Yesterday morning, on my way to open ACCO PHOTO, I saw a simple little scene. A gentleman took a small trampoline out of his car and gently placed it on the sidewalk. Then a little girl, probably about five years old, climbed onto it and started jumping with the confidence of someone who had

Around 2019, a woman came to our little shop with her teenage son. She was studying graphic design in Canada and hoped to stay through the Quebec Experience Program, the PEQ. COVID had just begun. While doing her internship with us, she also volunteered in care-related work. She had been a nu

Yesterday, a man who looked quite intimidating came into my little shop. But once he started talking, I discovered that he was actually very gentle and easy to talk to. We didn’t talk much. I only learned that he runs his own company and that business is going quite well. We printed some phot

Yesterday, a regular customer came into my little shop to print some documents from his phone. Most of them were screenshots of medications and medical information. I’ve known him for a long time. He used to be a taxi driver, but recently, he became a nurse. He told me he was born in Point-Sa

These past few days, I’ve been preparing wedding items for a client — canvas decorations, invitation cards, place cards, and more. For the canvas pieces, we used our large-format inkjet printer, and she was very happy with the results. The cards were a little different. Because she needed

I know my neighborhood has another side. I’ve seen the broken doors, the difficult encounters, the ugly words, and the moments when you wonder how things got this far. But that is not the whole story. Every day, in my little shop, I also meet people who are kind, patient, generous, funny,

Yesterday, a mother came into my little shop with her one-and-a-half-month-old baby for a passport photo. This time, everything went surprisingly smoothly. The baby was calm, looking straight at the camera, and his mother was very happy. At one point, she smiled at him and said: “You kn

A little smile, a moment bright, Tiny eyes caught in the light. One took his time, one came so fast, A family moment made to last.

Sometimes, people connect without even planning to. Today, something very simple happened in my little shop. A family of three came in for photos for their permanent residence application. Their little girl was full of energy. She wanted to stay close to her parents, moved around constantly,

Years ago, I lived in the same apartment building as an older Canadian veteran. Unlike many snowbirds, he would leave for the summer and come back for the winter. Whenever snow fell, he was usually the first person outside, clearing the snow around the building. I tried to help whenever I cou

A few weeks ago, a woman walked into my little shop with a silk scarf. She wanted to know if it could be framed and displayed on a wall. We talked about a few possibilities, found a solution, and agreed on the details. Then we waited. A week passed. She didn’t come back. We starte

A few days ago, a very shy gentleman came into my little shop. I greeted him in French and English. He smiled, stepped back outside, and returned a few minutes later—this time speaking Russian. He told me that he had served in the Ukrainian military in 2014. Years later, he immigrated to Cana

I recently walked out of my little shop, ACCO PHOTO, carrying my novel Nonimportantech. I was heading to Griffintown with my wife, who was accompanying a client to visit a condo. But for me, it felt like something more. Two of my characters, Zoa and Joe, live in a small condo in Griffintow

Yesterday was garbage collection day in front of my little shop. There was a faint, sour smell in the air. Not particularly strong, but difficult to ignore. I assumed much of it came from the food waste produced by the restaurants on our street. It made me wonder: What if restaurants could

Today, a Ukrainian couple came into my little shop with their child. They opened their phone and called a friend. Their friend explained to me in French that the two adults needed Ukrainian passport photos, 10 × 15 cm. After the call, I said a few words to them in Russian. They looked s

Yesterday, I printed a few simple adhesive labels for a customer who runs a flower shop. Labels are actually one of the main services at my little print shop. We print temporary paper labels, as well as more durable labels designed to last two or three years indoors or outdoors. Labels are ev

Today, I brought my book Les Lignes de l’Amitié: Chroniques d’un enfant, de la solitude à la confiance to École Saint-Zotique, a school my son once attended. And I left a copy in the little book-sharing box at the back of the school. It felt strangely appropriate. The second half of this s

Yesterday afternoon, my little shop was already closed. I was still inside, scanning some old family photographs for a customer, when someone knocked on the door. A young man came in. He had two family photographs he wanted to frame, but he also told me that his budget was limited. Then he

Today, I took Les Lignes de l’Amitié back to where the story began. This is École Ludger-Duvernay—the place that inspired the opening scenes of the book, where Tom and William first played together, where their friendship began to take shape, and where they eventually faced their first real cris

Lately, my little print shop seems to have entered wedding season. Yesterday, a woman came in with her child to pick up the wedding cards she had ordered. Perhaps very soon, she will be wearing a wedding dress herself. That same day, another woman came in to print table cards and posters for