Ah, those nice, warm summer weekends! Old Man Winter has barely arrived and already we long to be back in summer. So what are we to do? Stay inside, huddled up by the fire and wait? Perhaps. We can also go out and enjoy the cold weather, but some people will have issues with that.
My take on it? Simple, go back to your summer weekend pictures and enjoy the memories.
Memories of summer weekends are plentiful. You just have to go back into your library of pictures (you do have them organised, right?) and filter on the summer months. And voila! there you have instant summer weather and warm memories. Well, some memories might be a bit rainy, but hey, they’re summer memories.
Lake Winnipeg in early summer
So what did I have in store as memories? I had to trim down on the many pictures I have of summertime. So here are a few of them. I didn’t particularly filter on this year’s pictures though. Some summers were more geared towards personal enjoyment with family while others were more towards photography. I’ll spare you the family pictures 
. Panorama shots are one of my favourite types of shots. Although it’s only up until recently ( a few years) that I had to align the shots by hand. Today I have an excellent tool to do that for me, making my pano-life a lot easier.
Clear skies over Manitoba
Night shots are another favourite. Even more if the spot I am standing is not infested with mosquitoes. The above shot came from a place along Highway 15 in Manitoba. A few minutes before, a friend and I had been shooting over a small lake, but got expelled by what it seemed, millions of mosquitoes. Each hungrier than the preceding one. On the open field along the highway, there were no mosquitoes at all. That was happy shooting .
Moon and Venus are having an affair
But on a previous occasion, we had been out shooting the alignment of the Moon and Venus. We thought we had found the ideal spot without traffic and some decent foreground. Alas, the mozzies were there to find us too. After setting up quietly, a few shots of the moon and Venus, the mosquitoes had gotten “wind” of our presence and invited themselves to the feast of our blood. I think I must have lost at least a pound to them.
Manigotagan midnight
A little earlier in the season, it was already nice and warm, night shots were undisturbed by the flying crocs. Peaceful skies and water were then a pleasure to shoot. Here we were camping near the mouth of the Manigotagan River. That is a very nice spot to spend a few nights to wind down from the city noise.
Clear Lake morning
When you go camping, one of the best things to do from time to time is get up early and enjoy the sunrise. At least that’s what they say. I usually sleep through the sunrise as it doesn’t make any noise. The above shot was taken a few hours after sunrise. I guess that will have to do. I did like the reflections on the water as well as the few flying birds.
Whiteshell River
Once a friend and I went on the the Whiteshell river. It was all nice weather until we were on the centre of the lake. There a huge rainstorm broke loose, nearly flooding the boat we were in. Bailing out water with our already wet shoes, we were able to reach dry land after a while. After drying ourselves up a bit, the camera gear had been kept dry with makeshift protection like a plastic bread bag over the long lenses we had with us, we enjoyed the dry spell in the weather. The above shot was one of the shots I took that day.
Whiteshell River
The Whiteshell River in those days had quite a lot of water in it, making for the rapids to flow abundantly. There are stone carvings on the bottom of these rapids, only to be seen in dry times. This was not one of them.
So is this what you have to do every time winter arrives? No, soon I will show what you can do in winter. But I think you have a pretty good idea for yourself what you want to do. For some that will look like an escape to Arizona, others will welcome the cold and Northern Lights, some will go skiing and hunting for more pictures of the wonderful nature Manitoba has to offer.
I guess you know what I will be doing… 
Until next time…