Month: July 2026

Week in Review – July 26th, 2026

“Home to New Orleans for friends, music and food”

Monday was a slow day after our early morning arrival back from Montreal.  Diana didn’t even play pickleball.  I was pleased that we earned a good review from our Airbnb host, Justin.  It makes it easier to rent future places.

Catching up on local news, I read that Plas Johnson died last Wednesday at the age of 94.  I wrote about him a few weeks ago – famous for the Pink Panther theme and played on numerous New Orleans soul and R&B records in the 50s and 60s.

 

 

 

At Tuesday trivia, we had a similar question about 1981 to one we had a while ago.  Several events were given and you had to answer with the year they happened.  The events included Charles and Diana’s wedding, MTV launching and others that I don’t remember now.  I “showed my work” again – I was in holiday in France after finishing high school in 1981 and the family went to a common room at the caravan park to watch the wedding.  The team listened.

We were ahead by 1 point going into the final question.  This involved putting four events in order from oldest to most recent.  Here’s the correct answer:

When did the Knicks last win an NBA title before this year? (1973)
When was Nikki Minaj born? (1982)
When did Nickelodeon launch Ren and Stimpy? (1991)
When did Nicolas Cage win an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas? (1996)
The two Jacks knew that Nikki Minaj had her big hit in 2000 – so had to be older than the old folks thought.  Denny knew that Anne loved Ren and Stimpy when they were first dating.  With that and some lengthy discussion, we were able to arrive at the correct answer to secure a 1st place win.

A heat advisory greeted us on Wednesday – can you imagine what a “feels like temperature” of 118 degrees is like?  Very swampy.

Tim called to check on us after storm Bertha passed through and told me about a book he got for his birthday from his daughter.  They each have to draw an object daily and text it to the other.  Tim was upset that the paper is too thick to trace through.  I thought he had done a good job with his snake until I saw the competing version.

Isn’t that a great gift idea – keeps on giving every day.

We met up with Kenny for Happy Hour at Cafe Degas on Thursday.  I called to coordinate with him and caught him visiting his Mom.  He said he would need to stop home and change as he wasn’t dressed for Cafe Degas.  I told him he would be fine in shorts and a t-shirt as that’s what I was going to wear.  Some hilarity (from my perspective) ensued as Kenny’s Mom and cousin (she called his Mom during the discussion) shared their thoughts on what Kenny should wear.  He ultimately came as he was and everything was fine.

We had a very nice time at Cafe Degas and then retired to Kenny’s porch for a little while.

We were up early for a walk in the park on Saturday morning.  The humidity was relatively low, allowing us to enjoy a walk/run without sweating all the way through our clothes.  On the drive home we came across Alvin, a cyclist who had hit his head on a low tree branch and been thrown out into Prytania Street.  Another lady was helping and nurse D jumped into action.  The police, and ultimately an ambulance, did show up and by that time Alvin was feeling a lot better.  Diana walked with him and his bike over to the Emergency room and he decided he didn’t need to go in and could easily make the short walk home.  Very nicely done, Diana.
We met the KKs, Denny and Anne for lunch at Tan Dinh Vietnamese restaurant in Gretna.  Denny spends a lot of time on the Westbank of the Mississippi river with his car washes, and so we took his recommendation for a lunch stop.
Here’s a map that shows red circles around our home and the restaurant.  You can see that we had to take the Crescent City Connector (CCC) bridge across to reach the restaurant – not something we do very often.
The trip took around 10 minutes – so not exactly an onerous drive.  What were we doing over there?  Aren’t there good Vietnamese places in New Orleans proper?  Fair questions.  We were enroute to a gallery opening at Brian Bush Art.
Brian and his wife, Lisa, are friends that we typically see a few times a year at music festivals.  Brian has been making these wonderful Mardi Gras flowers for over 20 years.
They really are works of art.  This building became available recently and Brian snapped it up as a place to store his art, show it by appointment, and host events like this one.
Ian Cunningham and Chris Senac, long time friends of Brian’s, provided some wonderful music – very skilled guitar playing.
Diana was up early on Sunday morning for the 8am girls tennis activity.  She was pretty worn out from 2 hours in the sun after that.
The Desert Nudes played a free 5pm show at NOLA brewing (0.5 miles from home) on Sunday afternoon.  Kenny and I had a robust mini-debate about the pros and cons of NOLA brewing during happy hour at Cafe Degas.  Keith – “too many kids running around, the music is too loud if you’re in the front part, and too quiet in the back – you can’t hear over the chatter and kid noise, the pizza, food, and drinks are good.”  Kenny – “kids are a given, you need to get there early and pick an in-between table or one on the right side of the stage to hear the music without it being too loud, the place is air conditioned, the music is free, and the food is great.”
Okay, I decided to take Kenny’s input “on board” and we arrived around 4:30 to get a good table.  Apparently we needed to get there earlier than that as all but one of the tables were already occupied.  We grabbed the one remaining and began to amass the chairs we needed for our krewe – KKs, Thom, Denny, and Mason.  I was pleasantly surprised when the music started – I could hear nicely from our back table.  The band was excellent – lovely three part harmonies and a fun repertoire of songs that you don’t hear too often.
A good version of “Don’t Fence Me In”, originally written by Cole Porter, led to Kenny claiming the song as his latest theme song.
I started “Truth and Beauty: A Friendship” by Ann Patchett this week.  I read the first chapter of her latest, “The Whistler”, and can tell it’s going to be so good that I’m saving it for the perfect reading environment – whatever that might be.  So I’m making do with one of her earlier books and am a little over half way through so far.  Here’s an online summary:

“Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In Grealy’s critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face, she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn’t Lucy’s life or Ann’s life, but the parts of their lives they shared. This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans twenty years, from the long winters of the Midwest, to surgical wards, to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined . . . and what happens when one is left behind.

