3 posts tagged “my places”
I deeply loved almost all things about living in Montreal. The giant perfect Indigo that was about 10 minutes from school, the open-very-late grocery stores where I could shop at 2 a.m. with the tiny perfect McGill girls who were trying to be stylin' (yes, I says "stylin'" because there's no other word for it), the other many and varied grocery stores including anything from the Italian grocery to the PA to the huge markets (also, yes, I have a deep and abiding love for all things grocery).
I loved the Plateau and Monkland Village and Westmount for just wandering around in, finding random wee shops selling things that were both gorgeous and useful; and the lights at Christmas, everywhere points of light, making you part of the season just by being there with them.
I loved the language: the old ladies in St. Leonard who spoke either French or Italian but not really English, the shop girls downtown who spoke immaculate French and then beautiful English if you needed. But it wasn't always that easy. Like the day that I became determined to hunt down pinking shears. Which is a great concept. But just try explaining them to someone whose first language is different than yours, and who may not have ever seen or heard of such a thing (even, I defy you, try explaining them to someone who's never heard of 'em in a language that you share completely). It's pretty much a no go. Even the girls at Fabric Ville (i.e. Fabricland) just looked at me sideways and doubtful.
Today I finally got 'em in hand (yeah, something like 3 years later, I move slowly) - ciseaux a denteler - which, I checked, SPECIFICALLY means cut in the from of teeth. Right ON.
Also, the above pictures is from Montreal ca. December 2006 - parked in front of the Italian grocery. I am still so in love.
I'm not normally a coffee drinker - I start most mornings with just cereal and milk - so there's something lovely about making a special Sunday ritual about it, having a quiet moment with the tv or a book or two before I have to get up and do my work for the day.
This week, this month, this year is going to be eaten up with applying for school, again. As much as I like to be in school I do not love the process of applications, and the stress of asking for recommendations - the stage in my applying - is high. If I do this right though, I send the requests off tomorrow and then all I have to do is wait. Easy peasy, right?
It is 11:21 p.m. on a Friday and my camera appeared not to want to POST (DO cameras POST? - something to look into). I cannot sleep. For your normal 25-year-old girl, not being asleep at (now) 11:27 on a Friday is not a great tragedy. But for as for me, I'm expected bright and shiny at work tomorrow - by choice, of course, but still, not sleeping now strictly won't do.
Of course there is giggling next door, and Imogen Heap is keeping company with my insomnia while I try to figure out if my beauteous new laptop (I'm sorry, my beauteous new "notebook") is a go for the blogging, so this failing to sleep thing is not a total loss. There is a dog panting or napping on the floor beside my bed (and for once I *have* a bed!) and I figure it's time to type.
In fact my room, in general, is showing great improvement: there's a place for my clothes, a place for my stereo and a place for me (I will note that book storage is seriously lacking and I still don't like having my computer hanging around, but you know, it's not a perfect world.
There are rumblings in the air. It's starting to be fall and I'm loving it - going to show that this prairie-born Canadian kid just doesn't get a choice - I love it here and I'm stuck with it.
Fall, of course, and winter, will put an end to my biking, my sweet blue cruiser will have to find a safe home in the months when our wee city is blanketed (so much more than blanketed, really, cushioned or even sofa-ed) with snow, so that it remains safe for me to ride to work in spring. I haven't yet figured out how to make the daily trek without it (and with snowdrifts between me and work), but I'm making plans.
And other things are down the pipe this fall: grad school applications are going to rear their ugly heads for what I hope is the first and last time, and I've been thinking about making other changes.
In the midst of all that to actually find time to put up thoughts and ideas, wonderings and conclusions so that just anyone (in theory) can read it seems a big task (when remembering to breathe is a struggle sometimes), but I'm going to try.
