The family of metroblogs is highlighting ways to spend $20 in each city. Click the links to other cities and read all about it. Here, we are talking Canadian dollars which are trading pretty high. $20 CAD = $21.40 US. To get things kicked off on the Montreal metblog:

How to eat lunch out for a week on $20. Or, the secret locations of the $4 lunch.
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Has this not been the most gorgeous couple of October days you’ve ever seen? For me it has. Downtown yesterday was like the first warm day of spring with everyone outside “taking sun”. I don’t think I’ve ever worn just a tshirt this late in the season. So imagine my disappointment this morning when I checked the long range forecast. Sigh. It’s all over but the crying.

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

–Nelson Mandela

Today is the United Nations Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which is being marked by a global day of action sponsored by a coalition of anti-poverty groups working under the name Make Poverty History. The coalition is calling on Canadians to “STAND UP and SPEAK OUT” at events being held across the country, the purpose of which is to demand trade justice, increased international aid, debt cancellation for poor countries, and an end to child poverty in Canada.

Click here for a list of events happening in and around Montreal, and here to endorse the campaign.

This will probably be the last best weekend for leaf peeping. But you don’t have to go far. I caught this shot from Dezery street just north of Sherbrooke. I also took a stroll through the Arboretum at the Jardin Botanique and you can see a lot of color there. Also, our own mountain is ablaze with oranges and reds. It’s fleeting though, the next brisk wind is gonna change all that. So take a walk or drive in the upcoming days for a real treat. Where’s your favorite spot to catch the fall colors?

Out doing intervals yesterday on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and as I was finishing my last set, the sun was dipping behind the mountain and the city’s skyline was lit up in the foreground. The sky was of a glorious orange/red.Tthe lights from the boats docked in the port were giving off a calming glow.

Rollerbladers, fellow cyclists, joggers, all outside taking in what is summer on borrowed time.

Riding through Old Montreal, and I watched the post 5 a 7 crowd of 30-40 somethings dressed to the 9’s.

In town, people outside having dinner or having a glass of something, in shorts and summer wear, people watching.

Come home and check the weather forecast and this looks to be it. The last day of summer is today.

Take the day off work, call in sick or at least take a long walk at lunch and try and skip out early. Take out your bike, rollerblades or take the kids to the park and kick a soccer ball around.. whatever it is that you do on a nice sunny day.

This is it. This could very well be the last day of summer until next June.

Get outside and enjoy it.

From yesterday’s Montreal Gazette:

If the city says it is coming to your street to beautify it - you know what to do. Organize your neighbours in an all-night vigil, armed with shotguns. Hire security forces, then set up a street blockade to keep the city out. It is not coming to help you - it is coming to bury you.

Coming straight from the suggestion box:

Locate private schools in Montreal on an interactive map, find open house dates and times, and get quick access to their websites.

It’s odd. It’s very linear.

I was leaving the fancy Caisse de Depot building downtown yesterday where I had just given an English class. A couple of years ago, Place Jean Paul Riopelle was erected between this building and the Palais des Congres. The park is lovely with a fountain and sculptures. During the summer, misters installed underground come to life, creating a spooky scene. In the evenings, fire dances around the fountain as “smoke” pours out everywhere. (Read about the full sequence here.) It’s quite a show. But as I was sitting there yesterday, I thought about what a colossal waste of money this is, and wondered how much it costs to maintain the infrastructure for such a park. It’s not surprising that we find this park amongst the most well-heeled wheelers and dealers in town. Oh and it’s impressive for tourists. But with bridges falling down and metro tunnels leaking, it sure seems like some of our public money is being unwisely spent.

In your 30’s and just had a kid but don’t want to stop living the single Plateau Lifestyle ?

No worries! Take the infant with you to your local breakfast joint in Le Plateau and sit down with your friends and listen to them swap “who did what to whom last night” stories.

Hey, and if the little Pavarotti decides to start belting out La Boheme, because its in need of a diaper change, simply swap the poopy shorts for another at the table.

Nevermind the people glaring at you, they’re just jealous that they too don’t have the next pooping Luciano. Envy, one of the worst of the deadly sins.
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I ventured out of town yesterday to check out the nature reserve at Mont St Hilaire. It took us less than half an hour to get there from the city, but it is worlds away. The place is special. According to the website: “At the core of the reserve is the mountain, the last remnant of the magnificent primeval forests that once covered the entire Richelieu River valley, home to nearly 1,000 species of plants, mammals, birds and reptiles, over 50 of which are rare or threatened.” We saw some frogs, chipmunks, squirrels and insects. It was wild to catch a peregrine falcon (fastest bird on earth) cruise by. But most interesting to us was the plethora of mushrooms. We saw dozens of varieties (of which I know nothing about) which lent the whole experience a certain magic. But don’t take my word for it, take a drive and hike the trails for yourself. The center is open every day and costs $4 for adults to enter. There is no potable water on the mountain (nor at the visitor center as they are under a boil water warning) so you’ll have to bring your own. You can check out all the details and get directions to the park here. It’s a great way to spend a day. Afterward, make sure you check out some of the “vergers” (apple farms) on the road out of the park area. We picked up some cider and pie. Yum!