This is a tender, brutal book about loving the person we cannot save. It is about loyalty, and being lifted up by the sheer effervescence of someone who knew how to live life to the fullest.”

Here are some passages that I enjoyed:

Thoughts about “worrying” early in Ann’s relationship with Lucy:

“I was stunned by the rawness of her pain. I came to understand that night in the sports bar, safe from the blinding rain, that I could not worry about Lucy anymore. I knew then it was just too enormous for me to manage and that worrying about her would swamp me. If I was swamped by worry, I would be useless to her. It was even possible that I would desert her, and that was the thing that could never happen. I decided that night I would take all the hours of my life that could so easily be spent worrying and instead I would try to help her. I had been raised by Catholic nuns who told us in no uncertain terms that work was the path to God, and that while it was a fine thing to feel loyalty and devotion in your heart, it would be much better for everyone involved if you could find the physical manifestations of your good thoughts and see them put into action. The world is saved through deeds, not prayer, because what is prayer but a kind of worry? I decided then that my love for Lucy would have to manifest in deeds.”
Some great advice from Mom and I presume this book might not exist without them:
“One night after work I was sitting on the edge of my mother’s bed, reading her Lucy’s letter. “Save all of those,” she told me when I was finished. “I save some of them,” I said, but she and I both knew I never was much on saving anything.  My mother said it again. I was to save them all. “Someday you’ll both be famous writers,” she said. “And these letters will be very important to you.””
Patchett discovers the wonder of the service on a short flight from London to Scotland:
“All through the flight from London to Aberdeen I stared out the window at the rough patchwork of landscape and thought how beautiful it was, how beautiful it would be to live so far away from my mistakes. It was a small plane and we did a good deal of pitching and tossing, but everyone got a nice cheese plate and a glass of red wine and I managed to hold my snack steady. The world that existed in the air over England and Scotland seemed extremely civilized, even sophisticated, and for those moments I thought that Lucy was leading a glamorous life, at least when you compared it to being a waitress in Tennessee.”
On finishing her first novel:
“Then finally one day everything I had imagined for these characters while I was at Friday’s was down on paper. I wrote the last sentence of The Patron Saint of Liars in early April and stumbled out of my apartment and into the beautiful spring feeling panicked and amazed. There is no single experience in my life as a writer to match that moment, the blue of the sky and the breeze drifting in from the bay. I had done the thing I had always wanted to do: I had written a book, all the way to the end. Even if proved to be terrible, it was mine.”
A rumination on the varied thoughts and personalities of Lucy’s doctors:
“They were the busy, important men (and all of the pivotal doctors in Lucy’s life, to the best of my knowledge, were men) who occasionally sat on her bed and stroked her forehead, handsome men who for the briefest moment paid all of their valuable attention to her. They told her she was the most remarkable case they had seen and made promises of how they would shepherd her through to a better life. The surgeons stoked her deepest dreams of repair like coal men shoveling fuel into a roaring furnace. They told her not to worry about the money, and then presented her with enormous bills. They told her it would take three surgeries over six months, only to discover it was ten surgeries over three years. There were wonderful doctors, full of compassion and innovation, but they never seemed able to consider any surgery but the one they were about to perform. They never took her lifetime into account or figured in the enormous costs, physically, financially, and emotionally, of all that had failed so dismally before. They didn’t account for Lucy, only for her face. And maybe they couldn’t. She was too huge for casual consideration. But how can you operate on the face without understanding what the face means to the girl? How can the meaning of kissing, swallowing, speaking, be completely ignored in favor of mechanics? The doctors took what they needed from her body, sometimes without ever mentioning it, so even though her head was swollen beyond recognition, what she cried over was the scar running up her leg where some surgeon had taken a vein without asking. She loved her pretty legs.”
I love this comparison with slapstick comedy for Lucy’s money skills:
“LUCY WAS AWFUL WITH MONEY IN A WAY THAT ONE imagines the Marx Brothers or Laurel and Hardy might have been awful with money. There could have been a movie, Laurel and Hardy Go to the Bank, in which our heroes try to bring their life savings in for safekeeping but at every turn find themselves distracted: pretty girls, butterflies, squalling children. All the while the money flutters out of their pockets like a careless trail of bread crumbs. In the sequel, Back to the Bank, they would mistakenly spit their chewing gum into the big check they were supposed to deposit and then for the rest of the movie they would struggle to undo the sticky damage they had done.”
Heartbreaking:
“Lucy’s loneliness was breathtaking in its enormity. If she emptied out Grand Central Station and filled it with the people she knew well, the people who loved her, there would be more than a hundred people there. But a hundred people in such a huge space just rattle around. You could squeeze us all into a single bar. With some effort you could push us into a magazine shop. If you added to that number all the people who loved her because of her book, all the people who admired her, all the people who had heard her speak or had seen her on television or listened to her on the radio and loved the sound of her odd little voice, you could pack in thousands and thousands more people, and still it wouldn’t feel full, not full enough to take up every square inch of her loneliness.“
I’ve been rationing “Living in the Present with John Prine” by Tom Piazza (my autographed copy – thanks KKs).  By “rationing I mean that I’m allowing myself a chapter a week.  It’s just too good to read through too quickly.
The chapter this week has John and his wife visiting Tom and his wife in New Orleans.  Tom takes them to Boucherie, one of his favourite restaurants.  Prine struggles to find something on the menu and ends up opting for the ribs.  They turn out to be Asian style and not the slab with barbeque sauce that he was hoping for.  The next night they visit Brigtsen’s, one of my personal favourites.  Frank Brigtsen comes out and makes a big fuss over John as do the rest of the staff.  With all the wonderful dishes on the menu, executed flawlessly, Prine’s wife confides later that he would rather have had a slice of meat loaf and some mashed potatoes.  I suppose it’s all what you’re used to.
Here’s a link to the latest Jon Cleary show playlist on Spotify.  I’ve listened and there are several gems on here.

