Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
Fall in Vancouver is usually defined by rain. Pouring, ever present rain with a gloomy sky, often unable to see where exactly the sun is. You can sometimes go days without seeing the sun for more than 10 minutes. Not this year.
This year we’ve had a glorious fall. We’ve had beautiful sunny days, and more often than not, even when rain has been forecasted it has not been as much or for as long as expected. The extra sunlight has warmed my soul, and so have the fall colours.
Usually by now there is hardly a leaf on the deciduous trees, but the number of trees that still have vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and pinks is surprising. Any time that we still have fall colours lasting almost two weeks into November, it’s worth mentioning!
Winter is on its way, the leaves will fall, the rain will come… this is inevitable. Still, it feels wonderful to have this unusual bout of pleasant fall weather, and beautiful fall colours, for a little longer than we normally do.
I spent the day fishing with a buddy. It started out misty and looked like it might rain. It did rain, a light drizzle for all of five minutes, then it actually got sweltering hot.
I caught a big chinook that was well past its prime and a smaller pink salmon. It’s always great to catch fish on a fishing trip, even if they are not keepers.
Today I was reminded of what a wonderful part of the world we live in. Gorgeous fall weather, beautiful scenery, salmon on their final run, eagles, and even a seal who was fishing just like we were.
An old adage says, ‘A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work’. Is there an adage for a good day fishing? That’s the adage I need.
I officially felt it today. The weather has turned and it has definitely affected me. I had a great morning, doing my Coquitlam Crunch, I came back and enjoyed a hot tub too. But I felt the gloom. It was a shadowless afternoon and I felt closed in.
Could it be from spending my first 10 years in Barbados? A place where there is almost always 12 hours of sun. A place where even the rainy season means a day mostly of sunshine and a series rain clouds passing over for 5 minutes to an hour before the sun shows up again… and where it will even be raining above while the sun still shines from beside the clouds?
It usually takes until late October or early November for me to feel clouded-in, but today I felt it. It seems my sunny disposition relies a bit on the sun, and I’m going to have to make an effort to brighten up inside my house and work to compensate for the lack of sun outside.
Last year we took students camping and it poured rain for most of the night. I recorded the sound of the rain from inside my tent around 2am and it sounded torrential. This year the weather was perfect: Hardly a cloud in the sky, warm, windless, and rainless.
I just came back from the trip. It could not have been better. It was well planned, the weather cooperated, and the students were awesome. The only kid ‘issues’ we had the whole trip, and I use the term ‘issue’ loosely, was speeding the slower kids up on our walks. That’s hardly an issue to deal with. There were zero discipline issues.
Looking back on the two trips, students getting flooded out of their tents, and getting soaked to the bone on our walks last year are things our students think back fondly on. The adversity didn’t ruin the trip, it emboldened the memory, and our students look back fondly at it.
Here’s the interesting thing. If I had to choose, I’d absolutely prefer the amazing weather we had this year over camping in the rain again. But for the students that went both years, I’d bet that in a few years they will remember the stormy night much more than they’ll remember last night.
No one wants to voluntarily go through adversity, but sometimes adversity is what galvanizes a fond memory. And getting wet on a camping trip, while uncomfortable, isn’t trauma inducing. In fact it can be character building. All that said, isn’t it interesting that I’d still pick a night like last night over a repeat of the rain storm we had last year.
I got out to do a walk with my family this morning and we were lucky not to get wet. It has been raining on and off since about 30 minutes after we got home. I was hoping to take my mom out to see the Christmas lights around a nearby lake but she won’t walk in the rain. I’m used to it now but my mom thinks we are crazy to choose to walk in the rain.
I get it, she grew up in the Caribbean, and if it rained you just waited it out for 10 minutes while the cloud went by. But that won’t work living in Vancouver, on the edge of a rainforest.
Today while scrolling on social media I saw a clip that said, “Things to do in Canada during the winter.” Then the clip changed to a closeup of a person pulling a suitcase in an airport and the caption read, “Leave”. 😝
I ran a few errands in the rain, it isn’t a big deal, but I have to say that I am already looking forward to winter being over. I don’t think my wife would ever want to leave Canada, and I get it… this is a great place to live. However I have to admit that the rain does get to me a bit, and I yearn for sunshine.
But I’ll just keep taking my Vitamin D, using my daylight light, and dreaming of sunnier days. And yes, I’ll still get outside even if it’s raining.
It was raining and cold this morning and that was enough to have me remain in bed much longer than usual. Ever notice how the weather can dictate how you feel? Cold wind and rain can invite contemplative melancholy. It’s not a sadness but it is lazy. The bed covers become more inviting. The day ahead seems more distant.
It’s mid afternoon now and I’ve enjoyed a day of listening to music and an audio book. I’ve exercised and am now laying in a slightly damp hammock enjoying Enya’s album ‘The Memory of Trees’ while I write. I’ll be leaving shortly for an early dinner out… no food prep required.
Today I let the weather dictate my actions. I had a cozy, rainy day. Holidays are so often about taking action, today felt quite action-less and yet fully enjoyable. I’d be bored doing this frequently, but not today. Today I embraced the weather and even as I finish writing I don’t plan on leaving the hammock. I have yet more of nothing to do today.
