- Happy first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere, and the first day of spring in the southern hemisphere. I’m making assumptions that the world agrees that the autumnal/vernal equinoxes are today. It’s a big assumption.
- After checking my facts, it seems the world is celebrating the first day of autumn but the equinox doesn’t happen until the 23rd, according to some sources. Also, not all countries, regions, and religions celebrate this day as the autumnal/vernal equinox.
- Hard to celebrate the change of seasons when so many are displaced by storms, wars, and wildfires, and we’re enduring global pandemic. The human side of the world seems like it’s in bad shape. Doesn’t look like it’ll be getting better soon.
- I’m a guy who rarely looks for home runs (but, as Steve Winwood sang, “While you see a chance, you take it”). I usually operate as a small steps person, constantly striving for improvements, and always looking for ways to measure them. Some measurements are more difficult to do than others because the increments are so damn small and backsliding is easy, especially if it involves comfort levels and habits.
- Fitbit makes measuring some things pretty easy. I hit 30,000 steps Sunday, which pleased me. My 28 day average is 11.18 miles, but much of this is in place, in which I run around the inside of the house. Couldn’t go out because of the smoke. I haven’t been below ten miles since August 24th, when I dipped to eight.
- Not much in streaming grabs me. Currently watching “No Activity”, which is a little uneven. Looking forward to Enola on Netflix, but it’s a movie, so it’ll just divert and entertain for one night. Had been watching “Beforeigners” in Dutch, which was very entertaining. It’s science fiction and police show in one. I recommend it. Love the premise and the characters. Before that, I watched “Mr Inbetween”, which featured another set of intriguing characters, and “Vera”, and re-watched old favorites, “QI”, “Would I Lie to You”, “Episodes” and “Travelers”. Tried “Perry Mason” but was not thrilled by this re-interpretation of that character and time.
- Just beginning to read “Red Rising”. My wife devoured it and recommended it to me. It’s a library borrow.
- Saw the doc yesterday for the arm, probably for the last time. I haven’t been going to therapy, as it was proposed. I referred to Doctor Internet and her assistant, Nurse Youtube. My arm is making progress. I exercise and massage my fingers, hand, wrist, and arm regularly. Improvement is measured by what I can pick up (like the water pitcher, and pouring water out of it), being able to type (better and better) again, doing buttons, and you know, regular stuff. I look forward to when I can clip my nails properly. That’s the true test of improvement. Right now, it’s still beyond my strength and coordination.
- The healing process fascinates me. I can feel changes take place. One of the more interesting ones was the nerves in my fingers. Everything felt rough to them for several days until they again acclimated (not sure that’s the right word) and the nerves were mended and sensitized to being used again.
- Our local fires are out, but several remain burning in the county, in other parts of the state, and California. I check them each day for containment, size, and developments. It’s depressing.
- We had a great weekend of air quality. That lifted our spirits. Yesterday morning started well, at forty eight. But, the sun began developing a reddish tint on the ground. The mountains faded from sight behind a curtain of smoke and haze. We progress to moderate by noon to unhealthy and one sixty in the afternoon. Today, we began at fifty-six, moderate.
- We’ve been searching online for new places to live. The eastern U.S. is calling. Yeah, the annual adventures in droughts, water restrictions, wildfires and smoke is wearing thin. We’re considering places in Ohio and western PA. A friend suggested Asheville, NC. We’d looked at it before and rejected it. Perhaps we’ll reconsider it, but on the whole, we’re dismayed by many of the political decisions made in the southern United States and their general philosophy.
- Writing is writing. I can defend that tautology by saying, it’s a challenge, slower than I like, but always engaging and ultimately rewarding. Now, got my coffee. Time to write like crazy, at least one more time.