 

It’s been a while since I heard this song.  It was on WWOZ the other day and I realized I didn’t know who played the amazing slide guitar.   Research reveals it’s Bonnie Raitt.

Week in Review – July 19th, 2026

“Montreal Week 2”

On Monday, our first day sans KKs, we made our way back down to Old Town.  We enjoyed lunch on the Terraces Nelligan – a rooftop restaurant with great views atop the Hotel Nelligan.

I tried to order a medium rare burger and was stymied by a Quebec regulation that says any ground beef not ground on the premises has to be cooked well done.  Not fancying that, I opted for a cauliflower steak – yummy.

While I was enjoying that (munched in before realizing I wanted a picture), someone bungee jumped from the crane on the other side of the river – 100% hard No on that activity.

I’ll have a sip of a refreshing beer and try to wash away the memory of the person bouncing around like a rag doll on the end of that elastic band.

Diana enjoyed a very colourful Niçoise salad.

After lunch, we walked around Old Town and took a spin through Notre Dame cathedral.  Not the very famous one, but still quite impressive – particularly the blue lighting.

I always enjoy checking out church organs and this one seemed serious:

This bronze sculpture caught my attention.  It’s called “The English Pug” and is part of a diptych called “The Two Snobs”, created in 2013 by Canadian artist Marc Andre J. Fortier.

Tommy’s Cafe was close by for our after cathedral coffee stop.  And the chair available for “Miss Champagne” seemed appropriate.

Tuesday began with a repeat visit to Chez Greenberg, down the street from the Airbnb.  This time I had a poutine stuffed knish with my macchiato – I recommend this as a good way to try poutine.  Jake Greenberg, presumably the owner, came by to check on the food and we had a good chat.  We told him we were planning on trying Milos for lunch and got positive feedback.  He also recommended Faros – the place we ate at last week with the KKs.  “Best two Greek restaurants in the city.”

We had chatted with two ladies leaving Milos one evening and they raved about the place.  It’s been in operation for many years and has since expanded globally.  We checked with Nick about the one in Miami Beach and he described it as “an institution.”  Okay – let’s see if we can get a seat at the bar and give it a try for lunch.  I started with the house special martini, which came in a fish container.

Our waiter/bartender had been to Miami Beach and to Carbone – still one of our most amazing dining experiences.

Here’s the prix fixe lunch menu:

I started with the tomato (Greek) salad and then had the Dorade Royal (sea bream.)

Diana had the phenomenal octopus, followed by lamb.

Fortunately the desserts were small.

Don’t miss the baklava ice cream.  Here’s a silly picture on the way out.

What a wonderful lunch all around.  We decided to try and make a reservation for dinner later in the week.  I think I heard something like “It’ll be our way to celebrate our last night in Montreal.”

After lunch, we watched the Spain vs France World Cup game.  I had high hopes for an exciting game but France seemed flat and tired, ultimately losing to Spain.

In the evening, we made a pilgrimage to find Leonard Cohen’s grave.  It was quite an uphill trek at the end of the walk to the entrance of the Mont Royal cemetery.  We came across this church on the walk, not Notre Dame but the location of that picture of the girls with the young men in tuxedos.  Or at least that’s the latest cover story – something about they were putting on their ties and getting all ready for a wedding, and offered to take the picture.  Hmm.

Here I am checking out the family plot.  Leonard is buried in a pine box next to his parents,  Nathan and Marsha, as well as his grandparents and great grandparents.

Diana captured some pictures showing how beautifully the cemetery plots are kept.

We heard thunder rolling on our walk back but did not get any heavy rain or “squall” – there were a few “squall warnings” during our stay that seemed to amount to nothing much.

Wednesday took us over to the Botanical Gardens – some of the largest in the world.  Research showed that we should visit the Japanese garden, the Chinese garden,  and the Alpine area – we set off in search of those.

The Japanese area sported some very old bonsais:

The Chinese garden had interesting buildings and water features:

We came across oodles of lovely flowers on our meander through the gardens.  Hydrangeas:

Balloon flowers (platycodon grandiflorus), native to East Asia:

 

Pom pom or ball dahlias:

We both agreed that our favourite section, not mentioned in my research, was the Lilly and brook garden.  Amazing colours and very extensive.

The Olympic stadium was next to the Botanical gardens – here’s a picture of the tower attached to it.

