Tag Archives: montreal weather

Under a thick blanket…

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The view from my kitchen today.

I woke up in the early hours this morning to a gorgeous thick blanket of snow outside. Then I got back into bed and slept like a baby—so good to sleep when it’s snowing outside (better than inside, that’s for sure). First snow of the season, and I can hear the snow removal trucks going up and down the streets already. It’s a very fine powder that keeps floating down ever so gently but persistently. If I was still a skier I’d be heading for the hills right now, but now my snowy-weather treat is watching Coco jump around like a mad hare in the stuff, looking like the happiest dog in the world.

I’ll be heading off to the McClure Gallery this afternoon. It’s the art gallery that is part of the Visual Arts Centre where I take my art classes. They’re having a fundraising affair that I think I may have mentioned before. They’re calling it Square Affair, as they’ve distributed square blocks of wood to all the advanced students, teachers and any professional artists that wanted to participate, asking us to use it to contribute a work of art, which will be on going on sale this evening at 6 p.m. I haven’t invited anyone for today because there’s a large entry fee and it’s going to be packed solid, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t even think of it, but the show is on till the 26th, and I’d like to go back with my camera to take some pictures, so will invite my dad to come with me, and whoever else would like to see it. They apparently got over 300 contributions, most of them in the same smallish format, though professional artists had the option of working on larger (still square) surfaces. 75% of the proceeds go to the school, which is a non-profit organization, and the other quarter goes to the artist. Our watercolours teacher, who is a sweetie with a mean sense of humour warned us not to be too disappointed—”if your work doesn’t sell, you’ll know what it feels like to be a real professional artist!” lol. I don’t mind either way. If it doesn’t sell, I get to add it to my Cabinet of Natural Curiosities series I intend to keep working on. If it does sell though, it’ll be good for me as far as income taxes go, because my accountant has been deducting all my art expenses after I promised him I would eventually start selling my artwork…

Off right this moment to edit the photos I’ve taken of the pieces from the CoNC series I’ve completed so far, and publishing them on the other blog as soon as I’m done, i.e. within the hour, hopefully.

The McClure Gallery 
350 Victoria Avenue
Montreal (QC)
T 514.488.9558
E galeriemclure@visualartscentre.ca

 

Must be because they’re pink.

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So after a crazy April weather day yesterday featuring rain, snow and hail (all at once!), today we’re being blessed with a more clement kind of day which permits walking about hatless and coatless and features beautiful sunny, cloudless skies. Still, I wasn’t feeling exactly awesome today (fatigued and feeling yucky inside and out), but Coco and I took the opportunity to walk over to Atwater Market, a large farmer’s market near my place, where I picked up bunches of flowers: pale parrot tulips and great big bunches of carnations (which I usually hate) in a variety of pinks and white. I really enjoyed fixing them into colourful bouquets and spreading them around the apartment. I don’t get flowers that often, but when I do, it always feels so deliciously decadent! The carnations look wonderful in my living room as you can see.

Winter Wonderland 2010

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It’s been snowing for the past two days. Our first winter storm and certainly not the last. The first real snow is kind of magical, especially if you don’t have a car to dig out and drive around. Just walking around the neighbourhood in the crisp fresh air when the sidewalks have over six inches of snow and some snowbanks reach up to your waist is pretty exciting stuff. Coco’s obviously had plenty of experience with our Canadian winter over the years and seems to love it. I took him to a big field of virgin powder yesterday and though it was deeper than he is high, he was having a blast hop-running through it like a jack-rabbit, which made me laugh and laugh. Man’s best friend to be sure!

Here, a few quick snaps I took on my iPhone today during Coco’s afternoon walk. Click on the photos to view them full size.

