dear october,
you can stop being cold now. it’s okay — you’ve made your point. even without the changing leaves, you’re still an autumn month. we get it… but this is southern california, and… it’s time to get back to the sunshiney, warm days we know and love. those days that are the reason we moved here anyway.
love,
everyone in the whole wide world. well, me, anyway.
after 2 days of non-stop rain (i know that sometimes i might exaggerate a little, but this time i am being straight up. it has been raining without cessation for 2 days), i decided something had to be done. this is how it would be, if i were a princess:
ALL RAINDROPS AND CLOUDS SEEKING ENTRY MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF RAINBOW
edit: the day after i posted this, there was no more rain!! i tell ya — sometimes you just gotta lay down the law ;)
the editor of this publication would like to apologize for any remarks that nature or H– took to be slanderous in our previous article. at the time of printing, the article in question (“nature fail”) was correct. shortly after going to print, however, we received notice that snow was indeed on the way, and H– employees could go home early. the editor and author apologize for any misrepresentation, however unintentional.
i felt like a little kid this morning (yes, moreso than usual). we were supposed to get up to 12 inches of snow beginning midday – which was all but an ironclad guarantee to only have a half-day at work. imagine my delight. i mean seriously. i cannot think of anything more wonderful than a half-day of work (except a full day off work, or being independently wealthy and never having to work at all – anyway).
so we all came in to the office, brighter-eyed and bushier-tailed than ever. inspired by our impending early dismissal, i managed to get a ton of work done this morning (probably more work than i’ve gotten done all year). the excitement around the office was mounting as the early hours ticked by. 11 o’clock was the magic moment. at 11 the blizzard was supposed to come.
i think one snowflake fell.
and now, just before 1 pm, when we’re supposed to be in the middle of an utterly wretched storm (a FebFury, to quote sharon), this is the scene outside:
walking in downtown boston tonight, i had to pause to catch my breath (and update my facebook and twitter): snow fell lightly all around – tantalizing, fresh and delicate. the pavement shone in the lamplight and small flocks of umbrellas wandered by, and i stood mesmerized by the shower of celestial confetti.
this wasn’t the first time the image of confetti in nature had crossed my mind, i realized, my memory shooting back to a day in april. cambridge had donned spring at last, and all the trees were in bloom, many with small delicate white flowers. we’d had a spell of windy weather for a while, and as i walked to work that early morning, the gusts of wind stripped the trees of their blossoms; i remember walking through the park, tiny round white petals fluttering around me endlessly, looking just like confetti, and leaving me feeling like a fairy princess.
and then in autumn, a walk along the charles river brought the word confetti to mind again. the bigger trees had not yet begun to disrobe, and their fat colorful leaves stayed attached. but there are some trees along the river with smaller leaves, about size of a dime at their widest, and on one crisp, clear fall afternoon, a fresh wind brought these small leaves tumbling down. they were mostly brown by this point, and probably brittle, but they fell from great heights and as they did, i was reminded of a parade and i wanted to cheer.
i have no similar experience for summer; alas, it would have been so poetic to have four seasons of confetti. but perhaps its better for my soul this way – in summer, i need no help celebrating. the sunshine itself is a constant shower of joy. but in winter, in autumn, and even in spring, i’m grateful to be reminded – there is, after all, a magnificence in having four distinct seasons and a delight that comes when i see again the beauty in each.
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