Photo: Allison Kirkwood

Blazing autumn colours were the perfect backdrop for the Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier Historical Committee’s Oct. 5th excursion. A beautiful sunny day greeted the busload of 21 participants, as we headed out to explore and learn about our “sister villages” just across the St. Lawrence River.

Oct. 11 to 13 – SSQ Marathon races in the streets of Quebec City. For details, visit jecoursqc.com/en/quebec-city-marathon/races/

Photo: St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish Facebook page

In high school football action, the St. Patrick’s High Junior football team lost a heartbreaker to the Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François 16-14, in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures on Oct. 5, after three straight wins to start the season.

The loss puts the Junior Fighting Irish tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference, with two games remaining in the regular season.

Photo: Mathieu Bélanger - U Laval

The Université Laval Rouge et Or football team, led by first-year student Thomas Bolduc as quarterback, routed the Concordia University Stingers 74-0 in front of 9,151 fans at the Stade Telus on Oct. 6.

Bolduc, who made his second start in a row, completed 23 of his 30 passes for 252 yards.

In the 2015 election, the central-east Quebec City riding of Beauport–Limoilou was pretty much a three-way race, with the Conservative and Liberal candidates in a position to take out the vulnerable New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate.

With apologies to Yogi Berra, this whole troisième lien business seems like “déja vu all over again.” As the Yankees legend also said, “the future is not what it used to be.”

Photo: Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Québec

She and the president never made it to Quebec City in an official capacity during their eight years in the White House, but former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama nevertheless received a warm welcome last week as part of a speaking tour to discuss and promote her recent autobiographical bestseller, Becoming.

Photo: Allison Kirkwood

Some 200 dancers from eastern Canada and the northern United States were on stage showing off their talent at the sixth annual Vieux-Québec Feis held at Séminaire Saint-François on Sept. 28. Ranging in age from four years to adult, and from beginner to championship, they competed on four stages in soft shoe and hard shoe, while proud parents, family and friends looked on.

Photo: Danielle Burns

Whether you attended a march, walked by a march, just glanced at social media or at the next morning’s papers, it was impossible to ignore. Two co-ordinated days of action, on Sept. 20 and 27, saw nearly eight million people take to the streets, demanding that world leaders act more decisively to counteract climate change.

Photo: Tom Stephenson

I hear the train a-comin’! wTrak is a modular train set made of wood, which can be set up on long, low, narrow tables for children to play with at their height, and it’s coming to Chalmers-Wesley United Church, 78 Rue Sainte-Ursule in the Old City, on Oct. 12 and 13.

Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. – Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, 31 Rue Des Jardins in Old Quebec, presents L’Octuor à Vent de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. The program features works by Bach, Beethoven, Krommer, Reinecke and Mozart performed on oboe, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and a duo of flutes. Tickets $30 on sale at the door or online at lepointdevente.com.

Photo: Peter Black

After several years of legal sparring, the city is taking steps to acquire the badly deteriorating Maison Pollack, one of the most distinctive houses on Grande Allée. Its civic address is 1 Grande Allée, but its condition is anything but A-1.

Photo: St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish Facebook page

The St. Patrick’s Junior Fighting Irish football team defeated the Dragons from the Polyvalente de Saint-Georges, 20-9, on Sept. 29. The victory is the third for the Junior Irish in as many games. On Sept. 21, they took care of the Arsenal from Académie Saint-Louis, 23-7.

Photo: Cassandra Kerwin

Fall was well and truly “launched” as members of the English-speaking community came together at St. Vincent’s Elementary School to celebrate the season’s arrival on Sept. 21. The weather certainly co-operated as everyone basked in the sunshine and the 20C-plus temperatures.

Prime Minister “Aladdin” might not be the best example these days – bet he’d like the genie to grant all three wishes about now – but the fact is, a goodly number of Canada’s political representatives come from the education sector.