In 1965, Canada was well on its way to making inter-continental travel from sea-to-sea-to-sea a lot more enticing and convenient. The Trans-Canada Highway had linked the otherwise awkward and barely passable sections of Lake Superior in Ontario and the Rocky Mountains between Alberta and British Columbia. And so, my grandparents decided to take a little trek out of province to see that the world didn’t end in Port Arthur, Ontario (merely life as we know it).
Archive for Montreal
GRAN’S CANADA HIGHWAY – EPISODE 3: LOADED TO BEAR by Jaimie Vernon
Posted in Family, life, Opinion, Review with tags Alberta, British Columbia, Buick Invicta, chuck wagon, DBAWIS, Don Valley Parkway, Don't Believe a Word I Say, driving, GPS, Highway 12, Highway 400, Highway 401, Highway 48, Hogtown, Lake Superior, Luggage, Mapquest, Markham, Montreal, Ontario, Ottawa, Port Arthur, road map, Rocky Mountains, Segarini Jaimie Vernon, Toronto, Trans-Canada Highway, Vernons on July 13, 2020 by segariniRoxanne Tellier – Summer of Songs Redux
Posted in life, music, Opinion, Review with tags A&W, Annette Funicello, Beach Blanket Bingo, Beach Boys, Belmont Park, Billy Stewart, Canada, Centreville, CFOX, Chicago, CHOM FM, Crescent Street, Dairy Queen, David Lee Roth, DBAWIS, Dean Hagopian, Doug Pringle, Echo Beach, Expos, Hanlan’s Point, Jarry Park, Jesse Winchester, Katy Perry, Loving Spoonful, Maple Leaf, Mark Bolan, Martha and the Vandellas, Martha David, Montreal, Munich Olympics, Nelly, Olympic Village, Orange Julep, Roger Scott, Roxanne Tellier, Sand Dunes, s’mores, Seals and Croft, segarini, summer, Summer Blonde, Summer of Song, The Bangles, The Cowsills, The Go Gos, The Kinks, The Motels, The Tragically Hip, The Who, Watergate Scandal, Wild Mouse on July 12, 2020 by segarini
I’ve been overwhelmed, recently, with the events swirling around us. It’s too much. And today, although I had planned a look into trump and Ford’s plans to re-open schools this fall, I’m gonna take a pass, and a day off. Instead of current affairs, let’s enjoy the summer sun, and take a stroll down Memory Lane, to this slightly edited column that I first wrote in August of 2015.
How very different things look now, from the perspective of 2020, and this time of plague! Seems almost naughty to see people gathered together, without masks or social distancing! And I’m not sure if any of the places I mentioned then, are open now. Never mind… Take my hand, come along with me on the wayback machine, and forget about today for a while ….
Bob’s Good Friday for Jesus – GREAT Friday for Amy
Posted in Family, life, Opinion with tags Amy, Cameron Crpenter, Cherry Cola's, Cheryl, Concerts, Daughter, DBAWIS, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Marshall, Matilda, Mom, Montreal, music, segarini, Slaughter, Stockton, Toronto on April 10, 2020 by segarini
Just because Mother Nature has sent us to our rooms to think about what we’ve done, doesn’t mean we have to sit around and eat everything in the house, shave the dog, dress the cat up, or duct tape the baby to the bathroom door. Not at all.
While we’re home rearranging our sock drawers and seeing if we can build a mountain made out of mashed potatoes and some of the dead houseplants on the dining room table like Richard Dreyfuss did in Close Encounters, we can also reflect on some of the good things we have done in our messy, ungrateful, lives.
Today I celebrate. Not Jesus starting a three day vaycay in a cave after a forced march carrying enough timber to build a parking lot FotoMat kiosk, but the one thing I had something to do with in my life, that I am most proud ….
My daughter’s birthday is today, and to mark the event, I am re-posting this column as I do every year, to share my love for her with you and the joy she brings to me and everyone who knows her. Lots of new pictures, some brand new words …and as always …Lots and Lots of Love.
Love you Ames …you will always be the light of my life. – Daddy
Roxanne Tellier – Montreal, Cemeteries, and Donovans
Posted in Opinion, Review with tags 1976 Olympic Games, A Shamrock in the Snow, Algonquin warrior., Baron de Hirsch Cemetery, Bob Segarini, Calixa Lavallée, Canada Life Weather Beacon, Celine Dion, Charles Melville Hays, Civil War, Cotes de Neiges cemetery, Cross of Sacrifice, DBAWIS, Doug Harvey, Edmonton, Expo 67, Father of Confederation. Sir John A. MacDonald, Grand Trunk Railway. Notre Dame de Neiges Cemetery, Jean Drapeau, Joe Beef, Laurier Palace Theatre, Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard; Pierre Laporte, McGill University, Michael Leo Donovan, Montreal, Montreal Metro, Mount Royal, Oh Canada, Patricia Donovan, Peel Street. First Nation, René Angélil; Nick Auf der Maur; Gratien Gelinas, Robert Bourassa, Roxanne Tellier, Simon McTavish, Sir Arthur William Currie, Sir George Etienne Cartier, The Beachcombers, The Beat Divas. past life regression, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Titanic on May 26, 2019 by segarini
My family has a tiny burial plot on Mount Royal, in the Cotes de Neiges cemetery, and that’s where the bones and ashes of my ancestors have been interred for over a hundred years.
It’s been two months since my aunt’s passing. The clan will gather this week to bring her ashes home.
