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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Your Weekend Weather

By: Doug Speirs

Posted: 08/25/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Good morning, everyone. Grab a steaming mug of coffee and a box of tissues, because Uncle Doug has some terrible news to share with you today.

Uncle Doug is not one to beat around the bush, so he is going to just blurt it out -- you don't have a lot of time left!

What's with all the tears? Pull yourself together.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. Sorry about that. What Uncle Doug meant to say is he has looked at the calendar and, by his reckoning, there are only 29 (bad word) days of summer left to go.

That's right, kids, Sept. 22 is the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall, which means the clock is ticking and it will soon be time to bid adieu to the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer and embrace the arrival of yet another bone-chilling, soul-destroying winter.

OK, put down the (very bad word) tissues and let's think this thing through. No one would be upset if we were having a lousy summer. But, for the second straight year, we are basking in glorious temperatures and a dearth of blood-sucking mosquitoes the size of canned hams.

Speaking of which, Environment Canada says the Summer that Wouldn't Die will keep staggering along this week. Today's forecast calls for a bit of a blip, with a few clouds, a 30 per cent chance of afternoon showers and a measly high of 21 C, a touch below the normal high of 23 C.

But Sunday should be mostly sunny with the high bouncing back to a lovely 26 C, and there are no clouds in the forecast for the rest of the week. We should rocket back to a sizzling 30 C by Wednesday.

Still, like Uncle Doug said, time is running out and, like the main character in the 1960s TV show Run For Your Life who was told in the first episode he only had a year to live, we need to pack several years of summer loving into the next four weeks.

And what better way to ring out the final weeks of summer than by enjoying the city's newest summer festival? Head down to the Exchange District tonight from 5-11 p.m. for Carnaval on Bannatyne, a Latin-infused street festival put on by Hermano's Restaurant, Corrientes Pizzeria, Boon Burger and Alive in the District.

We're talking awesome food and music with a Latin beat.

You can also savour the tail end of summer and celebrate all things Ukrainian today from 2-10 p.m. at the Lyric Theatre in Assiniboine Park during the annual Ukrainian Day in the Park.

And Uncle Doug will be very sad if you do not hop in the car and drive about 120 kilometres southwest to take in the annual Morden Corn & Apple Festival, where you can gorge on super sweet corn and apple cider and rock yourselves '80s-style with Kenny Shields and Streetheart.

If you feel like buying Uncle Doug some tasty corn on the cob, that would be wonderful. Just remember to pay like a pirate: No more than a buccaneer! Shiver me timbers, mates, summer's about to walk the plank!

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 25, 2012 A2

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