Montreal Model Makes Splash In ‘Sports Illustrated'

Photo: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition hits the newsstands March 12 with Montreal¹s Zoe Duchesne gracing the pages. She is the only Canadian model in this year¹s edition. (Raphael Mazzucco/Sports Illustrated)

From The Toronto Sun:

NEW YORK — For the second year in a row, a Montreal native is featured in Sports Illustrated magazine’s Swimsuit Edition.

This time the Montrealer is Zoe Duchesne, 24, of the Montage agency.

Duchesne was photographed by Canadian photographer Raphael Mazzucco in San Pedro de Atacama, Chili. In a video on the magazine’s website, www.si.com, she joked that getting photographed in the salty ocean “burned the butt a lot”.

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My Comment: The Montreal papers ignored this story .... do they not understand that some of us would like to see a pretty Montreal Girl in a bikini in the middle of winter?

I guess not.

Good for Zoe Duchesne .... SI is a big break in her career.

For more pictures of Zoe Duchesne, go here.

Victoria Bridge Spans Montreal's History

The Victoria Jubilee Bridge was built in 1859 and originally named the Victoria Bridge in honour of Queen Victoria. it was officially rededicated as the Victoria Jubilee Bridge following renovations in 1897. However, it is still commonly referred to by its original name as simply the Victoria Bridge. Photograph by: Dave Sidaway, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Every weekday, Montreal’s newest trains cross the region’s oldest bridge.

State-of-the-art double-decker train cars, complete with bathrooms, came into service on the Mont St. Hilaire-downtown Montreal commuter line last month.

They use the Victoria Bridge, its 24 stone piers still supporting the structure after a century and a half of service. The first passenger train crossed the bridge 150 years ago today – Dec. 17, 1859.

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My Comment: They do not make them like they use to do.

Dans La Rue Helps Street Kids Throughout Their Journey

Roxanne says without Dans La Rue, she'd still be in the streets - or dead.

From The Montreal Gazette:

Living on the streets and addicted to drugs at 15, Roxanne lived for only one purpose.

"We did drugs. That's basically what it came down to - and survived," she said, listing her vices: "Speed, cocaine... then after, heroin."

One of the hundreds of young faces who walk through the doors at youth charity group Dans La Rue, Roxanne's story is by no means unique.

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My Comment: Father Emmet Johns - Pops - is a saint.

Sex Addiction A Growing Problem In Montreal

A sex worker chats with clients on a Montreal-based porn website.
Photograph by: John Mahoney, Gazette file photo

From The Montreal Gazette:

Internet porn a factor, conference told.

MONTREAL – Overheard on the way into a Montreal conference on sex addiction and cybersex: "Oh, sex addiction, what's wrong with that?"

It's a joke sexual addiction therapist Dr. Stefanie Carnes hears often, along with: "If I had an addiction, that's the one I'd want."

But for about three per cent of the population who have lost control over their sexual lives, who porn surf compulsively or spend 20 hours a week cruising for prostitutes or whose personal relationships are dying, there is no humour.

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My Comment: Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Montreal Ranked #2 For World Class Fun

In Montreal? Let's Party! -- Edmonton Sun

Guide names city No. 2 for world-class fun.

MONTREAL -- The Lonely Planet travel guide recently published its list of the world's top 10 party cities and put Montreal on the world map with a second-place spot.

Coming in just behind the Serbian capital, Belgrade, the authors of Lonely Planet's 1,000 Ultimate Experiences guide said Montreal was becoming "increasingly popular with foreign travelers."

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My Comment: Only #2 .... what a disappointment.

Winning An Election Can Be Harzadous To Your Helath

Photo: Pierre Lambert died of a heart attack Sunday night moments after finding out he had been re-elected as a city councillor in Notre Dame des Prairies, located about 70 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Photograph by: ., Photo courtesy of the Town of Notre Dame des Prairies

Quebec Politician Dies Seconds After Learning He's Re-elected -- Toronto Star

MONTREAL – One minute, popular local politician Pierre Lambert was revelling in his re-election to town council.

The next, he was sprawled on the floor of city hall, supporters trying feverishly to revive him from a devastating heart attack without success.

Lambert's death after a close-fought election has stunned the community of Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, 65 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

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My Comment: What happens now?

Milk Bottle Restored

In a nod to eccentric urban art, the six-tonne Guaranteed Pure Milk Co. bottle at 1025 Lucien-L'Allier St. has finally been restored after years of disrepair.

