August is a slightly strange month. It's like July, but not quite the same. Right now the sun is racing south towards Equinox, and then onward to Winter Solstice. Nights are growing darker earlier. The angle of the sun is now about the same as it was on April 23rd. But what a difference. I often wonder if Nature gets a bit sick of the seasons as they start to wind down. Enough with the heat and humidity, already, it might say. Let's get some cooler nights, and less intense sunlight during the day. As a kid, August was the time of the dreaded back-to-school sales in stores, with TV ads hyping the coming end to holidays. It was a last chance to do fun activities all over again, and then some, before returning to the classroom. Of course teachers feel the same way as kids, so I had many extra years of August Angst. A lifetime of it, in fact. Not so much these days, with not even a single private student coming my way in September.
July was warm and wet, but not unduly warm. We had 14 days when the temp reached 30 C or above, topping out (several times) at 33 C. So not too bad. The Homestead rain gauge received 8" of rain, which is adequate, but 5" of that came over one weekend. Areas around us got much, much more. It was enough to keep the mosquitoes extremely annoying this summer. We are now into another hot and humid time period, with smoky skies added in from fires in north west Ontario, as well as B.C., California, et al. We don't get the smoky smell, as the smoke is very high, but it messes up the skies, likely keeping our temperatures a bit lower than they should be. It seemed a good summer to take a pass on astronomy. Too many bugs, and the front of the car collects them by the thousands during a night drive. Too wet, and too smoky, too. Hopefully things will resume in September.
Last Thursday I had my fourth and final piano lesson in a series from Philip A. He actually came out to the Homestead to teach me, and stayed for a great lunch prepared by master chef Deborah. We have now managed to cover all of my upcoming recital repertoire. In about two weeks or less I should be able to pin a date down for the commencement of recitals, one or two guests hearing it at a time. I still have lots of details to work on, thanks to Philip's ultra keen ear, vast piano experience, and his manner of explaining exactly what needs to be done to improve the pieces. So I have been motivated to practice for four weeks now, and this should continue until concert time.
In movie news, I have two picks to report on. My regular choice for last week was L'Eclisse, the 3rd film in a loose trilogy by Antonioni. It contains some brilliant work by Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, and some of the most alienating outdoor landscape scenes ever filmed. Rome never looked more like a city from another planet. I love the director's black and white work, and will continue to views these movies again and again. There is one particular shot at the very end of the film that I especially like; a deserted street corner at night with a building, a tree, and a street light, that just seems to capture the essence of the entire film.
My going away August 31st selection was Fassbinder's English film, Despair, based on a novel by Nabokov. I panicked when I first saw it on the list, since i still have a long way to go to see all the films by the director showing on Criterion. I thought they were going to take them all off. but so far, this is the only one, so I grabbed it first. Dirk Bogarde puts on a slight German accent, playing the role of the CEO of a chocolate candy factory that is seeing its sales slumping in 1930 Berlin. He takes out a life insurance policy, comes up with a silly plan to make it appear he has been murdered, and then have his wife collect the policy money and meet him in Switzerland. The film is quite funny, obviously using many of Nabokov's lines, but overall is tragically so. Fassbinder is not Antonioni, but I like his work. This is one of his least difficult films to view, though it has avant garde theatrical moments galore.
Mapman Mike
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