Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Radar Weather

In the past week, I’ve cut out two weather pages from the Register-Guard, each showing a row of suns with highs in the 70s and 80s, lows in the high-40s.

I’m saving them to remind me why—six months from now when those pages show rows of clouds dripping rain, highs barely reaching 40—I’m still in Eugene after more than fifty years.

Friday night I didn’t close the windows and didn’t need fans to draw cool air inside. Saturday morning, I threw the front door open well before nine, walked to the market in capris and a light shirt before ten.

Fall. Autumn. My favorite time of year. Brisk mornings, blue sky afternoons, soft breezes until dusk. The leaves have begun to turn (and fall). And this year, with the big oak tree at my front door gone, I’m able to enjoy the full moon as it traverses the sky.

Years ago I wrote the following in a piece published in the Write On! column of the Register-Guard:

In October, as the trees dress themselves in gowns of copper, gold and bronze, I fancy myself a photographer, ready to capture the brilliance of autumn. Yet, somehow, my camera can’t remember to come along. . . . As the trees shimmy out of their finery into November, I’m pleased to be outside. . . . I’m content until mid-November, when the hulking shadow of winter can no longer be ignored, when the approaching holidays weigh heavily on the newspaper and infiltrate the air repetitiously with song.

When I wrote that piece, I had an ‘aha’ moment. Since then, I’ve not pushed myself to participate in holiday madness, accepting the season as one of rest and renewal. Deep in the dark of December, I remind myself that light will return, noticeable by mid-January.

But for now, I will savor every warm and welcoming fall day, grateful that I live in glorious Oregon.