isobelmtl

Writing under a Montreal sky

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about

Isobel Cunningham has published short fiction and poetry. Her book, Northern Compass is available on Amazon. She was born in Wales but Montreal is her adopted home. She speaks French, Modern Greek ( it’s a fun story) and a little Spanish…oh, English too, of course. She welcomes comments on her blog and looks forward to chatting with you over cyber-space.

Author: isobel cunningham

  • Small Wonders

    Spring is slow to come to Eastern Canada this year.  It has been cold and extremely wet all through April and May was not looking much better until today when a weak sun actually cast some shadows.  We even ate lunch outside with a few strategic returns for socks and sweaters during the meal.  Last…

  • Trout Lily and Cranes

          Over the past year I have paid long visits to a very dear person who lives in the Muskoka region of Ontario. This is my first spring visit and I was astonished to see the whole of his property carpeted with this charming wild flower.  I hate to generalize but I think…

  • Earth Day in a working class neighborhood

    Ville Emard is a struggling enclave of working class, welfare and small businesses in the South West corner of Montreal.  Seems M. Emard was a great city counsellor back in the day and so his borough was named after him.  I wonder what he would think now of the boarded up storefronts on Monk Blvd. …

  • Spring Days

    I was invited  to Passover dinner last Tuesday.  This dinner is called a Seder and for the first time I learned that this word means “order”. Certain foods are always served and theses olds have a symbolic meaning.  The picture shows a decorative ritual plate put in the centre of the table.  On this plate…

  • She’s Here!

        Spring, I mean.  So happy, so relieved, so invigorated! My snowdrops are out.  My crocuses are out and the bees are out.  I was amazed to see three busy bees hovering around my little purple crocuses.  We’ve had terrible rainy and grey weather for at least a week so I wonder where on…

  • Japan in Brazil

    Yes, you read that right.  There are about a million and a half people of Japanese descent in Brazil and most of them live in Sao Paulo province.  We were lucky enough to be taken to the Japanese section of the city and we enjoyed the atmosphere, the food and the shopping.  So, how did…

  • A Hopeful Sign

      Roll around world. Take winter away. Let Spring step out. Let blue skies stay just for a while. We know you’ll come back. But roll away, Winter. You’ve had your day. ( Wasn’t  this a strange thing to find on my windshield yesterday?)

  • Costa Verde, Brazil

    Between Rio and Sao Paulo lies a protected coastline known as the Costa Verde.  There is limited coastal roadway and the main way to visit the spectacular islands and beaches of this area is by boat.  A range of mountains covered with tropical greenery rises almost from sea level.  Tiny coves and beaches and islands…

  • Brazil, part two – far from the city

    It took about four hours to get from Sao Paulo to the little colonial town of Paraty on Brazil’s Costa Verde (Green Coast).  The distance is not really that far, about 250 km, but going on the ring road around the great metropolis was pretty time consuming.  Our intrepid host, Adolpho managed the truly amazing…

  • Big, beautiful, bewildering Brazil

      Canada is a big country too.  When people ask if I know their cousin in Calgary, I smile and shake my head.  So, I realize going to Brazil for a couple of weeks only gives a tiny glimpse  of this amazing country.  However, here goes on a few impressions of where we went in…