Seasonal Observations

How old are we when we truly learn what the seasons mean? Maybe early grade school I guess. Even then, you have a child's view and don't notice or don't remember the nuances of those parts of the year.

When I think of holly trees filled with holly berries, for instance, I think of December and Christmas. In reality, the birds will have completely emptied the tree of its berries by that time, especially if the ground is covered in snow again this winter. Here it is, early September and I'm looking out the window at a holly tree absolutely filled with red, plump berries. I'm certain I never noticed the timing of this event previously.

It used to be that winter was cold and wet, spring was warmer and wet, summer was sunny and hot and fall was warmish and mostly dry. Now, the weather that used to be "seasonal" spills across all boundaries and seems to go to extremes I simply don't remember from my youth. I don't know how many days we had over 100 degrees this summer but I know one day our backyard thermometer hit 108. I know we had over 2 feet of snow last December, at one time, which is practically unheard of in this part of the country.

There are so many squirrels on our property gathering whatever they are literally all over the place. There obviously aren't enough knotholes for them to hide their stashes so they dig up my plants to bury their treasures instead. They are such irritating rodents.

Spring is still my favorite because that's when life is reborn on the planet (at least in our neck of it). There is nothing more precious than seeing those first green shoots coming out of the limbs of the trees. Even though I love the vibrant colors of summer, it's that awakening from the dreary greyness of winter I most appreciate. Thankfully, this hasn't changed.

Imagine being in a submarine or in the International Space Station, you not only wouldn't have any seasons, you'd have no weather, no temperature fluctuations. Even in the Arctic or the Antarctic I think there are minimal seasonal changes, at least a couple anyway.