not a lazy suzen

As many people in Eastern Canada probably know, we’re in the middle of a really bizarre late summer heatwave. It’s disgusting. This photo was taken at about 10:30am this morning and already it is almost 40ºC. Gross-o-rama. Moving around town is a huge chore when it is this hot out because it’s the humidity that kills you. I can’t wait for the cool autumn and an excuse to wear velvet jackets and wool caps. Right now I’m having a hard time wearing ANYTHING. If I could somehow peel off my skin to be cooler, I would.

Fingers crossed this heatwave really dies down by the weekend because I’m actually behind in a lot of stuff. I have less than a week to pack up my studio at the university and move my shit back home. I started to do stuff last week but quickly became discouraged upon the discovery of MOTHS in practically everything I own. This is probably the worst thing that could happen because I just have too much stuff to deal with. My solution is to throw out the majority of my belongings rather than risk bringing moth larvae into my apartment. It’s such a pain in the ass but I guess this is God’s way of telling me to de-stash. This is going to be a huge undertaking that I haven’t had the energy to pursue, thanks to the heat. This would be a totally different story if the visual arts building had air conditioning.

Anyway. Enough complaining about the damned heat.

The face mat is progressing steadily. I finally finished the skin portion of the mat. Although, I ran out of beige/oatmeal yarn so I made the sleepy decision to continue with just the white. I thought it would be fine but when I hung the mat up on the wall it just looked weird.

So, I’ve pulled out several strands of the wool to make room for re-hooking more oatmeal in. I think once I do that the skin will look less like a disease and more like an overall pattern.

The next thing I have to decide is on the shades of green I’ll be using for the shirt and then confirm my plans for the background of the mat. I’m thinking shades of blue in very definitive vertical stripes. One of the things I’m really excited for about this piece is picking out the binding for the hem. I’m probably going to use a very bright vintage print that will hopefully make the wall glow when it’s hung. Hmmm!

Anyway. That’s my update for now. There are many other things going on but I’m not at liberty to talk about them at great length yet so I’ll just keep y’all in suspense. In the meantime, stay cool and keep safe from Hurricane Earl.

1. autoroute, 2. saint joseph, 3. paint, 4. from the top, 5. sanctuary, 6. saint joseph, 7. queen mary, 8. belvadere, 9. hiding, 10. lookout, 11. summit circle, 12. bird sanctuary, 13. montreal from westmount summit, 14. victoria, 15. part of the ground, 16. bird sanctuary

The biggest difference between Montreal and Calgary is not the language, it’s the green humidity. This afternoon I went for a super long hike around my neighbourhood(s) that brought me through lush greenery and damp haze. Thanks to my little camera, I was able to document some of my 13km walk. Highlights? The foggy summit park at the top of Westmount that’s also a bird sanctuary. Finding my way to Saint Joseph’s for the second time (and this time I went in and rested in the basilica). The winding road that bridges Westmount and Cote des Neiges that feels more like a back country road than a place on Montreal island. And the smell of wet earth wherever I went.

Excursions are the best way to get to know a place. When I first moved to Calgary I spent a lot of my time getting lost just so I could find my way home again. Montreal is no different, though I don’t have a car to get lost in. I’ve gotten to know my area of town pretty well because of these little trips. Soon, I’ll try taking the metro to stops I’ve never bothered getting off at just for the sake of it. I have to keep reminding myself that while I’ve been living here for two years, I’m still just a visitor in this city so it’s perfectly normal to act a little like a tourist.

Y’know, I’m not really doing anything different than I was in the woods. Drinking coffee at the computer, crocheting a random thing just for the hell of it, listening to the world through open windows. The only difference is that there are no giant black ants crawling from the base heaters–I have a sooky cat prowling around instead.

I’ve been back in Montreal since last week and I’ve been taking my time to readjust to city living. Spending five weeks in Newfoundland really threw me for a bit of a loop and the residency left me more confused than anything else. I will be sitting down throughout the next few months to write about my experiences there with the intent that some of it may be published in a limited edition zine or small artist book.

In the meantime, I will tell you that my perspective has changed drastically. All that talk I was doing about homesickness and diaspora has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth now that I have given into the homesickness I thought I had. Giving in to something as disproportionate as my nostalgic tendencies can only lead to disaster. My longing for Newfoundland has completely disintegrated. It took those long five weeks for me to come to terms with the relationship I have to Newfoundland, to my past. Yes, the whole experience rubbed my entire psyche raw and now I’m trying to build myself back up.

I closed a door, people. I closed a fucking huge and heavy door. Leaving St. John’s this time was easy, a feeling I wasn’t expecting but welcomed all the same.

There are still a few days left of the month and I’m determined to spend it focusing on non-things. Video games, mindless crochet, reading, extra long walks and planning suppers. Come the first of July I will be back into artmaking studio work mode. Between finishing projects, making samples for the class I’m teaching in September, packing up my studio at the school and trying to come up with a plausible thesis, this blog is going to be pretty busy.

* From “Boy with the Arab Strap” by Belle & Sebastian.