"It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime,” Judge Robert Maranger stated as he listened to the jury's verdict, Guilty of premeditated murder, rendered on three members of an Afghanistan-born Montreal family on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

Ever since four bodies… Read full post »

 

A tiny revolutionary fold-up car as the answer to urban stress and pollution was unveiled at the EU on Tuesday, January 24, before hitting European cities in 2013. The car was designed in Spain's Basque country.

The electric two-seater with no doors is christened The "Hiriko", the Basq… Read full post »

This is the world we see from our windows.

When it rains, we're grateful to be indoors ~

Watching bluejays in early spring

and other little friends who visit

some keep us company while we eat -

When winter's… Read full post »

 This is a picture I took on my last trip to Wilmington, DE. last month - in fact, last year as of today. The moon was a half circle high up in the sky and my camera's flash lit up what is seen in the frame. I love it so/… Read full post »

We call it "ispanakli yogurt" - spinach with yogurt - that first, light sprinkling of the season's snow. One can still see the sharp spikes of green grass sticking out of the lacey white layer - a prelude to a lot more, in store, to descend when it wills.

When I woke up on… Read full post »

They do speak, sir, although not with words.
The unicorn sent her thoughts right into my head.
I understood her meaning.
L. E. Engler, The Forgotten Isle (2004)

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Having been born into a Muslim family, I grew up without Christmas and Santa. Even though the birth place of St Nich… Read full post »

This enchanted, home-made greeting card has a very fascinating story  which came about last week when, after having lived for a quarter of a century in this house, I noticed something that I had never seen before on the brick fireplace in the room.

Follow me… Read full post »

 THE  CLOUD

 

Image source: Getty Images

 

2,752 people were killed when The World Trade Center towers in New York were destroyed a decade ago on September 11. Today, a new building design created by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV   is angering peo/… Read full post »

It all happened when my youngest sister and I decided to get together for another one of our unforgettable reunions whenever she visits Montreal. She had recently returned from a vacation in Turkey and had so many memories to share in digital photos that witness some of her stories.… Read full post »

Life at the Montreal Biodôme

Thousands of animals and plants thrive at The Montreal Biodôme where huge collections are housed and monitored closely around the clock. Year round inventory is taken, feedings are scheduled, plants are watered, and sick animals are nursed, while life cont… Read full post »

 

Ibrahim Ethem Demirhan 1881-1963

The only man I knew and loved as my grandfather all my life lives mostly in my memories of the brief encounters with him during my childhood. As with any brief-lived memory, time distorts truth or sweeps a forgiving brush over the creases and jagged line/… Read full post »

AMBITION: Teacher and Author

PROBABLE DESTINATION: Authorizing excuse slips.

These two sentences from the year book of my senior year of high school must have found a permanent place somewhere in the depths of my psyche to have a silent but very effective voice in mapping out my career, and prove… Read full post »

 Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends! May we all have a reason to be thankful throughout the year.

  

Thanksgiving Day, Jour de l'Action de grâce, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the end of the harvest season for the year's bounty and crops. Canadians/… Read full post »

 

 

Canadian Wildlife Federation is a national charitable non-profit organization dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of our natural world and a lasting legacy of healthy wildlife in its habitat by spreading knowledge of the impacts of human behavior on the environment,/… Read full post »

“Revolution consumes its own children.” G. Büchner 

I am a tail-end Baby Boomer. I became familiar with that term in my later life as its implication bonded many of my generation, regardless of our origins, in a life time's worth of nostalgic reminiscences or sad memories which,/… Read full post »

 

Had the Argentine poet, philosopher, and writer, Jorge Luis Borges lived long enough, he'd be celebrating his 112^th birthday today. Instead, if you turned on your Google page, you will have seen an homage paid by the giant search engine to the man whose work is considered to be ahead/… Read full post »

 

~A rare photo of my sisters and me in Diyarbakir where I started school~

For the last forty plus years I've been marking July 11th  and acknowledging its importance in changing the lives of my family forever. I cannot prevent myself from keeping sentimentality at arm's le/… Read full post »

 

Taffeta evening gown of panther design was embroidered in beads -took 1060 hours of embroidery work

 

Taffeta gown with panther design

-claw detail with rhine stones and pearl beads-

 

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has devoted an enchanting exhibition to t/… Read full post »

 

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How can we become more critical as readers, if we are to help promote better writing on this forum rather than a mutual admiration society? First of all, that depends on one's choice. It is not the secret of the century that not everyone is here for practicing and/…

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Evangeline felt a fleeting pang of guilt for not visiting her aging aunt more often, as the former released her from her lavender embrace. She could, if she wanted to, justify her negligence with hundreds of reasons that filled up her own life, rendering her days full of commitments une/… Read full post »

Our eyes met over the sea of people who had crowded into the Salle Mont-Blanc on the mezzanine. She did not look totally unfamiliar although, at that instant I could not recall where I had seen her before. She snatched a mini quiche from the tray held by a white gloved/… Read full post »