Helllo dear world, happy new year, happy new chinese year, happy valentine's day! and here we are, one sixth (!) of 2019 is gone, and i needed a good reason to keep blogging. well, it sucks for me, cause this kind of reason is not going to come up too soon again, knock on wood...we are (as the title warned you, so don't pretend to be shocked now) moving into a new place. no biggie, we just bought a house, ha! though i feel compelled to mention first thing that it's a small house. we like it, etc, we wouldn't choose anything else, likely also because it was the cheapest house on sale on the entire island...but ok! we are moving.
obviously we can't move in without moving out, so this is what i'm taking one second for now (in the middle of a heap of boxes, and happy that the drooling baby is asleep). i am excited about owning a house (yeah, can not wrap my head around that yet ) and discovering our new neighbourhood, especially in spring, and possibly keeping up with this blog so i can document it. and i'm grateful that i don't have enough time to be sad about leaving villeray. so i'll just try to be grateful, via nostalgia etc, for the years i've lived here.
true facts: this was the apartment i've lived in the longest as an adult: almost 5 1/2 years. (also, because we brag about these kinds of things nowadays, the best=lowest rent i've ever heard of anyone paying in canada for a comparable size, and this in an up-and-coming neighbourhood!). the way i found it was, i found an ad on both kijiji and craigslist that described this place as having the best landlord ever! that was a singular praise that really jumped at me after my previous dealings with montreal landlords...and i am so happy to report that it proved true. i hope my current landlord is the last one i'll have, but it really doesn't get better than him.he let an unemployed newcomer with no credit simply come and move in...and for 5 years he continued to be gracious, obliging and accept rent on the 5th of the month or whenever i remembered to pay - i wish good karma upon him over and over.
things i loved about this place at first sight: the double kitchen and the back alley exit, the big closet and pantries, the view of the church from the front room, the skylight in the bathroom..., and, honestly, the good vibe. things i came to love later are more contextual: the "milk bottle window" in the pantry; how easy it was to find pieces of furniture on the block; the icecream shop across the street; the cafe (perko) that opened 2 years ago next to the icecream shop. i knew theoretically that the location was good, walking distance to 2 different metro lines, parc jarry, jean-talon market, plaza st-hubert. but how good it really was i could discover only by living it: the little places along villeray and castelnau (cafe devito, m-lles gateaux, fruits st-denis, frite alors, the small street garden and mini-library), the portuguese bakery corner of gounoud where i could see them baking at night when i came home; the groceries on jarry (forcier, where they know me and ask about rada); corvette, where i ate so many breakfasts alone and in company; pho mylys, our home from home; my official hairdresser's. how i get sad when another old place closes up and gentrification creeps closer.
and the apartment itself. it was everything i'd wanted for so long, a place of my own that hadn't been bought by my parents for me (sorry guys) and that i didn't have to share. so for the first year and a half i kept adding stuff to fill it up and embellish...though of course i did want to share. and so tina came in, then b., and my dreams of a tidy place went out the window somewhere around the second monitor and tons of wires and the time the cat started peeing on the regular on my beautiful carpet (bought with the sweat of my brow from urban outfitters, lol). and then it got really really messy with a tiny baby, and by the time the baby started walking and pulling everything from everywhere and her grandmother got stationed on the futon in the kitchen...yeah, it was high time for something larger. but all in all, such a good run! i started alone and we are now 5, what other place could have accommodated this big a change?
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| i like taking pictures of messy happy times, although i'm aware that not everyone involved in them (or my mum either) agrees with my aesthetic and motivations. i think i've shared enough of my tidy place that i can also show it at its best, i.e. crowdedest. here last october, having coffee and cakes from motta (another place that will be sorely missed!) while the baby is tied up in the chair and distracted with toys. |
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| january, some people leaving for work while some stay behind with the array of colorful laundry. |
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| and, on a quieter side, look, the view! |
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| something was very funny |
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| we came out to see our neighbours' children play |
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| the biggest snow of this winter, from the newly opened bakery "fanfare", just across from our corner diner. all the things we will be missing |
and on this note i say goodbye to our beloved corner of the world, hopefully see you on the other side, once we get internet installed
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