hot

Survival mode here - unbelievable muggy heat. Right now, 8.30 a.m., it's apparently 28 degrees but feels like 33, and later, it will be 33 and feel like 45. This is when the grand luxury of central air conditioning becomes not a luxury at all. Our local library is a haven, full of people sitting quietly in the cool. At home, I have covered every possible window with curtaining. In the winter, the windows are a blessing; right now, not so much.

Speaking of "not so much," the phrase Jon Stewart made popular, I'm happy to report that the "Daily Show" is back on after a two week hiatus, and that John Oliver is wonderful. He's so different from Jon, so truly self-deprecating in an adorably British way, and yet trenchant and forceful in his analysis of the political and social morass that is the United States right now. Imagine, a law that allows you to shoot and kill anyone who makes you feel insecure. As John pointed out, it's just a step away from the frontier.

It's ten years since the superb Carol Shields died. The CBC Books people have put together a tribute to her, here.
this link 
Despite the heat, I'm still standing at the counter to work - well, perched on a bar stool right now - and did send the memoir ms. to my best friend Chris yesterday, the first person to receive this draft. Chris has asthma and bronchitis and so is helpless in bed. The perfect person to have to read my deathless prose.