From CTV News:

Montreal's most famous milk bottle is looking a lot fresher today.

In a nod to eccentric urban art, the six-tonne Guaranteed Pure Milk Co. bottle at 1025 Lucien-L'Allier St. has finally been restored after years of disrepair.

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My Comment: I drove by it yesterday .... it looks weird seeing it so clean and white.

Prisoners Battle In Court For Right To Smoke

Quebec inmates are not allowed to smoke in prison, whether in their cells or outdoors.

From CTV News:

Some of Quebec's most notorious criminals say the no-smoking policy in prison is making their time behind bars unbearable.

Convicts like drug trafficker Gerald Matticks and murderers Benoit Guimond and Daniel Patry have hired lawyer Julius Grey to fight for their right to smoke cigarettes while in in jail.

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My Comment: This ban is one of the smartest things that Corrections Canada has devised. Prison is for punishment and rehabilitation. For the smokers .... they are now experiencing both.

STD Dating Site Preps For English-Language Launch

Guy Leduc, founder of its Recontres, a Montreal-based matchmaking website for people with STDs, says the site has a "strong confidentiality policy, for the protection of the users." Photograph by: Courtesy its Recontres website, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Montreal-based matchmaking website its Recontres already has about 100 subscribers.

MONTREAL – The developer of a French-language website used by people with sexually transmitted diseases – or STDs – said Tuesday he intends to launch a similar English-language site across Canada “by the end of this year.”

“This is not an ordinary business,” Guy Leduc added.

The site offers chat, information and support links – as well as dating services.

Read more ....

Cabbie Fights To Keep Mementoes

Photo: Taxi driver Arieh Perecowicz has been fined more than $1,400 for having personal effects in his cab. (CBC)

From The CBC:

A Montreal cab driver was in municipal court Tuesday to defend his right to display religious symbols in his taxi.

Arieh Perecowicz has been stopped four times by Montreal's taxi authority and fined more than $1,400 for keeping personal objects in his cab, including photographs, newspaper clippings, and two mezuzahs — small Jewish prayer scrolls.

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My Comment: His cab is well kept, and there has been no complaints against him .... I call this harassment from bureaucrats who have nothing better to do.

Montreal Weatherman Calls It Quits

CJAD meteorologist Ed Cowell explains weather systems in his Rigaud home, west of Montreal, Thursday, September 24, 2009. Cowell is retiring after a 32-year career reporting weather for CJAD and CBC. Photograph by: John Mahoney, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Montreal ­ The voice of English Montreal radio weather is turning off the microphone for good Friday morning.

Ed Cowell, who has been the soothing voice on radio for more than three decades, the last 20 years on CJAD, is officially retiring, and he can’t wait to sleep in past 5 a.m.

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Don't Cry Over Guaranteed Pure Milk Bottle - It's Getting A Makeover

From The Montreal Gazette:

Montreal's iconic Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle, currently covered in rust and graffiti, is about to get a makeover, thanks to Heritage Montreal and several soon-to-be-announced sponsors.

Scaffolding is going up around the bottle and work is expected to start by the end of the month on cleaning and repainting the structure, Robert Turgeon, chairman of the board at Heritage Montreal, told Metropolitan News. Turgeon said Heritage Montreal expects to announce the cost of the project and the names of sponsors in late September. The work should be completed by the end of October, he said.

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Last Murray’s Restaurant In Montreal Will Remain Shuttered

The caption for this 1996 photo, of the Murray's restaurante in Westmount, read: "Where else but Murray's can you let a child draw on the placemat?" Photograph by: Richard Arless Jr., Montreal Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL - Although many had been hoping for a comeback, it appears the city’s last Murray’s Restaurant, in Town of Mount Royal, will not reopen.

Facing bankruptcy, owners of the landmark restaurant in the Lucerne Shopping Mall have applied to a Quebec court for creditor protection.

Among the creditors are TD Canada Trust and First Capital Realty, the corporation that owns the strip mall where the restaurant is located.

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New Look For Montreal Taxis?

From CJAD:

The city of Montreal is hoping that in the future when you think of Montreal cabs, it'll be synonymous with a certain image just like New York's yellow taxis or London's black cabs.

The city, taxi companies and the taxi bureau have an agreement in principle to change the image of the Montreal taxi.

There's been a lot of talk over the past few years about standardizing Montreal taxis and putting up ads on and inside the vehicles.

