Although I spent my "formative years" in the north, south, east and west, most of the time was spent in warmer climes. Hence, as an adult, September on the Great Lakes was bittersweet. The air was refreshing, the apples crisp and tangy and the leaves gorgeous. But always a sense of dread, for one knew what was rapidly approaching. Soon a six month confinement would begin. Living in a Midwest industrial city, the snow would be black, the dank noxious air filled with soot and the frozen car balky. Before spring, the streets were more potholes than pavement. While I took my sled to the local park and learned to ice skate in a Pieter Bruegel pond scene, by spring, cabin fever was rampant.
Contrast that with having just returned from a swim in the river with the better half and the parrot. No dread, for the temperature will rarely approach freezing this winter. If I want snow, mountains are nearby and the color is white. Tomorrow, expected temp 98 F.
Anticipating the river already.
lurqer |
