Tunnel Vision

Normal “Fall” or “Autumn” as some refer to it as, is spread out over a weeks length of time.  We get really, dark wet weather, and really strong winds that rip the leaves off the trees in less than a day.  Then.  We sit.  We wait.  We wait with our bare trees for winter to arrive.  This year Ive seen something different however, and its been rather…interesting to watch.  Instead of our standard “Fall” its been a few weeks of it.  It got really wet and windy, and everyone agreed that fall, was indeed, upon us.  But a few days later the sun was out, the leaves were still in tack, and everyone was simply confused.  No one complained however, about the late Summer weather we were getting, even though it dipped into the low 40s at night.  We were happy with the sun, the sun that stayed longer than it has all summer…the sun that stayed with us for a week!

However, this past week, it would appear, that the sun was there to simply “Dry out” the leaves, something that really, is unheard of here.  There were a few days when the leaves were…get this, actually crunchy.  Meaning when you stepped on them?  They made a sound other than a squishiness.  There were a few days when the leaves scattered in the road were more than wet piles of mush.  They were leaves…and that was rare.  But…it happened.  The storminess returned.  A few weeks ago, there was a really great heavy fog that set in, delaying flights, and canceling ferries in the morning hours.  It was a heavy fog that stayed around for some time…and just today, we discovered why.

Why….its been snowing!  Thats why!  These past few days while weve been getting soaked in our share of rain, the mountains have been getting covered…in icky, nasty, white stuff….snow.  We were driving into town tonight and Madison thankfully pointed out (because I SO would have missed it!) that…”Is that snow?” to which I hummed around and pretended NOT to hear her, because if I didnt hear her, maybe the snow didnt either.

So yea.  Our mountains are snowy again, the weather is chilly again, and the leaves are…yes…gone and soggy again.  There are pumpkins in the store (already?!) and Im just WAITING for those holiday tunes to start up again.

But really….how can one tell when Fall has begun?  Or ended, really.  When does it really begin, and end?  I know in most places there is a different season.  There is your spring, Summer, Fall and winter.  Seasons that you can tell when they are there, seasons that one night it becomes cold, and you say “Oh, fall is here!” or the sun comes out and “Its SUMMER!” but here?  Its hard to tell, really.  The only real seasons we have are Rain, Rainy, and Rain-ier.  No, I guess how you would tell when a season change has happened, is when the stores start to bring things season related items in…stores, that is, other than Walmart who seem to be selling Spring flowers already, and have Christmas stuff on clearance.

No, there are a few stores in town here, that are really good about keep “Seasons” in check.  One of the ways you can tell that Fall is here…is to check for fall related items.  Pumpkins, Trees, Flowers, you get the idea….and now, as if the “Snow” werent bad enough…there are pumpkins in the store, to which the kids begged and whined and threw themselves on the ground at my mercy to buy them the ONE thing that they desperately NEEDED, which is a pumpkin….three weeks early.  Of course, I couldnt say NO…or couldnt convince them that they would most likely rot by the time it got around to using them, or because I was tired of the dirty looks that said “What?  You wont buy those poor, helpless children an innocent pumpkin?” Which ever way, that is how we ended up paying WAY to much for two overly gigantic orange balls that will most likely be forgotten about by tomorrow….

But tonight as I headed out of their room, I did a double take as I saw two very familiar orange looking objects sticking out of a pile of blankets on Joshs bed (First off, I suppose I should be glad that they didnt sleep with them?? Secondly, how am I going to explain THIS one to the state tomorrow??) I guess its the small reminders that let us know Fall is here and winter is right behind it…but more importantly, the small things that remind me why I did this in the first place…because as I shook my head and laughed with them as I headed out their bedroom door, I remember shutting the same door, wishing for something, someone, to be in there…I think its the small things.  The small reminders…that matter.  The small things that remind you of something, some good some bad…the small reminders that keep you in check.