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A Collective Harvest

Josiane Nahoum, left, Véronique Roy-Bouliane and Sydney Rocque take seeds off a coriander plant, which was planted at the beginning of the summer. Photograph by: Marie-France Coallier, THE GAZETTE

From The Montreal Gazette:

Out in the collective garden at the corner of Bouchette Ave. and Lavoie St., a couple of its members sat on lawn chairs under the warm September sun last Thursday morning, working – harvesting seeds from coriander planted earlier in the season, now dried, and placing them into small brown envelopes.

Coriander seeds add a fragrant flavour reminiscent of citrus peel to dishes; the seeds could also be stored and replanted next spring to yield new plants.

Read more ....

Rawdon, Quebec

Is Rawdon the anti-Hérouxville? -- Montreal Gazette

Ethnic differences seen as advantage

MONTREAL – Rawdon looks like any other rural town in Quebec. A Maxi store and a McDonald's emerge out of cornfields and sugar shacks down the highway.

But behind its pure-laine facade, this town of 10,000 boasts 48 nationalities - from Swedes to Cubans to Sri Lankans.

An hour's drive north of Montreal, Rawdon is the antithesis of Hérouxville, the Mauricie town that became infamous for issuing a "code of conduct" for immigrants. Rawdon is a place where ethnic and religious differences are not to be feared and loathed, but welcomed and turned to advantage.

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My Comment: Rawdon is where my parents are buried. I prefer living in St. Donat, but Rawdon is cheaper, and housing is more affordable.

Water Surfing In Montreal

A surfer catches some waves on the St. Lawrence River earlier this week in Montreal. The surfing world is flocking to the area to hang ten on waves as high as five feet. Photograph by: Rogerio Barbosa, Getty Images, Agence France-Presse

Wave Junkies Get Their Fix In Montreal -- The Vancouver Sun

With year-round waves, the Saint Lawrence River is becoming a paradise for surfers from around the globe.

Forget Hawaii, Hossegor or Bali, the newest mecca attracting surfers from all over is in Canada in the shadows of Montreal skyscrapers, on the Saint Lawrence River.

The trunk of her car ajar, a young brunette is found slipping into a wetsuit, while her boyfriend waxes their boards on the banks of the river, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) inland from the Atlantic Ocean.

A few years ago, they might have been described as mad.

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Hungry Bears Are Foraging For Food Closer And Closer To Houses

From Canadian Press:

MONTREAL — Hungry bears are lurking near suburban Quebec homes after poor summer weather caused a shortfall in their usual diet.

The animals have been spotted in the Laurentian and Lanaudiere regions north of Montreal raiding garbage cans, compost bins and bird feeders.

"We've seen an increase in the numbers of bears this year," said Lieutenant Francois Brazeau, with the St-Jerome wildlife protection agency, which has received some 500 bear alerts for the area.

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My Comment: I have a large family of black bears just 1/2 a mile from where I live .... impressive to see .... but they can become dangerous.

Anger In Verdun Over Loss Of Bilingual Paper

Transcontinental says articles in both French and English were taking up too much space but it says English translations are available online.

From CTV:

Some Verdun residents took their anger to Verdun borough hall Tuesday evening following a decision by Transcontinental Inc. to stop printing English content in several bilingual weekly newspapers.

Borough Mayor Claude Trudel read out a letter that he has sent to the Montreal media company, decrying its decision to publish Messager de Verdun in French only.

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My Comment: I suggest that we put a sticker with an X over a Messenger Paper on our mail boxes to tell the delivery person that we do not want the paper. If they do not want to serve us .... we do not want their paper. Get a few thousand people to go along .... trust me .... the publisher is going to notice.

University Students On The Move

Alison Mockler (left) and Sephanie Fink lug an armoire off the sidewalk in front of Mockler's apartment on Prince Arthur St. Photograph by: JOHN MAHONEY, GAZETTE, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

The Gazette takes to the streets to check out some of the action in the neighbourhoods near the McGill and Concordia campuses.

It's a ritual that plays out every September in Montreal like clockwork.

It starts with a few moving trucks lining the streets. A stray mattress here, a shopping cart filled with frozen pizzas there.

Then popular nightspots begin filling to capacity, and clumps of bewildered freshman suddenly materialize on every street corner - waiting patiently for the "walk" signal to appear.

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My Comment: This brings back some great memories.