A Year of Weather

 Last August I set out to record daily temperatures in 5 places in the world. I set up a chart with a colour for each 4-5 degree range. I used a weather app on my iPad; the temperatures are predictive, not actual. I did not account for rainfall or humidity. My aim was to mark time through temperature in a visible way, and to connect with friends in those far flung places by having a small insight into their daily experience. 

 Initially I thought -35 to + 35 should cover all possibilities. 

We had a particularly cold winter so I added -36 and colder. 

Then as spring and summer came in Calcutta, I realized that I needed another distinction for +35 to 39, followed a few weeks later by another category for +40. 

The numbers to the left of the colour blocks refer to pencil colour. 

Here are the charts in 4 month sections:

September 2020 - December 2020

January 2021 - April 2021

The red marker indicates our spring snow storm. 

May 2021 -  August 2021

The marker indicates a day when temperatures were in the same ranges in 3 places. This happened a handful of times through the year. There were a few more with same ranges in 2 places. 

This is the whole year:

This was never intended to be a scientific survey, so my conclusions will not necessarily stand up to scrutiny. I do, however, have a few impressions to share. 

1. I was surprised to have to add additional colours at both ends of the scale. Having now experienced +39 in the western North American heat dome, I do not feel that I am at all suited to being in Calcutta in July. 

2. The Canadian prairies, including 2 of my charted locations, presented the widest range of temperatures over the course of a year. A more typical range is 60 degrees (from -30 to +30) but this year it was 80 degrees (-40 to +40)

Dressed to go out in -35 or there abouts.

3. Curitiba, Brazil wins the award for variability especially in the swing seasons of spring and fall. 

4. Calcutta, India wins the award for stability. Do people there even talk about the weather?

5. Bern, Switzerland, while pretty mild through the winter, had a really cool and wet summer. It was forecast to reach 30 only 4 days, compared to 22 days in Edmonton. 

I have wrapped up this project, but I will continue to be interested in what is going on elsewhere and what the day feels like for my friends.  

Offerings

The grandchildren made many offerings to the færy. The best and shiniest are inside the door.

 

A New Development in the Neighbourhood

 

How I Did This

1. I found a box and made adjustments to make a roof. 

2. Then I made a vestibule from a flat piece of cardboard, incising the places where it needed to be folded. I taped everything together with packing tape.

3.  I took it outside to do some shaping to the back so that this little house will fit up against the tree. 

4. Then things got really fun. I could think of some materials that I would have liked to use to cover the house, but my operating rule is to use what I have on hand. This house was covered with camel hair. A little grand, for sure, but I only needed a small amount. A glue gun was involved. 

5. I had some sticks that I have used in outdoor arrangements in the winter. I broke them and  hot glued them to the roof areas. I may have burnt my fingers a few times. 

6. I hot glued some leaves on and stuck a few sticks here and there. 

7. I had made some tabs on the back of the house to give me something to attach the house to the tree. I covered the tabs with leaves. When installing, I could nail through the tab to the tree. It is reasonable secure and inconspicuous.

8. Once installed, I did a little landscaping. I think it is possible that a few more things might accrue over time.

Animation and Birthday Number: 63

 

(There are 21 threes)

Summer Passports

 I renovated 2 old passport books for my grandchildren to use this summer on their trips around Manitoba and to Alberta (fingers crossed). The idea is that when they see things I have listed, they take the 'stamp'  from the back and stick it on a page. I made the stamps on clear mactac (I think it might be called something different now?). I hope it will be fun for the kids and keep them interested on the road, and not too much of a nightmare for the parents who will have to peel the backing off the mactac. 😬

This opens up inside the back cover.

Birthday Number: 6

 

The Legacy of Residential Schools: Thinking about the 215 Lost Children in Kamloops

In 2016 there was a horrific shooting in La Loche, Saskatchewan. A 17 year old shot several people, 4 of whom died. In a 2009 blog post by Stephen King, then the principal of La Loche Community School and quoted in the Edmonton Journal (Douglas Quan) on January 29, 2016, he wrote, "It is too simplistic to just blame it on adolescence because there are teens who remain focused and who do want to pursue a good education. I wonder what kills the dreams of childhood of those who get lost on the journey?"

This painting was my response to the events of 2016. It feels right to me to present it again, in recognition of the destruction brought upon Indigenous people in residential schools; the kind of destruction that produced a legacy of struggles and inherited trauma.  

The child on the swing is a bit ethereal and timeless. Around the child there are layers of drawings, aspirations, and creations of the imagination. The top layers of white obscure the dreams in a sort of mist. 

Where Do Their Dreams Go?