a very particular place

 the more i walk around, the more i see. anyway, since the weather has become more tolerable (still not up to standard, but okay ) i started carrying my camera around on walks to document some...aspects.
so (for those who know what i mean or who have curiosity and google maps), my neighbourhood: east border is Pie ix (but i've been a bit more east, to lacordaire); south i guess is fleury, the street with a smattering of posh stores west of papineau; west is probably the heri bourassa metro, though i've never walked to there...maybe christophe colomb or st-firmin, the entrance to the parc-nature; and north is the river.

the street is walk the most is monselet, between st-michel and pie ix. the corner next to ours has a...corner store, perfectly serviceable once you adapt your expectations (of fresh veggies mostly). next is a hairdresser's, then rada's daycare, then an "entraide"complete with donation box, then the local bar, then a building that used to be a friperie and now is abandoned, complete with a junk yard full of plants. after that, a series of "african braids" places, closed hairdresser's, one more garderie, old italian barber shop, car repair, some houses with extremely manicured front rows....a dark, always empty breakfast place, a very nicely kept co-op. so a bit of a mish-mash, but with distinct traits that i lack proper sensitive language to describe in writing. 
then at pie ix we have a mediocre mall, a bunch of big chain food places (thai express, dairy queen, st hubert) and a trickle of PJCs and so toward the big Maxi supermarket on fleury, which represents most of what i despise shopping-wise/ but sometimes can be useful (pray it's not often).
at st-michel on fleury we have an old italian supermarche, and a pretty good pastry store! also on henri bourassa on that side, a decent place to get veggies at finally thank the Lord.
our northern route goes either by the river till the old mill/ end of the park, or on gouin along the nice houses, which i've tried to show a bit before.

i don't know if pics will do more justice, because i've been collecting them from pretty much everywhere in random order. but something is better than nothing, no?

this house really has something of a south/central-american pyramid thing (off monselet)

in case you're interested. i was too ashamed to take a more representative picture...but there's also a rooster statue involved (monselet)

the black dogs of doom, just randomly on some lawn (monselet)

i mean, either the owner lost a bet, or they're actually producing these...figures and advertising them. there is more of them, almost worthy of a separate photo shoot (just off monselet)

not even very unusual in the neighbourhood, really. (monselet)

junk yard next to abandoned friperie. the outside must be a faithful reflection of the inside. but the plants are actually watered and cared for, by an old lady who lives above the friperie. one morning she informed us that she can sell us some (monselet)

this yard is really nice: birdfeeders, greenery and all (off henri-bourassa)

this is on rue charleroi, east of pie ix. i like the idea, but not sure when it is implemented (summer weekends? that'd be great)
ETA: apparently yes https://journalmetro.com/actualites-montreal-nord/1135533/les-marches-du-nord-sont-de-retour/

i guess the more east you go, the more like this it gets. i'm very proud of this pic 

back closer to home, on henri bourassa, in front of some food place idk; it's called "agent gourmand", which sounds promising https://agentgourmand.com/

don't be scared, it's just a yard! on a block next to the park i take rada to

again, on one of the small parallel blocks: i'd never seen a yellow magnolia before! hard to take a good picture with these colors

by the old mill: i took this walk with lora one cloudy day and we sat at the end of the path admiring the geese and goslings. 

we even saw a nest with fresh greenish babies! (there was a whole group of people around with various types of cameras all angling for these shots :)

and tiny baby on one of her first times on a swing. i can't tell whether she's excited or terrified - i guess a mix of both.
the park is maybe 12 minutes away, south-west of us. in the mean time we've also played in the sand and tried the small slides. she likes seeing doggies and "babies playing soccer".