Dog on ATV, Ontario, 1990

My take on the Volkswagen emissions cheat scandal

Wheel bug eggs on sugar maple, 1990

Wheel bugs will hatch in the spring and eat other insects, like beetles that eat plants.

Jean Roy, Les Foubrac, dogs, 1990, Aultsville Theatre, Cornwall, Ontario

Les Foubrac are a two man group that do comedy and had these little dogs as performers.

Michel Lauzière, (left) Jean Roy (right) sign autographs.

Someone put this clothespin on my vest when I was taking their photo!

Horse at Tim's

1956 Studebaker President 4-Door Sedan

1956 Studebaker President 4-Door Sedan, probably lowertown, Quebec City, c. 1990

Willy Wonka Was Here

Jamming in Cornwall Jail, 1990

A local band played in the exercise yard of the Cornwall Jail, 1990 - one prisoner got up to jam with them - I've blurred out the faces of the prisoners.
The guards showed me another small yard where they used to hang people - last time was in 1954. The yard hadn't been used and it was overgrown with weeds coming up through the paving.

Another view from the exercise yard

St. James-Bond United Church

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, is supposed to have stayed across the road from this church when he was at Camp X, the special operations training center in Whitby, although most sources say that the name for James Bond was taken from the author of a series of books on ornithology.

Now converted into a seniors' home.

Sax Player, Queen Street, 1990s

Busking standing on a post box, near the CITY TV building, probably 1996.

Volta Electric Van, 1990

I don't have any more info about this vehicle - I'd taken the photo but didn't do any follow-up. From research it would seem to be made under the brand Volta by  Marcel Rocaboy and Georges Kirchner of France. Links: http://www.kartelec.com/f/mob/fr_historique2.htm

Specs from the site below:

Genre/Type : Utilitaire 2 places/Utility two seat
Année de fabrication/Year of Manufacture : 1988
Type de carrosserie/Carriage type : Fourgonnette/Van
Puissance nominale/Nominal power : 12  KW
Vitesse maximum/Maximum speed : 70 Km/h
Autonomie/Range : 50 à/to 70 Km
Energie consommée/Energy consumption : 15 KWh/100 Km

http://www.mobil-eco.com/joomla/historique/1-musee/detail/12-1972-rocaboy-kirchner.html?tmpl=component http://voitureselectriques.free.fr/imprimer.php?pg=art48

Used by Cornwall Electric, local power utility, with University of Ottawa
August 26, 2018 - I found my old notes - perhaps it was made in La Rochelle, France?

Picadilly Theatre, Williamsburg, Ontario

I saw the The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao there in about 1976 as part of a festival. It had stopped showing films regularly in 1959. It had been reopened in 1976 by Julie O'Neill, Mark Harada, who organized a Super 8 festival in 1974 in Ottawa, Danny Malanchuk, who became a CBC journalist, and Sue Donaldson. They showed 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', the first film it showed when it opened in 1935, according to the September 14, 1976 Ottawa Journal. Interesting history - there was a 'miracle' foot doctor, Dr. Mahlon W. Locke (1880-1942), living there in the early part of the 20th century who drew large numbers of people to the small town of Williamsburg, Ontario. A wounded World War I vet decided to open a cinema and named it after Picadilly Circus, which was near the hospital he stayed at in London. Sadly, the sign is falling apart but the owner has declined to sell it. Keith Stata, who collects movie memorabilia at his Highlander Cinemas, told me he's tried to buy it.

About 1990:

About 1995:

November 4, 2023, after demolition:

NCPR did a feature on  Mahlon Locke, the foot doctor who brought thousands of patients to the small town. Photos from the Cornwall Community Museum show he would sit at the convergence of several lines of  patients outdoors, sitting in a swivel chair, turning to each new patient, and manipulating their aching feet. Amy Feiereisel: The story of Doctor Mahlon Locke, the 'toe twister'

Dr Locke with patients, Williamsburg, unknown date, Cornwall Community Museum

Update 2023: The sign is now gone. According to flckr user Ulysses , the theatre opened in 1935 and closed in 1959. It seated 380. Earl McRae had a column about it, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. I doubt the claim that anyone famous appeared there - it was only a small cinema in a small town.

Update Nov 5, 2023 - It's been torn down.

Infrared, 1990

Willow, Kodak Infrared film, 1990 

Mudpuppy, found in St. Lawrence River

First time I have seen a mudpuppy, Ontario's largest salamander - Glengarry Campground Park, Lancaster Ontario, Sept 11, 2015

The Doll Man, Boulevard Charest, 1989

The doll man of lower town. He'd push this cart that had Christmas decorations all over it all the time along Charest Boulevard in Lowertown. It had two dolls the size of children that were dressed in snow suits - sometimes he had a radio playing music on the handle bars. He didn't talk to people, but someone told me that he'd had two children who died in a fire, but that might just have been the legend that grew up around him.

Street, Old Quebec

Old Quebec, 1989

Delivering Flyers, Lowertown, Quebec City, about 4 a.m., c. 1989

Cop car in front of old house at night, Quebec City, c. 1989

Lowertown SIDA, Children in toy jeep

Little boys in an electric toy jeep. It was a very poor neighbourhood, with street prostitution and drug sales, so it was surprising to see little boys by themselves on an expensive toy like that. SIDA is AIDS in French, and there was AIDS there too.