Some facts about the tower:

In the evening we tried another of our Uber driver recommendations – the Atwater cocktail club.  This was a speakeasy style place in the downtown area known as Atwater.  I had read that entry was by an alley behind the Foiegwa restaurant.  The one alley that I found looked a bit dodgy but closer inspection of the graffitied door revealed the “ACC” sign – must be the place.

We risked it, opened the door and headed inside to the fancy club.

We perused the detailed cocktail menu – most were less than $20 Canadian and made our choices.

The food menu seemed to have all of our favourites at once:

We started with chicken liver mousse, then beef tartare, and finally black truffle spaghetti.  So rich and decadent and all wonderful.

Our waitress, Ashely, gave us a post card with some of her recommendations on places to try.  We did try at least one of them.

What a nice touch from Ashley.

Diana decided to summit Mont Royal by the stairs on Thursday morning.  This took her a little bit higher than the terrace we reached on our first day in Montreal.

Some details on the stairs.  Good job Diana!

I think all that stairclimbing work was worth it:

We wandered the neighbourhood in search of a lunch spot, and ultimately ended up back at Bishop and Bagg for a burger at the bar.  It was interesting to observe their display of over 100 gins.

The evening brought a highlight of the trip for me – a visit to the Upstairs jazz club. Their logo is upside down because the club is actually downstairs from the street level.

There were only a few tickets left when I bought ours and so I opted for bar seating.  That turned out to be a great option – high stools so that Diana could see well and an amazing view of the stage.

We had wonderful service at the bar with great drinks and food.  I had a drink called Le Vieux something (don’t remember the word).  It was Canadian Club whiskey, Drambuie and ginger beer.  Like a slightly modified Rusty Nail and delicious.  We split a salad and a seafood pasta that was excellent.

And then the band!  A very good tribute to the Buena Vista Social Club.  This was an album from 1997 by Cuban legends with Ry Cooder.

Here’s the Upstairs version:

Friday was a busy day.  We visited the Terrasse William Gray, an Ashley recommendation, for brunch.  This was quite similar to the Nelligan terrace with excellent river front views of the Ferris wheel and Cirque du Soleil.

We shared a salad and you’ll be surprised…another tartare.  Both delicious.  Montreal really is an amazing food town.

The boeuf in the description reminded me of the boys in Paris as youngsters and the kick they got out of the McDonalds ads in the Metro – “100% pur boeuf.”

We wandered through Old Town after lunch, making a stop at Wolf and Workman before heading back to the Airbnb.

We had reservations for dinner at Milos in the evening.  Everything was fine, but not up to the amazing experience that we had at lunch.  Diana had a lobster and I enjoyed halibut.  Both were good but not at the outstanding level we had anticipated.

After dinner, another musical treat awaited.  The “Candlelight” performance of Abba and Queen songs.

This is a concert (apparently they have them in New Orleans sometimes) where a string quartet performs the music of Abba and Queen.  Here’s the order of performance:

I thoroughly enjoyed the arrangements:

A very busy and enjoyable day all around.

We were due to pack up and leave on Saturday.  Around 2pm, just before we ordered an Uber to the airport, we received notice that our flight was canceled.  Oops!

Not able to extend the Airbnb or find a room at any others close by, McD came up with a great idea – let’s stay at that really nice Nelligan hotel where we had lunch.  Booking was easy and we were checking in less than an hour later.  This was an old school luxury hotel – they had thought only I was staying and so stalled a bit at check in to make a “profile” for Diana.  I suspect what they were really doing was updating the welcome card on the petit fours.  We were escorted up to the room so that we could be shown the amenities – I don’t think I’ve had that since the Park Hyatt in Sydney many, many years ago.

We had dinner at Mignon across from the hotel and it was another delicious meal, including oysters of course.

Diana was out early on Sunday morning to explore the Old Town area some more.

We took advantage of brunch on the lovely Nelligan terrace.  The bacon Benny was just what I needed before setting of to try and make it home a day late.

I had checked transit time from the Nelligan to Montreal airport (YUL) in the morning – 20 minutes or so.  Our flight was at 5pm and so we ordered an Uber around 2:30pm.  As we departed the hotel, it showed the better part of an hour to the airport – hopefully we had enough wiggle room.  We did – the traffic entering the airport was ludicrous – 2o minutes to go less than a mile, but they had Global Entry and TSA pre at the airport and you actually cleared US customs in Montreal – who knew?

We did have a tiny snafu at airport security.  The bagel spreader souvenirs were not permitted as carry on items – such dangerous weapons.  Diana decided to go back out and check her back – no problem, she made it to the gate in time for boarding.

Our flights to Chicago and then New Orleans were fine – the usual sitting on the tarmac waiting on a gate routines.  We were home a little after midnight – tired and happily reflecting on a great trip.

My book this week was “Who is Maud Dixon” by Alexandra Andrews.  You may remember that I read her “The Fine Art of Lying” a few weeks ago.  All the reviews said that this was a much better read.  I agree with the reviews for once – much deeper characters and better humour.  Here’s an online summary:

“Florence Darrow has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amidst the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the wind-swept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves.

But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night—and no sign of Maud—a dangerous idea begins to take form. . .”

