Butting in and butting out: Childhood, adulthood, and cigarette smoke (Georgetown, Ontario and beyond) (38) smoke smoke smoke that cigarette Tex Williams with Lyrics – YouTube From earliest childhood, I was constantly engulfed in a toxic cloud of cigarette smoke, and growing up in Georgetown, Ontario in the 1950s, I was mad keen to butt..
ET C’EST L’HIVER F. Hamelin – Marie-Claire Séguin Une belle chanson poétique pour l’hiver *English translation below the French Nous marchons si près de la terre Sous le vent de minuit Sous la blancheur du givre Et comme au temps du très vieux temps Le long d’un grand pays de neige Les arbres se..
Noisy neighbours “Good fences make good neighbours” – Robert Frost “Hell is other people” – Jean-Paul Sartre We had been living in Paradise…until the new neighbours moved in. Before coming to France in the fall of 2021, we had never resided in a dwelling without at least one adjoining wall. And we paid the price..
Our self-cleaning public washroom nightmare becomes a reality in Nîmes I just learned that our new home town of Ottawa, Ontario, is implementing a worthy project to provide public washrooms throughout the city core, including at least two self-cleaning facilities. 2025 City of Ottawa budget includes $1 million for two public washrooms in Centretown |..
Terminal tartar When I was about five years old, growing up in Georgetown, Ontario, a first visit to the dentist yielded the most perplexing diagnosis: I was afflicted with terminal tartar. Now in our home, in honour of my mom’s vestigial Catholicism, combined with her ardent desire to be a contemporary 1950s housewife, we always..
Reminding me of why I fear the tomb: Fall 2024 Lac Saint-Joseph Quebec Photo Lac Saint-Joseph Quebec Taken by Lorne Coughlin Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost 1874 –1963 Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So..
Le temps passé avec vous fut bref mais tordant L’Antenne, le bulletin mensuel de l’Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ), a publié un article sur mon dernier livre. L’antenne – 16 janvier 2024 (mailchi.mp) L’Ordre se donne pour mission d’assurer et de promouvoir la compétence et le professionnalisme de ses membres..
Moses de Boswell…learning to curse and swear the Québécois way for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day – Quebec’s national holiday Having been raised in a repressive Protestant community, I have always loved to curse and swear. (As small child, I was led to believe that I would roast in hell for eternity as punishment for this proclivity.) ..
A few pops Returning to Canada after spending well over two years in France – and moving to a city where English is the predominant language – have been quite a shock to say the least! (So have the incredibly high prices here in Canada…but that’s a whole other story for another day.) ..
The real reason that we returned to Canada: My wife Anne missed Simons too much to remain in France. Here is an excerpt from the story “Excuse My French” from the book entitled My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny. Simons, a clothing and department store, is a Quebec and even..