Brett and Jocelyn were so devastated at the disappointing Olympic performance, I got a little teary for them.

From Gold by Rumi (translated by Haleh Liza Gafori) #booksky #poetry #rumi #farsi

Paul Theroux has this lovely story about sitting with Pico Iyer in a Maui café when Obama happened to walk in. No appointment, no agenda — just a chance encounter. And what Theroux remembered most was how Obama talked about their books with genuine understanding.

I feel kind of bad for the guy, but I feel much worse for the countless others in his position who are just trying to keep their heads down. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This interview + game with Jody Foster is super charming. I just saw La vie privée on the weekend and she's so serious in it, you forget how funny she can be. youtu.be/DjljoQI_5Ys?...

One of my favourite (small) roles of Catherine O'Hara was Gail in Scorsese's excellent film After Hours (1985) where she plays a Softee Ice Cream truck driver and who joins the mob searching for Paul (played by Griffin Dunne). She's psycho level scary. And funny.

Registration for this goes live at 10am ET today and tickets will go fast! | Toni at Random Mon Feb 23, 7pm at Toronto Reference Library. Free registration | www.eventbrite.ca/e/1976931144...

What do you do when your mother leaves you a letter addressed to your future self—and she's the poet Anne Sexton? In this 1994 archival recording, Linda Gray Sexton speaks with devastating honesty about loving someone who was both mentor and burden. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgzn...

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - Orwell's '1984'

Julius Tutsch (1890-1944), Nakampe, Prague (c. 1930)

Canadian artwork of the day is yet another Louis Muhlstock (1904-2001) piece, this one entitled Supper for Two (circa 1935). | I've long admired the work of the Belgian woodcut artist, Frans Masereel (1889-1972) and Muhlstock's woodcuts very much remind me of Masereel's quieter moments.

"We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition." - Mark Carney at Davos. I love this framework of the sign in the window courtesy of Václav Havel. I feel Havel's loss deeply—he'd have much to say about this moment. Carney does right by him, at any rate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg4r...

"The idea of resurrection is, I think, a botanical idea...All plants, which we view as less evolved that us, actually know how to die in such a way that they can come back to life again." - Georgi Gospodinov, Death and the Gardener

My nightstand is getting a little overloaded.

From last week’s New Yorker lol

Canadian painting of the day is another Louis Muhlstock (1904-2001) piece, Ruelle Leduc (c. 1940), in an area of Montreal that has totally disappeared. This is the site now of Habitations Jeanne Mance, the oldest existing public housing project in Canada at 100 Boulevard De Maisonneuve.

📹 Vídeo | En Groenlandia y Copenague los manifestantes le dicen Trump que la isla “no está en venta”. “Que América se vaya”. social.elpais.com/f_7…

Just a block from home, the morning was magic.

Linda, Dolly, Emmylou ❤️

My quiet home office corner

The Canadian painting of the day is View from a Window (1938) by Louis Muhlstock (1904-2001) which depicts a Montreal alleyway behind where 3540 Rue Durocher is today. That's the Southeast corner of Mont Royal in the distance.

My my my this Denis Johnson novel, The Stars at Noon, set in a dull but war-torn Nicaragua in 1984, is a great way to kick off a snowy Thursday morning in winter.

Trump and his cronies are vile, but European political leaders are mealy-mouthed and lack any sort of backbone. Why is taking a strong stand against US Imperialism such an impossibility?! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/w...

That’s me walking with my dog yesterday

These Youtube videos by Matthew Roby retell particular Icelandic Sagas & are enjoyable and enlightening. This one is Egils Saga where Egil murders, travels, composes poetry, feuds with the King of Norway and shows both the violence and artistry in Viking-age culture. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Kt...

Beautiful medieval depiction of Janus - Roman god of doorways, beginnings, and endings. January is literally named after him! Gorgeous gold leaf and symbolic cups represent him looking both to the past and future.

Desert Mother Syncletica of Alexandria depicted ENTHRONED like royalty in this medieval ms, with the scholar who dedicated his translation to her shown below. 4th c. ascetic getting the illuminated manuscript treatment she deserves 👑

And all about killing? Amazing to think about all the violent death this page might have helped adjudicate (all the motives, the relationships broken, the rivalries, the punishments, etc.).

Is it just me or are onions getting freakishly large?!

I’ve been reading this Vigdis Hjorth novel over the holidays and it’s so perfect for this time of year: full of Scandinavian family chaos, dysfunction and rage. #booksky

In the annals of "only in America" posts, Christmas edition:

I watched My Dinner with Andre tonight for the first time because @ppfideas.bsky.social is doing an episode about it that I will listen to en route to Montreal tomorrow. I enjoyed the film: playfully profound & full of ideas about how to live and how to make art. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/f...

Swan frozen in the river ice. Guys come by in a boat and get him free.

This Rutger Bregman lecture series is fascinating. And also very inspiring. Available on Youtube (in Canada, anyway). Here is lecture 2: Can Ordinary People Change the World? www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwj0...

Paris makes me happy, too. And another happy thing: Crystal's book The Happiness Collector has a limited time special holiday price! Happiness all around! @crystalking.com open.substack.com/pub/crystall...

Had a small moment on a crowded TTC this evening when I was trying to see what this guy was reading. He smiled and showed me. Graham Greene! Awww this made me happy: we're all just trying to find our tribes.

Fear is what makes travel valuable. - Albert Camus | I've been thinking about this and wondering if it's true. Maybe it depends on the kind of travel (such a big word that captures so many different kinds of experiences).

Felix Mendelssohn wasn't just one of the first famous conductors—he made people see conducting as literal magic. Victorians watched him "conjure" music from orchestras and were amazed. Today when a superhero or villain summons powers with hands baton, it's thanks in large part to Mendelssohn. #music

Some things I learned today: 1. There are over 28,000 choirs in Canada. 2. In 2016, 3.5 million Canadians (10% of the population) sang in a choir 3. 7.8 million adults attended a choral performance. 4. There are about 50% more adult choral singers than adult hockey players in Canada.

M looks like a criminal

Was up late reading this looking out at the snowy street - perfect December evening | Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories

Today I learned that Bach had been more or less completely forgotten (and out of style) after his death and it was only after 80 years when Felix Mendelssohn performed St Matthew's Passion in 1829 that he became appreciated (and fashionable) again. Thanks, Felix!

TPL's St Lawrence Branch is moving and massively expanding! blogs.tpl.ca/news-release...

Two December reads: Berlin Childhood Around 1900 by Walter Benjamin and All My Cats by Bohumil Hrabal #booksky

The sun gilds / Without literature (Fernando Pessoa)

Original movie poster for 1988 Kieslowski film A Short Film About Killing

Our Christmas tree went up just as we are about to leave for a family visit

I am no expert on Canadian military spending, but given all that's been happening between the US and Canada, this seems like a big thing. | www.politico.eu/article/cana...

Doggie antics in the snow