"Nature"

I found this at Kwizgiver's blog who in turn found it at Live, Love, Work.

This is my favorite time of year outside. It's crisp and cool and not-humid and the bugs are mostly gone along with most of the pollen and other sneezy things. We've had a couple of frosts, so that's put an end to most everything but some leaf-mold. It's been windy enough this week, though, that the leaves are sticking around long enough to get moldy. Plus, Halloween. Which is really the Holiday Where I Buy Too Much Candy on Purpose So I Can Eat the Leftovers.

Yes, we've already had a little snow on the ground, but it doesn't last long. The sun is out most days for a bit, and we've only just today changed our clocks.

I really like being outside, but I can't do it here where I live except in the fall. It's too cold in the winter, most days, and spring brings rain and the onset of allergies that blossom into nighmarish levels in the summer, also known as Sticky Season (except not this summer, which was delightfully cool if not humidity-free). I grew up in Denver, so when it got hot in the summer, we just went to the mountains to cool off, and there was NEVER humidity! And I wasn't allergic to every-damn-thing there. Sigh. I would love to just drive up a twisty dirt road where there isn't anyone around and sit on a blanket for an afternoon. Sleep, read, watch the sky...sounds delightful, even though every time I did this in Colorado I ended up burnt bright red.

Nature in its worst guise is coming over the next six months. I hope I'm ready for snow, cold, tornadoes, and thunder and lightning.