Saturday, October 31, 2009

Lost October

Usually October is one of my favorite months of the year. After a hot, humid, buggy summer the relief of fall's arrival is tremendous, and it's a wonderful time to get outside: finally cool enough for vigorous hikes, made more pleasurable by clear blue skies and brilliant foliage. Fall bird migration provides more reasons to head out.

But this year we've had one of the rainiest, coldest, snowiest Octobers on record. We seemed to pass from our lovely warm September directly into raw November/December, and it seems we've had only a small handful of sunny days all month. Yesterday, Thursday's heavy rains started to move out of the area pushed by gusty, turbulent winds that left me gasping as I arrived at work. Our office lobby opens directly to the street, and I blew through the door like Mary Poppins, accompanied by a swirl of leaves and my hair on end. (Of course, despite the winds that blew her in, prim Mary actually arrived sedately, with not a hair out of place.)

So we didn't go birdwatching this October. We didn't go for leisurely strolls in the Carleton Arboretum or hike to the hilltops in the Cannon River Wilderness Area or drive down to Red Wing or Lake City. We didn't install the net for the badminton set my son got for his early-October birthday. Most of the photos I took this month were taken through windows.

If we don't get some pleasant weather in November, this is going to end up seeming like one of the longest indoor seasons ever.

1 comment:

Richard said...

This has been the grayist October I can remember and that means a lot of them. I think all my pictures were taken through the windows. I can't believe all the leaves came down in just 2 days. Sure have some work to do....now all I need is a little sun and no wind.