start of the season musings

A lot of people declare fall as their favorite season. I declare them selective in their seasonal fandom!

Here’s how I see fall. It’s not one season, it’s really three:

• Early fall. From the fall equinox around September 20 to the first week or so of October. This is really just an extension of late summer. The days are getting shorter, but the weather can still be nice enough for shorts and t-shirts (in Metro Vancouver), trees, flowers and vegetation all still look fairly lush, though the first signs of the season changing are starting to appear.
• Middle fall. The time from early October to Halloween, sometimes extending to the first week of November. It is clearly fall now–the days are getting noticeably shorter, the high temperatures are no longer summer-like, but trees look spectacular as the leaves begin changing color. Halloween is coming (a favorite holiday for many, not the least of whom are the candy manufacturers). This is the classic fall many people think of when they declare autumn their favorite time of year.
• Late fall. Early November to the winter solstice around December 21. November starts to get cold and wet. It can snow. The days are now down to about two hours of daylight, or so it feels like. Did I mention the rain? The leaves are gone, the trees are stark and bare. Vegetation has withered and gone fallow. Everything is gray. When people go on about how wonderful fall is, they are not talking about the bitter cold monsoons of mid-December.

I also contend that winter is pretty much winter:

• cold
• wet
• horrible

I may expand on this in…two months.

The season, not like falling down the stairs or something.

The days get shorter
And the trees explode with color
Then everything dies

On the one hand, the last line is rather bleak. On the other, fall ends on December 20th and by then the sun sets at something like 3 p.m., it’s always cold and almost always raining, the trees are stripped naked and vegetation is all withered, dead or gone.

But lawns still look really lush and green.

All right, then.

The days get shorter
And the trees explode with color
It sucks after that

More accurate now. But fine, here’s a “happy” version:

The days get shorter
And the trees explode with color
Hot cocoa and gloves

The winter solstice was actually yesterday but I was busy entertaining myself troubleshooting browser issues and realizing how little I enjoy spending my time troubleshooting things anymore. Which is not a great thing, since it’s also my living. Oops.

Anyway, yesterday was the shortest day of the year, meaning that today and every other day this year (all nine of ’em) will keep getting delightfully longer. Or to be technical, the sun will set later, giving us a smidgen more daylight.

So although December 21st marks the official start of winter, for me it signals the official countdown to Daylight Saving Time (I advocate switching to this year-round–make it so, government people in charge of clocks or whatever) and the beginning of summer, the best season of all.

I’m already thinking about my first sunburn.

And that means eggnog has started showing up at Save-On Foods. Fallnog, perhaps.

Also, it just seems weird that a few weeks ago it was 30ºC and now it’s cold enough at nights that drinking hot chocolate is inviting and my little desk fan is gathering dust.

I even started looking at base heaters on the Home Depot website.

The transition from spring to summer, on the other hand, is this teasing, long build-up where the days gradually lengthen and get warmer, flowers bloom, trees bud and blossom, and finally you bask in the verdant green of summer.

Summer to fall is more like admiring the view from the top of a flight of stairs, then someone pushes you down and at the bottom it’s suddenly 15 degrees cooler and everything is turning brown.

And this is why I’m not a poet.