Today is a lovely day. For July. Of course, this is the last day in September, so mind if I ask, "What the hell is wrong with the weather this year?" They're calling for 34C with humidity tomorrow. Great. Please note: sarcasm. The leaves should be a third in colour by now, but instead, I've seen two trees turning. In total. And they were in Peterborough. What gives?

Don't give me that El Nino crap, either. I studied climate in university and I know all about El Nino. Ya, it is cyclical, and they're calling for this to be an El Nino winter, and yes, it peaks every five to seven years, and it is balanced by La Nina, the cold current to El Nino's warm. Some might recall that last year we had a warm winter. Ridiculously warm across most of Canada (and the US). The winter previous, was cold. Some might also recall that last year, they mentioned El Nino in discussing the drought and warm winter, too. Okay, but that wasn't really El Nino, right? What? Is anyone else confused?

So, I went to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's climate prediction website and found a chronological listing of the warm and cold cycles since 1950. Okay, so considering there is a lag time of about two to three months before we start really feeling the effects, what the hell was wrong with last year? They're calling it neutral (normal) but hey? So how is it that last summer was wickedly hot and dry and the winter was warm? And then the spring was cold? And then this summer, even given a two month lag time, was well over the 'slightly warm' caused by El Nino? Was there something about fires in Austrailia? And smog from China? I don't remember.

I'm not answering any questions here at all, and I'm only serving to confuse myself. I'm going to end this befuddled rant with, "What the hell is up with the weather?" and pretend I've never heard of this El Nino business.

In other news: On Saturday, Carrie and I went to visit Sandra for a discussion of bridesmaid dresses. She showed us some swatches and mostly we just hung out. She also fed us (because we're special) some of her fantastic pear crumble. MmmMmmmmm. Following that, we picked up Rick (a bit late, no surprise there) and headed up to Al & Carrie's where we found Al. We all headed to St. Hubert's for a most delicious chicken dinner and then over to Yorkdale to watch The Tuxedo, starring Jackie Chan. It was so funny. I nearly peed at one point, but happily managed to contain myself.

Sunday, Rick and I headed down to Queen St W where we could enjoy the sights and sounds of Word on the Street. It was fun. We visited Evelyn and Leila who were promoting Leila's lovely children's book, Patches Finds a Friend. They were pleased that we came out. We also visited John who was doing children's entertainment (and he was rocking it, even through the kids were at the need-a-nap point in the day). He, too, was pleased to see us. I talked to Andy Barry from Metro Morning on the CBC and he was about as tall as he sounds. *laugh* One little girl was very cute about having heard him come out of her radio in the mornings. I bought a book and picked up some magazines that were virtually free, Rick bought me some argyle socks (hurray), and then we went to Sushi Time and ate. I couldn't finish mine.

Today is crawling by, and now I'm waiting, not to go home, but to go to a union meeting I only found out about earlier in the day. I'm also still waiting to hear back from the ROM Imaging centre about the use of images from the ROM files. Why am I the only one on the ball? Geesh.

Also, I'd like to add some names to that list of mine. Gladys, Jocelyn, Randy, Orville, Garth, and Eileen (except when concerning that Dexy's Midnight Runners song). Don't you feel edified, now.