The heatwave broke, yesterday, leaving me with a slightly higher tolerance for the summer’s warmth. I didn’t flinch when the temperature rose to 83 in the house today. It’s nothing to me now.
The sky today has been mostly gray, thick clouds parting to reveal a diaphanous, silvery powder blue in places. Finally the clouds shrink to gray puffs against that blue this afternoon. A gust of wind now and then sets everything in motion, tumbling through wind chimes.
I always feel better once the first heat wave of summer passes, with a new higher range of personal comfort, and the assurance that I can make it through to autumn. Autumn here begins late. We always used to spend the first weeks of school with sweaty palms and skin sticking to the varnished chairs and desks. Around Halloween, the air finally cools enough for sweaters at night, at the same time kids dress up to make their ghoulish rounds. Three months to go.
1.
I Love autumn. If only it wasn’t followed by winter I’d love it more!
Comment by Eric Mayer — July 29, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
2.
It has been an unusually hot summer and autumn will be more welcome this year. Nice imagery you draw for us to enjoy in the meantime.
Comment by susan — July 30, 2006 @ 4:00 am
3.
Yay for cooling temperatures! The whole country has gone wild with hot temperatures. Such a bummer!
Comment by violetismycolor — July 30, 2006 @ 3:21 pm
4.
I love fall, too, but must agree with Eric that I’d love it more if winter didn’t come right afterward. Since I live in New England, we get the whole autumnal experience: orange maple leaves, pumpkins everywhere you look and frost thereupon, Indian corn on the doors and cornstalks in bunches, and so on. Having grown up in Massachusetts, I always wondered if there were some state law that required every grade-school class to take a field trip to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower II.
Part of the problem with the changing climate is that we don’t seem to have “transitional” weather as much as we used to. This year, we went from cold to hot with hardly a glance at warm as we whizzed past. By the time we get used to this weather, we’ll have something else different. In the meantime, I have whole closets of light jackets that I’ll probably never wear again, not even on Hallowe’en.
Comment by blogdog — July 31, 2006 @ 1:35 pm
5.
I look forward to Autumn and Spring. The season wedged between those two isn’t much to my liking. Don is a skier, and really enjoys the cold. That is our biggest incompatibility. And we don’t mind.
Comment by cas — August 1, 2006 @ 9:49 am
6.
I love your ability to describe something in words so vivid I can see the picture in my mind’s eye. You have such a great gift for it.
Yes, I’m looking forward to October, too. Only two more months to survive. Got my DWP bill yesterday and nearly fainted when I saw how high it was. Six weeks of triple digit temps made quite a dent in my checkbook.
Comment by Sarah — August 4, 2006 @ 3:17 pm
7.
u r just awesome.Even better than J.K.Rowling.
may u live long ,dear
i m 70 years old but i still love reading ur books.
Comment by xyz — June 14, 2007 @ 10:45 am