Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Au revoir mes amis! Helllloooo!

Je vous quitte.

Il s'agit du dénouement d'une histoire déjà bien longue. La fin d'un projet né lorsque nos trois enfants approchaient la fin de leurs études.

(patience... please read on)

Monday, March 28, 2016

I am a wrencher!

My Dad (thanks Dad) encouraged me to tear our lawn mower apart over a fall and winter season. I must have been thirteen.


Sunday, March 27, 2016

Sonja's Big Move

Sonja has become a multi-state, globe trotting person. Now she's on the move again.

All packed up and ready for the move to Toronto.


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Roast prime rib

Easter Sunday is almost here. The family will be gathering. You need to think about making something exceptional as an antidote to all the sugary treats the Easter Bunny is about to bring.

I anticipate few meals as much as when the star of the occasion is a standing rib roast. I know that many people figure that a nice leg of lamb or a bone in ham is the tradition for Easter so my suggestion will strike you as doubly counterintuitive, but bear with me. There's plenty of time to shift gears.


Monday, March 21, 2016

Bell Canada

Telling your story, whether it's to friends at the pub, or a story on your blog, is horribly inefficient. An incident of mere seconds takes way longer than that to explain.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Project report: Installing Hot Grips™ heated grips on a Vespa GTS 300 i.e. Super

This project report shows how I replaced the heated grips on my Vespa GTS 300 i.e. Super. If you are installing heated grips for the first time, you should refer to my earlier project report concerning the initial installation of heated grips. That project report is more complete and shows all the steps involved in disassembling the Vespa's headset, removing the stock grips, making a wiring loom, installing the heat control, and installing the heated grips.

When the time came to install heated grips on the Vespa GTS 300 i.e. Super, I hit a challenge. There's always a challenge.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Thursday, March 10, 2016

The end is near

Susan and I have a lot invested in our Montreal home, and I don't mean money.

When we were last thinking of moving it was because Susan really wanted a larger family room. That, and she had her eye on this part of Beaconsfield south for years. I would have been quite content to stay in our old house.

I agreed to move, but on one condition.

Monday, March 7, 2016

The beginning begins


The odds are the 2016 riding season will kick off early, with an epic ride.

Our pre-move preparations got me into the garage on Sunday. We're not hoarders so there wasn't much to discard, other than my Honda Civic.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Delibee - a hidden treasure

Let me tell you the story of Delibee, a tiny little jewel of a restaurant tucked away in a sleepy suburb, just north of the train tracks, and just west of bustling Trudeau International Airport.

To understand how important this virtually unknown eatery is, you need some historical and cultural context to work with. So let's travel briefly away from Delibee and head east towards downtown and then a little further east to the street Montrealers who have a long history here call 'the Main'.

Monday, February 29, 2016

ToadMama's Brave, Bold Blogger Challenge (BBBC # 29)

So this is it.

The end of Kathy's February blogger challenge: 29 posts in 29 days.

I knew it was going to be a difficult challenge. I had a lot on my plate in February, but I managed to pull it off.

If you are inclined to see all 29 of my responses to Kathy's devilish prompts, you can click here for the February 1 to 6 responses, click here for responses 7 to 15, and click here to see 16 through 28. I have added links below each response to the other participating bloggers' takes on the same topic.

I decided to save a stand-alone post for the last response. I'm glad it's over, but kind of sad to pen the last response.

My responses revealed my character in significant ways, in the way that Chuck Close's hundreds and hundreds of tiny abstracts yield a portrait once you back off enough. If you've never experienced his work, I encourage you to seek it out, or click here to see some examples online (but it's not the same experience as seeing it in a museum).

Kathy's last prompt is...

Sunday, February 28, 2016

ToadMama's Brave, Bold Blogger Challenge (BBBC # 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28)

Kathy (ToadMama) published what she is calling her Brave, Bold Blogger Challenge. It's simple, a challenge that's a little crazy, and potentially demanding, but that is turning ought to be a whole lot of fun and very revealing for the participating bloggers.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

A Friday to forget

While I was struggling unsuccessfully to get to Tampa last Friday, Susan was having an equally bad, awful, difficult day.

She pulled into the garage at home and when she got out of the car, she heard a really loud hissing sound.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Fear


I saw this card in Portland Oregon a while back.

I bought it because it meant something to me.

The copyright in all text and photographs, except as noted, belongs to David Masse.