MY HOOD

R and I are lucky to live on a fantastic street in a truly interesting neighborhood in Montreal. Next door to us live a family whose 93-year-old patriarch was born in the house where his grown children still live. Our own building is cooperatively owned by a group of individuals who bought it 30 years ago after coveting it from their then-apartment across the street. Three of those original owners still live here and Robert, the owner of our apartment, maintains a studio in the old stables out back despite having recently moved to a house further north. This is an area rich with history, family and friendship. There is a unique intermingling of age, language, outlook and interests and many play an active role in this community.

Currently our alley is home to a magical photo exhibition, Laterna Magica, by artist (and neighbor) Loren Williams. Ms. Williams canvassed residents of two Plateau streets for photographs of the neighborhood from their own family archives. Some images are mounted on board and hung throughout the alleyway, others are displayed backlit in windows of current residents, best viewed after 7pm when the sun has gone down. Altogether it makes for a fascinating glimpse into our neighborhood over the course of many decades (and I'm sure a trip down memory lane for many).

For example, then:

and now:

One fence hosts a series of little doors which open to reveal knotholes:

Which on further inspection show former residents of the back gardens held within:

A series of historic postcards mounted on board show idyllic scenes of Parc La Fontaine, just one block away from our house:

An archive map from the turn of the century, can you find where we live?

The carriage house/stables behind our building as they stand today:

And a photograph of former inhabitants:

At night the backlit photos take on a somewhat eerie quality, reminding one of lives lived and ended in these very streets, these homes.

Totally fascinating.

HEAVY THINGS I HAVE CARRIED IN RECENT DAYS

Ok, I had some help.

I bought this Consew industrial machine for a really great price after Genevieve forwarded me the craigslist ad a couple weeks ago. R and I drove down to the south shore to pick it up but it had been sitting in our van ever since - there was just no way the two of us could get it up our 33 front steps alone. Finally this past Wednesday our friend Chris came to the rescue and the three of us hauled the damn heavy monster up these:

And these:

And, worst of all, these narrow little wedges of steps right at the top, ugh:

Second, R and I bought a dresser yesterday, something I've been in dire need of ever since we moved here nearly two months ago. I had precise specifications for the sort of dresser I wanted - a tallboy, narrow and with at least 4 drawers, raised off the floor and with extra storage for all the little jewels and junk I leave lying all over the house. I'd been eyeing up this old beast for awhile and finally brought it home yesterday afternoon.

If refinished it could be a really beautiful, simple piece. Chances are slim I'll get around to that anytime soon, but at least my clothes are off the floor and I have myriad surfaces, nooks and drawers to store my treasures.

Hooray to useful purchases!, even if one must break their back to get them up the stairs.

GLIMPSES OF THE HOME LIFE

Wednesday morning in our living room, enjoying early coffee with Marilyn and the cat. The weather in Montreal is so hot these days that my laundry will dry on the line within minutes. This makes waking up early imperative for getting any work done. I think an afternoon of reading in the park sounds nice, maybe underneath a shady tree.

One day soon I'm going to buy two little wire chairs to put in our living room, I already have my eye on them. And then someday, when the time is right, a kitchen table will find me. And another day, very much in the future, I'm going to recover all my furniture in shades of grey.

THE PERFECT GREY

Zac Posen called grey 'the most elegant neutral', a statement with which I wholeheartedly agree. Long one of my favorite colours, I thought that perfectly pale dove grey would be the ideal shade for our new bedroom.

So I bought a color called 'twilight' (so lame, I know) and brought it home to try it out. Of course when I painted a sample patch both R and I found it way too dark (I forgot to follow my own rule of ALWAYS go a shade lighter than you think you should). Anyway, I ended up mixing the colour I had with some white paint we had sitting around until I found that perfect grey. Genevieve's BF Jon was kind enough to help me paint the bedroom (along with the studio, raymond's studio and a wall in our living room, what a trooper) and voila! my dream dream-shade.

Of course, like much of the rest of our house, there's still a lot to do. I don't have a dresser so all my clothes are presently piled in a trunk on the floor. A chair would be nice, a half-curtain over the window is essential (hello high-density living!) and I hope to hang some more art (maybe a mirror?) soon. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

PAINT IT BLACK

Ever since my mom helped me paint my bedroom black in highschool I've wanted to splash enveloping, rich & cozy ebony paint over my walls again - I've just been waiting for the right walls I guess.

Enter our Montreal kitchen. When we moved in the back wall was painted green, which was fine, but I'm so sick of colour, colour everywhere and find myself craving simple white & grey & black and nothing else.

So I painted it black, and I love it. I want to paint everything black. I used chalkboard paint and am still toying with the idea of painting the entire wall above the stove black and getting R to do a large drawing on it. Whaddya think?

It still needs a lot of work, we'll have to get new appliances eventually and some fresh flowers/art wouldn't hurt either. One thing at a time though right?

ALSO GOOD

One can't go wrong with books and breakfast on the cool front balcony.

A FAVOURITE FEATURE

This is the skylight in my new bathroom. It floods the entire room with light which spills into the hallway beyond until the sun goes down. And look, it sits almost directly above this:

Call me spoiled, I can take it. But first I must go have a bath.

OUT WITH THE OLD

This recent trip to Montreal, for any who might not already know, wasn't just another vacation (though it seems I've been doing a lot of that lately). This time RB and I flew out of Edmonton with a purpose: to look for and find an apartment in Montreal. Because, you see, we're moving out east. Like, in a month.

Of course leaving Edmonton will be hard, all my friends and family and memories live here. Nevertheless, I'm excited about the move and what it means for us. Being in a new city feels invigorating, it gives me a chance to re-invent myself and take a hard look at my life, at the baggage I've been carrying, at who I am and how I can be better. It gives me an excuse for adventure and discovery and to push & challenge myself like I don't feel I do much of in Edmonton these days.

On a more superficial level it forces me to downsize and get rid of all this stuff I've been carrying around for years. To cleanse myself of junk and then re-fill my home, piece by piece, with lasting things that i love. No more ikea quick-fixes or half-functional hand-me-downs. A (mostly) clean slate.

Of course just to torture myself before the move, I did stop by the antique mall this weekend with an eye to furnishing our new home. You know, just as space and money become precious.

Surely we could find room in our U-haul for one or both of these Bertoia chairs? Admittedly these are pricey suckers but, c'mon, they're modern classics!

And what of this wild boar's head from Pennsylvania? Beautiful in it's disgusting glory. Guess how far RB would let me get into the house with this gem? Yeah, not very.

Who doesn't need an antique planetarium orrery? I mean, this is useful stuff.

Likewise this Boss-themed jukebox.

Ok, I don't really want or need a Boss-themed jukebox, but I thought a certain someone might appreciate it.

HOME AGAIN JIGGETY-JIG

My flight home was the last flight to leave Charles de Gaulle yesterday afternoon due to volcanic ash covering western Europe from the recent eruption in Iceland. I knew that flights to the UK had been grounded that morning, but only found out I was the last person to cross the ocean when I arrived in Montreal 6 hours later.
And so now I'm home. Also very pleased not to be stranded at the airport Holiday Inn (though it had been like paradise at midnight the night before).

Mary is continuing on with her trip across Europe for three more weeks. Unfortunately, she IS stranded in Barcelona due to a train/bus strike and will likely have to miss her stops in Carcassonne and Toulon. At least Barcelona's not too shabby a place to be stuck in, I suppose.

Good luck Mary. If anyone has any suggestions of what she should see or do there over the next three days please send her word.

I'll upload a million photos shortly.