Sweater Boy

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With the first snow upon us tonight, it was high time I started looking around for some cold weather apparel for Coco. I grabbed a few things at the store and decided to try them on at home so we’d both be relaxed in the process. I was fumbling a little, but Coco obviously has plenty of experience when it comes to playing dress-up and he took it pretty well. So well in fact that I’m kicking myself now for not having gotten him a Halloween costume so we can go trick-or-treating tomorrow. I’m sure he’d steal the show too. But then, I’m not that keen on Halloween and I’ve decided Coco isn’t either, especially when it’s cold and wet as it usually is in these parts on October 31st, which really makes me think we Canadians should have our own Halloween date maybe a month earlier so that kids don’t have to walk around either freezing their butts off or wearing coats over their carefully chosen costumes (been there and it’s a major drag).

Here are our sweater options:

Navy turtleneck knit

Red turtleneck knit (2 for 1 with the navy). Nice but maybe a bit too long?

Black fleece hoodie (lined with extra layer of fleece for added warmth)

Blue camo hoodie (big & baggy to go with his tough guy image)

Brown hoodie with peace sign

Speaking of Activism…

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This is just a placeholder for now since it’s very late and I’m about to crash after a very (too?) good day. I just happened to be walking down Peel street around lunchtime today. It was a beautiful day and everybody was out and the downtown area was positively buzzing. I heard the protest before I saw it when walked by the Mexican Consulate. Of course the Spanish-speaking person on the loudspeaker caught my attention what with the super cool getup. I know it’s typically Mexican, but we don’t get to see a lot of that here in Montreal. I spoke to one of the organizers and got some info about what they were protesting about—snapped a bunch more pics on my iPhone too—will be posting more about this event soon.

Pic by Smiler

Deep Freeze

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We have been experiencing a dip in temperatures these past couple of weeks, but it would be an exaggeration to say that it’s freezing. Some crazy kids are still walking around in shorts and flip-flops but most folks with any good sense at all have got their sweaters and light jackets on. And while I’m thrilled to take my cashmere sweaters out of storage for these cool autumn days, hopefully the actual siberian weather won’t show up anytime soon.

The deep freeze I’m talking about today is something else altogether. Some financial advisors suggest to put your credit cards in the freezer while you’re making payments to clear off your debt if, like me, you’re having trouble keeping your spending in check. Being the perfect candidate, I took the suggestion quite literally and submerged my credit card in water in a re-used Häagen-Dazs container, then popped the whole thing in the freezer. Now my Visa card is trapped in a giant chunk of ice which should (but is not guaranteed to) help me cool it a bit with the spending.

Speaking of ice, I’ve also decided that I’ll be returning the diamond ring I had offered myself for my 40th birthday. I love the ring but it makes me nervous walking around with all that money on my finger—money which could come in handy in case of an emergency. Then when I realized Birks literally charges double what most other vendor do (other than Tiffany’s and the like), I figured I may as well start saving and get my own ring designed a few years from now. No big rush—I doubt they’ll be running out of diamonds in this decade. I should be this reasonable more often. But then, that would make me a whole different person.

Pic by anniebee, Flickr

Hot’n Lazy Sunday

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eat popsicles one after another, trying different flavours

Wake up almost naked, a fan blowing warm air around
take a cold dousing in the shower, walk out dripping
talk on the phone, play video games, watch a movie, watch tv…
but DO nothing—like the cats, lay low—move only when necessary
eat popsicles one after another, trying different flavours
another cold dousing before bed, then sleep with the fan again
tomorrow there’ll be a gorgeous swimming pool to go to
seems almost too good to be true.

