Skip to main content

Goodby Summer | 2022

In this episode (173) – Goodby Summer 2022 . . .

Wow! Can you believe summer is over? This year (2022) has flown by. It's early morning, and already I'm noticing the sunrise arriving later and later. Siri tells me, "The Sun will rise at 6:43 a.m." The shorter days bring cooler weather. Soon we will don our jackets for an early morning walk. Me, I enjoy the warmth and comfort of my blue flannel shirt.

For you sky watchers, the Hunters Moon is your gateway to fall; it will be visible on Sunday, October 9, 2022, at 16:55 EST, based on the data provided by NASA.

Legend has it that Native Americans inspired the Full Moon's name as they prepared for the winter. They would start gathering provisions to get them through the winter. The October full moon is the first full moon after the Harvest Moon. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the moon occurs when the season for hunting many game animals begins. That crisp, fresh, colorful time of year.

Autumn is a time to gather, to prepare for early darkness, a time to plan for the holidays, a time to re-examine your opportunities, and a time to give thanks. It is after Labor Day, and the California beaches are quiet once again, with the local surfers feeling the chill of the Pacific. This past Sunday, the crowds disappeared while we cruised the coast on our bicycles along the Oceanside boardwalk. You could smell the salt of the Ocean as the waves crashed among the large boulders that guard the roadway.

For Lori and I, it's a time to celebrate. This year we will celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary at one of our favorite spots on earth, Yosemite National Park.

We are fortunate in California; our temperate climate allows us to participate in many outdoor activities. So, get outside and take advantage of the cool, crisp fresh air, the morning glow, golden sunsets, and the glorious colors of the changing trees.

Goodbye to summer.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. I'll see you in the next episode.

Comments

Most Popular of All Time

Boy on a Beam

In this special bonus episode, Boy on a Beam. In a world long ago, when the days moved quite slow, Before buzzes and beeps and the fast things we know, A boy sat quite still on a very fine day, Just staring at nothing . . . and thinking away. No tablets! No gadgets! No screens shining bright! No earbuds stuck in from morning till night. No lists, no charts, and no chores to be done. He just sat there thinking—that's quiet-time fun! His name was Young Albert. He sat in his chair, Thinking of things that weren’t really there. “Suppose,” said Young Albert, with eyes open wide, “I ran super fast with my arms by my side! Suppose I ran faster than anyone knew, And caught up to sunshine that zoomed past me—too! If I hopped on its back for a light-speedy ride, What secrets would I find tucked away deep inside?” “Would stars look like sprinkles, all shiny and small? Would UP feel like sideways? Would BIG feel like Tall?” He giggled and wondered and thought, and he dreamed, Till his head fel...

Un-Work the Old-Fashioned Way

🎩   In this special episode. How to Un-Work the Old-Fashioned Way It’s 2026! Yes— this is the year! A different kind of start—you feel it right here? No lists! No demands! No fix-all-your-flaws! No “New You by Tuesday!” No rules! No laws! Those resolutions? Bah! Dusty and dry! We’ve tried fixing everything —so let’s ask why. Why rush and correct and improve and compare, When noticing quietly gets you right there ? So here’s a new project—no charts, no clocks, No boxes to check in your mental inbox. It’s bigger than busy and smaller than grand, It’s called Un-Working —now give me your hand! Un-Working’s not quitting or hiding away, It’s setting things down that shout “Hurry! Hey!” The hustle! The bustle! The faster-than-fast! The gotta-win-now or you’re stuck in the past! That’s the work of Un-Working— plop! —set it free! The titles! The labels! The “Look-At-Me!” The crown that kept sliding and pinching your head— You never looked comfy . . . let’s try this instead: Pick up a tel...

The Thought Experiment–Revisited

In this episode. The Thought Experiment–Revisited The Boy on a Light Beam In 1895, a sixteen-year-old boy did something we rarely allow ourselves to do anymore. He stared into space and let his mind wander. No phone. No notes. No “Optimization Hacks” for his morning routine. Just a question: What would happen if I chased a beam of light—and actually caught it? That boy was Albert Einstein . And that single act of curiosity—a Gedankenexperiment , a thought experiment—eventually cracked open Newton’s tidy universe and rearranged our understanding of time itself. Not bad for an afternoon of daydreaming. Imagine if Einstein had been “productive” instead. He would have logged the light-beam idea into a Notion database, tagged it #CareerGrowth, and then promptly ignored it to attend a forty-five-minute “Sync” about the color of the departmental logo. He’d have a high Efficiency Score—and we’d still be stuck in a Newtonian universe , wondering why the Wi-Fi is slow. In a post I wrote back in...

When Fear Becomes the Default

In this special episode, When Fear Becomes the Default. Early Sunday morning, I was cycling past a small veterans’ pocket park in San Marcos. The air was still, the streets nearly empty. On one corner stood a young woman, alone, holding a hand-painted sign that read: “Be ANGRY. ICE agents are murdering people.” I pedaled past, but the words stayed with me. I knew the context—the footage and headlines from Minneapolis the day before, already ricocheting through the country and hardening opinions. Even in the quiet of the ride, the noise followed. Two miles later, I stopped at a red light. A black car with dark windows pulled up inches from my bike. My heart jumped. My first instinct wasn’t neighbor —it was threat . I found myself bracing, scanning, and wondering if the person inside was angry, armed, or looking for trouble. Then the door opened. A well-dressed young woman stepped out, walked to the trunk, and pulled out a sign that read “Open House.” She turned, smiled brightly, and sa...