The past week has been unreal – truly. New England in the summer is hot and sticky, sunshine is limited, rainfall is never far away. This past week was some sort of San Diego dream sequence.
Reality has returned. I haven’t checked the numbers, but sitting here in my pajamas, with the window open, I estimate the dew point as 66°¹. It’s certainly high enough for me to consider turning on the air conditioner as soon as I finish typing this – certainly before I hit the shower.
Even with this sultry return, the summer is winding down. Acorns, actually smashed acorns, now litter the end of my driveway near the garage. No leaves have fallen yet, but I have gotten my first email asking when the leaves will change.
As spring is my favorite season, fall might be the opposite. Winter is more harsh, but fall is the writing on the wall. Nature says, “Hey, we’re shutting down for the winter – see ya’.”
Soon, geese will return to this area on their way to warmer weather. Over the next few weeks it will become common to see them flying in their “V” shaped formations. I’m not sure why, but I always seem to spot them, in the air, over Interstate 91. Maybe they follow the road south?
The summer can be brutal. Winter is worse.
I have been in some very cold places, including the top of Mount Washington in February. The coldest I can ever remember is waiting outside, in line, to go ice skating inside at Flushing Meadow Park. I think it was before the New York City World’s Fair, making it pre-1964. The fact that my mom was there also implies early ’60s.
The cold was so awful I remember it 40 years later.
In 90 days snow will be here. In 120 days the bleakest of the cabin fever days of mid-winter will arrive. Every year, facing this weather gets tougher.
Thirty five years ago I lived in West Palm Beach, Florida. Shouldn’t there have been a competency test before I was allowed to move on?
¹ – OK, shoot me. I couldn’t not check. The dew point is officially 68° at Tweed/New Haven Airport. It’s probably a degree or two lower here, nearly 10 miles inland.
