Fall Tidings

Like many heat-and-cold-sensitive people, I complain about the weather. A lot. Really, more than is reasonable or interesting to anyone who has to hang around me through the seasonal extremes (summer = wah, my apartment has no AC, even my cats refuse to move; winter = wah, I am freezing my hypothetical balls off, walking to work sucks when nobody in your town shovels the ice traps from their sidewalks; etc).

But when I was visiting a friend in San Francisco on a completely unplanned and too-short weekend trip (yay for aunts who work in airlines!) and listening to her and her buddies wax sentimental about the joys of San Fran weather ("yeah, ok, it's chilly right now, but it's the same all year round! it never gets freezing or snowy!"), I realized... I like having 4 seasons.

I mean, this is a very loose definition of "seasons" I'm using here. Since NYC seems to have similar seasons to Pittsburgh (almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction). But still!

Smelling the crisp fall air this morning on my (not yet frigid) walk to work, I couldn't help appreciating the northeast. Yeah, we get a bad rap weather-wise.* And yeah, by the end of winter we've all become about as sociable as hibernating bears. But without fall, you'd have no apple-picking, Renaissance Festivals, hot cider, pumpkin carving, hayrides, corn mazes and scarecrows on doorsteps and that insane Halloween parade in the village. You wouldn't have an excuse to blow your food budget for the week on adorable comfy sweaters and sexy high-heeled boots with impractical amounts of fringe on them.

So even though I know I'll be whining about the cold before long, I'm also looking forward to the next few months. And when the weather gets truly unbearable, I'll just curl up with an exciting new book and read about somewhere warm. Maybe this is why my NaNoWriMo project last year was set in Hawaii, hmm... ;)

In other news, Happy Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day! Arrrr. Hope ye brought yer eyepatches to work today, kiddies. Or maybe a Jolly Roger to wrap around yer neck tonight -- I hear there be a whiff o' winter in the airrr.**

* last winter excluded, of course. though last winter was terrifying in its own way... it snowed twice. all winter. one of which was on Halloween. um... GLOBAL WARMING IT IS REAL buy property in Canadia, yo.

** cue winter is coming jokes