In a Flash

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I love summer flash storms like the one we had just now. Right before it happened, it was so muggy and hot and the cats were dragging themselves bellies to the floor (when they were moving, that is) and you felt all sweaty and like you couldn’t stand it anymore and them BOOM! All hell broke loose and suddenly there were sheets of rain covering everything and if I’m not mistaken there were even ice pellets crashing down and the cats were freaked by the thunder and noise and ducked for cover and trembled—poor things—and the skylight sounded like it would shatter from all the pounding it was taking and BEST of all was the great big breeze that was blowing everywhere which made it seem like a whole bunch of fresh new air was being created which made me want to run out and take it all in and get soaking wet. But I didn’t. Just the thought of it was good enough for me today. They’re predicting lightning showers tomorrow but I don’t know if it’ll be quite the same kind of dramatic show we got today. Aside from the obvious physical aspects of it, what I love about sudden thunderstorms too is that it always serves me as a reminder that the weather and moods can act in similar ways. Both are beyond our control—though you can decide to cover yourself with an umbrella or give the feelings time to simmer down before acting on them—both can be very disruptive too but sometimes that’s actually a good thing. Clears the air for other things.

In other news:

I got my birthday present today: Jo Malone Basil, Lime and Mandarine body lotion and Wild Fig and Cassis Cologne. Splendid. Both. Together: Divine. I’ve also gotten samples to send over to France as someone I know over there will surely go wild over these marvelous fragrances.

Mimi was an absolute doll while I gave her a bath today. She’s no pushover and she made sure to get the message across that she wanted out of there, but there was no undue struggle and I was even able to leave her unattended for short periods of time which made the whole experience almost pleasant. As for Fritz, I don’t even want to try to find out how freaked out he would be.

Finally (for now) they’ve announced that we’ll have an hour reserved for us tomorrow at the lovely outdoor swimming pool, which should be nice (showers and all), except for the fact that I’m traumatized at the idea of donning a swim suit. So very little clothing doesn’t sit well with me in my almost middle-age. I have been wearing shorts in public lately so maybe I won’t bother undressing at all and take myself and the shorts right to the springboard.The animator who will be with us is a rather very large woman who has made it clear she was no qualms about getting half naked and jumping right in there, which makes my concerns seem really absurd. But then anyone with body issues will know what I’m talking about. I’m tempted to say I’ll make a challenge out of this outing but no, not this time. I’ll just play it by ear.

Painting: Passing Storm -
Distant Clouds with Flash
Oil on Canvas
Richard Herman

Evidence

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Spring group_3084

Spring green_3042

Spring red_3060

Spring yellow_3045

The weather has been acting like a manic-depressive teenager refusing to take her meds lately. It goes from cold gray mornings to sunny mid-days to rainy windy afternoons and back to sunny evenings for good measure (with variations thereof). It does keeps things interesting… for example, no matter how you choose to get dressed, you are bound to be wearing the wrong thing for most of the day. What should you opt for? Coat? Shorts? Winter boots? Sleeveless top? Twinset? Hat and mitts? Everything goes out on the streets, though I’m surprised people haven’t taken to carrying around suitcases so they can change with every major shift in weather hour by hour.

Several appointments this week meant I got out of the house more than usual—a good thing obviously. I had planned to walk going both ways but since I haven’t quite figured out how to be on time for things, I usually end up cabbing it just to get there, if not on time, then at least “less late”. I had the leisure to take long walks on the way back home ,which meant forays all over the Western part of the city. Everywhere you looked there was tangible evidence that Spring is truly here. In this city, a few days of warm weather are not a reliable enough indicator of such things, whereas the greenery and flowers rarely lie. Year after year I can hardly believe such a complete transformation—from the dead of winter to the frenzy of summer—is possible, and year after year nature does it’s thing and gently, or sometimes abruptly, forces us to adapt our lifestyles to her whims. Pictured above are a few pieces of evidence fallen from various trees which I collected in the park for a little photo project at home. Below are a few quick snaps taken close to Westmount Park, where many homeowners vie for “best front yard” award, to the great delight of anyone who appreciates lovingly tended gardens in every shape and form.

Spring trees_0222
Trees almost leafy

Spring magnolias_0217
Magnolias shyly peeking

Spring tulips_0223
Tulips a-bloomin’

All pics by Smiler.
Photos above taken with a Canon Rebel XTi
and bellow, with an iPhone camera.