The weather is uppermost in most people’s minds at this time of year – just before Labor Day in September. Originally the day was set aside so the working people could have at least one three-day weekend during the summer. Everyone in the summer recreation business, from barbecue makers to boat rental companies, hang on to their hats hoping that the weather will be good and that a lot of people will get out and then go home sunburned and completely ill-prepared to tackle whatever project comes next.
On the other end of the equation are the people who own ski and snowboard equipment. They are watching the weather closely. Word of an August snowfall in Big Sky has sent some of them to the garage to make sure their skis and snowboards are indeed ready, just in case it snows on their local mountains within the next day or so.
This summer has been unusual in that yesterday it was 91 degrees here on our island tucked up against the Canadian border. Then, late last night the wind came roaring down the Fraser River Valley. It blew cold air from off of snow-covered Mount Baker, just to the east of us, and my thermometer registered at 51 degrees. The wind howled at 40 mph and the rain slanted down and dropped half an inch of water on our local golf course.
As sure as October follows September, November and December will follow too, and the temperature will drop and the snows will come and isn’t that enough? All of the nail-biting and worry over protecting the seasonal businesses will somehow work out for either the best or the worst. I used to really enjoy the Labor Day weekend when I was producing my annual ski film because it gave me three full days in a row in my office, with no employees or customers on the phone or people visiting my studio for a sneak preview of the latest ski film. I could put hours and hours of last-minute changes into the film so that I could narrate the live show better than I could without the rehearsals and changes.
There are no longer thousands of pieces of 16mm color film rearranged and glued together to make the film work better. Someone asked me the other day, “Did I really like to work that hard?” My honest answer was, “I never worked a day in my career as a filmmaker because I really liked what I did for those many years.”
I lived on or near the beach so I could be the first to ride the waves in front of my house in the morning before I rode my bicycle one mile to the office. If the wind and tide were right in the late afternoon, I could jump on my Pacific Catamaran and sail until it was dark. In between, I could get in a healthy, 12-hour day. Like you, I watched the weather report because my profession was 100 percent wrapped up in the falling snow. I always had my cameras at the ready so I could leave for the airport in less than an hour if some early snow appeared. Somehow I managed to take all of the pictures for the first 14 years of making my movies.
I’m glad those days are gone, but today the many newspapers that publish my columns are still demanding. The newspapers will be published whether or not my column is finished. They don’t bend to the arctic blasts that come down the Fraser River this time of the year. The electronic publications are sent out along the fiber optical lines with the column, no matter what, just the same as people showing up at my movies in the old days despite the weather. I was lucky because I could get on an airplane and fly to where the early snow had fallen and get my pictures for the following year. Just as the sun always shines in Florida, the snow always fell above 9,000 feet somewhere for me and my cameras. I enjoyed every moment of the scramble to get the images and glue them together and take all of my friends on the ride. Labor Day was always just another day on my calendar to get the creativity really revved up.
Whichever weather mode you are currently in – hoping for a barbecue weekend or checking out how many moth holes you have in your ski sweater collection – enjoy the next trip because this weather is not a rehearsal.