unfallen

Connecticut experienced a long hot summer this year. It started in early June and finished in mid-October, with plenty of swelter and misery in between. Electric bills have been high heading into a fifth month to keep the house cool. Yes, there was the occasional reprieve, but as exception not rule. There hasn't been a frost yet. The result is almost a complete lack of autumn thus far. By the 22nd of October, we should be hurtling toward (if not entrenched in) peak foliage, but things are barely starting to change.

The harbingers of autumn began turning in mid-September, and more than a month later, even they are not even in full color. The heavy rain of the past two weeks has beaten other tree bits off, mostly pine needles and dead leaves from the weak trees. Everything else is holding on for dear life.

Temperatures have started to drop recently, and the transformation should speed up now. But I wonder if it will just be a mass exodus with leaves turning, dying, and falling in an abbreviated period of time. There are predictions that the upcoming winter is going to be very cold and snowy.

I fear the autumn will be lost.

Christmas is only two months away, and I'm way into it. There are still a few gifts we need to get, and I'm finishing up the stocking contents. I've started our annual holiday newsletter, and have even allowed myself to listen to a few Christmas songs on my iPod. It would be nice to prepare on chilly autumn days where shopping trips are punctuated by crisp fall air and drives down winding roads lined with vividly colored trees. I may have to deal with a different reality and adapt accordingly. But I'll miss autumn.