A few weeks ago I noticed a few things. My hostas were bloomed. I had walnuts falling in my yard. When I mentioned this fact to folks, they said it because of the lack of rain. Then the other night it was 48 degrees! I have yet to have anyone tell me that was from lack of rain. The Farmers Almanac predicts "numbs the word". I have a feeling they are right! Is this a huge discussion in Barry County? The farmers might be discussing it. I have not been to Ritchies, so I am not so sure what is on their dashboard. I am tiring of politics, tired of economics, and definitely tired of being tired! I had to ask myself, "Bebe what do you love?", (yes I know speaking to and answering oneself is cause for concern) the answer was I love Fall. I then decided to share this love.
As a few of you may have pulled from some of my post, I hold dear to the "old generation". This may have led plenty of you to think I am old. To the contrary I am not! I am still not a preacher, nor do I work at the jail (for those of you taking notes).
I enjoy the high school football games, hearing the marching band, Halloween, the changing of color, I even love the colder night air. I seem to get refreshed. Like a child going to their first day of school! The apple cider, crisp apples, and warm cinnamon donut holes. Warm me with thoughts of family togetherness. I remember shuffling my feet, dragging them on the ground through the fallen leafs. To this day I still do this! My glass is normally half full, and I can find things in all four seasons to enjoy and love. Still Fall is at the top of my list.
For a change in conversation of politics, and rumors, why not share some of your thoughts. Share your favorite season, memory, activity, possibly you may want to discuss the upcoming weather.
13 comments:
Fall is also my favorite season in Michigan. I enjoy watching the color tour maps on the evening weather report creep slowly and inevitably down from the U.P., and glory in the silent flakes of the first snow drifting past the streetlights.
Hastings is uniquely stimulated to celebrate Halloween, and it has become a gathering time for our dispersed family. Most of the grandkids show up and tour Green Street as a costumed group of princesses and superheroes, and I man the front porch swing in my longjohns and a silly hat.
During the few dry days I mulch up the fallen leaves and fill my compost bins. I cancel my car insurances, turn down the thermostat, shut off most of the circuit-breakers, drain the water lines, notify the post office and police station, say hasta luego to the neighbors, and take the 3:00AM bus out of East Lansing to Smith Terminal at DTW. By early afternoon I am settling down to the Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose. What I don't spend in Michigan pays for a pleasant retirement life-style in Costa Rica until April.
http://el-grillo.blogspot.com
The Farmer's Almanac predicts an especially cold winter for the grandkids, but school and indoor sports pass their time until Grandpa returns in time for daffodils.
I love fall too, cold at night easier to sleep, kids going back to school, the leaves turning all those shades...
I even like winter when the roads are clear enough to drive safely on.
and btw I talk to myself too, I;ve been told it's ok untill you start answering yourself LOLOL
Except for the Michigan "depression" I love this state. I do not know if I could live in a state or country (like El) that has two seasons. I hear Costa Rica has two seasons. Rain and Spring like season?
I have heard we are going to have hotter then normal weather in the next few weeks. Not so sure I like that! I am ready to put my mower away. I have been using the gas prices as an excuse not to mow. I think that excuse is going to run out soon!
I do believe we are going to have a cold cold cold ......Winter! All the plants I have, and some I have seen (acorns) are telling me it will be.
In the meantime, my taste buds are anxiously awaiting apple cider and donuts!
The two "seasons" in CR are wet-dry. What we call seasons in Michigan can be visited at will. The "climate" is much different. Temperatures don't change. It is entirely connected to altitude. In two hours we can descend from a climate of spring to a seashore climate of summer, at any time of the year. It takes about four hours by bus to climb up to the alpine meadows where a sweater or jacket is mandatory. The thumb rule is that the temperature changes 10 degrees for every 100 meters(yards) of elevation. Since we live at 1200 m above sea level we are 12 degrees cooler than the beach, with a steady fresh breeze. That is perfect for me, and we don't close any doors or windows. We snuggle under sheets and blankets at night and at midday we avoid the direct sun.
Typically, we get an early afternoon invasion by the clouds(neblina) that rise out of the valley below and that shields us from the sun. Usually it also brings a shower that ends before sunset.
These layers of "eco-climate" cause the country to also have layers of a dozen different ecological environments. A bus trip from the San Jose Meseta Central (Central Plateau) to our home climbs over a mountain range with pine trees and scrubby wind-swept stunted plants, down through cloud forests, jungles with waterfalls, to flat plains of commercial agriculture. A fork in the road would take us through plantations of oil palm trees, bananas, and sugar cane to the dusty road along the hot beaches.
The rainy season provides a heavy rain every afternoon and during November and April it might be cloudy for an entire day, and when it rains it pours.
Since the temperature stays constant, the deciduous trees drop their leaves at different times and also we have a constantly changing blossoming of bright colors. There are trees that are bare almost all of the time, but they soon sprout new growth, sometimes only flowers for a time.
