Montreal Walkabout on the Mountain

Glorious day, and worth the extra effort to get out of our flat, and thread my way past all of the massive road construction on my street to go for a wander on our mountain.

We are lucky enough to have Mont Royal Park smack dab in the middle of the city. There are sections that make you feel as though you're deep in the woods in the country, and other sections that feel like Central Park. This is because the landscape architect for both parks is Frederick Law Olmsted. The highlight for me is the grand lookout with its the stunning view of the city below.

My only pet peeve today is the number of people yakking on their cell phones oblivious to their surroundings and others. Some of them, unbelievably, were on speaker phone yammering on about groceries they have to pick up or in one guy's case, the wholesale price of silver amulets.

Seriously, people. Take five. You're in NATURE. Look around you, take it all in, and enjoy it in peace, because that's what the rest of us are trying to do.

We live in the far bottom right corner!

Spring fever

Montreal Walkabout

 Today I had lunch with my wonderful friend, Kathy Down The Road. We have known each other for over 25 years, and have so much fun together, it's kind of ridiculous. Stream-of-consciousness conversations, laughing from the moment we sit down together until we part ways to go home, it's the kind of friendship that makes people wonder if we're sisters. And we kind of feel like sisters. Odd, odd sisters from odd, odd parents. We can even share dessert without either of us wanting to chomp off the other's finger. Now that's a friend.

An ornamental cabbage. Hope they're not edible, because Buddy christened the rest of them whilst I took this photo.

We wandered up Greene Avenue after lunch, past the uniformed schoolgirls who walked and texted without regard to passersby or traffic, swollen-lipped women with flat-ironed blonde hair in fur coats, men in paisley foulards and polished loafers, and one tall woman behind us having a loud, animated discussion with what I thought must be her grandmother, as it was the kind of one-way conversation you'd have with a hard-of-hearing, cantankerous relative who refuses to turn up her hearing aid. Turns out it was her brown Labrador retriever who loped past us, off-leash, not giving a rat's patootie that this woman was talking at it full stop. This wasn't a "Heel, Espresso, HEEL!" kind of talk. This was a "Hey, do you think it's going to snow, and do you think our current prime minister is doing a good job" kind of conversation.

She then threw open the door to a ritzy hair salon and let the dog bolt ahead of her. We were left to ponder how the unsuspecting patrons felt about this slobbering dog and the Human Megaphone it belonged to taking their zen by the throat and shaking it to death.

Anyway, KDTR asked me why I hadn't posted any photos of my walks as of late, and I said it was part laziness, and part wondering if it was just all too much navel gazing. But she asked me to, so I will oblige and post a few I have taken recently around my 'hood.

If you enjoy them, let me know via the comments. If you don't, feel free to explain why to your dog.

They are replacing the pavement down the street. It will soon cover up all evidence of the old cobblestones and track for the streetcars.

Self-portrait

Front Lawn Art. I want to rescue this poor, rusty Underwood, but it seems happy with the pink flamingos and louche ceramic frogs.

The Catholic nuns and priests got all the good properties.

Typical door in Shaughnessy Village

Typical door in my daughter's neighbourhood

A friendly neighbour checking me out.

A Random P. There's a lot of that in the doorways of my neighbourhood.