Some of the passages that I enjoyed:
Solid advice:
“You shouldn’t have to try to like things,” Florence insisted. “It’s like people who force themselves to finish a book they’re not enjoying. Just close it! Go find another story!”
And the retort:
“I hate to tell you this, but you might be in the wrong business. Do you know how many books I don’t like that I have to read every week? Sorting the good from the bad is the job.” “Oh, I’m not interested in becoming an editor,” Florence said with a wave of her hand. “Just to be clear,” Simon replied with a bemused smile, “you realize that I’m your boss’s boss, right? You might want to fake a modicum of enthusiasm for the work we’re paying you to do.”
From the life’s not fair department:
“Take my word for it,” Helen went on. “If you spend your life looking for fairness you’ll be disappointed. Fairness doesn’t exist. And if it did, it would be boring. It would leave no room for the unexpected. But if you search for greatness—for beauty, for art, for transcendence—those are where the rewards are. That is what makes life worth living.” Helen set her glass of whiskey down roughly, splashing some on the table. “I’m sure there are people in my past who don’t think it’s fair that my life turned out like it did. And who knows, maybe it isn’t. But I want you to understand this: I wouldn’t change a single thing I’ve done. Not a single thing.”

 

I enjoyed this article about attempts to create a Scottish Music Hall of Fame.  I’m all for it.

Scottish Music Hall of Fame article

Something Moroccan related for Maud Dixon:

Week in Review – July 12th, 2026

“Montreal – Week 1”

I enjoyed this online story, celebrating a truly amazing individual:

One of Britain’s biggest mazes is celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday by creating a spectacular design in the shape of a mountain gorilla.

Wistow Maze in Leicestershire, England, came up with the design to pay tribute to the legendary broadcaster who hails from their local county, having grown up near the University of Leicester.

The popular award-winning attraction features a winding labyrinth that stretches for three miles and takes around two hours to walk.

After my posting last Sunday, England beat Mexico 3-2 with Harry Kane scoring 2 goals, all while down to 10 men for much of the game.  It was a very exciting and entertaining match.

We watched the movie “The Choice” on Sunday evening.  This was our third attempt and we were successful in finishing before Diana “fais do do.”

There were more good sporting opportunities on Monday.  The great British hope, Fery, made it through to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in entertaining fashion.  Later in the day, the USMNT was dominated by Belgium from start to finish, ultimately losing 4-1.

I watched “Still of the Night” in the evening – a movie from 1982 with what I thought was a 25 year old Meryl Streep, turns out she was 33, alongside Roy Scheider.  This was very much a noir style mystery with an early eighties feel.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.

We had an early start on Tuesday, 6am in an Uber, to catch the first of our two small (American Eagle) flights to Montreal.  I watched a movie called “The Christophers” on the flight from New Orleans to Chicago.  This starred Ian McKellen and a leonine looking lady (stand by while I look her up..), Michaele Coel, in a story about an aging artist, forgery and the greed of his children.  It was a quiet, “adult” movie that I enjoyed quite a bit.

A long layover in Chicago was eased by the Admirals Club with good coffee, creative food, and excellent WiFi.  We were able to watch Zverev defeat Lehecka, and some of Argentina vs Egypt (Messi missed a penalty.)

Diana had an impressive set up on our next flight (Chicago to Montreal.)

Mimosa, book on iPad, Wimbledon on phone and texting on phone.  Check, check, check, and check.  All taken care of.

All that multi-tasking was stressing me and so I went old school, finishing off my Violent Femmes book from the book store talk several weeks ago.  I enjoyed the read and am looking forward to referring to my marked up sections when I listen to the album next.

It was quite a trek from the arrival gate, through immigration and out to the Uber pickup area in Montreal.  Our Lyft (much shorter wait time than Uber) driver dropped us off in the alley behind our building rather at the front door.  That was pretty disconcerting but he was sure it was the right place and we figured it out after he left, dragging our luggage down the alley, past the famous bagel place, and around to the front door, where we were able to easily gain entrance to the lovely Airbnb.

Next stop – the local stores for some supplies.  There were several small grocery stores very close by and a liquor and wine store right next door.  Easy peasy.

After our pre-dawn start, we opted for a nice early night.

We awoke early on Wednesday morning.  I went back to sleep while Diana explored the neighborhood.  She did report back on a restaurant that she found that ended up being very good (more to come.)

Later in the morning we headed out on an expedition to summit Mont Royal, the mountain/hill that Montreal is named for.  My research showed that Chemin Olmsted was a pleasant and meandering trail with a light gradient, passing Beaver Lake before arriving at the Mount Royal chalet and terrace.  That was all true, however, the weather was not what my research had indicated – hot and humid, and not the cold, crisp respite from the New Orleans swamp that I had hoped for.  Oh well, I took a few breaks to cool off and ultimately summited.

There was an interesting statue as we entered the park.

Diana was not a fan of my “bucket hat” and particularly the orange colour.  I stuck with it all the same, and was delighted to find a tribe of my people on our ascent.

Here we are up on the terrace with a view of downtown Montreal.

Kenny and Kara (henceforth known as the “KKs”) arrived around 5pm and seemed not to much the worse for their day of travel.  We started their first evening with dinner at Molenne, the restaurant that Diana found on her ramble.

This was an excellent dining experience all around – fun and attentive service and wonderful food all around.  Kenny’s raw scallop was a big hit, as was Kara’s clam pasta dish.

