Then and Now: Dorchester....?

Here's a vintage shot from 1970. The odd thing is that Dad records this picture as being along Dorchester Avenue. However, the next corner is Rue Cheneville, followed by Rue Jeanne Mance, but Dorchester Avenue runs nowhere near Cheneville and Jeanne Mance. It's a puzzler.
The answer is that the name of this middle part of Dorchester Avenue, which my dad photographed in 1970, was changed in 1987 to Boulevard René Lévesque. The ends of the street maintain the Dorchester name; one end is now Boulevard Dorchester, the other end is Rue Dorchester. Here's the street today. It also appears that Rue Cheneville has been shortened and no longer intersects Boulevard René Lévesque.

Fire and Ice on Draper

Putting out fires in the winter can't be any fun. I'm not entirely sure what is on fire here; the smoke seems to be coming from in front of the house. Has a car gone up? Or have the firemen pulled a mattress or a piece of burning furniture into the front yard? What isn't a mystery is where this shot is taken. A hunch and a little Google Map sleuthing leads me to believe that we are in the 4500-block of Draper looking towards Terrebonne. My family lived on Draper in the 50s and I'm pretty sure that the big building in the background is Willingdon School. My sisters both spent their elementary school careers at Willingdon. So did William Shatner. I started at Willingdon and ended up somewhere else, but that is, of course, another story.

Double-Play

Another one of dad's old-school double exposure trick shots.

Three For the Price of One

My dad is up to his old tricks with this one, a double-exposure. Or rather a triple exposure. He doesn't quite get it right, as one hand on the right-hand figure can be seen through the dress of the middle figure.

Then and Now: The Hat

Here's a picture that Dad took of me when I was around a year old. Not the best photo in a technical sense, but still interesting. Especially the hat. It looks like it doesn't fit me, like it's two sizes too big. The interesting thing is....


...the hat still doesn't fit me.

Will Spring Ever Get Here?

Some Montreal winters seemed like they would never end.

1971 Victoria White Christmas

Yes, Virginia, it sometimes snows in Victoria. This is our back yard after the surprise Christmas morning snowstorm of 1971. Victoria rarely gets a white Christmas; the chance of one happening is only about 11%. There wasn't another one for 20 years. The last one was in 2008 when the entire country had a white Christmas. (And technically, the Blizzard of '96, one of the biggest snowfalls in Canadian history, began on Boxing Day, and so doesn't count as a white Christmas.) The bridge in the photo (Admirals Road over Colquitz Creek) was replaced a number of years ago.

Winter Is Coming

My sisters bundle up on a Montreal winter's day, getting ready to try out the backyard skating rink Dad would make for them every winter.

Trans-Carrot Highway

Not the longest highway on Vancouver Island, but the most nutritious.

Mystery Place

I have no idea where this is, but I'm going to guess Englishman River Falls. What's your guess?

Two Mothers

Here's another of my dad's trick shots, showing mom trying to borrow a magazine off mom. I presume it's a double exposure.

Of course, these days, all it takes is a few clicks in Photoshop to do the same thing.