Weather Patterns

So far this summer, Essex County, ON seems to be on the normal side of summer weather.  Unlike many other places.  It hasn't been as hot as previous summers, so far.  Our June electric bill is down 24% over the same time as last year, indicating far less use of AC.  Then there is the American Southwest, especially Phoenix.  20 days in a row so far of temps exceeding 110 F.  Even Albuquerque, at 5000' altitude, has had many days over 100 F.  Then there is Florida, with the waters surrounding it at record high temps.  Hurricanes will soon love it there!  Then there is southern Europe, especially Spain and Italy.  And China.  And Canada's far north, setting record high temps, too.  And I am only talking about temperature.  I could also go on to discuss torrential rainstorms spread all across the globe.  And wildfires, especially in Canada.  This is the summer of the most active weather I have ever heard of in my lifetime.  But not here at the Homestead (so far).  It's warm; it's humid.  But then it always is in June and July.  Our biggest problem has been particulates from wildfire smoke, often blanketing us in haze, with air pollution warnings well into the dangerous zone.  Part of the reason why it hasn't been very hot here is because the sun is often very weak, half hidden behind smoke.

We have moved our departure date for New Mexico back almost two weeks, allowing more time for the weather to cool down.  Three of our big hiking days are in areas currently too hot to hike (southwest Oklahoma, and two areas in Texas.  In New Mexico the altitude will protect us, unless there are still  fires burning.  Rather than a September departure, we are now looking at October.  Since we have to train for nearly 6 weeks here outdoors before departure, hopefully our air will clear out a bit by late August, when we must now begin.

In Homestead news, we have a new kitchen tap.  The old one was leaking every time we turned it on.  Reliance Plumbing did the job quickly, and it works beautifully.  Deb has also been clearing out the kitchen cupboards.  Since the old upright piano blocked sight of the kitchen, we didn't really notice how cluttered it was getting until the piano got moved.  So Deb cleaned out cupboards, making room for the up top clutter to be put away.  Oh, and we also have a new toaster.  So much news, so little time.

In Deb's film news, her recent film was accepted at a major British festival, Women Over 50.  Deb has had her films shown there before (near Brighton), even winning a top prize, but this is the first film in a few years that they have accepted of hers.  And she won Best Animation at Rome (Italy) Movie Awards.  We are awaiting word from a British SF film festival.  So far Deb's film has an astonishing 72% acceptance rate at festivals, and has already won several major awards.  See the sidebar at left for Deb's website, with links to her films.

Now on to film views.  We finished the 4-part series called New Gold Mountain, from Australia 2022 (Part 5 was a short doc on the making of).  Dealing with a Chinese gold mining camp during a gold rush, it is similar to an American western in some ways, and also to a murder mystery.  Period details, costumes, and acting are all first rate.  A very good series, now showing on AMC+.  Several strong female characters, too.

Under The Greenwood Tree is a 2006 BBC film of Thomas Hardy's novel.  Billed as a light-hearted romance, that pretty much sums it up.  A pretty school teacher has three suitors: the rich man; the parson; the poor peasant lad.  Guess which one she marries?  Good guess.  No surprises, but some funny moments with the church choir and village musicians, and more than a few digs at class differences.  With the worst fake snow ever seen on TV.

Now showing on Prime. 

 

My leaving choice was from Mubi, a film from 1971 called Blanche. It has similarities to a Shakespeare tragedy.  Michel Simon is a very old duke or something who has married a very young and very lovely girl.  Simon's young son is in love with his "mother."  When the King pays a visit with his entourage, his young page also falls in love with the girl.  Even the King gives it a go.  It doesn't pay to be pretty and feamle, at least in medieval France.  Filmed mostly inside an old castle, the film has its humourous moments, too, including warrior monks who have bibles that transform into deadly weapons when needed.  Reportedly the film was an inspiration for Python's The Holy Grail.  With many bizarre scenes (walling up the page, the two duels between the page and the young son over the girl's honour) Simon's grief at his son's death, and scenes with a monkey, and sometimes with a dwarf.  A strange but mostly compelling film.

 

Leaving Mubi in 2 days.
 

