Spring exhibitions, Scrabble events and just plain bad manners…

Right here in the West End, the Notre-Dame de Grâce Maison in the CDN-NDG borough has a pretty interesting retrospective of Canadian architect Luc Durand, a leading figure in his field. Durand, who is an NDG boy, is now in his 80s and has had quite an illustrious career designing buildings around the world.

If you’re thinking: “I really know nothing about Luc Durand and don’t care to see what he’s designed,” you’d be wrong. If you’ve seen the Quebec Pavillion at Expo 67 and the distinct pyramid structures of the Olympic Village, then you’ve seen Durand’s work.

I’ve seen it more than most. Growing up in the east end, the Olympic Village was a familiar site from my bedroom window and I remember only too well my parent’s fascination with the Botanical Gardens. If you don’t believe me, you have only to see my childhood albums and the 1,001 pictures of me and my kid brother posing in front of whatever random flora my mom decided to place us for the photo of the week. Anyways… enough about my childhood memories and back to Durand.

Now retired, the architect has been long involved in trying to cover the Decarie expressway, which he sees as an unfinished tunnel and an eyesore, and really… who can argue with him? Is there a Montrealer out there who sees the Decarie and thinks “pretty”?

Architects are often the unsung heroes of design, marrying function and form and trying to produce something beautiful, yet functional at the same time. If they accomplish what they set out to do, their buildings stand the test of time. If they don’t, we stand before them, decades later, and ponder how much alcohol was involved in the process. It’s a thankless task really, because it’s hard to find that middle ground between choosing a design that stands out, yet doesn’t seem too out of place in its environment.

If you think accomplishing that is easy, think of the examples of public art in Montreal and how they often miss the mark. Take a drive to Nuns’ Island and see the ridiculous public art that the city has chosen to adorn both roundabouts with. Both works of “art” (and I use the term loosely) stand out tremendously, but not for any good reasons unfortunately.

The retrospective on Durand runs until mid June, so you have plenty of time to check it out. The Notre-Dame-de-Grace Maison de la Culture is located at 3755, rue Botrel. For additional info, read the related article on the Monitor’s Arts & Life section, call 514 872-2157 or log on to: ville.montreal.qc.ca/cdn-ndg

With so many fundraisers taking place across the city to benefit a myriad of great causes, organizers have no choice but to come up with a gimmick to attract interest to their event. Some of them are better than others and in the case of five close friends, they hit on a genius idea.

This Saturday’s fundraiser to benefit the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation asks participants to say ‘yes’ to the dress. Their wedding dress, that is. The whole premise is simple enough: women getting to don their wedding attire one more time and party the night away. This time however there are no wedding jitters, no seating arrangements and no drunken Uncle Larry to deal with. And you get a tax receipt at the end of the night, in lieu of a wedding favour. It’s perfect really. You eliminate all the bad stuff associated with wedding planning and you get to keep the fun stuff, like playing dress-up and being a princess for a day.

Let’s face it; at the price that wedding boutiques have the nerve to charge for a dress that we only get to wear for one day (or half a day, with most brides changing into a more comfortable evening gown halfway through the night) we should take every opportunity to wear that sucker one more time. Who cares if it’s not comfortable, it weighs a ton and the under-wire bra and corset threaten to cut your air supply, you’ll get to twirl in that lace and crinoline number one more time! Not to mention it’s a hoot to see other people dressed in their bridal wear and get to reminisce, commiserate or just plain make fun of them and their unfortunate fashion choices at the time. “What was I thinking?” isn’t just limited to prom fashion, I’m afraid.

Rumour has it that a number of West End participants will be donning their bridal gowns in support of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, so if you don’t have any plans for the weekend and a wedding dress conveniently hanging in your closet, this has all the makings of a fun event. Tickets are limited, so if interested, call 514-484-3872 or email yestothedress@hotmail.com. For more on the event, read the article in our What’s Happening section.

Scrabble tiles, that is. Pay attention, fans of the word game: it appears that the Atwater Library is busy planning a one-of-a-kind Scrabble fundraiser on Saturday, May 9, to raise money for the library. Two world Scrabble champions, as well as Westmount mayor Karin Marks will be participating, as well. Look for an article on this to be appearing online shortly, but if you don’t need to know more to be convinced, you can call the library and register right now. Pledge sheets are available online at www.atwaterlibrary.ca. Stay tuned for more on this.

This problem is hardly new. Every year, like clockwork, spring comes, the snow starts to melt and voila! Look what’s been hiding underneath all that white stuff. No, I’m not talking about the crocus bulbs sprouting their pretty little heads in anticipation of warmer days. I’m talking about dog poop.

It’s everywhere and it’s disgusting and there’s just no other way to say it. People, if you have a dog, then please pick up after it! It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t require you to have read Emily Post’s etiquette rules to know what to do. The sight and smell of dog poop littering Montreal’s sidewalks, alleyways, and riverbanks is enough to make me wish for -25 C weather again! A few years ago, I read a letter in La Presse from a reader who wrote to berate irresponsible dog owners. The man actually gave a name to the trend, referring to it as a “crottes and run” (the equivalent of a canine ‘hit and run’, if one were to add the letter ‘s’ in front of the word ‘hit’). Listen, I know it’s not very classy of me to be using these words in print, but can you honestly think of a better term to describe this abhorrent behaviour?? I can’t!

If you’re a dog owner and your little Pookie, Fido, Susie Q (insert name of your dog here) gets to leave his or her little ‘gifts’ on the sidewalk or someone’s lawn, just because there aren’t any witnesses at the scene of the crime, than it’s a “*hit and run”, plain and simple! Listen up, negligent owners: just because it’s midnight and the street is deserted and you’re in a hurry to get back to bed or the movie you rented is waiting for you on pause, it doesn’t mean that a “*hit and run” is authorized or justified. Yes it’s annoying, but you have an obligation and responsibility as a dog owner to take care of the mess that your dog leaves behind. Otherwise you should have gotten a cat and called it a day.