14 October 2005

A Long Time Coming

Looks like summer is holding on with her clenched teeth everywhere: I was skimming the fall foliage boards yesterday and it turns out the leaves haven’t yet peaked up in mid-Vermont and New Hampshire and the temps are still too warm. (At the moment they’re being drenched.) Most new Englanders and eastern New Yorkers take advantage of the Columbus Day long weekend to go up there for some “leaf peeping,” since this is when the color ordinarily peaks in that area. One person talked about going up Mount Washington—where the winter winds blow with blizzard force almost constantly and it’s been known to get to -60°F—looking forward to some really cool temperatures and it was 62°F . He was pretty hacked!

The weather report this morning talked about how unseasonable our weather here has been; that the temperature has barely dipped under 60°F and then only twice where the average for this time of year is 53°F. We still have our air conditioning on, which is unheard of and annoying, since the bill will drop to a quarter of what it is now when we finally shut down for the season.

Of course there’ll be no respite once the heat has to go on: they’re talking about a 50 percent rise in natural gas prices this year. Thank God it isn’t electric heat!

It was, at least, chilly this morning. I’m dying for some nice crisp fall air, the kind that makes you feel alive and puts the heart back into you.

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