I loved my cod in mushroom sauce and McD couldn’t resist the bison tartare.

Kenny found an excellent stop for dessert on the way home.  Some wonderful cakes and after dinner drinks.

The KKs were at it early on Thursday.  They got some bagels from Saint Viateur and then navigated their way down to Old Town and the Riverfront district on foot. We arranged to meet them at Maison  des Eclusiers by the riverfront and enjoyed our first taste of poutine.

 

 

What is poutine?  I’m glad you asked – fries, cheese curds, and gravy with various other optional toppings.  I thought it was relatively tasty but didn’t need to order it again on the trip.

Fred texted us that his favourite stop in Montreal was Pub Saint Pierre.  We hoped to camp out there and watch the France vs Morocco World Cup game.  Alas, that was a no go.  They were fully booked with supporters of both teams and so we had to vacate our table before the 4pm kickoff.

There was a decent rain going when we were ejected from the Pub, and so we made our way back to the Airbnb to prepare for dinner.

Dinner was at a lovely Indian place that Kara discovered, Le Taj.  A fancy/cool setting with very good food.  We enjoyed onion bhaji and samosas to start, followed by chicken korma, lamb vindaloo, mixed grill and garlic naan.  Lots of yummy food and plenty of leftovers.  Nice job, Kara!

We headed back downtown on Friday morning.  First stop was the Crew cafe, a coffee shop in a very fancy, old, art deco style Royal Bank of Canada building.  The lines for coffee were too long, but the building was worth the visit.

The World Trade Center building was next door and we gave that a quick visit.  Long enough for Kenny to purchase some cool new shoes, and for me to snap some pictures of a part of the Berlin wall.

We then made a decent hike over to Rue Crescent, a “super cute street with bars and flower boxes.”  The street also sported the first of two Leonard Cohen murals.  I think it’s a very well done representation of the Canadian gentleman.

I first discovered him in my mid teens via the “Greatest Hits” album.

Look at that list of songs!  “The Partisan” and “Suzanne” were my youthful favourites.

We made our way from the mural over to the Boulevard Saint Laurent, which we believed would ultimately take us close to home.  There we found mural number two:

Do you think he might be a bit of a big deal in Montreal?

We stopped at a cafe for a lunch snack of Breton style galettes, sitting outside on the street.

Kara wanted to try the world famous smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s deli down the street from Cafe Breizh.  This wasn’t overly appealing to me but tasted good – somewhere between pastrami and corned beef.  This place is very popular – seems to have a constant line out the door.

After that sustenance, we hiked onwards to the Avenue Mont Royal, a pedestrian street (mostly.)  Kara browsed a used record store and we ordered up macchiatos from a coffee window.  We stopped into a little Chilean place to try and watch the World Cup game.  They had it on but didn’t serve any wine or beer.  I ordered an empanada – very good with a delicious sauce.  When I complimented the sauce, the owners told me they brought the recipe from Chile and gave me a little sample to take home.

After a quick freshen up, the girls walked around to the Sparrow, a restaurant/bar with an amazing oyster happy hour – $1 Canadian/oyster – that’s $0.70 US.  Granted, these are the smaller, PEI oysters, but those are usually even more expensive than our local gulf varieties.  I prefer the small, briny ones, but most others like the gulf ones.

I think you can tell from these pictures what the girls thought of the experience:

There was a small music club across from the Airbnb and the girls alerted us to the band playing that evening – Kataklysm.  I listened to a few seconds of a track – do so at your own risk.  There was an interesting Nordic/French band playing later in our stay.

Kenny and I joined the ladies at Sparrow and gave them an excuse to order some more oysters.  The place did make a very good gimlet.

The oysters weren’t enough to sate everyone and an Uber driver had recommended Fugazi pizza – handily just across the street from Sparrow.

That place made a tasty pizza.

I was amazed at the number of pizza, bagel and coffee shops in our neighbourhood.  It was a younger area from a demographic perspective, but still – how much pizza can one eat in a week?

The KKs were excited to try the local ice cream before leaving.  The line wasn’t too long.

Some down memory lane ice cream pictures:

The KKs went off early to summit Mont Royal – successfully completed.  Diana went out for a wander and I walked down the street to Chez Greenberg for breakfast.

Something about Montreal – everybody knows how to make a macchiato.   The special thing at this place was the latke with schmear, smoked salmon, chives, onions and crunchy things.  Different and delicious.

I rendezvoused with my spouse and we went to Bishop and Bagg to watch the Wimbledon ladies final.

It looked like it would be over before the KKs could join us.  Fortunately the match became competitive and needed a third set to decide.

The ladies went out for an extensive walk prior to another Sparrow happy hour, while Kenny and I watched the World Cup game at the apartment.

You’ll have to ask them about the background on this picture.  The one I got seemed quite fishy.

And then back to Sparrow to discuss the cover story.

We tried a well recommended and reviewed neighbourhood Greek place for dinner – Faros.  Again – great service and delicious food.  I tried something new – squid stuffed with cheese and veggies.

Diana had a grilled octopus, Kara lamb, and Kenny steak.

There was an interesting option where you could select a very fresh fish.

The bus boy was helping us with coffee and desert and recommended the yogurt plate.  Great recommendation – we all enjoyed it a lot.

And we were not done at that.  A fruit plate appeared.  We asked questions about one of the melon looking fruits and the owner/chef (for 30 years) came out with an explanation and then reappeared with another exotic melon that he wanted us to try.  What a great experience!

