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.

Category: Blogging 101

  • Do I Have To?

      Spanish hunters buy these birds to use as live lures for wild partridge. We saw lots of them in clean, well-watered cages today. It seemed a kind of mean way to fool the birds. I know, we use duck decoys and moose calls to fool game into getting shot but this seems particularly gruesome to…

  • Angels on the Tree

      Some of the angels like to come down and inhabit our strange doll-like images. They like hanging out on Christmas trees. These were glad to be gathered together in a group on this tree. They could chat when the house was quiet. “Next time I’d like to hang around a lighthouse like the one…

  • Sweetening up the world

        Here are some friends of mine adding to the beauty and  sweetness of the world. Last weekend I went to see my friends Judith and Dick play Bluegrass music at the Verdun farmers’ markeDxt. It is held in summer beside the beautiful St. Lawrence River. The humidity was gone and it was relaxing…

  • Changing and staying the same

     Why is the rosary hanging on the clothes line? To guarantee good weather  on the wedding day of my neighbour’s daughter. This is a very old French Canadian and Italian tradition. It seems the Poles have the same idea as I just found it mentioned on a website for the Wilnus polish community in Ontario.…

  • Nature’s plan

    Black flies, horse flies, deer flies and mosquitoes To them I am a tasty treat, like Cheetos or Doritos. I rub my skin with Insect Off and spray with DDT But still the pesky insects love to make a meal of me. My blood type’s O – I must admit. A magnet draws them near…

  • Parking Spot

    Think you have parking problems? This ” Mr. Cool” had it all figured out. Just pulled into the  Canadian Tire parking lot in Parry Sound and found a two-vehicle slot! Sorted! The charming pilot/driver told us his plane only weight 200 pounds. Was he joshing us? Certainly his car had no problem pulling it. Just…

  • Sad sight, scary sight

    Joe and I have been following the progress of a pair of Eastern Bluebirds. For the second time a pair made a nest in a box he made from old junk salvaged from the dump. We gathered from the internet, universal source of all wisdom, that these birds can live up to ten years and…

  • Elections in the Country

    Wandering beside the silty creek I noticed a curious frog who approached the bank to stare up at me with a fixed gaze. I sat down on a broad smooth rock. He swam even closer. “Are you a prince?”I whispered whimsically He immediately croaked and jumped into the deeper water with a splash. He had…

  • At Last

    Hello pale blossom. Hello damp cool green beauty so frail, so delicate forcing your frail delicate way up through dark dense earth. Hello faint hope, hello rebirth hello vanquisher of winter, pale bell that heralds all the rest. Golden trumpets and scarlet or dark frilled tulips and later roses, lilies , dahlias and exuberant vines.…

  • Sights for St. Valentine’s Day

    These are white goats, not sheep. The rams had long grey horns, not tightly curled but twisted close to the head and then jutting out. We saw them just outside a rather touristy sea-side town. The shepherd looked like a professor of philosophy with his grey beard and stick. He nodded gravely when we asked…