Summer ends on September 21st

This morning as I woke, at 5:30, I checked the weather app on my phone.  It read 4 degrees Celsius.  Which means overnight it could very well have hit zero.  This is technically still summer.

But the darkness and the impending cooler weather says otherwise.

Just two days ago, the temperature got up to 26 Celsius.  It was hot.  Not a wickedly stifling hot, but a nice hot that you can relax in outside in the shade.  The next day began with a temperature of 7.  I think it only reached 10.  Summer is not over yet.  It doesn’t technically arrive until the 21st of September.  I’m not backing down on that one at all.

The days are growing increasingly shorter as well.  This morning was a little bit harder to get out of bed.  I managed, even with it being dark outside at 5:30.  A month ago, while I was enjoying my two weeks off, the sun was shining at 5:30.  Although, I’d merely get up to use the bathroom, then immediately crawl back into bed.  That’s what one does when on holidays.  Now, back at work, the weather has taken a turn from the pleasurable warmth to something a tad more cooler.

On the different social media networks there’s already discussions of what to do for Halloween.  Which is over a month away.  I shouldn’t be too surprised, after all Christmas is celebrated with such vim and vigor in the preceding weeks before the December 25th arrival.

But I’m standing firm.  Until the 21st arrives, it’s still summer.  I don’t care if I have to wear a sweater, it’s still summer.

Dammit.

 

Truths: Early to rise

I often get up really early in the morning, even on weekends.  The reason why isn’t because I’m a morning person.  In truth, I really don’t like getting up so early.  I’ve always been one to sleep late.  When I worked in broadcasting, I was the morning news anchor for three different radio stations.  I hated crawling out of bed at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning, especially in winter.

When I moved to Outlook, I really loved my job and the place I lived.  So getting out of bed early was easy.  Now I’ve moved here, to Humboldt.  And while the place is alright, I’m not exactly comfortable with the entire work environment.  There’s clandestine talk, people complaining about people, and an aspect of hostility from some co-workers.  Yet, I still get up early in the morning.

This is due to a different reason.

I find the most peace, tranquility and happiness in my waking hours when I’m by myself.  At home, or in a coffee shop, or grocery shopping.  So I get up early.  I wake almost as the sun rises (which around here, is about 3:30 to 4:00 in the morning).

Even on weekends I do this, because I enjoy spending as much time in the sun as possible.  Or around the sun.  Or safe in the knowledge that the sun is up, even by looking out my window at 10:00 in the evening and seeing the sun’s rays still lighting up the world as it sets.

This gives me a great deal of comfort.  It even gives me a great deal of comfort when it’s cloudy, because I’m still safe in the knowledge that the sun is out.  The world is bright, and everything is safe.

 

Summer Sizzler

This weekend is Summer Sizzler in Humboldt!  I tweeted about the parade.  Which almost ran in front of my apartment.

The parade for Humboldt's Summer Sizzler almost ran past my apartment, pic.twitter.com/gWsZfJByYp

— TimHoltorf (@TimHoltorf) June 21, 2014

A more apt term, though, might be Summer Drizzler thanks to the rain. pic.twitter.com/lzFNoIIz9F

— TimHoltorf (@TimHoltorf) June 21, 2014

The pipes! pic.twitter.com/cEWhjal8Mj

— TimHoltorf (@TimHoltorf) June 21, 2014

No parade I'm Canada is complete without a piper.

— TimHoltorf (@TimHoltorf) June 21, 2014

I am fully aware that you could not see the piper in that last picture, even if you squinted really hard.

 

Tuesday morning random times

Darkness and light

I think I’m getting used to the dark mornings.  Of course, this is just as winter is beginning to move into spring.

I can’t really explain it, but there’s something tranquil about the early mornings and the dark still there.  Wake up at 5:00 a.m. and it’s still dark.  There’s no traffic, noise seems to carry further, you can hear things much more clearly, and there seems to be a sort of peace.

It might have to do with the fact it’s also gotten warmer.  After a few weeks of -30 to -20 mornings, the temperature now sits around -10 to -5 in the morning.  Which is a good thing.

Eventually, mornings will become lighter again, and I’ll greet that more readily than when summer gives way to fall and fall gives way to winter.  Even with the sun rising at 5:00 in the morning, there’s still a peace and tranquility to be had.

Television

On weekends I’ll usually stay up later.  On weekdays I get up earlier.

Often, I’ll go out onto my balcony with a coffee and a cigarette, and I can’t help but see all the things around me.  Like the building across the street.  It’s a set of condos, and often you can gauge when people go to bed and when people get up.

But there’s one neighbour who has a really big television.  I could pretty much watch it from my balcony if I desired.  Which I don’t because there’s no sound.  But I noticed lately, my neighbour’s television is on later and on earlier than usual.

It’s the Olympics.  You can tell because you know the way footage for play by play hockey goes, or curling, or figure skating.  But my neighbour really seems to like the Olympics.

February Writer’s Challenge

Like NaNoWriMo, February Writer’s Challenge turned into a very big bust.

