Wednesday, July 6, 2011

It’s December, so it’s winter (Dec. 2, 2007)

Current mood: cold

Back on the first of September, I blogged about it now being autumn. Now that it's December, by my reckoning, it's now winter. And it is, to look outside.

Last night, we had sleet and freezing rain, and although it has warmed up a bit, the steps and walks are still a bit icy. About 3/4 of where you put your feet are just wet, but if your weight happens to land on the remaining 1/4, you'll slide an inch or five. Healthy adults and kids won't have too much trouble dealing with this, but if you have any other sort of disablement, including being inattentive, overweight or carrying a package, you're very much in danger.

We haven't had a big snowstorm yet, just a couple of nice dustings that turned the yard white. Temperatures have hit the teens (°F) a time or two, overnight temps go to freezing or lower regularly, and most days barely get out of the 40s. That's winter already.

Cleaning up the rest of the driveway of fallen leaves, the words of the Mamas and Papas song "California Dreaming" come to mind: "All the leaves are gone / And the sky is grey". Yup, that's about right.

Pennsylvania dreaming on such a winter's day.

2 comments:

bus15237 said...

As I port the old blog, some posts just don't work for the time of year they're ported. Since today is July 6, I'm holding this post (and the next one) until it's colder.

bus15237 said...

Comments (of mine) on the original post from 2007:

A post-script:
First, it helps to know a little of the language of Chaucer, which is Middle English, two full centuries before Shakespeare.

There is a nice little song from seven centuries ago called "Sumer Is Icummen In" (Summer is a-coming in). Just get the drift of the lyrics: "Sumer is icummen in / Loude sing cuckoo."

Then read Ezra Pound's early 20th century parody of this cute little ditty. [link 1 contains music][link 2 contains history]