A second spring

This week it feels like I'm the only person not wearing a jacket on the street.

The sky is always grey.

Old men and women are starting to sweep up dead leaves into tidy little piles.

Flowers are defiantly blooming a final, triumphant stand.

Yesterday we went down a lane that was colored in autumn. It turned out to be a false alarm, as the chestnut trees which lined that street had some kind of disease that turns them from vibrantly green to orange and crumbly (apparently it's too expensive to cure them).

But false alarm or not, fall is coming.


Goodbye to the flowerbeds of summer.

Goodbye to the watermelon stands whose vendors sleep next to the fruit at night.

Goodbye to long walks on unknown streets.

Goodbye to sunny mornings...

...and to afternoon storm clouds.

Goodbye to loooong evenings and late bedtimes.

Goodbye to apples, goodbye to pears.

Goodbye to happily spent hours in the amusement park.

Goodbye to carriage rides through downtown.

I hope that we'll get several solid months of fall before it's time to say-


Hello to trudging through downtown in boots.

Hello to winter coats.

Hello to the icicles of death.

Hello to totally creepy trees.

Hello to drabness.

Hello to 4 PM sunsets.

But!!! Before you get all depressed, remember that we still have this one beautiful season- autumn- a temporary delay from the dark days and freezing temps of winter. Think of it like Albert Camus does, as "a second spring when every leaf is a flower." Now's the time- get out and play around in this parallel version of spring before it's gone! : )