Somehow, on returning to the Airbnb, we got on a favourite show from our childhoods kick.  We watched Lancelot Link and the episode about the “Hong Kong Sneeze” – one of Kenny’s favourites.  Then I shared some Magic Roundabout, The Herbs, and then we finished with the Pink Panther for Kenny and my Dad.

The KKs left us on Sunday.  We sadly moped around and watched some Wimbledon.  In the evening, we couldn’t resist revisiting Molenne for a reprise of that ridiculous raw scallop, bison tartare, and spaghetti clams trifecta.  Just as tasty.

I finished up John of John by Douglas Stuart this week.  Not one of my top reads of the year, but as I said last week, some interesting things about life on the islands.

The Kevin Keegan reference made me smile:
“Dad, I seem to remember a wedding photo where you looked like a hippy.” “It was the style.” “And then there were the Kevin Keegan years. A mullet and a perm.” “I never permed it. I was blessed with natural curls.”
The mother in law who pretended not to speak Gaidhlig:
“He leant forwards. “It’s been forty-eight years. How have you not learnt a lick of the Gàidhlig? You carry on, filling this house with English, like some lazy foreigner.””
I like the “lazy foreigner.”
I can remember reading “The Wasp Factory” – certainly not for the feint of heart:
“The house was heavy with bookshelves. He found his mother’s copy of The Wasp Factory where he had left it two Christmases before, coverless from love. He picked it up and put it inside some-other-man’s bomber jacket. Then he slung his bag over his shoulder and went out into the drizzle.”
The joy of clever nicknames:
“He had earned the name ‘Flash’ because he had once shimmied to a Boney M song. His brother-in-law, Shockie, who was feeling a simmering resentment at his own nickname–earned when he was recounting a shopping trip to Edinburgh and had exclaimed, “Oh now, those prices gave me the shock of my life!”–had been the one to see Aonghas shuffle across the floor. “Hey, Flashdance!” he cried. “Give us a twirl.” And in the
very moment all the men laughed, Aonghas Calder had been renamed ‘Flashdance’ for the rest of his life.”
The danger of being sucked into the island employment traditions:
“Cal stood at the loom and listened to the hum of the fluorescent tube. He worried that the moment his hands settled on the beater they would stay there for the rest of his life. That this shed would become his hermitage, and that one day he would raise his head and he would be older than his father.”
Some thoughts on modern Oban:
“Oban was an inconvenient place to meet. Perhaps Innes had chosen it for that reason–it was unlikely they would run into anyone they knew. The mainland port town had been charming once, but it was spoiled by a busy one-way system that snaked round the half-dead centre. It was all tearooms and tourist shops, and Cal had walked from one side of town to the other in less than twenty minutes. The town square was little more than a traffic island, bordered by raised flower beds and littered with loitering pensioners with their coats on top of coats, sitting alone on damp benches, looking slightly lost, as though they’d been dumped there by their families.”

Poor David’s Pub has been the site of many wonderful concert memories for me.  David retired recently and his daughter is now carrying forward the responsibility for the club.  Here’s a Dallas Observer article with the details:

I love this tribute that Jon Cleary (local piano legend) wrote about James Rivers who passed recently.  We saw Rivers play with Cleary at the Broadside a year or so ago – wonderful.
And finally, to end a very long post, we can’t forget about Bonnie Tyler who died this week.

Week in Review – July 5th, 2026

“Happy Semiquincentennial”

I wonder why spellcheck hasn’t been updated to include “Semiquincentennial”?

The usual early alarm woke me on Monday morning so that Diana would be ready for the 8am pickleball clinic.

Monday was upset day at the World Cup – Brazil barely squeaked past Japan, Germany was ousted by Paraguay, and the Dutch lost to Morocco.  Sinner avoided a first round loss at Wimbledon in five sets and Djokovic looked a bit rocky for a while, losing the second set.

I forgot to mention a story about the Japanese fans from last week.  They clean up the stadium before they leave – picking up all the trash and mess.  The team did the same in the locker room – leaving it spotless with all towels neatly folded by the door.

Japanese clean up

We read and listened to albums in the afternoon.  Joe Jackson always goes over well with McD.  The chickpea wraps made another appearance for lunch – we split one as they are so filling.

Diana was back to play pickleball with some friends later in the afternoon.

 

 

I watched France easily dispose of Sweden on Tuesday.  They really do look like the strongest team by quite a bit.  Diana played some more pickleball while I was doing that.

We picked a new table for trivia in the evening.  This one had the “American Weiner” painting:

A take off on “American Gothic” by Grant Wood.  I had always thought it was a farmer and his wife, and read today that it’s his daughter.

Vacations led to a small team again – Jack, Aidan and Kyle on the youngster squad, me, Kenny and Alex (after jiujitsu) on the old folks contingent.  We did well – in first place with 86 points before the final question.  The second place team had 85 points.  Here’s the final question:

Put these in order from largest to smallest:

The theme was “Flys”.

How many years did Marty McFly travel back in time in the original “Back to the Future” movie?

How many Philadelphia Flyers team members are in the hockey Hall of Fame?

How many episodes of “In Living Color” was J. Lo in the Fly girls?

How many days does a fruit fly live?

