Walking our dog this evening by the lagoon someone, sitting on a park bench with two small dogs, asked me if there were still seven (like me, she counted them) ducklings. I replied that that the entire family is still “accounted for”.
It seems that this duck family has been “adopted” by those of us that use the park on a regular basis.
Hopefully, this will ensure their safety. I am still concerned what might happen overnight in the park, despite the City’s curfew.
A Wasp nest in Westmount Park.
Luckily, their pulp nest is very high in a tree; allowing both insects and people to live in coexistence.
Another update on the Mallard ducklings – the female was not too far away.
A Highland Dancing practise, on the former asphalt tennis courts, in Westmount Park.
From http://www.electricscotland.com/dance/intro.htm
“In previous centuries, Scottish regiments used Highland Dancing as exercise to keep the troops in shape, and ready for battle. The dances are indeed excellent exercise; for example, in a typical six-step Highland Fling, a dancer will jump vertically 192 times, while performing complicated and intricate footwork, and using the muscles from head to toe. Highland dancing is therefore akin to sprinting, with dancers using fast-twitch muscle, which is also required by soldiers.
Today, Highland Dancing is one of the premiere events at Highland Games throughout the world; for example, in Canada, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, and the United States of America. Until the early 1900’s, only men entered Highland Dancing competitions. However, the tradition changed during the World Wars, as women wanted to preserve their rich culture and history, while the men were defending their homeland.”
Another update on the ducklings in the lagoon. Sunday morning, and “all is well”.
The female seems to be a “single mom” – one wonders about the whereabouts of the male Mallard.
There are some of us that wonder about “such things”!
Ascension of Our Lord Parish – side door.
Ascension of Our Lord Parish – side door.
Ascension of Our Lord Parish – main entrance.
If one has ever wondered why there are two churches, on the same street, this is the story:
From: http://www.ascensionofourlord.ca/Our-history.htm
“Thanks to its well-deserved reputation for stability and peace, it might come as a surprise that the Church of Ascension of Our Lord was launched in controversy and got underway with a whiff of acrimony still in the air.
In 1926, when a group of resolute Irish Catholic Westmount parishioners applied to the Archbishop of Montreal for permission to build their own church – because until then they had been going to church services at the St-Leon de Westmount French parish – They were turned down.
Undeterred, they set sail for the Vatican and many weeks later returned home triumphantly with a Papal Deed of Erection.
Trumped by the Holy See, the Diocese of Montreal exercised its right to name the new parish’s first pastor.
Its selection was Monsignor Wilfrid Emmett McDonagh, age 42, a man of uncertain mettle who was in disfavour with the hierarchy at the time. (He was; however, one of the leading figures in the founding of St. Mary’s Hospital).
Predictably, there were Anglos against this project (“We don’t need another church,”) but work on it went full-steam ahead anyway.
Financed by a bank loan and pledges, the trustees searched for an appropriate piece of land in Westmount area, eventually they bought a large tract of land from the Grey Nuns, bordered by Sherbrooke Street and Clarke and Kitchener Avenue.
Then they awarded a princely $326,000 contract to John Quinlan & Co. to build a church which was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Maginnis and Walsh, Edward Turcotte of Montreal was associate architect.
The neo-gothic design of the church was quite different from what was usually seen in Catholic churches in Quebec.
Another unusual feature of the 13,483 square foot church was the location of the square bell tower built over the transept crossing with belfry and pinnacles, and not over the entrance of the church as is usually the case in Catholic churches.
This type of construction was more commonly seen in Protestant churches.
Furthermore, there are no bells in the tower.”
From Wikipedia:
“The Study is a leading Canadian private education all-girls school in Westmount, Quebec. Girls can attend from Kindergarten through to grade 11. The school was founded in 1915, by a young Englishwoman named Margaret Gascoigne.”
Tuition fees, for 2014-2015 run between $16,618 – $17,613, per academic year plus “sundries”.
Westmount Overlooked 