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

  • A challenge

    It started innocently enough.  The little blue cover looked like a perfect replacement for my iPad cover.  The old cover had started out with a cool ” distressed” Union Jack vibe and over the course of a couple of years descended into sloppy rag status.  While no one knows better than I that such an…

  • The yin and yang of autumn leaves

    So beautiful!  The crown of the year…don’t you think if some sort of future climate change meant that we stopped having autumn colours it would be a great sadness.  The whole character of the country would change, I believe.  For me there’s a hypnotic mood in looking at the leaves and trying to name the…

  • Snow geese

          It is a long way from Montreal to Cap Tourmente past Quebec City but I never begrudge  the drive.  Snow geese come here in the spring and particularly in the fall.  I don’t remember when or with whom I started coming but the sight of thousands of geese taking a stop on…

  • Jewels

          On a recent excursion to the Montreal Botanical Gardens, I spotted berries glistening in the sun.  All around us were interesting plants and, since it is harvest time, we had an opportunity to see corn, sunflowers, cabbage and other crops at the last stage of growth.  Winter is coming and soon these…

  • New Challenges

    “What do you mean, you’ve never been in a canoe?  You’re a Canadian aren’t you?  And so I stepped into a tippy canoe and sat very still and paddled out into the middle of the lake and heard with a chill up my spine the observation, “Hmm….we must look at the little tear in the…

  • Mushroom musings

      Mysterious, magical, malevolent Secretive, seductive, sensual Dark, dangerous, deadly Playful pixie pop-ups Night-born, nefaste, nostalgic After a long dry period mushrooms suddenly appear with the first rain.  Little holes in a spectacular red one show that birds take a peck now and then.  Some mole or mouse takes a little bite from the edges…

  • Just the bare facts

      A pleasant evening stroll in the  nearby town of Parry Sound last evening brought my host and I face to face with a large black bear.  It was about 20 meters away enjoying a flower garden in a residential area  of town.  In my shock and surprise I ducked behind a car that had…

  • Nature pulls a number

        Torrential rain fell in the Muskoka region on Tuesday.  The creek became a raging torrent.  The electricity cut out.  The beach disappeared because  the lake  rose rose so much.  But the next day…..mushrooms were everywhere!

  • Jasmine Blossoms

    It was windy last night.  An empty garbage can banging around woke me up to fears of racoons, skunks, robbers or worse.  A check of the garden revealed Jasmine blossoms blown off the potted bush that will soon have to come in.  For now they scent up the kitchen.  The pretty runner made by a…

  • Light Source

      My garden is fragrant with rosemary, basil, lavender and the many blooms of a Jasmine plant.  Summer is ending and my roses are few but this is the golden season.  It seems to me that sometimes plants give out light.  These brown-eyed susans and the wild golden rod in the lane are luminous. Sunflowers…