Yellows
Wash me in yellow
the bright color of hopeful change
spritz me with marigolds
press me to get out of my lane
Soak me in yella
optimism and light
help me see past the madness and badness
and pursue what’s right
Drown me in yeller
make it an ocean of chance
a place where all are happy
and there’s singing and dance
Coat me in yellow
let it cover me all
like dazzling leaves on a tree
in the bright sunshine of fall
Ch-ch-changing
Changing seasons
changing times
changing clothes
changing rhymes
Changing mind
changing ways
changing hours
changing days
Changing tastes
changing drinks
changing food
changing links
Changing sea
changing skies
changing clouds
changing eyes
Changing hope
changing dreams
changing plans
changing schemes
It Comes
Slipping, sliding, easing, hiding,
it comes, it comes
bringing warmer clothing out and pushing big rain clouds about
it comes, it comes
pasting new colors on leaves and stripping branches bare,
it comes, it comes
before you know it, you look around, and it’s not coming,
Fall is already here.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Talking with other Ashlanders yesterday, we all mentioned how pleased we were that smoke, wildfire, and hot weather hadn’t dominated and smothered us as it has the last several years. Remembering last year, I mentioned that it’d seemed like a particularly cruel summer. Afterward, walking away, Bananarama’s song, “Cruel Summer” (1998), splashed into my stream.
Seeing that some believe that summer is over, citing that school has started, the weather feels like it’s changed, or that Labor Day (US) has passed, I think it a good song for the middle of the week during one of the last weeks of official summer.
A Little Surprise
September arrives with a little surprise,
it seems like it came along so fast.
No time to think of August, June, and July,
those months are part of the past.
Autumn is coming, summer will be gone,
and so will so many things.
No time to waste, hello, good-bye,
October is on the way.
Leaves
Have you ever been walking on an autumn day, and encountered drifts of dry, fallen leaves, and start kicking them them like you’re a little kid?
Yeah, me, neither.
Fall Slipstream
It’s a gorgeous fall day, smoke-free, with a cloudless blue sky. Our sun is bright, but the wind presents a chilly edge as it toys with leaves, tearing them from trees and sprinkling them over the streets, sidewalks, and yards. News, worry, and politics are aside. Memories of days like these are pulled from my youth in Pittsburgh.
It’s the weekend. At last! Freed for a day from the teachers’ drones, studying, quizzes, and tests, we’re out in the streets, chatting about girls, music, sports and television, bullshitting each other, John mocking Rick, complaining about school, wandering around, hanging around, playing football in the street.
Halloween is coming up. What are you going to wear?
Thanksgiving is next month. Thanksgiving, that amazing feast – stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy – and pies! Pumpkin! Apple! Or maybe cherry. With whipped cream. Family will be over. It will be warm, noisy, and crowded. But, wow, the food.
And then there’s Christmas. What do you want for Christmas?
The simplicity makes me sigh. That was our future. But we would tell each other –
I can’t wait until I’m older.
I can’t wait until I have my license.
I can’t wait until I have my own money.
I can’t wait until I’m done with school.
I can’t wait until I’m out of here.
Autumn Cometh
You feel it in the air and see it in the trees. That official arbiter, the calendar, claims its summer in Ashland. We in the real world know that autumn has supplanted summer. Whether summer grows aware of this and attempts to heat-blast us one last time, we will see. Weather forecasters present claim we won’t see a high temperature above seventy-nine degrees until September 26. Forecasting temperatures that far out isn’t historically successful.
We feel it, though, as I started out this thing saying. We all feel the air difference and state, “It feels like fall.” Accepting that as the de facto situation, we went out to celebrate summer’s end last night. Lake of the Woods Resort was the location. Colonel Mustard provided the music on the lakeside.
We visited a friend’s cabin for a start. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a few hundred cabins in the thirties and forties. Our friends bought one in two thousand one. It’s beautifully rustic, with minimal updates and upgrades. Everything done to it was completed with a mindset of keeping it resembling its origins. No running water, they have an outdoor shower under the deck and a two-hole outhouse. A small propane furnace was added, so they have some heat to drive out the mountain’s cold.
They provided us a boat-tour of the lake, and then ferried us to the resort. Colonel Mustard were already into their Beatles medley by then, so it was easy to jump up there and dance. Drinks, dining – with an excellent, freshly made mixed-berry cobbler, made and served in an iron fry pan, and topped with three scoops of vanilla ice cream, for dessert – and more dancing followed. The fun, social evening was a wonderful means to say good-bye to summer, and hello to autumn.
But ~
Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature
But I still woke up
The Chicago Cubs won the World Series
But the sky is still blue
Donald Trump is the President-Elect of the United States
But I’m still drinking quad shot mochas and writing like crazy
And the trees remained beautifully cloaked in scarlet and gold, yellow and brown, and green and orange, a lovely tableau against a blue morning sky…
Michael Seidel, writer 