“Patricia Donovan, daughter of Freda (James) Donovan and Denis Patrick Donovan, the last of her generation, died March 29, 2019 in Ottawa.
Born in Montreal, Patricia lived most of her life there. She enjoyed travel, and worked for a time in Washington, D.C. She moved to Toronto and cared for her mother until her mother’s passing.
Segarini: Raising Amy – The Annual Hippo Birdie Two Ewes 2019
Posted in Opinion with tags Amy, Cameron Crpenter, Cherry Cola's, Cheryl, Concerts, Daughter, DBAWIS, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Marshall, Matilda, Mom, Montreal, music, segarini, Slaughter, Stockton, Toronto on April 8, 2019 by segarini
Editor’s Note – Amy’s Birthday Week 2019!
My daughter celebrates a birthday on Wednesday, and to mark the event, I am re-posting this column as I do every year, to share my love for her with you and the joy she brings to me and everyone who knows her. Lots of new picture …and as always …Lots and Lots of Love.
Love you Ames …you will always be the light of my life. – Daddy
Roxanne Tellier – My City Was Gone
Posted in Opinion, politics, Review with tags Big City. tent cities, DBAWIS, digital world, elite., gentrification, globablization, high tech, Living for the City, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, segarini, Tellier, Toronto, Vancouver on November 25, 2018 by segarini
“Living just enough, just enough, for the city.”
The Big Cities of the past weren’t for everyone. In the hardscrabble days when I was growing up in Montreal or in Toronto, a city rat could always make ends meet, somehow, some way. There was always that neighbourhood where you could find a deal, that part of town where, while it might not be pretty, but, be it ever so humble, you could find a place to crash if you were short of dough. Or a place to score if you wanted to get high. You might not have a Rolex, but you could find a knockoff for a couple of bucks.
Peter Blount Oops and Blonde…James Blonde
Posted in Opinion, Review with tags "Cry Me A River", Billy Gibbons, Boney M, Colin Kaepernick, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Facebook, James Blonde, Julie London, Montreal, Nike., Ottawa, Peter Montreuil, Philadelphia, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Robert Segarini, Toronto, Windsor on November 23, 2018 by segarini
Last week, I wrote about music. This week will be more of the same….but differen
Billy Gibbons of “Z Z Top” fame has released a solo album, and is touring in support of it. He booked an opening act (Benton Blount 1)) and the tour began. Everything was going smoothly……..but then came the mid-term elections. Shortly after voting, the “opening act” went on Facebook and posted a picture of himself wearing a MAGA hat, holding food from Chick fil A and wearing an “I Voted” sticker.
Segarini: Raising Amy – The Annual Hippo Birdie Two Ewes 2018
Posted in Opinion with tags Amy, Cameron Crpenter, Cherry Cola's, Cheryl, Concerts, Daughter, DBAWIS, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Marshall, Matilda, Mom, Montreal, music, segarini, Slaughter, Stockton, Toronto on April 6, 2018 by segarini
Editor’s Note – (Amy’s Birthday Week 2018!
My daughter celebrates a birthday next Tuesday, and to mark the event, I am posting a picture, and sometimes more than one every day. Those of you waiting for Part Three of “I (Still kinda) Like The Beatles, and MacMillan Loves the Rolling Stones” will have to wait until Monday or next Friday.
Even the Lords of Rock Music cannot…WILL not…take precedence over Ames’ Birthday!
This has now become a tradition….)
“Your Son is your Son ‘till he takes a wife, but your Daughter is your Daughter for the rest of your life”
No one seems to know who first uttered this quote, but it has definitely stood the test of time. The first time I ever heard it was from my mother when my wife and I had our one and only child. At first I thought my mother was just being (as always) supportive, because, being Italian, it is assumed I wanted a boy child to carry on the family name and be a ‘chip off the old block’. The truth of the matter is that I prayed for a little girl…and we were blessed with one of the best.
Peter – My Dad Was Quite the Lad
Posted in Opinion with tags "Charlie Deserves it", "Fiddler On The Roof", Assumption College, Bancroft, Barrie, Camp Borden, Canadian Army, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Expo 67, HSL-41, Kiwanis Festival, Louise Montreuil, Marie Renaud, Montreal, Ontario College of Education, Orillia, Orillia District Collegiate & Vocational Institute, Park Street Collegiate Institute, Peter Montreuil, Robert Segarini, St Bernard's, University of Windsor, Windsor on April 5, 2018 by segarini
I can’t believe that it’s been 30 years since my Dad passed. Let me share some of my personal randomly shuffled memories, as well as a few anecdotes that I learned second hand, at a temporal distance from when they occurred. I now bitterly regret not asking him more questions, not finding out more about the man who was my father, so the following is, in some cases, ” as far as I know.”.
Segarini: Raising Amy – The Annual Hippo Birdie Two Ewes
Posted in Opinion with tags Amy, Cameron Crpenter, Cherry Cola's, Cheryl, Concerts, Daughter, DBAWIS, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Marshall, Matilda, Mom, Montreal, music, segarini, Slaughter, Stockton, Toronto on April 10, 2017 by segarini
“Your Son is your Son ‘till he takes a wife, but your Daughter is your Daughter for the rest of your life”
No one seems to know who first uttered this quote, but it has definitely stood the test of time. The first time I ever heard it was from my mother when my wife and I had our one and only child. At first I thought my mother was just being (as always) supportive, because, being Italian, it is assumed I wanted a boy child to carry on the family name and be a ‘chip off the old block’. The truth of the matter is that I prayed for a little girl…and we were blessed with one of the best.
