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.
it snowed last night (not in cambridge, technically, but in a suburb not far), and with that, the last remnants of autumn and my sanity are gone. at 9:30 this morning, as i walked to work (i have a late start on some fridays), it was 36 degrees out. i’m sure some of you are romanticizing winter as you read this, but let me tell you – it’s not what you think. winter is nice when you have a good heating system, and house that’s effectively heated. i wear gloves in my bedroom. and winter is nice when you live near everywhere you have to be – my roommates and i have to walk at least 10-15 minutes to the nearest T stations, grocery stores, coffee shops, and farther to anything else. and winter might be nice after a long, hot summer, or even a short, hot summer — or any summer at all for that matter.but we had the darkest, coldest june since 1904, and summer didn’t feel like it started until august. autumn started predictably in september; so you can imagine my despair to find winter this morning, mid-october. i wore my peacoat or down coat through april and a light jacket through june; i started wearing a light jacket again in september, and donned my peacoat early october. if you think autumn is at least beautiful, you’re wrong there too. for some reason, there’s not that much foliage this year. whether or not this will hold true in the long run, as it stands today, i hate this place.
there is an amazing storm raging outside and i’ve pushed my bed into the center of my room so i can watch it as i lay here. love.
edit: not as much love. fire trucks got called in because sparks started flying and my room is overshadowed by a big tree that reaches into electrical cords. also the storm is over. fast and furious. i miss texas.
