meanwhile, in montreal

  i've been back for a month now. still summer. all's the same, or, depending on perspective, so many small things happened, i was despairing of getting back to blogging. i hope to have holiday posts up soon, even if just for archives. also:

my laptop died. apparently it's "just" the hard, so it might even be revived at some point, if i can get it open and replace the hard. (everyone who knows computers, feel free to laugh at me. i have to take the laptop somewhere for the purpose of having it opened. ugh.)
(edit: "Carmen! You didn't buy <<a hard>>, you bought a hard disk!!" - someone who knows what a hard disk is)

lots more shenanigans involving: coffee spilled on a keyboard; the adventure of getting new e-book reader materials; a new fan (how do i now have two fans in my house and it's still too hot to sleep/breathe?); browsing etsy stores; living with a weird perpetual sore throat (i still eat icecream and crunch ice in drinks; i don't know how to survive otherwise).
yay, so finally complaints about summer heat! i love summer.

in other small news:

my cafe got a mural. in fact two, on both the walls facing the street. i guess every other respectable business on rachel has murals, so we were bound to get one?

still feel a bit weird, but we'll get used to it.

my cat loves being outside, especially at night or when it's cool/cloudy. unfortunately, she prefers being on my neighbour's side of the porch, talking to the neighbour's cat or hiding in pots

tina thinking she's a tomato plant.

ugh, not pictured here, but i got new (=newly picked off the sidewalk) folding chairs for my porch. i painted them white, and used to be very ambitious about spending evenings on the porch reading/drinking cool stuff/eating blueberries. i think i even managed to do it a couple of times.

montreal at night, here from a rooftop on maguire st.

my favourite new mural, upper mcgill ghetto. believe it or not, i took thins as i was going to see a couple of comedy shows!! downtown has been crazy all through july; thanks to people who pulled at me i made it to 2 nights of jazz fest too(one of them fanfara ciocarlia!!! quite randomly!), and right after there was "juste pour rire" and zoofest. i didn't even want to know exactly the dates for osheaga (last weekend i think?), since i knew radiohead would be there. anyway. summer should be winding down from now on. 

downtown, sherbrooke/st laurent. note how the woman's dress matches the building.

in line at the fanciest icecream place in mile end: Ken Coba on fairmount. i haven't had icecream there yet, i barely had any from my own personal "archicreme" on the corner of my street. but there's still time. 

rocking chairs behind the marketplace at jean talon. in the evenings they're all taken! also, there are musical bikes, but one of them at least is very squeaky.  "torture by squeaky bike" has been suggested as a method to make people leave the rocking chairs. but i'd laugh too hard to actually pull it off.

back alleys always have surprises.

i've mostly (like any lazy person) been walking in the ruelles of my neighbourhood. again. year after year i've seen them change to greener, prettier, cutesier, more children-friendly.

everyone's hanging out flower pots like crazy (i have dozens of pictures, i'm just trying to be reasonable here) and abetting these hanging vines. 

i like murals that try to cover up a depressing background

a ruelle that's new to me: up from jarry, between my street and st hubert. tres sympa

each pot has a different animal/bird, in fact look:

also, are there sub-ruelles? i've been on one called "route du rhum"

it's sunflower time anyway

"even i" am hanging clothes out to dry these days. striving to make my mother proud :)

only slightly related, but this neighbourhood and city are still full of portuguese flags on display. i get it you guys, you won the soccer cup! i cheered for you! one night. can we go back to seeing at least a variety of flags now? 

k, i'll go fan myself and see what more i can come up with :)