Je M� Souviens

I am in Montr�al, at the Radisson Longueil. I had a nice 4th of July in Williamstown, Mass, and then several successive experiences of confronting my own dependence on technology (that I will detail separately) before meeting up with my brother Joe yesterday and driving up here. Our arrival to the city was a little strange, as there are raging forest fires in the North and West part of the province of Quebec. Here is the news story about the fires. The smoke from the fires clouded the sky, and made the sun into a red disk behind the haze. The smell of smoke reminded me of being near the Yellowstone fires almost ten years ago, and lent an almost post-apocalyptic feel to the setting. fortunately it began to clear by the late afternoon, and did make for a very dramatic sunset over Mont Royal. Fortunately, this morning, the air has cleared almost completely.


The Jazz festival was excellent, as always, and I still impressed with how such a large event can be so civil. Very few drunken revelers making a spectacle of themselves, very few fringe-of-the-event types looking like they are up to no good. And the music I saw was all great, though most acts were names that I won't be able to remember without my program. They also seemed to refine the event planning again this year, with an almost identical stage layout, but a little better placement of walkways and atmosphere street entertainment areas. And, perhaps best of all, it was 100% mime-free.