Kristin Janz

A couple weekends ago (Columbus Day weekend in the US, Thanksgiving weekend in Canada), Donald and I went to Montreal, driving up on Friday morning and coming back on Sunday (thus hoping to avoid the long weekend traffic back into Boston on Monday, which unfortunately didn’t work quite as well as we’d hoped; others must have had the same idea). We stayed with my friend Rene (Donald’s friend too, now, on Facebook!), whom I know from science fiction conventions. (Rene was chair of the 2009 Worldcon in Montreal.)

The weather was beautiful, if on the chilly side. I hadn’t been to Montreal in a number of years, since my sister Lisa graduated from McGill and moved away (I used to visit her fairly often). I guess it’s hard to notice everything that’s different, when you didn’t actually live in a place, and haven’t visited in a long time. I did notice that there’s significantly more English on signs these days, hot dogs now being referred to as hot dogs, rather than “chiens chauds”. Rene confirmed that the authorities have, in fact, lightened up on French language requirements for signs. Apparently, about 90% of the complaints about English on signs were coming from about 3 people, so it was decided that there was not, in fact, widespread concern about English on signs contributing to the eroding of Francophone heritage.

On Friday evening, Rene cooked some yummy tofu tacos for us, and then we went to see the annual Chinese lantern exhibit at the Montreal Botanical Garden. It was really amazing, and I’m glad Rene suggested it.

On Saturday, we headed out to see Old Montreal, after a stop in the Plateau district for poutine. Lots of walking! Saturday evening, the three of us plus Rene’s daughter went out for dinner to, of all places, a restaurant specializing in Louisiana cuisine (called, perhaps unimaginatively, La Louisiane). I guess the Cajun/Creole food overdose from our recent Louisiana trip had worn off! The food was good, though not quite as good as in Louisiana.

Sunday we completed the trifecta of essential Montreal foods, with Montreal bagels for breakfast (they’re quite different from New York bagels, though, of course, still round with a hole in the middle), and smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz’s for lunch. In between, we drove up Mont Royal, and walked up to the viewing platform at the top.

Oliver looks happy to be back in Canada, even for a short visit

Donald in front of the Montreal skyline

On a science fictional note, Worldcon chairs apparently all get a display copy of that year’s Hugo Award (these are kind of like the Oscars for science fiction and fantasy; though I’m not sure anyone who doesn’t already know this reads my blog). The rocket is always the same, but the base is different each year. As we were packing to leave, Donald glanced at it, displayed on its shelf, and said wistfully, “I want one!”

The way back from Montreal to Boston goes almost right by the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream factory, so since I happened to be driving at that point, we got to stop. Donald was a little annoyed, and even more annoyed about the 45 minute wait in line for ice-cream. Joining a factory tour was out of the question, unless we wanted to wait an additional hour. Hmm, for some reason, a lot more people are interested in a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream factory on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, than a tour of the Tabasco sauce factory on an ordinary Tuesday just after the start of the school year. Can’t figure that one out….

What's not to love?

Thanks again to Rene for his kind hospitality in La Belle Ville!

A video clip of a guy trying to build a working telegraph using only Stone Age materials. It’s a bit of a stretch to claim that he’s successful, and he does cheat by using a cigarette lighter and (I think) charcoal briquettes to smelt copper and iron ores. But it’s still pretty cool that he manages to produce a working battery (for some definition of “working”) with iron and copper he smelted himself, and cattail roots.

Good thing he doesn’t have to do this in a hurry, with a lizard-like alien trying to kill him.

I’ve finally collected so many rejection letters that they no longer fit in the 3-ring binder I’ve been using for them (it was a smallish 3-ring binder). I had to divide them between two 3-ring binders.

… Apt 1 and Apt 2 are separate addresses!

My boyfriend Donald and I are both planning to attend this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio. Donald and I have kind of an unusual living arrangement, in that we live in separate apartments in one two-family house (we each have two roommates). Well, Donald just received the latest mailing from World Fantasy, inside an envelope that had a printed sticky address label showing his name and address, stuck on top of a printed sticky address label showing my name and address, so that just my name was clearly visible. I.e., even though we technically have different addresses, they assumed that we only needed one mailing between the two of us.

It seems that whoever addressed the envelopes didn’t notice that, even though our street address is the same, the apartment numbers are different. Unless they did notice, and figured that, if next-door neighbors in the same apartment complex who were both attending World Fantasy didn’t already know each other, they ought to!

I just received a fundraising letter that contained this line: “If you love children–as I know you do–please give now.”

If you haven’t seen Daily Science Fiction yet, they’re publishing some great stories. You can read them at their website; or, if you want the stories when they first come out, subscribe to their mailing list, and they’ll e-mail you a new story every day (they publish both science fiction and fantasy).

I have to admit that I don’t read every story that shows up in my Inbox. Maybe if I had more time. So far I’ve especially liked Therese Arkenberg’s “The Fosterling” and the current featured story, Matthew Johnson’s “Long Pig” (for anyone who’s an afficionado of fine dining).