Our National Animal in Two Mountains Backyard
Thanks to Kevin Deschamps for sending me this picture of a beaver that was trapped on Sunday afternoon in the swamp near the Deux-Montagnes train station. He will be relocated somewhere more north of 2mo and according to the people relocating him, there are 3 or 4 more still there. In the last year, Two Mountains has had a moose, deer in the school yard, beavers and porcupines. Let me know if you have seen other unexpected animals within our city limits.

Colleen Baxter Sullivan Has Her Second Novel Published
The sequel to Lil's Way, Jaded is now on virtual bookshelves. After the success of her first published venture, Colleen was inspired to continue following Lil through another chapter in her life. Congratulations on being published a second time. To learn more about Colleen and her literary works, please visit her new and improved website, http://www.colleenbaxtersullivan.com. Keep up the good work and I wish you as much success with your third novel that you are currently writing. 

Two Mountains Celebrates Its 90th Anniversary
Deux-Montagnes to be exact, turned 90 on August 18th this year. The Caisse Desjardins of St-Eustache-Deux-Montagnes and Mayor Marc Lauzon signed a agreement whereas the Caisse is donating $2500 to help pay for the promotion of this milestone. A promotional banner was unveiled and is seen on the right. Click here for the full press release that contains some interesting facts about St-Eustache-sur-le-lac as Two Mountains was known until 1963. You can visit also the Deux-Montagnes website with the link above. In more 2mo news, the fruits of the citizens committees from last year's June Citizens' Summit are about the be published. The final report will be presented to the citizens some time in late November. I will keep you posted on when this will happen.

Warning to Cat Owners of Two Mountains
One of my readers just wrote to me about what seems to be a disturbing trend on 2nd and 3rd avenue near Marquette street. A few people have lost their cats in the area and when they found them they had been poisoned by what the vets say was probably antifreeze. The ingredient in antifreeze and liquids like brake fluid is ethylene glycol. It is very deadly to cats and humans and is not very good for dogs either. Its sweet taste attracts cats and dogs. One family has had 3 cats either die or never return home and one has just gone missing. Neighbours have also lost cats. These deaths and disappearances  could be accidental if someone has left an open container of antifreeze somewhere but It is suspected though that it may be intentional. If so, the person responsible should be fed the same liquid. The police have been notified but there is really nothing much they can do. If you own a cat or dog in this area, you might want to keep them indoors. This started back in August and occurred again last week. The chances that the source is still there after 2 months are slim so this maybe intentionally been done. This is causing much grief to families in the area, so please be on the lookout for anything strange going on around there.
I found an interesting article on the subject and why it is difficult to treat a pet that has ingested the fluid. Click here to see it.

Scott Fordham On Much Music
More news regarding Scott. Scott will be on Much Music Friday at 5pm. The show is called New Music Live. Scott will give a small interview about the show and then his dancers will do about a 5 minute performance just to give people an idea of what the show is about. Check it out.

Community Connections Conundrum
The Community Connections newspaper has lost some of its funding because of government cuts to some programs. The paper, which comes out every 2 months, could be in trouble. Retired Two Mountain police detective, Ron Kesseler has some views on the possible demise of this local news source and how we can prevent losing yet another form of communication for the Anglophone community.  Click here for his open letter.

Brendan Brooks Is About to Shave to Save
Here is a message from Brendan Brooks: I'm participating in this year's Shave to Save fundraiser which benefits the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation. I'm trying to raise 2000$ so that Virgin Radio can come to my work ( Bath Fitter ) on October 27th and shave my head. Online donations can be made to using this link  Where it says *who would you support? my name Brendan Brooks is in the list. I will also have forms to fill out if it's a cash donation. With any donation of 20$ and up, you will receive a tax receipt by mid November. I'd appreciate any support that I receive. I'm shaving off my lovely head curls for an awesome and important cause. 

Local Country Artist Eileen Wilson Celebrates Her 50th
Someone most of us know is reaching the big 5-oh! Sorry Eileen if you didn't want everyone to know the number but Alex made me do it. She will be celebrating her 50th milestone at the Heritage Club Hall this Saturday, Oct 8th. Anyone is free to drop by after 10pm to extend their birth wishes, have some cake and take in some entertainment. The more the merrier !

Happy Birthday to Two Mountains' own country girl and keep up the great singing. You can visit her website here and you get to listen to her to boot..
 

