A Tribute to Brigitte DePape - Canadian Democracy (part 2)

Further to my post on May 3rd, it is only appropriate that I should pay tribute to Brigitte DePape for her bold act of bravery yesterday in the House of Commons.  A recent university graduate, she sacrificed her new job as House page for an opportunity to express her frustration with the ruling federal Conservative government.  Apparently, she had, cleverly, smuggled her stop sign into the House by hiding it inside her skirt.  Not only was she escorted out of the House of Commons, she was also fired immediately.  At least there is (was) one person in the House who was not mesmerized by the Emperor's New Clothes.  One can only hope that the opposition party will follow suit by asking for a vote of non-confidence when the budget is delievered on Monday.  Such a vote would, obviously, not survive against a majority government, but it would ring the bell to awken the House from it's current state of somnambulism.

31 is a prime number

Michele ordered "6" plastic clips and a slender rail for a sliding door in our laundry cupboard.  So, when I went to the local hardware store on my bicycle today to pick it up, I was rather surprised at how large the package was.  Fortunately, my single bungee cord was sufficient to secure it safely to the back on my bike.  When I got home, and opened the package, I found "31" plastic clips with "6" mounting screws.  No matter how you cut it, 31 is a prime number and is, therefore, not divisible by "6".  So, the only conclusion which I can draw is that someone in the packageing department at Reno-Depot made an inadvertant arithmetical error.  Considering that I only needed 2 clips to fix the door, I'll bring the extra 25clips back to the store so that someone doesn't get into trouble.

Katherine Graduates

It was a wet and chilly day, but a good time was had by all at the MacDonald Campus of McGill University on May 27th, 2011.  Katherine received her BSc in Nutritional Sciences with distinction. We're very proud of her accomplishment!  For more photos of the convocation: https://picasaweb.google.com/dcrowe2/KatherineSGraduationMay272011?authkey=Gv1sRgCMSW75K0o4vpVg&feat=email

Laying new wire

As I walked to the bus terminus at Chevrier this morning, I noticed someone laying new 1/4" wire.
I guess when it comes to laying new electrical wire along the telephone posts, there hasn't been too much innovation in the process.  Would love to get my hands on one of those spindles when depleted of wire...what a great round table it would make.

New Tourist Bureau for the Monteregie

As of March this year, we have a new Tourist Bureau in Brossard for the Monteregie.  According to a tourism brochure we received in the mail box on Friday afternoon, the tourist bureau is offering a map of all the cycle paths in the Monteregie.  What a great idea!  I bought a book published by La Route Verte a couple of years ago, but it's not terribly useful as it focuses only on their paths and does not integrate the numerous municipal paths into La Route Verte maps.  La Route Verte has done a great job managing the paths (although a bit more signage at certain junctions would be helpful), but their maps leave a lot to be desired.  I'm hoping that Monteregie maps offered by the Tourist bureau will combine the two together well...so, yesterday, I cycled over to their new tourist bureau near the dix30 shopping center and discovered that it is closed on weekends!  Seems rather odd that a tourist bureau would be closed on the two days that most people would be out and about.  Will return nect week during office hours to see what they have.

The Chestnut Experiment

Squirrels like to bury chestnut seeds in our garden.  So, every year, I find little chestnut saplings growing amongst the bulbs.  Last year, I succeeded, on my second attempt, to transplant a sapling into the lawn.  It survived the winter and began sprouting new growth last week!

It looked like it was going to make it. 

Last November, before we left for the Guatemalan mission with DSF, I had raked up all the fallen leaves, but a few of the large tress in the backyard had not yest lost their leaves by the time we left.  By the time we returned home, all the leaves had fallen, but so had snow which covered the ground.  So, I never had a chance to clean the lawn before winter set in last year.  During the winter, we received a great offer from a garden caretaker which included a Sping cleanup.  It was such a great offer, that I decided to try them out.  They cleaned the garden better than I ever did, which made for a good impression.  The contract also covers weekly lawn mowing...this is actually a job I enjoy, but because it was part of the package, it was simply one less thing to worry about.  When Michele and I returned from our bicycle trip to Lachine on Thursday afternoon, Jerome reported that the fellow who mowed the lawn confessed with great remorse to having mowed down my chestnut. 

Oh, the horror!  Hard to imagine how he didn't see it...as the picture above illustrates, there was a stake next to it and a white plastic protective sleeve around its tiny trunk.

No big deal...the squirrels had ensured that I had a supply of back-up saplings, so I simply dug up another one and replanted it.  There will be two big tests to pass in order for this sapling to survive.  It will first have to survive the hot dry summer which we are anticipating while we are away in Malta and Italy.  Then, it will have to survive the winter.  If it can make it through the first winter in it's new location, then it should be good.  I've placed an additional stake next to it as well as a plastic guard rail to protect it from accidents and will keep my fingers crossed.

Cycling To Lachine

On May 12, 2011, Michele's parents celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary!  That's something which doesn't happen very often.  Michele and I decided to cycle there.  It was a perfect day for cycling...light breeze, clear sky, mild temperature, and becuase it was a Thursday, traffic on the cycle path was light.  Gaetan, Helene, Francis, and Celine were also there to celebrate the event.  Michele and I picked up Chinese take-out on the way for lunch.  It was a great lunch and we all had fun. We added another 66 km to our odometers (what a numerical coincidence!).