But it’s only a matter of time. More imaginative people than I am repurpose their deteriorating furniture and household fittings to use as planters in their gardens. So far I’ve come across a piano, a bedstead, and a bathtub. While we’re on the subject of repurposing, here are some cast-off metro cars, now parked on Peel near Wellington, that have been transformed into a café. Service stinko, but what the hell. In theory, a good idea.
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That’s how I've classified my walk from today. Got off the metro at Mount Royal and went up St.Hubert where I stumbled across this lovely vintage kimono store on the corner of rue de Bienville. I didn’t buy anything to wear, but did succumb to a wooden kokeshi doll. This walking project has cost me a lot of bucks so far. Further up St. Hubert, a few blocks above Mount Royal, passed the best ruelle verte I’ve seen so far. In the Ruelle verte program, neighbourhoods jazz up their back alleyways, of which Montreal has plenty, mostly ugly, with plantings, murals, what have you, to make them more liveable playable spaces. This Facebook page shows some interesting ones from previous years in Rosemont. https://www.facebook.com/pg/arrondissementRPP/photos/?tab=album&album_id=899800406763879 Then up to Laurier and the park where Queen Isabella is landscaped all nice and posh.
Had a terrific walk in Pointe Saint Charles today in perfect weather. Took a pit stop in the lovely public library on Hibernia. Formerly a fire station, built in 1891. The park just beside it has everything you might want, a misting station, kitchen gardens, and a bicycle repair station. All the essentials of life. Then down towards the Maison St. Gabriel - built in New France-y times. I felt like Claire in Outlander which I am currently watching. One minute I’m in Montreal, 2019, and the next in Montreal 1660. No hunky Jamie to greet me on the other side, though. Too bad. Saw a lovely, lush garden just outside the museum. It consisting entirely of kale. At least I think it was kale. After that, down rue Sebastopol and up the raised path that gives a spectacular view of industrial Montreal. Saw this little thatched hut along the way. A first for me. Not a roofing style we normally see around here. For lots of this segment of the walk, around Dublin and Hall, it was just me and the construction vehicles, but I was determined to get this chunk of streets done, even if there were tons of trottoir barré signs all over the place. One of the workmen asked me if I was OK. He probably thought I’d lost it. Why else would I be walking up and down streets that were majorly torn up and looked like a monster truck rally? Ended the walk at the stunning mural on rue Knox. It’s 80 metres long. (I read that-I didn’t get out my tape measure. I’m not that devoted to my project.) My favourite segment of it is the newspaper headline, “Mother Nature Wins, Capitalism Crumbles, It’s Anarchy.” Actually, the walk had a little post-script. I stopped in at a café I had spotted earlier in the morning for a little post-walk nosh. It’s Café Clarke on rue Centre, a four minute walk from the Charlevoix metro (That I did measure). Amazing Italian pastries baked on site which I can vouch for. The pizzas and Calzones looked great but I’m saving them for next time I’m in the ‘hood.
And uses spray cheese as his medium. Who ever knew there was such a thing in the realm of dairy? The artwork is part of a program called Velo Art.
Got turned around in Old Montreal, and this is what I stumbled across. Sometimes getting lost is worth it. Not sure exactly where I saw this, but somewhere around the corner of St. Paul and St. Nicholas. Or could have been the corner of Le Moyne. Or not. Just walk around looking up. You can't miss it.
I love when I learn something new on a walk. This was in a community garden on Notre Dame ouest, not far from the Place Saint Henri metro station. According to the sign, these plants are the three Iroquois sisters, corn, beans, and squash.
Seen a lot of birds on my walks. Your ho-hum robins and pigeons and crows mostly. Nothing to write home about. But today I heard a lot of unusual chirps and they turned out to be coming from a bunch of parrots sunning themselves in a yard that faced Pine Ave. near Parc.
We’re in the process of having our basement finished. The guys put in the insulation yesterday, which means I’ve been paying particular attention to insulation on my walks. Here’s a bizarre example on Saint Denis. How did the LP’s get imbedded there?
In Old Montreal. My crummy map steered me wrong. But I did see this cow, and for me, a day without a plaster of paris giant animal is like a day without sunshine. So all good.
Started off today on rue Marmier, near the Rosemont metro, a street so colossally ugly I couldn’t bear to subject you to a picture. But take my word for it, Marmier wipes the floor with the previous contenders in that particular competition, rue de la Police and rue Généreux, both hideous in their own special ways. Left Marmier to go down St. Denis, and in the underpass saw a ghost bike, a bike painted white in memory of a cyclist who died at that spot. This one was in memory of Mathilde Blais. Altogether too many of these bikes around town. Twisted around a bit and ended up on rue Laos, then down Henri Julien where there’s a huge stone wall, just full of fossils, proof that I’m not the only fossil on the streets of Montreal. Turned onto rue Carmel, and found behind that stone wall the spectacularly beautiful convent of the Soeurs Carmelites of Montreal, built in 1896. Just out front, caught sight of a van I’ve seen before in my travels, for the caterer ggtraiteur.com. I’ve always been intrigued by the ad on the back of their van, “corporate, private, marriages, divorces, office parties, coffee breaks.” Ron says when we get divorced we can get them to do the catering. Finished off with a bagel from Fairmount. You gotta love a place that launched the first bagels in space. This street (rue de Vaudreuil in Old Montreal) was supposed to be on my route today, but the gods of construction begged to differ. I’m not usually a flexible person (Ron will attest to that), but today I acquitted myself nicely, and took an alternative walk along St. Amable. The flowers? Fake, but still lovely. Also, in all my twisting and turning I ended up in a shop where I bought this little yellow bus to keep my ice cream truck company. Still in Old Montreal, I learned a few things from some plaques. The first is to commemorate Marie-Josephe-Angélique, a slave who was accused of arson in Montreal while attempting to escape bondage. She was judged, hung and then burned in Montreal in 1734, and her ashes scattered to the four winds. (My loose translation) Then, at Place d'Armes, this shiny baby commemorates the site of the first skyscraper in Canada.
It's a thing apparently.
I feel the same about people dressing up their trees as I do about people dressing up their dogs, putting them in jaunty bandanas before they go out on their walks. I barely can scrounge up enough time and energy and wardrobe to dress myself, let alone trees and pets. Am I just bad at time management? Are my priorities wrong? Should I dress my tree before I dress myself? Does this imply that I’m too self-absorbed to be put in charge of the well-being of other living things? Sorry Davey. These are all in NDG by the way. Home of many wonders. Including this personal tableau. Love all the tchotchkes. And this rock on a rack in the shady vestpocket park at the corner of Lionel-Groulx and Rose-de-Lima. Who’d have thunk that pigs would end up being a theme of my walks. Here is my latest, a cheesecake shot, seen on rue Chapleau. In case you’ve forgotten my other pigs along the way, here they are again.
Also my old running shoes. Great display at the Ecole Saint-Enfant-Jésus on Villeneuve of planters made out of recycled materials.
Yes, I'm still walking, trying to cover absolutely every street on my map. I had thought I'd be done by now, but this past icy winter really cut into my progress. I'm back into it now, though, trying to make up for lost time. Here's my map from 2019 compared to last year so you can judge my progress.
Lovely insect hotel. And it works. Lots of bees were buzzing around but I couldn't get them to pose for the picture.
Flaneur, a German magazine that focusses on one street per issue, chose Bernard in Mile End as one of the most interesting streets in the world. I'm in complete agreement. Bernard from end to end makes for a terrific walk, if you want to get into exploring neighbourhoods. And look who I saw there.
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