The condo that I’m staying in overlooks Park Lawn Cemetery in Toronto.   Lots of trees and grass but the part I can see has fairly uniform headstones.  I don’t know if there’s an older section with huge memorials or not.

This morning I watched a man walking through the cemetery.  He didn’t once walk on the road – except to cross it.  He walked on the grass and snow, right over the graves.  It made me a bit uncomfortable.  Which made me think about why I would feel uncomfortable.  It must be some residual superstition about walking on a grave. I wonder if somewhere on the time continuum there were people shivering as the man walked on their graves.

Yesterday I saw two cars stop beside a grave.  Altogether there were about 7 people clustered at a grave.  One of them was a little child, probably about two or three.  Someone leaned down and handed the child flowers and said something to it.  Someone else took the child’s hand and helped it put the flowers on the grave.

I’m sure that the person who gave the child flowers said ‘give these flowers to Grandma’.  I’m also sure that for years that child is going to think that his grandmother is a tombstone.

Stationery stores are magical places.  Not big chain stores, I can’t imagine getting excited about going to Staples, but small independent stores that reflect the owner’s personality.  Indigo and Chapters have pretty good stationery departments now that I think about it.

When I work I always need to have a notepad beside me.  I’ve tried those virtual sticky notes but…

My favourite is a pad with squares rather than lines.  No idea why, I just like the grid better.  In France I discovered a 5 x 7 pad made by Rhodia and have been using them for about 10 years.

I ran out of my french stash in the fall and went looking for something to replace it with.  There’s no real thrill in going to Staples but I figured it would be the best place to look.  No 5 x 7 pads with squares.  I couldn’t find anything so settled for 8 x 10 with squares.

The paper was not nice.  I hadn’t realized how lovely French paper is, smooth, thick, a joy to write on.

Rhodia notepads in Toronto

Yesterday I went into Marlborough’s on Bloor West and discovered…

Rhodia pads!

Yes, the exact pads that I’d been looking for.  And other French paper, pens and inks.

If you’ve ever been to a papeterie – a stationery store – in France you’ll recognize Marlborough’s.  If you haven’t then it’ll be like a little french interlude.

There are pens and pencils to lust after, wonderful textured papers, cards, paints, file folders, diaries, journals, envelopes, toys, inks, always something you didn’t know you needed but really can’t live without.  I plan to be a regular.

Marlborough’s
Bloor West Village
2346 Bloor St West
Toronto ON M6S 1P3

416-767-9121

Rhodia links

• Rhodia Drive
• Rhodia Drive on Facebook
• Exaclair Inc – the US distributor of Rhodia – has a list of online retailers

My daughter is going to have a baby any day now and I’ll be in Toronto for the next couple of months.  It means I get to do the city things that I miss when I live in the country.

Things like going to the theatre.  I know, I could go to the theatre in the country but it’s so much easier in Toronto.  No big drive.  And I get to review what I see for my daughter’s blog – Mooney on Theatre.  Megan is too pregnant to go to a play.  Well, maybe she could manage 15 minutes.

Once Parliament reconvenes I’m sure I’ll be writing about that and for the next couple of months I’ll be writing about Toronto.  And my grandson, once he arrives.  Prepare for too many baby pictures!