Dwindling Time; Shrinking Pants

/ Diane Henders

I can’t believe 2019 is gone already — I honestly don’t know where the time went.  My theory is that aliens have been abducting me for several hours every day, and they’ve masked their nefarious activities with false memories of working at my desk.  Either that, or Dr. Who is hovering above our house and altering time so that I’m working at half-speed relative to the rest of the world.

I’m sure there has to be some sci-fi explanation, because I’m not fond of the thought that I’m working as hard and fast as I can and still falling behind.  So, aliens it is!

Now that we’ve got that sorted out, let’s tackle the conundrum of why pants shrink in December.  I’m sure it must be the shorter hours of daylight and cooler temperatures that make the fabric fibres contract.  (Or maybe that’s caused by aliens, too.)  It can’t possibly be related to that box of chocolates I can’t seem to pass without nibbling.

Speaking of shorter days, we’re in the gloomy depths of winter rain here, which is actually a bit of a relief.  I’m not fond of dark days, but it was a dry autumn and water reservoirs were low, so it’s good to know they’re being replenished now.

I’m ready to look at something besides grey clouds, so here are some cheery views from 2019.

(Click on photos to see a larger version.  Depending on your browser, clicking again on the larger photo might give you a closeup — worth doing for the little pollen-coated bee.)

Ahhhh, beach and blue sky!

 

Happy garden plants soaking up the sun

 

Bees hard at work – look at the pollen on this little guy!

 

Colours so vivid they almost hurt your eyes

 

Sunny rudbeckia. This is ‘Goldsturm’.

 

And our tiny rhododendrons bloomed heroically! This is ‘Lee’s Best Purple’, only about 2 feet tall but with flower trusses the size of basketballs.

 

Ah, I feel better now.  It might be a while before spring gets here, but at least I can happily anticipate it.

And hey, maybe my pants will stretch out by spring, too!  I can always hope.  (I could also exercise more and diet a bit; but that would imply that those shrinking pants are somehow my fault.  Perish the thought.)

Happy New Year!

Book 15 update:  Just when I think I’ve got everything figured out, another wrench appears in the works.  But I did some excellent plotting and lots of research over the holidays, and I’m bombing ahead with Chapter 26.  Things just took a turn for the worse for Aydan and the boys, and they’re scrambling!

50 thoughts on “Dwindling Time; Shrinking Pants”

    • We’re getting the opposite kind of unusual weather. We’ve had about 7″ of snow since yesterday, and now there’s a winter storm warning in effect. They’re predicting high winds and an additional 12″ of snow this afternoon. Do we know how to have fun, or what? 😉

      Like

      Reply

      • Lucky you. And thanks for the idea for my next blog post. Tanya’s flowers. Dedicated to the people of the Prairies. Tough feeding cows in this weather in Saskatchewan

        Like

        Reply

  5. Your burst of colors made my evening. Not that we have anything to complain temperature-wise here in Florida, but it’s all been pretty grey in the sky and on the ground where we are camped. The good thing about rain is that you don’t feel guilty about staying indoors and that, in turn, should be beneficial to the writing process! Happy plotting and figuring out all those troubles – on the screen and in real life.

    Like

    Reply

    • Thank you! It’s been snowing here for the past couple of days, and looks as though it’ll continue for a few more days before we get back to “normal” above-freezing temperatures. I’m actually not sad to see the snow – everything is so much brighter when it’s covered with white. But I’m hoping it’ll be gone by next week — I like to see snow, but only for a short time! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. The case of the incredible
    shrinking pants. Sounds like a book in the making. Love the concept of why the fibers shrink. Seems to make perfect sense to me.

    I was almost blinded by those flashes of colour from summer days. Currently I find myself surrounded by swirling white and the thermometer has stopped registering its sad news.

    Like

    Reply

      • I’m actually in Saskatchewan with my Mom in hospital where today is a heat wave of -15 and a snowstorm. Calgary is really getting it though. The other morning here the windchill was -39. The astounding thing is that very few folks here wear hats in that weather!

        Like

        Reply

        • I admit I was one of those ‘no-hats’ Calgarians, although I always wore earmuffs and a scarf around my face to protect my exposed skin. My problem is that by the time I put on a warm jacket and ski pants (because I got frostbite on my legs as a kid and now they’re vulnerable) and then walk somewhere, I’m so overheated even at -30 that I need to dissipate the heat somehow. I always wore jackets with a hood, though, so I could pull it up if I started to get chilly. Prairie kid, y’know — always prepared. 😉

          I’m so sorry to hear your Mom’s in the hospital – I’m sending good thoughts to her, and to you.

          Like

          Reply

  7. I say look for the fat exhaler in your house. Some people exude fat cells (those vile creatures who eat everything and remain svelte). Others of us inhale and keep those cells.
    I would swap our current weather patterns in a heart beat.
    Good luck with your writng project. This greedy reader is egging you on.

    Like

    Reply

    • Thanks! Hmmm, ‘fat exhalers’ are a new concept for me. I used to be one of those, but I seem to have lost the ability. It must be something in the air here — it couldn’t have anything to do with getting older… 😉

      And I wish I could send some of our rain your way. We need it; but you need it more.

      Like

      Reply

    • Uh-oh. My Attention-Deficit Sexlexia just kicked in. I glanced at your comment and saw “shrinking parts” instead of “shrinking pants”. My apologies; nothing personal!

      And you’re right, gravity SUCKS. There’s a whole lot more stuff coming at me in an upside-down yoga pose than there used to be. Now I have to worry about suffocation…

      Like

      Reply

  9. I thought it was the dryer that was shrinking my clothes. Turns out it was the refrigerator.

    (not original to me, but I’m sharing in case you haven’t seen it before.)