A Little Piece of Europe On Oka Road
A few months ago, a new restaurant opened along Oka Road. Every month, I will try to feature a new business venture in Two Mountains and this month, it is Cappucinos et Pasta. The address is 1401 and if you are near my age and went to the old LTM you will remember the location as Coco Rico's. Since then, the building has gone through an extreme makeover and in July, two guys, Art and Frank opened a European/bistro style restaurant. Although the name implies that it sells coffee and pasta, the menu is far from being limited. It serves up great sandwiches (called Panini's), salads and even a British style Fish and Chips plate or much more. Many of the ingredients are homemade including the Italian sausage, salami and the sauces for the pasta. The bistro concept behind this style of dining is that you order your food from the counter rather than ordering when seated. They also can make any meal to take out. The second floor is a spacious dining area and you will soon able to bring your own wine. The prices are very reasonable and the food will make you come back often. Click here for few pictures. They are open until 8 at night you can phone ahead

Scott Fordham Produces Show on the Toronto Stage
Scott Fordham, a native Two Mountainer, has made it big in Toronto as one of his productions called LIMITLESS hits the stage on October 15th at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.  "LIMITLESS" is described as an explosive and inspired urban choreography featuring 40 of Canada's most exciting dancers. So far Scott has had an outstanding career in the arts.
Here is an excerpt of his bio: With high-energy and crowd-pleasing choreography, Scott Fordham has quickly propelled himself to the forefront of Canada's dance industry. Since his 2007 Toronto debut, this Montreal native has collaborated with many of Canada's top artists including Nelly Furtado, Anjulie, Divine Brown, Jully Black, Danny Fernandes and UK-based Cascada among others with features on networks such as Much Music, Fashion Television, MTV Canada and City TV, including being a guest international choreographer on ABC's red carpet special for the 2010 American Music Awards in Los Angeles. From his Montreal underground Hip Hop and Dancehall base, Scott transitioned into Jazz-Funk, always infusing his urban roots into his creations and seeking inspiration from various styles such as African, Latin, House and elements of Voguing. Well-known for delivering explosive and highly-anticipated performances, Scott strives to raise the bar with his work while entertaining audiences in Canada and abroad.
If you are in the Toronto area, there are still tickets available. Click here for the show's poster and ticket information. LIMITLESS, something to think about for Two Mountains....  

Stop the Madness

Has everyone noticed the proliferation of stop signs? Two Mountains has been the leader in the red octagons but St-Eustache might be joining in too. I always marvelled on how you could travel on Grande-Cote from Arthur Sauve to 25th avenue without having to stop. Those days are now gone as the city finally caved in to citizens and had a new stop sign put in at the Goyer intersection. It probably won't be long before we see one on 12th and 18th avenue too as those citizens speak up. Thankfully, Ste-Marthe-sur-le-lac has gone the other way and actually removed stop signs making the drive to Oka as fast using the 344 for the people of Southwest Two-Mountains as going to the 640. It seems that Two Mountains has a love affair with the stop sign. I now have 3 stop signs on my way to Oka road where I only had 1 six months ago. In the above picture of Guy street, there are 9 stops signs between 3rd and 11th avenue and 2 speed bumps to boot. I couldn't get the right angle to get all 9 in one shot and don't get ne started on speed bumps.
I did a little experiment there with my car when I went to take the picture. From 3rd to 11th is 8 blocks with a distance of about 650 metres. The speed limit is 30 so unless you have a really heavy foot, there is almost no way to break the speed limit. I averaged about 21 km/h over this distance and my gas mileage was 23.2 l per 100 km. Even in city driving conditions you don't stop every 80 metres so any vehicle will suck up a lot of gas over this stretch. To put it in perspective, If that stretch of Guy street went all the way to Toronto, it would take you over 26 hours to get there. My car would use 130 litres of 91 octane gas at $1.39 ($180). If Guy street went around the planet, it would take around 80 days and it would cost over $35,000 in gas since gas prices across the Atlantic are twice the price as here. Maybe we could rewrite the Jules Verne classic, "Around the World in 80 days on Guy street" or "STOP the Insanity". Obviously, you can see I didn't have much to do on a cold and rainy Sunday.
One of my readers made a good point about the speed limits in Two Mountains. All the streets in Two Mountains except Oka road, 20th Avenue and Blvd Deux-Montagnes are designated as 30 km/h. This means that school zones (except the ones on Oka road and 20th) are basically useless. I reviewed the Transport Quebec speed limit guide and it really looks like it was ignored in Two Mountains. Streets like Boulevard du Lac and 8th avenue should not be 30 km/h zones. Check page 5 of the quide. It's in French but it clearly shows that the streets in 2 Mo should at least be 40 km/h zones. I know the city doesn't have the money to change all the speed limit signs in town but they should at least consider 40 k/km zones. Anyway with all the stop signs, it would be a challenge to try to get a speeding ticket.