The bad news for me is that we arrive too late for the usual vegetable planting and leave before any of our plants are ready for harvest.
I guess you could say that I have six "seasons"; Spring - Summer - Fall - Wet - Dry - Wet.
We get just enough snow in Michigan in April and November to bring back memories of frostbite and slush, cars that won't start and pipes that freeze. The grandkids provide us with short bouts with viruses and colds.
Since we are alone, let me whisper in your ear.
In July, President Bush reactivated the Fourth Fleet (the Caribbean Fleet) which has been dormant for close to fifty years (when I was involved in the Cuban thing)...
major media? Nada!
Hugo Chavez keeps ranting about his fear of the USA "empire".
major media ... Hugo is crazy.
Russia is sending at least the nuclear cruiser "Peter the Great", a tanker, and an airplane (major media reports vary widely) to participate in a naval exercise in the Caribbean international waters off Caracas, Venezuela.
major media .. nada.
"Peter the Great" is part of the Russian Pacific Fleet (see Janes Sailing Ships) and will probably get permission from both Panama and the Chinese contractors to traverse the Panama Canal.
major media ... nada!
Ignoring the fact that we have invaded the Black Sea with our own warships,
(major media..."humanitarian aid" (as refused in the last disaster) ... nada)
it can be predicted that this "outrageous invasion of our hemisphere" will suddenly become newsworthy around Halloween, just before the Republicans claim that GWBII will retaliate to "Keep America Safe", as he has become famous for doing.
Sarah and the old guy with a cane will predictably prance about in front of carefully-trained gatherings, wrapped in the stars and stripes, and growling like pit-bulls to entertain folks with weapons tied to their pants.
major media ...frenzy!
Hopefully, before that, Obama will open up communications with all of our "enemies" and begin to resolve our conflicts without resorting to violence.
It's so nice to be hearing from people about things other than politics. I'm sick to death of politics right now.
I agree fall in Michigan is hard to beat. I lived for a while in California and the one thing I missed more than anything (other than family and friends) was fall. The smell and sound of the leaves, the smell of fallen apples rotting on the ground, the angle of the sun and the long shadows it makes, my preference for pot roast, beef stew, and everything apple in the fall. And then there's my little pit bull who becomes a lap dog as soon as it gets chilly again. These are some of my favorite things about a Michigan fall. I never get tired of watching all of the vegetation change daily either. It's like living in a painting.
Roadside sign:
Cider!
The debate continues to rage between Russia and the USA over who is actually the worst when it comes to locking up its citizens. Nuclear war is looming on the horizon between these two confinement superpowers over who is the most brain-dead.
In addition to all of the rest of the problems in the overweight rust-belt state of Michigan, we still manage to budget SIX BILLION Dollars to the misnamed Department of ”Corrections”, where we warehouse a huge number of our citizens for a while before releasing them back into society. What is the “success rate” for this SIX BILLION Dollar program of “correction”? Since the history of putting people in jails, prisons, dungeons and other forms of confinement goes back thousands of years we must be getting pretty good at “correcting” anti-social behavior, right? Our success rate must be approaching 100%, right? Zero-recidivism must be our middle-name, verdad? Well, actually, …No!
The truth is that we would be just as well off, and maybe better, if we didn’t even try to catch these people, and devoting years and megabucks to making them more offensive. So, why are we spending SIX BILLION Dollars a year, repeating the same stupid actions expecting the results to miraculously change? Could it be that “not correcting people” has become a major industry?
How much would you spend on a program that actually can prove that it has an 85% success rate at eliminating repeat performances? Since nearly all offenders (juvenile and adult) were abusing alcohol or other substances when they committed their crimes, would you include some rehabilitation in the program? Since this program succeeds, would you wait until a capital crime happens, or would you start an actual correction program with early intervention? How much are you willing to spend to support a program that can prove that it works? An expert told me that a solid statewide program would cost 15 MILLION Dollars a year! That seems like an intelligent approach to me.
So why is the State of Michigan only budgeting our Drug Courts … $600,000 ….for the whole State of Michigan???
Meanwhile, the newly-re-elected Barry County Sheriff and County Commissioners are planning to build a newer and bigger County Jail for millions of dollars. What is wrong with these pictures?
Sorry....
Doughnuts!
Spare me any convincing arguments about how the aging McCane and his Tina Fey impressionist are not trickle-down reproductions of GWBII and Halbert N. Cheney.
I voted YESTERDAY, and personally delivered my Absentee Voter Ballot to the Hastings City Clerk!
Barry County Politics blog has disintegrated, or perhaps merely left the playing field with his ball and tail between his legs.
Vote for Obama!
I did!
Winter is here, and Fall has fell,
I'm here and it's as hot as .....
Time for you to recognize what is happening outside.
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