Earlier this month, while working at my parent's place on their new patio, my sister found a couple of large moths hiding in one of my dad's plants. Just a couple of days before that, there was one that was batting its wings trying to get into my apartment window. It was huge and I was surprised to find some more. And as weeks went by I've been seeing more and more of them. If I didn't know better, I'd say Mothra was about to invade the city with an army of its offspring. I mean look at it! It's freakin' majestic! Click on the images to zoom in.
Since this is a blog about walking solo, I did walk around town by myself a little bit too. I captured a few things on my camera, but not a lot. First of all, on Saint-Denis there was this bakery (D Liche) that made a tray of cupcakes and decided to recreate Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night in frosting. If you know someone who really loves his work, then this would make an awesome birthday cake.
Also on Saint-Denis, a chalkboard has been put up with a bunch of chalks. It's a way to let the passersby express themselves. The board has a message printed on it and you have to fill in the blanks with whatever you feel like. The message on the board reads "I wouldn't want to die before having..." and people wrote what was really important for them. I was in a pretty lonesome mood and was about to write something, but then after reading some of the answers, I decided not to. I mean, my excuse would've been pretty lame next to "until I can beat cancer" or "until I can reach the age of 16 because of a disease". Though some others wrote "until I had sex with a porn star" or "killed Justin Bieber" or "become a gazillionnaire". It's times like these I wish I had a brilliant comedic mind so I could come up with something funny and witty. Maybe I'll pass by again and write "I wouldn't want to die before having - found something witty and funny to write on this board".
Last weekend was an amazing day. The weather was simply fantastic. We had been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms, which I guess is another reason why I wasn't going out as much. But, that time was just beautiful. It was sunny and warm and not too humid so we could actually enjoy the hot sun without feeling heavy and sweaty. So I grabbed a Bixi bike and rode into town. Riding along Rachel street, I decided to go through the Lafontaine park. It's a beautiful park and there's always fun stuff to see there. This time around, there was a gathering of Japanese Anime nerds. They gathered in the park, all dressed up in costumes to celebrate their geeky fetish for Japanese cartoons. I love these. Some people have great imagination and are really creative. Some of them come up with costumes that would make you believe the characters actually came to life. Some others, well, hardly try, or just want to get attention. (I'm looking at you, bikini girls - by the way can I get your number?)
Oh and I went up to Mont-Royal street to buy some summer shoes and came across this magnificent red Cadillac with white washed tires. Gotta love these classic cars.
Finally, last Friday I went for a walk to get my mind off my new job. I'm not stressed about it or anything like that, it's just that programming is like solving a puzzle. And when I have a puzzle to solve, my mind just keeps at it until I do something get my focus elsewhere. I walked around a bunch of places looking for a good home made iced tea somewhere and I was coming down Saint-Denis, I noticed that a section of the street between Mont-Royal and Sherbrooke had been yarn-bombed. All the lamp posts along the east side of the street were covered in patches that had been knitted together. It was pretty cool. Some dude was even hugging a post saying how good it felt to the touch. I say it's a plot against environmentalism by the conservative government who's bought by the energy lobby. Instead of hugging trees, people are now hugging lamp posts. So when they remove the trees from the street to make more room for parking meters, people won't mind as much because they'll be too busy forgetting about the trees. Everybody, open your eyes! It's a conspiracy! Ok ok... let me go get my tin foil hat.
Just south of Sherbrooke, the street was closed. All the bars and restaurants had their terrasse or patio set up on the street and there were performers doing all sorts of crazy artsy fartsy theatrical displays of self expression. You know, those plays where nobody says a word and everybody wears weird costumes and run everywhere, then fall on the ground then jump and do a weird face at the crowd and everybody's just going "what the fuck am I looking at" and "what is this supposed to even mean"? Yeah, well that kind of stuff. But a little further down, there was someone playing a didjeridoo. When I got to the source, instead of looking at the street, everyone was looking up. When I looked, I saw a man walking a tight rope. Thank god the winds were pretty calm that day. He was pretty high up there. He was already in the middle of the rope when I got to the show. And yes, he made it across safely.
You know, during the summer in Montreal, I almost feel bad when I'm not stepping out for a walk. Simply because you never know what opportunity you'll be missing. Maybe there's gonna be a gathering of really interesting people somewhere, or a street performance in another place, or maybe a big live show at Place Des Arts or a parade or a festival of some kind. This city is pretty awesome during the summer. Too bad it doesn't last so long.
