July afternoon

Several years ago my mother’s neighbour and friend, the vice principal's wife, claimed that Canadians had two questionable habits – an overriding concern with road building and talking mindlessly about the weather. She particularly deplored the latter. Talking about the weather she considered to be a poor substitute for small talk – it indicated a serious flaw in the Canadian character – a social awkwardness – an inability to engage in meaningful conversation with acquaintances and strangers. Somehow this tied in with her criticism of road building – we spent such vast amounts of capital on roads there was little left to contribute to ‘cultural or spiritual pursuits’ which made us on a national level irredeemably   boring.

Of course in recent times the weather has become a hot topic, huge – it entertains, distracts and worries us to distraction. Linda McQuaig noticed today in the Toronto Star that in spite of extreme weather – reporters on the whole studiously avoid talking about  climate change and the impact that excessive burning of fossil fuels  has on it – it never gets so much as a whisper this sizzling summer! 

The building with the Portuguese  pool hall where we draw has central air. Since several days this month the temperature, with  humidex  has hovered around and exceeded the 100 F mark – nothing could be a more seductive incentive to draw than air conditioning. Below, some short poses from mid July:

carbon pencil and charcoal on cartridge

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

Glued to the mercury

I soaked in a tub of cool water for 10 min at two am, then went downstairs to the kitchen to serve myself a bowl of cottage cheese and pineapple with blueberries.

I went from room to room looking for the best breeze from a fan. The heat from earlier in the day still  lingered, was still maddeningly hot – David suddenly appeared from the living room looking  wild eyed and piteous.  He desperately needed a shower,  ‘itchy’, he said - poor thing.  Nevertheless he arose early to join his friend, Martin,  for a bike ride. 

Meanwhile, somewhat revived, I returned to my reclining position with Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood – fabulous book, read a few pages and fell asleep.

Later in the afternoon the power went out and the fans stopped whirring. Quiet – decidedly peaceful.

Now two days later it feels almost like early fall.

A few gestures from mid June on Manilla 18'x24' cropped:

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

Cool of the morning

Three am - very late to be pecking away at some blog – wouldn’t my time more profitably be spent sleeping?  I’ll pay for it later – but the coolness of early morning is disarmingly fresh and earlier in the day I felt drugged by the heat. As the Tour de France has finished it’s arduous mountain stage, we here in Hamilton are roasting and embarking on the second stage of a July heat wave – so intense this heat wave that one doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Both I think  – tears and laughter but more importantly, a limitless supply of  clear water to sip.

Strathmore 18"x24" chalk

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012

Manilla 18"x24" chalk

mcohenlabelle (MCL) © 2012