Possible new St. Pierre River sighting

Leaving Meadowbrook Golf Course--anyone who has been there knows where this area is located--I could hear running water, but where was it coming from? Then I noticed a drainage ditch on the other side of the train tracks. Above the tracks is the Montreal West town maintenance department and other buildings. It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that this water could possibly be from the buried St. Pierre River on that side of the tracks. It's too late for this to be melting snow or spring run-off so the river may be the source of this water. Of course, I could be totally wrong and this is just wishful thinking. . .

This is the trail out of the golf course

On the right are train tracks and below are more train tracks

That is quite a lot of water emptying out of a drainage pipe

This is just about thirty feet east of the train bridge as you exit the golf course;
the train tracks going east and west are directly below the source of water

As I was watching this, a ground hot crossed the water; there
is still a lot of urban wildlife 

View from Toe Blake Park

This isn't quite my final installment of what's happening at the St. Pierre River, only an update; now the section of the river that crosses Meadowbrook Golf Course is buried some landscaping is in the works. Planting some shrubs and bushes over the area that was buried. Photos taken on May 18, 2022.

What has been taken from nature can be restored to nature

I write about what interests me, what I see when I go out walking, what catches my eye, what I'm thinking about, what I like and what I don't like. I like nature, not the great outdoors but what's left of urban nature; I don't like more urban development. I haven't walked at Meadowbrook Golf Course very often but I was there a few weeks ago and it occurred me to that the remains of the river located there, and that were recently buried, can just as easily be restored; they haven't destroyed the St. Pierre River, they have only buried it. Remember that television show, what various cities would like if the population disappeared and civilization came to an end? It doesn't take long for nature to assert herself and civilization to disappear. My God! Just drive around Montreal and experience the craters in our city streets! There is one street where it's like an obstacle course, where I swerve around the potholes.

Walking to the golf course

Here is the trail along the train tracks to the back entrance to Meadowbrook Golf Course and then to the St. Pierre River. This was my walk on May 10th. There is a long history of people having gardens along railway tracks, you can still see some of them from the Westminster Bridge. In recent years the Canadian Pacific Railway has forced people off of this land which belongs to the railway. People grow vegetables, they aren't squatters. This trail (below) is on a ridge adjacent to the tracks, let's hope it remains as it is in perpetuity... because they're building condos on every square inch of land everywhere else.

 

Walking to Meadowbrook Golf Course

Life is mostly repetition, woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head... Even going for a walk falls into a pattern, the same route, the same streets and stores and people. So, here I am again, walking to Meadowbrook Golf Course. Life is repetition, people are basically fairly conservative and enjoy the same old same old, the same breakfast for the last thirty years, the same job, the same conversations; repetition gives us stability, it gives us our sanity and, ironically, it gives us the opportunity to be creative and not have to reinvent the wheel every day.  

Photographs taken mid-April 2022.

Trees and shadows

These photographs were taken not far from the rear entrance to the golf course grounds, not even up to the construction site where the remains of the St. Pierre River are being buried. What interests me here are the trees and shadows from the trees; the spiritual presence of the trees. In this life we are alone, we stand alone, like the trees. It was May 10th, a beautiful day for a long walk.

Visiting Meadowbrook Golf Course on the last day of March

Here I am yesterday at Meadowbrook Golf Course. No construction today, no other people, a few ducks and Canada geese, it was a short interlude from the busy city that surrounds us.

If you plan to visit remember that the path is very muddy and you'll need proper foot wear. 

Photos taken on 31 March 2022.

A train passes by, otherwise there is no one here

How far did they get with burying the St. Pierre River?

Not far at all considering they were in such a rush to get construction begun and get the last remaining above ground section of the St. Pierre River buried... As of March 10, 2022 this is what they've done. By now, four months after this work was begun, maybe they could have fixed the source of the problem, private residences incorrectly connected to the waste water pipes, and possibly moved on to the next step, restoring segments of the St. Pierre River above ground. 

Any politician who championed restoring the river would have been considered a hero to the community, they would have been praised for their vision and long-term commitment and effort towards saving a little of the remaining nature in the city. Will a politician be remembered and praised because he promoted condo development? I don't think so. 

Photos taken looking over a fence into Meadowbrook Golf Course from Toe Blake Park in Montreal West.

The last day of winter 2022

Winter 2022 will soon be a memory. Here are some photos from one of the few walks I took, on many days it was just too cold to go outside for a walk.

This is the approach to Meadowbrook Golf Course, one of the few undeveloped pieces of land left in this area. Notice that a few years ago the city of Cote St. Luc cut down the trees adjacent to the road. Why did they do this? They claimed that some of these trees were a danger, they might fall on passing cars. Some people hate nature, and perhaps they were really preparing for the day when the golf course will be the site of condos and townhouses. Progress is relentless and unforgiving.

Photos taken on March 10th, 2022.