Lions' Giant Book Fair Less Than a Month Away
Although they already have a record number of books for this year's sale, the Lions are looking for books in good condition to be donated (with the exception of encyclopaedias and National Geographic magazines.) The sale will be held at the Veterans hall, 141 Grand Moulin, Deux-Montagnes. Doors will open at 9:00 am till 4:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday October 22nd and 23rd.
On weekdays books may be dropped off from 10:00 am to 12:00 am. and from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. at the entrance to the Maison des Citoyens. Please call Mr. Ouellet at 450-473-7450 to make sure someone is there to receive your books.
If you are physically unable to deliver the books , or for information please call Betty or Martin Hensen at 450-473-1932 or Dave Byers at 450-472-7054 and we will arrange for pickup when and if the manpower is available.

Wet and Wild in Niagara Falls - An Update
After a evening of heavy rain, the golf course which was already drenched from previous days almost cried uncle. Although the weather was perfect, the ground was like a giant wet sponge but we were lucky that the courses were not closed altogether. Most people played awful and I was no exception. I came in 9th of 15 in the senior A division. It was a great experience but being one of the shortest hitters of the bunch was certainly a struggle on a day like today. Almost every drive, or fairway wood was plugged. We finished the 6 hour and 10 minute round over 3 hours ago and I still feel like my feet are wet. The picture below is basically what happened on at least 30 of my shots. The bright spot is I hit 25 of 28 fairways on the two days and missed the fairway by a total of less than 15 yards. I will be posting more pictures but there are some already posted here.

Off To Golf in Niagara Falls
For those who keep up to date with this website, you will know that I qualified for the Golf Town National Amateur Series by winning a qualifier golf tournament at Fontainebleau in August. Well the moment of truth is finally here. This week I am on my way to Niagara Falls to see how I measure up to a dozen other senior 'A' players from Ontario, B.C., Alberta and Quebec. There are over 100 players in entire competition in 9 different divisions or 'flights'. The senior "A" flight is for handicap indexes of less than 8.0. So I am putting up my paltry 6.3 index against some players with 1.3 and 2.1. The winner is based on the gross score of 2 rounds on Friday and Saturday on 2 different courses, the Legends' Battlefield and Ussher's Creek. Gross score means that there is no adjustment of the score with handicap which also means to have a chance at winning, I have to play my very best games and the lower handicap guys have play their worst games. My brother, Bernie, is coming with me to caddy for the competitive rounds as I fired my Fontainebleau caddy, Mike O, after winning the qualifier. I did provide Mike with a generous severance package but I had to go back to Bernie who caddied for me in the Interclub matches at Montcalm back in 1998. Bernie and I will be driving to the Falls since I declined the 'free' airfare offered by WestJet which would have forced me to rent a car from Toronto. The scores of the first round should be posted on Friday night and you can get them by clicking on the logo above. I will also be updating this page if time permits.

UPDATE (Friday 6:25pm) - Played an OK game today with a brain fart on the 9th hole (our 7th hole). I tried to lay up after too short a drive on the par 4. The wind took it right and it bounced a bit on the cart path going into the fescue. Managed to get out but missed my chip blah blah blah got a triple bogey. That, with 3 bogeys and 14 pars gave me a 78 and a tie for 6th, 6 behind Tim Lee who shot par. Tomorrow we change to the course where I played a horrific practice round. Today I hit 14 of 14 fairways and with the lift, clean and place rule in effect, my ball was always perfectly placed. Since it is pouring again, the same rule will be in effect tomorrow I am sure.

Pub Deux-Montagnes' New Website
Two Mo Pub, as it now known, has a website to inform its patrons of all the events and specials. This will include the announcement of the official opening which should happen sometime this year. Tracy and Yvon have been so busy with all aspects of this new business that the official opening has been delayed. If I remember correctly, back in 1989 the official opening of the Tartan Pub under the ownership of Victor Labelle also was a long time from the actual opening. The new owners of the Two Mo Pub want everything to be just right for the opening. The date will be announced on their website which can be reached by clicking on the pub icon on the left or simply go to www.twomopub.com.