autumn

it's autumn.

yeah, it's been fall here for a few weeks, according to the calendar. however, according to the weather, it's been spring, summer AND fall.

sunday it was muggy and humid. monday it was muggier and humid-er. monday night it thundered and stormed and we literally got 7-9 inches of rain, ala spring. now today, it's about 45-50, party cloudy, and chilly.

lovely.

i long for this weather all year. the minute we have our first above-60 day in may or june, i'm jonesing for my cold weather again.

today was a normal work day. got to work early and was accused of being an early riser twice before 9 am. agreed that i have become such in my older age. (; mornings are full of hope and plenty of room to get things done prior to the day actually beginning. got some work done, and then got invited to the cirque du soliel show on saturday. YAY!!! i say again: YAY!

today is gaming wednesday, eero's manhunter game, in which i get to (hopefully) spew some meteors from my fingertips. then it's onto hockey again--the NHL is back in business and i couldn't be more pleased. even if they don't win, they're fun to watch, and lately the vikings have been downright depressing. or worse, you tell me--if you live in minnesota, you're experiencing the funk, regardless of if you're a rabid fan or not.

personally, i don't mind football, and for some reason being involved in the human combat chess game has given me a greater patience and appreciation for football--it really is, as dan says, strategy.

at the same time, for someone with a short attention span, hours and hours of watching and parking my ass on the sofa to watch giant men in spandex toss themselves at each other is just not up my alley. i like watching the highlights--that's about my field of vision.

hockey, on the other hand, is fast-paced, and periods are only 15 minutes--fifteen minutes that go by much more quickly than the four quarters of a football game.

perhaps it's the thought--again, back to the beginning--of ice, of that chill being not too far away. i live for winter, when the earth is hibernating and presents all kinds of places to meditate that require some intense planning, if you're to be outdoors.

i keep thinking about the movie, the cutting edge--db sweeney's character has a picture of him, sniffing the ice, because he just loves it so much.

feeling is mutual; i love winter that much. i love the soft brown dirt of spring, and the brilliant green of summer and the crisp orange of fall, but nothing surpasses winter, for me. it's an experience that i cherish every year. when the snow melts i can feel myself grieving, sometimes. and welcoming winter back onto the planet--at least, winter as we know it here in the northern states, where there's plenty of frozen lakes and snow and breath that is a dream in front of your face--that winter, i welcome with open arms.

it's easier to breathe in winter, easier to hike through the woods, easier to find ready-made fun--you just scoop it up and create. snow and sand offer the same play-doh like substances, but snow for me is infinitely more entrancing.

i'm waiting, right now, for the first frost, and the first flakes. you know spring is here by the robin; you know winter is here by the geese fleeing south, and the trees shedding their summer finery, and the first lighter-than-air water-spun lace that is snow.

so autumn, you're well-met. come on in, paint my patio with yellow oval leaves, rinse my house of humid negative flotsam, let the smell of sandalwood be the warmth that everyone holds within.