    Like

    Reply

  11. P. S. Your garden bloomed prodigiously! And that bee is amazing. We’re in the middle of a huge snowstorm here, so all that colour is lovely to offset the white we see everywhere 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    • They’re predicting snow here on Thursday night, and off and on through the weekend. And the temperature might go as low as *gasp* -7C!!!

      After growing up on the prairies, I get such a kick out of the snowphobia here on Vancouver Island. Granted, it’s a big deal here because they don’t have much in the way of snow-clearing equipment and the warm temperatures make the roads treacherously slippery; but at least it usually doesn’t last long. (Fingers crossed, anyway. Hmmm, maybe the snowphobia is catching…)

      Stay warm out there!

      Like

      Reply

  12. I fooled the shrinking pants this year – I ate as much junk as usual but I just didn’t eat any regular meals. Calorie substitution! Worked like a charm. Back to the regular foods now, though. A person needs a few real nutrients from time to time.

    I just wish I could deal with the time-sucking aliens as easily.

    Like

    Reply

    • You’re brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that? The best part about your plan is that by the end of the goodie season I’d be feeling so gross and craving ‘real’ food so much, it wouldn’t even be a sacrifice to nix the goodies. Next year…

      And I’ll eagerly await any inspiration you may have regarding the aliens. 😉

      Like

      Reply

  13. I read ‘plants’ for ‘pants’, Diane, which made perfect sense all the way through until you mentioned chocolate and I had to read again. My plants always do that to me. Your alien theory is very reasonable as I too must have been kidnapped by them at some point during 2019. We’re almost in February now, and last year in the UK it was the hottest February since records began, so we may soon be taking sizzling strolls along the beaches yet again.
    Love your bee photo – he has been a busy one, hasn’t he?

    Like

    Reply

    • Yes, I was amazed at how clearly the pollen grains showed up! (And how big they look — I didn’t realize my camera could focus that closely.) And you’re right, “plants” does make sense right up until the part about the chocolate. 😉

      February at the beach sounds like a good type of freakish weather… as long as you don’t end up paying for it later with freakishly bad weather. I’m just hoping for “normal” weather this year!

      Like

      Reply

  14. I think my washing machine is an alien hiding in plain sight, shrinking all my clothes, not just my pants. It talks to me in musical notes, like the spaceships in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, to let me know that I’ve overfilled it. Evidently it can only shrink so many clothes at one time or it becomes unbalanced, inefficient and won’t drain properly. Which causes me to call out the repairman, for an exorbitant fee, who will come and reboot my alien to its “normal” behavior. It’s a scam, I tell you. Probably brought to us by the fitness centers and diet companies, lol!
    Happy New Year to you and all your people! Lots more life, pictures and adventures in 2020!

    Like

    Reply

    • Thanks, Michelle! You’re absolutely right about the washing machine — I never even thought of that. Mine plays little tunes, too, so it’s undoubtedly communicating with the mothership.

      And I’m pretty sure most fitness centres are run by aliens anyway. Have you SEEN some of the scary-fit people in those places? That just ain’t normal. 😉

      Like

      Reply

  17. Hi Diane, I’ve been an avid reader of your books and eagerly looking forward to #15. BTY I spent 34 years in Law Enforcement working the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and I worked a number of jobs such as Patro, Detectives, Under Cover Detectives etc etc etc. If you ever need some technical advice, feel free to contact me.
    Larry

    Like

    Reply

    • Hi Larry! Wow, thank you for the offer! You must know just about everything there is to know after a career like that. 🙂

      Coincidentally, I just finished picking the brain of a very helpful constable from the Regina Police Service a few days ago. It’s hard to find information about Canadian policing — even the rights they read are different from the U.S. Aydan has never really dealt directly with police before, so I had a lot to learn. (And I still do — if I ever decide to write a police procedural, I’ll have to do a LOT more research.)

      I’m pumped that you’re enjoying the adventures of Aydan and the gang!

      Like

      Reply

  18. I don’t understand the shrinking clothing either–we have the same problem here, and my better half has said something about “sugar,” “carbs” and “detox” that may have had something to do with it.

    But I certainly could do with a little sunshine here. We have several months where the weather is cold and gloomy, and there will be days at a stretch where we don’t see the sun. It’s part of the reason we want to move away from the Great Lakes area.

    Like

    Reply

    • Right, I guess it would be gloomy down by the Great Lakes in the winter. At least it’s usually mild weather though. Do you have an alternate destination in mind, or just “anywhere but here”?

      Like

      Reply

  20. So nice to enjoy photos of a warmer time. Expecting some “cool” weather here (minus 25-30 C) but at least we see the sun. Hang in there, those pants will fit better in the spring.

    Like

    Reply

  22. Happy New Year, thank you for the pictures it helped cheer me up on the dark cold windy day that it is today but at least the rain is off.
    Scotland just now has very short days and seems a bit bleak now all the Xmas lights are away. Maybe we should keep them on until the end of January until the snowdrops and spring flowers arrive.
    Looking forward to your new book, I wonder what mischief and mayhem they have been getting into? I will start rereading them all again soon.

    Like

    Reply

    • Thanks, Donna! I think our weather here on the west coast is similar to your Scottish weather at this time of the year. Hovering near freezing, dark and gloomy; and we live near the foot of some low mountains so when the sun is visible, it barely bumps along the tops of their peaks. I’m looking forward to longer days! But at least the heather is in bloom, so there’s some colour in the garden. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.