Micro Fiction Monday: Summer Is

Summer is feet on the dashboard, plastic warmed by the shining sun. It’s the howling wind when you roll down the car window, the country station blasting through the speakers. Summer is an excuse to eat ice cream, licking the stray drips off your fingers. It’s running around barefoot, abandoning your sandals to feel the sand, the pavement, the grass beneath your toes.

Summer is possibility. It’s the feeling that longer days mean more time, that you can hop on the wind and ride it for miles. Summer is temporary freedom—from school, from work, from responsibility. It’s a day at the beach, or at the park, or just driving around doing nothing at all.

Summer is everything, and nothing. It’s a vacation, a road trip, cramming every second full with something new and exciting. It’s a day spent at home, in the comfort of air conditioning, licking a popsicle from the comfort of your own couch. Summer is both comfort and excitement, and everything in between.

Summer is the hope that, at the end of it all, you’ll have an amazing story to tell.

Micro Fiction Monday: Seasons

When the year began, the trees looked dead. They weren’t dead, of course, but with their bare branches stretching out against the grey, sunless sky, they sure looked like it. By January, everyone was done with the holiday season, and the noticeable lack of cheery lights and jingly music made everything look dull in comparison. It was like the magic of Christmas had disappeared overnight, forcing us back into our dreary, everyday lives. “You had your fun,” the season mocked. “Now, back to work!”

When the kids shed their winter coats, the sun was warmer. The snow melted away as the rain returned, growing the grass greener and sprouting flowers up between the cracks in the pavement. The trees regained their livelihood, and the seasons bled together as the temperature rose. The sun stayed up longer, and campfires began to dot the town, keeping the same fiery light alive long into the night.

When the school bells rang once more, the seasons were distinct again. The air was brisker, the wind sharper, cutting through sweaters like a paper edge through skin. Footsteps crinkled and cracked as boots shifted through beds of fallen leaves, the wind picking them up and blowing them across the pavement.

And as the year came to a close, it looked about the same as it had at the start, and entirely different. A certain excitement buzzed in the air, held tight with jingle bells and happy tunes. Lights twinkled in the sky, flickering and shimmering like artificial stars. It felt like magic, supercharged by a large bearded man and held strong by the smiles of children on Christmas morning.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Falling into Autumn (BEDS #9)

The title was so cringe worthy that I had to use it.

Now I know that, according to the calendar, it's still technically summer. And I know that, in some places, it still feels like summer.

But here, it does not. Today, it was 11 degrees (Celsius), and cloudly, and overall about as far from summer as you can get without adding multi-colourful leaves and six feet of snow piled on the ground. It was cold, and miserable, and all in all not the day I would typically enjoy.

Maybe it's because I just got back from Florida, where it's a humid 40 degrees every day and 95% of my time was spent outdoors, but for once, I welcomed this lower temperature. I love summer, always have and always will. I adore winter, too. But I always forget how much I appreciate fall until it comes around.

Again, I love summer. I love the heat, and eating ice cream and drinking iced capps. I love wearing tank tops and shorts and sundresses and flip flops--my cutest outfits are made for summer. Even now, when I'm not in school, there's this special feeling about summer that I can't help but love, even though the humidity makes my curly hair go crazy.

Winter, on the other hand, is magical. The snow is absolutely beautiful--especially in December, when everyone has their multi-coloured Christmas lights up and they sparkle against the snow with the street lights. I love the excitement of the first snow fall, how I still run out to taste the fresh flakes on my tongue in the middle of the street. I love curling up inside, with sweaters and blankets and hot chocolate. I love surrounding myself with a zillion blankets at night, and taking a nice, hot shower in the morning. Just the very thought of winter makes me happy, even though I look terrible in hats and the wind makes my face go numb after being outside for ten minutes.

Fall is always the season I overlook. I always view it as an "in-between" season, along with spring. I never liked spring, because the snow melts and makes everything wet and muddy and thus hard to walk around in. Whenever I think about fall in the heat of summer, it always makes me depressed--no matter how much I love winter (and Christmas), I still never want summer to end. The idea that the days will grow shorter (they're already short enough, thank-you-very-much) and the temperature will drop is significantly less than appealing.

But fall is almost a comfort. Fall feels like new beginnings--it's when school starts up again (even though I may no longer be attending), and when all of the television shows kick back up for a new season, with brand new ones joining in alongside them. It's new pencils and new notebooks and new stories and a new year--January will never feel as fresh or as new as September does to me.

So although I hope that Manitoba still has a few warm days left in store, I will be content with my sweatpants and hoodies and big fluffy socks. I will turn off my fan and curl up under my covers, and spend an extra five minutes in the shower because holy moly do I love hot showers. I will enjoy this.

It is, after all, just a new beginning.


QUESTION OF THE DAY: what's your favourite season? Comment down below!

Until later,

- Justyne

Season Premieres (WFMAD Day 14)

It's that time of year again. School is up and running, the temperatures are cooling, and my favourite TV shows are starting to return at last.

The time for season premieres is upon us.

Last night was the first in the line of many returns and new arrivals on television this fall. Down in the States, the second season of The Legend of Korra premiered, and while I couldn't watch it live on television, some kind soul uploaded it online for us poor non-Americans to watch. I've been waiting over a year for the return of this show, and I REALLY enjoyed it!

Next up, this Monday, is the premiere of Dancing with the Stars is airing. I don't normally tune into this show, but Bill Nye the Science Guy is going to be dancing this season.

You heard me. Bill Nye the Science Guy. My childhood is screaming at me to watch this.

A week after that, on September 23rd, is the Castle season 6 premiere; which, after the finale back in May, I am absolutely FREAKING OUT about, you have absolutely no idea. (Unless you know me in real life, in which case yeah, you probably do have a pretty good idea.) I sincerely hope I don't work on this date because I'm 99% sure I will die in the prolonged wait a closing shift at the restaurant will cause.

A week after that, on September 29th, is the Once Upon a Time season 3 premiere. While I didn't enjoy the second season as much as the first, I'm still SUPER excited for its return. They're going to have Ariel, guys. Ariel. She's, like, my favourite princess ever.

And finally, on October 10th is the series premiere of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, a OUaT spin-off. This is a new show, and one that I hadn't originally intended on watching...until I saw the trailer.

I mean, come on. It's a love story. This is ME we're talking about. I'm tuning in if it's the last thing I do.

Of course, there are also going to be new episodes of Phineas and Ferb airing occasionally, which I will DEFINITELY not be missing, because I love that show to death. The season finale of The Amazing Race Canada also airs the same night as the DwtS premiere, which I am equally stoked for.

What shows are you looking forward to watching this year?

Until later,

- Justyne