Midnight Sonata

I apparently missed a surprise batch of Northern Light activity right after I went to bed last night. It seems to be a theme. Today, the issue is clouds, but there doesn't seem to be much coming up in terms of Northern Lights, although tonight it would be nice, since the temperatures have risen significantly.

Its a rare Sunday that I don't feel compelled to do a million things that I wish I'd finished on Saturday, but I was amazingly productive yesterday, and so I'm thinking I might get to take advantage of the calm winds and warm (-23 C) temperatures to go for a walk - eventually. In the mean time, I'm gathering some information and thinking about taking out my paints for a bit. I'm really looking forward to the weather becoming more tolerable. I don't mind cold, but there is a certain point where the cold seems unbearable and the threat of serious frost bite just too extreme to spend a long time outside. This week is the first time in a while that I've gone outside for the sake of going outside. On Wednesday, we did a stargazing night - thanks to one of our most energetic teachers - we got to see Jupiter and the moon. It was much more popular than we expected and hopefully we'll get a chance to do another one when it was a bit warmer. Then of course, was the 30 minutes or so when I walked out onto the lake to get some pictures of the Northern Lights - the moon is pretty fully, so I'm not sure the Lake was the darkest place, but it was nice to get out of town, even if it was only a few hundred feet out of town.

March continues to have generally bitter temperatures, but in April batches of pleasant winter temps start to become more frequent and May brings temps in the -10 to 0 C range - by June we start cracking the 0 C barrier - so hopefully, I'll be able to get out walking more and more in preparation for a summer of hiking. My goal this summer is to put a couple hundred km of distance on my legs - I know for sure that the Rockies are on my list. Not sure where else this summer, but beautiful hiking trails are not in short supply in this country. I'm also toying with the idea of maybe crossing the borders and maybe even an ocean to seek hikable parts of the great beyond. This is still in the works - so no idea exactly if, what or when. Look forward to excellent photos this summer though - since a definite criteria for any where I plan to go is an ample supply of beautiful landscape and opportunities for spending it outdoors. I must be sounding a touch house-bound. But after so many years running of spending my summers behind a desk, I'm looking forward to getting outdoors this summer and actually going camping... I spent only 3 nights in a tent - and those were more like stops on a long drive than actual camping - I'm not sure there was a campfire involved or much cooking. We reheated some left overs from a restaurant at one location. Not to say there weren't some decent day trips, but I really miss all those years when I lived outdoors for 2 months at Summer camp.