Montreal

The end of September, I went to Montreal for a meeting on the Canadian community project. We're in year three now, and with this year's convening, I was excited to have something to report -- both communities had sent high school students and elders to the museum over the summer to do digital imaging workshops. Basically, they selected objects from their communities, we taught them video and photographic techniques and handling, and they worked with their elders to write labels and learn about the objects, their history, and their culture. It's a wonderful project, although we don't get to do them very much anymore. I had a short presentation about the impact of the workshops on the museum.

I went up a day early to have a day to wander in Montreal. It's one of my favorite cities, and I hadn't been there in several years. I met friends for dinner that evening, and the next day, which was a glorious sunny one, I took off for the botanic gardens.

 I wanted to walk, which greatly confused the folks at the hotel when I asked for a recommendation on which route to take. I already knew it would take me about an hour. My reputation as weird was solidified. So how perfect when, along the route, I discovered the John Fluevog store! My favorite shoe designer, and this just made me so happy! While I did not try on, because there is now a store in DC, I did go in and admire. "No, you're weird!" --JF motto

 SUCH a beautiful day! Warm, sunny, blue skies. I was thrilled to be out and about. And the botanic garden is just across the street from the old Olympics Stadium. I'd been here on a visit several years before.

 At the entry, beautiful topiaries of garden tools! I like botanic gardens in general, but I'd also been told about an international show of topiary that was closing soon but had received fantastic reviews. I was excited!

The gardens comprise about 75 hectares, and include an incredible diversity of spaces -- Chinese gardens, shade gardens, Japanese gardens, insectarium, and more. There are a multitude of paths and wonderful ways to lose yourself. I'd read a bit about the special exhibition -- Mosaïcultures Internationales, 50 living sculptural works by 250 horticultural artists representing 25 countries, comprised of four MILLION flowers -- but I was not prepared for the magnificence. The trail was only 2.2 km long, and it was jammed with people. I visited other parts of the garden too, but spent five hours there, before walking back to the hotel and meeting friends for dinner. Here's a little selection of the fun. 

 The first sculpture, All in a Row, from Madagascar. Adorable!

 One of the crowd favorites, and a signature piece, hailing from Montreal, The Man Who Planted Trees.

 Darn, I've lost (probably recycled) the brochure. I think the cranes are from China, A True Story!

 And I think this turtle coming out of the grand piano is from Japan, Hamamatsu, City of Creativity: Looking Toward the Future Through a Symbiosis of Man and Nature.

 Then I detoured into the Japanese House and the bonsai garden. I adore gingko trees -- they are my favorite.

 And a little pine too.

 Beautiful paths through a forest, with a stunning lake, complete with koi and dragonflies.

 Yup, from Easter Island and Chile, Guardians of the Island.

 Another signature piece, also from Montreal, The Bird Tree was one of the largest and most intricate sculptures there. It was unbelievable.

 This chameleon was from Yemen. Disappearing into Nature was a fun title, I thought, and I hoped alluded to the chameleon's ability to blend into its surroundings and was not a statement on its conservation status.

 Then, jackpot! One of my favorite architects is from one of my favorite cities. Antoni Gaudì's Parc Guëll in Barcelona is one of my all-time favorite places. And the "dragon" is, for me, an iconic reminder, and therefore very special. 

 And here he was, The Salamander According to Gaudi! In the park, he's mosaic tile, red and yellow and whimsical and beautiful. The artists did him great justice here. I emailed this photo to a friend in Barcelona who knew right away what it was.

 Another Canadian entry, Nanuk comes from Nunavut-Cape Dorset. There are incredibly talented carvers in this part of Canada, many First Nations people, and this bear is a popular motif in ivory, soapstone, whatever material is at hand.

 I also segued into the Chinese pavilion. The gardens were going to be open late that evening -- it was the last weekend of the sculpture show -- so all the buildings were decked out for events.

 This is a huge complex. The architecture reminded me very much of when I was in Vietnam. Well, until I saw the Olympic tower in the background.

 Some of the scenes had lights too. Some were very kitschy and odd. These are lit and visible in the late afternoon sun; I can only imagine how stunning they would have been after dark. 

 Of course, there were beautiful rose gardens too.

I really needed more time! But with an hour's walk back to the hotel, and having dinner plans with friends, I knew I needed to get going. I was stunned to see that the entry line -- which took me 30 minutes to navigate on the way in that morning -- was even longer now. What a wonderful sign, both for the Montreal Botanical Garden, and for the citizens of the city! 

We had a wonderful dinner that evening, and made some lunch plans for the next afternoon, before we had to head north to the meeting. We were headed northwest of Montreal and northeast of Ottawa. Those flying to Ottawa had about a 90-minute drive. Those of us driving from Montreal had a four-hour drive. But it's beautiful country.

We went to a local place for dinner one night, the whole group. In fact, the restaurant opened just for us that evening. Gorgeous setting! It's a bit out of the way -- about a 35-minute drive from the closest town -- but there's a huge lake, and they are not only building the dock/marina, but also cabins and a hotel. The restaurant was spectacular -- one of the best meals I've had in a long time.

The meeting was really good and it's always a treat to see everyone. One of the things I like best about this project is that it's a multi-year effort, which means that we do get to know people. This was our second time in this community, and that made it even more special.

Well, until shutdown, that is. Since the U.S. Congress could not pass a budget, the government came to a screeching halt on October 1. My name was changed to "nonessential." I was actually OK with that -- if I'd wanted a job where people's lives were in my hands I'd have chosen a different career. Thankfully, because I was not traveling on federal money, they were able to let me stay, since I was scheduled back the next day and it would have been an inconvenience to the community and an expense to the grant to get me back that day. But, I had to cease and desist from all work starting at 1pm, and I had to spend much of the morning notifying contractors on other projects and handling administrative shutdown matters. Nothing like being the lone American in a roomful of Canadians when something this juvenile happens. Still, we'd front-loaded all my work for the meeting to Monday, so the impact in that way was negligible. I did have a fascinating conversation with the border agent at the airport though, and then spent the next two weeks cleaning and organizing the house in a way that I hadn't in years. Hopefully we won't have to go through it again in January, although it looks like we will be furloughed next calendar year. But the next community meeting will be in Vancouver -- yippee!