It’s cold and rainy this morning. Some mornings I find it really hard to get out of bed. When I look out the window and I see the a sky that is so, ‘You shall not see where the sun is in the sky today for I shall block any light from seeping through my gloom’ grey… I just want to pull the cover over me until tomorrow morning.
The hardest part of living in Vancouver for me are days like this. I know November weather is going to suck. I know February weather is going to suck. But when June comes along and it feels like a cold, dark, damp January, I really wish I lived somewhere else.
I know that we had a very dry winter with minimal snow. I know we need more rain to help prevent forest fires. But dang, it’s June and I’d like to wake up to a bit of sunshine. Or, at least a hint that maybe at some point we’ll see the sun today.
Well that’s enough whining for today, time to get my butt in gear. Days like this I’m thankful that I have a daylight light on my office desk… it doesn’t just get used during the winter here.
I’m writing this at the edge of Allouette lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park, 8:30 PM Tuesday. I’m here with three teachers and 18 students who will be spending the night in the campground nearby. It’s pouring rain. Actually right now it’s a little on the light side, but it has been continuous and at times quite heavy since we arrived, five hours ago.
It’s starting to get dark and we will be walking back in just a few minutes, but I’ve got a little window of time to dictate this while I stand near the steepest part of the path leading to the lake. Three students didn’t want to come down this section I didn’t want to leave them behind so I’m hovering back as the other students return this way from walking along the shore.
On a miserable day like this it would’ve been easy to cancel the camping trip. The rain has been relentless, but in all honesty it hasn’t dampened spirits. When we get back to the campsite we will roast some marshmallows either on the propane fire or on the open fire pit if we can get one started there.
The message is simple, too often we cancel things because conditions aren’t perfect. We look for excuses when in actual fact it’s just laziness or thinking that because conditions aren’t perfect, the trip might be ruined. In reality, we can make many more opportunities work than we actually take. It just takes a little effort and a small shift in attitude. There were a couple cancellations made by students and/or their parents over the last couple days, and the forecast might have been one of the reasons. Those are the students that lost out. Not a single student here is losing out.
We live on the edge of a rainforest. If we think that rain is a reason to cancel something then we are really missing out on a significant part of the year when we can find joy in the simplest of things.
Camping in the rain might not be as good as camping on a warm, beautiful day, but that doesn’t take away from the opportunity we have regardless of the weather.
Kids are heading back this way now, and so I think I’ll end this right here. I need to be present and enjoy their presence… no matter what the weather looks like.
Yesterday there was a drop in barometric pressure. I know this because I felt it in my head. Since I was a teenager I’ve been susceptible to getting headaches due to barometric pressure changes. That said, they really don’t happen often, and I am still surprised by them. I don’t think to blame the weather for the low grade headache that I develop from a drop in atmospheric pressure.
Yesterday morning I was at my desk and the pain grew as I tried to look at my computer screen. I needed to give my eyes a break and as I walked out of my office I mentioned to my secretaries that I had a headache. One of my secretaries instantly replied, “I feel it too, it’s the weather.” And only hearing this and looking out the window at the grey skies helped me realize what I was dealing with. Even though I don’t get a lot of headaches, it just seems odd to me that this happens and so I don’t draw conclusions or throw blame on a weather change for how I feel.
Looking at the historical data now, there was indeed a big drop in pressure yesterday.
Of all the skills and abilities I could possibly have, detecting atmospheric pressure drops with a headache is not one I can say I’m grateful for. I felt ‘off’ the whole day, and left work not convinced I’d be up to going to work today.
But it’s a new day, there is a rising barometer in the forecast, and I am headache free after a good night’s sleep. Yesterday was a blip, (or perhaps a better word is dip), and I will be blissfully ignorant of the barometer until the next big drop. And if I’m true to form, I’ll draw the conclusion that the weather is the cause of my headache well after I should have made the connection. It just seems like a really weird place to throw blame.
I’m not doing my usual exercise this morning. Instead, Ill be heading out to shovel my driveway as my morning physical activity. After spending months with a herniated disc last year, I don’t plan on pushing myself with a weights workout before tackling the snow. I already know that I’ll be continuing with the shovelling when I get to school this morning too.
I’m not a fan of the snow, I make that pretty clear quite often. I am a warm blooded Bajan who would rather sweat than feel chilled any day. But I don’t mind shovelling snow. I put on a lot of layers of clothing. I also put on headphones and listen to a podcast and get into a rhythm where the work becomes a series of meditative motions. I even like the sound of the shovel scraping against the ground. And finally, it’s rewarding to see what you’ve accomplished.
I don’t think I’d like it as much if it snowed every day, but where I live I end up shovelling snow a maximum of 10 days in a year… usually a little less than that. So, I’ll get the shovel out and plug away without complaint, and admittedly, I’ll kind of enjoy it… And I just found out it’s a district wide snow day! I still have to get myself to school, but everyone else gets the day to stay at home… that’s ok, too. I hope to get a lot done today… after the shovelling!
