On 17th July 2000, we moved into our new condo, situated on the south bank of the Lachine Canal close to downtown Montreal. The building is an old ribbon factory, which was renovated and converted to condos about 11 years ago. We are on the ground floor, facing the canal, with views out to the downtown skyline.

Outside

These are some photos taken outside the building and in the surrounding area. The canal is being worked on at the moment, a federal and provincially funded project to restore the canal and open it up again for recreational boating, hence the signs of construction in some of these photos:

• A view along the canal
• A small countrified offshoot from the canal
• The green bridge outside our building
• Atwater market, our local grocery provider
• A view of our building from across the canal
• The entrance to our building

Inside

Here are pictures from Xmas 2002, after we had the place painted white:

• Our Xmas tree
• Our Xmas tree
• Berries in a vase
• Berries in a vase
• New down sofa and chair
• New down sofa and chair
• New down sofa and chair
• New down sofa and chair
• New down sofa and chair

Here are pictures of the inside from 2001 (with our furniture now!):

• Casey on the funky bed
• The new dining area
• A view down the length of the dividing wall
• The couch potato area

The following pictures were taken when we were first looking at the place, so all the furniture and art seen in them belongs to the previous owner.

• The view as you walk in the door
• The living area
• The dining/computer area
• The kitchen
• The only internal wall
• The bedroom
• The bathroom

Blue Rodeo hold an outside concert every couple of years up in the lower Laurentians. We had tickets, and Jen’s mum was coming with us. We went to the farm first, and had lunch there, enjoying the afternoon sunshine. Then we headed out to Morin Heights, equipped with blankets, water bottles, floor chair thingies (very comfy) and cash for concert food and beer.

Arriving at the venue, we discovered the local car parks completely full (the concert had started a few hours earlier, with support bands) and were directed to car parks a mile or so away, where we boarded a bus to ferry us back to the venue.

We picked up Elisabeth’s ticket at the door, then headed through, but not before Jen got frisked and told to ditch the water bottles (they sell bottled water inside and don’t want people bringing their own, money grabbing swine!). We found a nice spot on a fake beach (not attached to any water), spread our blanket and settled in for the wait to Blue Rodeo – about 2 hours. I dashed off for beer and a burger just as Natalie McMaster appeared on stage dressed shabbily as her luggage had gone astray on a trip back from Seattle. She did a good job though, despite an apparent lack of interest from the crowd.

As the Blue Rodeo moment approached, the crowds got bigger, and our view became more obscured. When the moment arrived we couldn’t really see anything, but we collected our belongings and headed forward a little, to a spot where we had a great view of the stage, even though it was a still a bit far off.

The performance was great, although Greg’s voice was suffering from some over-indulgence the previous night (his 50th birthday apparently). The audience filled in nicely for him though. At one point I left Jen and Elisabeth and headed down to the front, getting almost up to the stage, with a huge speaker doing some serious damage to my eardrums. The weather stayed fine, the bugs stayed away, and overall it was a very enjoyable evening.

The following weekend, we headed back to the country for dinner with Jen’s mum, and friends Lesley and Jerome and two of their children (and a friend). The evening was supposed to end with some St Jean Baptiste day fireworks at Morin Heights, but big thunderstorms put a stop to that idea, so instead the next night we went into town and watched the Swiss entry in the B&H International Fireworks competition. Some of the best fireworks I’ve ever seen! Fireworks exploding into smiley faces, flowers and hundreds of stars all accompanied by load bangs and classical music.

The rest of the month has been spent getting ready to move into our new apartment (we own it now, after signing on Friday, and move in in the 17th), looking after our sick cats, and for me, getting settled in at work.