I’ve had no motivation to write what I want.  I’ve doodled writing, jotting down little bits of things here and there.  Never posting anything, because it all feels like crap.

I’ve read over things I’ve written, I’ve become listless when I want to write.  I’m not at a very good place creatively, and this bothers me.  I suppose it might pass, but I’ve been waiting for it to pass for several months while I write poetry and small stories.

Maybe that’s what I’ll just have to do, to keep some form of creativity flowing.  Poetry and short stories.

 

As one gets older

As you get older, you start to realize that the time goes by fast.  A day doesn’t take any time at all, and an hour may as well be a minute sometimes.

When I was younger, I remember times that I’d wish for the days to go by because I was going to go to Saskatoon to visit my grandparents for a week, and go to the Saskatoon Exhibition.  The time wasn’t going fast enough for my tastes.  Now, I try very hard to live each minute to the fullest.  No matter what I’m doing.  I could be reading or watching television or going for a walk or working at my desk.  Each minute that passes I take in stride, and try to make it as full filling for me.  Doing things for others is incredible work, but from time to time you have to be selfish.  And that means taking time for yourself.

Now, as I’m older, time flies by all too quickly.  One season into the next.  Summer, my favourite of the seasons (fall holds a close second) feels like it’s gone in a matter of minutes.  There are things in ones life that comes up that you look forward to, but there’s also today and the next day that we have to live through before getting to that special event.  Some days are enjoyable, some days are a drag, but each day should be approached with optimism.  Winter, on the other hand, doesn’t go by fast enough.

We can plan for each day that comes around, or we can take what comes and enjoy the small things.  When we try to slow things down so that each day rolls by as slowly as it did in our youth, then maybe we’ll grow more appreciative of not only the day itself, but of everything around us.  It’s a very “stop and smell the roses” kind of attitude, but it makes a lot of sense.  Don’t panic, things will always work out, especially if you can plug away and gain some progress.  Be determined, and be positive.  And if there are certain things you need help with, never be afraid to ask.

When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to be older.  Now that I am, I often long for simpler times when I was 12.  However, there would be a number of things I would not have experienced.

I know this has sounded like a rather cliche post, all positive vibes and such.  I guess I needed a little bit of that right now considering I’ll be moving to Humboldt in the next couple of weeks.  Which does lead into the next thing I’ve learned.  Each move is an opportunity.  Each new chapter is a chance to learn something new.  You just have to approach it with a good sense of self and a lot of determination.  Always be open and willing to change.  A lack of change can end up forcing one to end up in the same rut, which is the opposite of progress and even the antithesis of happiness.

 

Summertime!

Harbour Golf Club at Elbow

It’s just two short weeks away from my two weeks of summer holidays.

Every year around this time, my place of work has a two week shut down.  We close up, all go on holidays, and come back refreshed and rejuvenated.  This year, I plan on doing one thing; writing.  But it’s not the thing I’ll be doing that’s the interesting part, it’s the where.  Each day, I plan on writing in a different location.  I’m hoping to go sit on the beach at Lake Diefenbaker and write for a bit there.  I want to go down to the park and sit in the bowl and write there as well.  Maybe do some reading as well (yay for Kindle making book selections easy!).  I might even take photos of this activity.

There’s a reason why I don’t travel much when I go on vacation.  The longest I’ve ever traveled happens to be down to Bloomington, Indiana.  Which was a bit of an adventure driving.  I don’t intend on doing it again, even though I’d really like to head down east to Quebec and the Maritime Provinces.  I get a lot of anxiety when I drive or even if I’m not driving.  I worry about stuff at home that I really don’t need to worry about, and I constantly have to remind myself everything will be fine.  A lot of people will say that’s all in my head, which is true it is all in my head.  But saying that doesn’t change anything.  One can’t just stop worrying, it’s not like a light switch you can turn on or off.

Usually when I come back from a long trip, I get the feeling I need a vacation from my vacation.  All the planning, all the traveling, the staying at campsites or hotels, all the money spent.  All of it just so one can “relax”.  To be honest, I don’t find it very relaxing in the least.  That’s why for the past couple of years, I’ve stayed close to home and only traveled to Elbow and the beach at Lake Diefenbaker.  I’ve had people tell me I’m nuts for not wanting to go south to someplace like Florida.  Which makes me wonder if they don’t watch the news at all.  There’s maybe three or four people who I’d want to go visit in Florida, and I’m more comfortable staying here and sending text messages or emails back and forth with them.  Driving, or going by plane, train or motor scooter would completely unnerve me.  On top of that, Florida doesn’t exactly seem safe to me.  But that’s a comment for another time.  Suffice to say I feel very safe here in my lovely little town.

At some point, I may indeed venture out and see some things I’ve wanted to.  Like go to Comic Con (it’s a safe bet that I have no plans on going this year), or going to the UK (which I’ve always wanted to do, especially Scotland).  I just hope that when the time comes I’m not overwhelmed with the entire event.  Because then I won’t feel like I’m relaxing.

Well, that turned into something less than happy.  So to end it off, here’s some summertime music.

 

Friday morning Random Times

Movie-ception

It’s not without a touchy of irony that I go to Youtube to watch a trailer for an upcoming movie and have to sit through an ad.  Which happens to be a trailer for an upcoming movie.

Reblog! …without the text…

I love tumblr.  I love the way people can communicate, how they can like and reblog information.  It’s the best of Facebook, without the stinkin’ stupid games, the best of Twitter without the 140 character limit, the best of any blog format (WordPress, LiveJournal, Blogger), all wrapped up into one.  Heck, I’ve even noticed certain blogging sites start mimicking small details that I first saw on tumblr (such as reblogging).

What I don’t like about reblogging is that the person reblogging the post has the option to delete all of the text (or edit as they wish).  Which changes the original intent of the post.  I had that happen the other day when I posted a picture and small talk about the book series that inspired Black Mask & Pale Rider.  The picture was reblogged, but all the text, including the quote from the book, was deleted.  Things like that just grate on my nerves.

Summertime!

It’s summer, and has been for the past several days.  We’ve seen Canada Day come and go, same with the American holiday.  Here in the middle of West Central Saskatchewan, I’m three weeks away from our two week shutdown.  I had thought about this for a couple of months what I wanted to do, and finally decided a stay-cation is in order (I don’t really like driving all that much).  So it’ll be down to the lake for a few days, with camera and Kindle in tow.  I’m thinking next year I may take a drive down east.  I’ve never been to Ontario or Quebec (or even the Maritime provinces) before and I’d like to go sometime.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Summer has brought one other thing to light around here.  Thanks to all of the moisture that stayed her from a long winter and heavy snowfalls in March, to the flooding in Alberta and the effects we’ve felt from it, there have been a higher level of mosquitoes than normal.  As one Environment Canada official said “there’s been lots of mosquito sex”.  Not a picture I wanna think about, but the result is obvious.  Mosquitoes aren’t the only problem, though.  I’ve noticed a huge number of horse flies around.  And when those suckers bite it hurts like hell!.

 

Colourful sky to usher in summer

Summer is now officially here.  Last night being one of the latest and longest lasting days of the year (from sun up to sundown), and also had some of the prettiest sky colours.  I took a few photos from my balcony last night around 10 in the evening.

 

Oh those summer nights

Okay, not exactly summer, but this time of year is what I live for.

The past couple of nights I have had to be out of the house for a couple of reasons.  Yesterday was an Ice Hawks meeting (I’m on the board of executives, and for those who don’t know, that’s the local hockey team), and the previous night I had to prepare the paper for delivery yesterday.  The paper has to get to the post office by about eight in the morning, so I do all of the things needed to get all the labels on each paper and make sure flyers are inserted into all the papers that the customer requests.

During the winter, this is what it might look like when I get done around 7:30 to 9:00 pm (and sometimes even later depending on the work load).

Dark, drab, depressing.  Let’s just say, I’m not fond of that which is a winter wonderland.

Summertime is much better for me, which is why I dream of it during those long, cold winter nights.  Because last night, and Wednesday night, this is what I got to see at 9:30 in the evening.

Lots of green, quite warm, colourful sky.  The longer days mean my attitude feels a lot better.  It’s what comes with having SADs (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  I often will go into massive depression during the winter and at times it’s really hard to get motivated.  During the summer, it’s a lot easier.

I’ve often been told “You should move to a warmer climate”.  Nah, not really.  While it’d be nice to move, I really don’t want to move.  There are other ways of dealing with depression during winter, and part of that involves some extra vitamins, or even sitting under a UV lamp while I read.  It helps.

But the thing that really helps is the longer days of summer, the warm weather and the green everywhere.

 

Today, even more lazy than others

The newspaper was uploaded to the printer last night, and should be done sometime this morning before I begin the usual Wednesday afternoon grind of labeling all of the mailing labels onto 1200 news papers.

Today, there is only one small publication which we print inhouse that we have to do, and that’s already started.

Tomorrow, the delivery of this week’s issue begins, and once that’s done at around 9:00 in the morning (or perhaps 9:15) then the holidays begin.  Two glorious weeks off where I can do whatever I want.  Already I’ve been asked if I’d like to travel somewhere far off or take a vacation to some distant and exotic location.  But really, my holiday is what I want to do.

I hate driving, really.  I hate getting into my car and driving for an hour or two to get to some destination.  Driving stresses me out.  As for going down to some far off place, like Scotland (because I’ve always wanted to), or the tropics, or go as far south Florida or some other place where it’s supposed to be warm all year round.  Well, I’m not into that mostly because it would be much better off to fly to some place like that.  And quite frankly, I hate flying.  I am deathly afraid of getting onto an airplane.  And I’m okay with that.

Also, I never understood why someone would want to go to a hot climate when it’s just that way here.  It’s been really warm (though some days have been sweltering) and an all around awesome summer.  Wouldn’t you want to wait until winter before heading south?

I’m also debating about getting a new laptop for myself.  Replacing my old one and getting a brand new one to act as my lone computer, and set up my desktop computer as a sort of entertainment center.  Games, movies, music, all in one location.

That might be something to look into during my two weeks off.  Along with writing and other such things.