Another leaving film, Deb's choice, was Living On Tokyo Time, from 1987.  It's a quiet film about a Japanese girl leaving home and moving to America.  She gets a job at a Japanese restaurant, but once her allotted visitor time expires, she needs a green card.  She marries a Japanese/American guitar player, a weird guy who plays in a band that hopes to make it big.  He falls in love with her, but she shows no feelings for him.  At the end she goes back to Japan.  Some laughs in this episodic adventure film, and a continuous mix of languages, Japanese and English.  I guess it could be called a romantic comedy, but in a very different sense of the word usually applied to such films.  Worth a peek if it comes your way.

Leaving Criterion July 31st. 

 

I have had one successful astronomy night so far.  It might be the only one for July, as it's been cloudy and raining a lot, and then there is that smoke that appears from time to time, and tends to linger for several days.  I guess one night is better than no nights.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

News Roundup

 July is turning out to be rather humid, and rather warm.  Not a lot of rain here at the Homestead, but some surrounding areas have been drenched several times.  We have had no pleasure outings in quite some time.  However, the July piano performance group met last Sunday evening.  There were seven of us playing.  Paula and I played a duet.  She went on to play two pieces, Chopin and Oscar Peterson, but I had nothing prepared yet for solo repertoire.  We are tackling another duet for August's meet up.  I may relearn a short piece by Mendelssohn, a Venetian Gondola Song.

 

The piano group, minus one.  L to R: Dr. Rob Seski (Fazioli owner), Jim Prosser (new member), me, Paula, Dr. Francis Ling (my Meniere's m.d.), and Dr. Robert Biswas.  Standing is Alde, who hosted the event his month.  Photo taken by his wife.  We actually sat outside on the deck.  The piano studio is adjacent, so with door and window open, performers went inside and played.  Alde had a TV monitor mounted outside so we could watch, and a video camera inside focused on the piano.

 

My own repertoire is now entering its second month of practice.  I am (slowly) memorizing the first movement of Beethoven's Op. 10 #3.  I can (mostly) play the 2nd and 3rd movements with music, but the 4th has a long way to go.  It has some very tricky and fast finger work, not my main strength as a pianist (if I even have a main strength).  The Bach Prelude and Fugue (Bk. 2, Eb+) is grinding along, with weekly improvement.  It should be playable in another month.  The Chopin Nocturne Op 15 #1 is still in a very early stage.  The middle section is a virtuoso fast section with some painful wrist work to master.  The slower first and last parts are almost within sight reading range, and pose no technical problems, though the long musical lines require skillful shaping.  Someday, hopefully.  Next month's duet has been started, too, a ragtime piece by George Gershwin, which Paula and I have played before.

The floor in the music room has now been completely redone.  Deb laid down peel and stick tiles after we removed the old carpet, then she continued on and did all the trim.  Right now the old U1 Yamaha is sitting on top of cardboard so as not to scratch the new flooring, while the harpsichord currently has pride of place atop an area rug in the centre of the room.  The new piano will go there (in three weeks!!).  We do not yet know where the harpsichord will go.

My third Iaido class was Monday, so I had outings both Sunday night and Monday night.  Training is going well, and I am working on relearning my techniques below the black belt level first.  Wednesday I was back into Windsor for my annual ear check up with Dr. Ling.  Dr. Ling is also one of our monthly piano performers.  As usual at my appointment we talked mostly about piano.  My hearing test showed normal hearing.  He did say that as far as recovery from Meniere's attacks go, I am one of the lucky ones.  Quite often people do not recover much of their hearing after severe attacks.  I have been attack free for almost three years now.  I still carry my meds with me whenever I leave the house, however.  Caffeine might have been a trigger for my onsets.  Since reducing my intake of the drug, things have been going well.

And now I turn to film watching news.  We began a new mini-series showing on AMC+.  It is called New Gold Mountain, released in 2022 from Australia.  A gold rush in Australia brings about a thousand Chinese gold miners to town.  Culture clash, racism, murder, and suspense seem to mix well so far.  We have watched two episodes of five.  More to come this weekend.  Deb chose the first two episodes as her main film choice.

A five episode mini-series showing on AMC+. 

 

Her leaving this month choice was another Anthony Mann directed western with James Stewart called The Man From Laramie.   Stewart goes hunting the person or persons who sold high powered repeating rifles to the Apache, who in turn killed his brother.  From 1955, it was all filmed in New Mexico, in locations that are totally unfamiliar to western movie fans.  We did recognize some of the distant mountain shapes.  A psychological character study as much as anything else.

 

Leaving Criterion July 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike