Wearing Shorts. Is Summer Here?

I've been wearing shorts the past few days. I've quipped before that's a sign it's summer. Of course, summer technically doesn't start for another 7 weeks. Though it's part of our usual weather pattern here for it to start getting reliably warm by this time of year.

...Actually it's kind of late for it to get warm... and it's not even all that warm. High temps the past few days have only reached into the low 70s. This weekend it'll be cooler... and rainy. (Good thing I'm traveling to Mexico!) So I'm wearing shorts partly because the weather is (somewhat) warm and partly because I... want it to be summer. It's like if nature won't bring me summer I'll manifest it.

How does wearing shorts square with working the work week? Well, with remote work it squares pretty well. Although I'm on camera via Google Meet, Zoom, etc. hours a day, both with colleagues and with customers, I can wear whatever I want below the belt. It's like a TV newscaster wardrobe. Have you ever seen the "behind the scenes" things they do when, occasionally, a seated newscaster stands up? Despite their forma business attire from the waist up, they're often wearing shorts and casual shoes below that.

Mangawhero Falls. Gollum's Pool?

As I wrote in a recent blog, we had plans to hike four waterfall trails on our day-trip to Tongariro National Park in New Zealand a few weeks ago. After we took a rain delay on hiking the first falls and then found a bonus falls instead we moved on to the second falls on our original list, Mangawhero Falls.

If nothing else the trail to Mangwhero Falls was short, maybe 5 minutes of hiking each way. Thus we didn't mind hiking it in the drizzling rain. (Again, it's a two hour hike that's no fun in the rain.)



Mangawhero Falls is dubbed "Gollum's Pool" for its use as a location scene in the Lord of the Rings movies. Apparently this was the grotto used in the scene where Gollum has a soliloquy with a dead fish. I say apparently for two reasons. First, because there is another falls in Tongariro National Park that also claims to be "Gollum's Pool". Second, because this canyon would be extremely difficult for a film crew to get into. There's no trail down from the rim. Equipment, crew, and actors would have to be lowered in from above, whcih is dangerous in a narrow canyon like this.



Well, Gollum soliloquy or no, it's a pretty falls.

In fact it's much nicer without Gollum around.