How confident do you feel about your ability to put these in order?  Aidan and I wanted to bet zero, not confident at all.  The group consensus was to bet 14, meaning we would be second if the third place team didn’t get it right.

The correct order is:

J. Lo Fly girl  – 62

Fruit fly life – 50

Mary McFly back in time – 30

Philly Flyers HOF – 14

We did not get that order correct and ended up in second place.  A good showing from a small team.

Diana was busy on Wednesday morning – a walk in the park with Kara followed by yoga, and then her annual doctor appointment.  She got a good report.

She got a new nickname at the blood draw lab.  The first draw on Tuesday had one vial that didn’t work and she had to go back on Wednesday morning.  Struggling to pronounce Campagna, the ladies decided that she was going to be Mrs. Champagne going forward.  Little did they know that was a perfect nickname.

I got excited thinking that the English were going to be eliminated from the World Cup by Congo.  The very annoying Harry Kane spoiled that late in the game, and they live to play another game.  We’ll see how they do later today against Mexico in Mexico City.

We decided to pass on the gathering of the large Krewe to watch the USMNT World Cup game at Tchoup yard on Wednesday evening.  Too loud, crowded and noisy with very salty food.  It sounds like the group found a good seating area and had a good time.

Thursday was haircut day for me.  Diana dropped me off and then met me for lunch.  We were looking forward to Mayas but it is only open for lunch on the weekend.  Juan’s Flying Burrito to the rescue with our usuals – Luau quesadilla for me and modified Superbowl for McD.

I watched a bit of Wimbledon after lunch, and was happy to see Tiafoe win in four sets.  Unfortunately, he was eliminated yesterday.

We were invited over to Michael and Laurie’s house for the first time on Friday evening.  They live very close to Denny and Anne.  The excuse for getting together was to review our recommendations for their visit to San Sebastian in a week.  We had a very pleasant evening.

I enjoyed watching the tall ships sailing into New York harbor on TV on Saturday, July 4th.  It was nice that we had the chance to see them up close in New Orleans.

The sailors up in the rigging on this one made me a wee bit queasy.

Thom was home alone and so we invited him to join us for our second annual 4th of July visit to Toups’ Meatery.

The restaurant was very quiet and we had amazing service from Dave, starting with a cheese board and a foie gras torchon.  Dave explained the cheeses and accoutrements beautifully.

I had a glass of Grenache and Thom a Cab Franc – both were delicious.  Then it was time for the wagyu burgers.  I think you can tell that Thom was quite happy with his:

Diana and I split one and it was just as good, if not better, than we remembered.

This was such a good experience.  Thanks to Dave, Toups’ and Thom for a lovely brunch.

We headed home and changed into our pool gear for a trip back over to Michael and Laurie’s home.  Kenny, Kara and Thom joined and we had a very pleasant few hours telling stories in and around the pool.

Diana played tennis with the girls this morning and since then we’ve been watching tennis and listening to the thunder roll through.  I also spent some frustrating time trying to manage the synching of my various Apple devices with iCloud.  I don’t want my iPad to synch and it seems impossible to stop it.

My first book this week was Mendell Station by J B Hwang.  I didn’t love this book.  The story about training as a postal delivery person was interesting and I enjoyed reading about San Francisco neighborhoods that I know a little bit.  The story was too choppy along the timeline and a bit convoluted overall.  Here’s an online summary:

“A tender debut that follows a woman who, after her best friend’s death, loses her faith and quits her job to join the postal service, quickly becoming an ‘essential worker’ as the city shuts down.

It’s January 2020, and Miriam is already getting a sense that the world might be ending. First, she learns that her best friend, Esther, has died. Then her faith in God-in everything, really-follows suit. Her job teaching Scripture at a private Christian school suddenly seems untenable, so she quits. Thankfully, the postal service is hiring.

While Miriam finds comfort in her route, the mail truck can hardly outpace the memory of her lost friend and eroded faith. She finds herself composing letters to Esther that she will never deliver, reflecting on their shared childhoods and deep understanding of each other’s difficult families.

Mendell Station depicts one woman’s deliverance through the peculiar rhythms of work, and the beauty found in small details and gestures, those quotidian labors of love.”

I’m about half way through “John of John” by Douglas Stuart.  This is much better than my last book.  Stuart wrote “Shuggie Bain” – an excellent book but so depressing and grim.  “John of John” is a bit lighter so far, but there is definitely some darkness lurking.

I’m enjoying the Scottish island setting with the crofting and weaving occupations.  I’ll have much more to report next week.  Here are a couple of the reviews:

“Douglas Stuart brilliantly weaved a layered, compelling and yet so intimate a story of identity, what it means to belong, and the courage to claim your own truth.”—Oprah Winfrey

“One of 2026’s literary triumphs.”—Boston Globe

Local piano wizard, Jon Cleary, an import from England, hosts a weekly radio show on Jazz FM in the UK.  I haven’t found a way to listen to it yet, but he makes a playlist of the songs he played available.  Lonnie Johnson had a good song and I attempted to get some background from him via Google.

The first result made me chuckle:

Those Super Soakers were the bane of my existence in our California pool.

Here’s one from Charlie Gabriel of the Preservation Hall band.  What’s interesting about Charlie?  He’s 93 years old and still playing.  I heard him play live last year and he is amazing.

Some wonderful funk:

And finally, something to recognize the 250th anniversary, arranged by the wonderful Jaco Pastorius: