The First Day of Fall

So it's the first day of Autumn in Miami, and I just went out to fetch the morning paper, as well as the dropped off dinner we've started getting. D1 has a friend who started a cantina company, and they make very fresh and healthy meals, and leave them in a small cooler at our front gate. Wifey and I have actually been eating dinner together -- after a quick microwave, and the food has been wonderful. Anyway, I enjoyed the crisp morning air, and the faint scent of wood burning fireplaces. Ha. As if. It's still hot and humid as hell -- I was sweating after this brief excursion outside. Maybe the cooler weather is a few months away... The only season I miss from living up North is the Fall -- the colors, the holidays (Jewish High ones, T Day, even the fun kids have with Halloween), and the cool temperatures. Some of my best memories as a child are picking apples at my Aunt Lorraine's house in Spring Valley -- north of the City -- and hanging with my friends at the Planting Fields in Upper Brookville. I also loved Jones Beach in the Fall -- the swimmers and crowds had left, and my Dad and I walked the boardwalk together, talking of things great and small. So, being a practical and logical guy, most of the time, I do the next best thing -- make sure I travel up to places that actually have Autumn. We leave in 2 weeks for NYC -- D2 just booked our dinner reservations for Saturday night, and Sunday we leave on a "Fall Foliage" cruise. I'm thinking there might not be too much color yet, but as we cruise North to Nova Scotia, things will change for our eyes.

Then, in late October, we're flying to Chicago.  We're meeting up with about 50 fellow Canes, and going for dinner Friday night. Then, assuming the record number of shooters in the city don't get us (I guess unlikely in the part of town we're staying), we shuttle to South Bend, Indiana to watch the Notre Dame game.  I'm pretty sure we'll have some cooler weather by then.

I finally see the wisdom of a group of people long the butt of comedians' jokes -the snow birds. Why not enjoy the summer and fall in, say, North Carolina, and the best of Miami -- Winter and Spring?

Well, not in the cards for us -- I refuse to own any more properties.  In fact, I may well rent our next place. Part of me is becoming Buddhist -- I realize possessions own you more than you own them.  We'll figure it out.

But for now, soon I get to fetch a sweater or two off the shelf to take for some trips -- to indeed cooler weather, and the splendor of the changes...