) shows what the treaty actually looked like.

​In the Plateau of all places. On tiny rue Demers, a street so narrow you might easily pass it by without noticing, but that would be a mistake. It’s full of wonders. Beyond the windmill, there’s a funky punchbowl fountain and a wishing well. I can’t claim to be the first to appreciate this streetlet. Mounted on one of the garden walls is an article from La Presse in praise of it, and that was back in 2003.

​Undertook a walk today that I’ve been avoiding for the entirety of my project, up to the top of Vincent d’Indy which my fellow Montrealers know will give you nosebleeds from the height. To give you some idea of the altitude, it used to have a ski lift running alongside, whose rusty remains are still there.

After about two years forced hiatus from my walking project, thanks to Mr. Covid and incidentally getting hit by a truck and ending up in the ER on one of my walks, I’m back to criss-crossing the streets of Montreal.

I started off with an industrial walk, along St. Patrick, west of Atwater. I stumbled across what I thought was a playground combining old factory equipment with coloured tubes. Turns out I was way off. It’s a bike hitching post made with old industrial sewing machines from a former factory in the area. The colourful tubes are meant to represent the thread that used to run off of the machines.

​Almost across the street, saw the infamous pink house, way up at the top of the abandoned Canada Melting Plant silo. Was it Spider Man who clambered up to there to give it a paint job and spruce it up with flower boxes and curtains?

​I’ve seen a whack load of front-lawn statues in my travels around town, but this massive one really took me by surprise. And yes, it’s a real Botero, with a plaque and everything.

​And on a neighbouring street...